She prophesy'd that, late or soon,

Thou would be found deep drown'd in Doon;

Or catch'd wi' warlocks' in the mirk,"
By Alloway's auld haunted kirk.3

Ah, gentle dames! it gars me greet,* To think how mony' counsels sweet, How mony lengthen'd sage advices, The husband frae the wife despises !

But to our tale: Ae market night,
Tam had got planted unco right;
Fast by an ingle, bleezing' finely,
Wi' reaming swats,' that drank divinely;
And at his elbow, Souter' Johnny,

10

His ancient, trusty, drouthy crony ;
Tam lo'ed him like a vera brither;
They had been fou for weeks thegither."
The night drave" on wi' sangs and clatter;
the ale was growing better:

And

ay

14

The landlady and Tam grew gracious,
Wi' favours, secret, sweet, and precious:
The souter tauld his queerest stories;
The landlord's laugh was ready chorus:
The storm without might rair1 and rustle,
Tam did na mind the storm a whistle.

Care, mad to see a man sae happy, E'en drown'd himself amang the nappy,

2

14

As bees flee hame wi' lades 3 o' treasure,

The minutes wing'd their way wi' pleasure:
Kings may be bless'd, but Tam was glorious,
O'er a'' the hills o' life victorious!

But pleasures are like poppies spread, You seize the flower, its bloom is shed; Or like the snow falls in the river,

A moment white- -then melts for ever;

Or like the borealis race,

That flit ere you can point their place ;
Or like the rainbow's lovely form,

Evanishing amid the storm.

6

Nae man can tether time or tide;

The hour approaches Tam maun' ride;

That hour, o' night's black arch the key-stane,
That dreary hour he mounts his beast in ;

2

And sic' a night he tacks the road in,
As ne'er poor sinner was abroad in.

The wind blew as 'twad blawn' its last;
The rattling showers rose on the blast;
The speedy gleams the darkness swallow'd;
Loud, deep, and lang, the thunder bellow'd:
That night, a child might understand,
The deil had business on his hand.

Weel' mounted on his grey mare, Meg,

A better never lifted leg,

6

Tam skelpit on through dub and mire,'
Despising wind, and rain, and fire;

Whiles' holding fast his gude' blue bonnet;
Whiles crooning" o'er some auld Scots sonnet;
Whiles glow'ring" round wi' prudent cares,
Lest bogles" catch him unawares:

Kirk-Alloway was drawing nigh,

Whare ghaists" and houlets" nightly cry.—

* Sic, such. 2 Tacks, takes. 3 As 'twad blawn, as if it would have blown.

By this time he was cross the ford,
Whare in the snaw' the chapman smoor'd;'
And past the birks' and meikle stane,*
Whare drunken Charlie brak's' neck-bane;"
And thro' the whins, and by the cairn,'
Whare hunters fand the murder'd bairn;"
And near the thorn, aboon " the well,
Whare Mungo's mither " hang'd hersel.-
Before him Doon pours all his floods;
The doubling storm roars thro' the woods;
The lightnings flash from pole to pole;
Near and more near the thunders roll:
When, glimmering thro' the groaning trees,
Kirk-Alloway seem'd in a bleeze;"

Thro' ilka bore" the beams were glancing;
And loud resounded mirth and dancing.-

Inspiring bold John Barleycorn!"
What dangers thou canst make us scorn!
Wi' tippeny," we fear nae evil;

Wi' usquabae we'll face the devil!—

* Snaw, snow.

2 Smoor'd, smothered.

4 Meikle stane, a large stone. 5 Brak's, broke his.

7 Cairn, a heap of stones.

10 Aboon, above.

13 Bore, crevice.

for malt liquor.

8 Fand, found.

I Mither, mother.

3 Birks, birch trees.

• Neck-bane, neck bone.

9 Bairn, a child.

12 Bleeze, blaze.

14 and 15 John Barleycorn, and Tippeny, terms

The swats sae ream'd in Tammie's noddle,"

Fair play, he car'd na3 deils a boddle*
But Maggie stood right sair' astonish'd,
Till, by the heel and hand admonish'd,

She ventured forward on the light;

6

And, vow! Tam saw an unco sight!

Warlocks and witches in a dance;

Nae cotillion brent' new frae France,

But hornpipes, jigs, strathspeys, and reels,
Put life and mettle in their heels.
A winnock-bunker in the east,

There sat auld Nick, in shape o' beast;
A towzie-tyke,' black, grim, and large,
To gie" them music was his charge:

He screw'd the pipes and gart" them skirl,"
Till roof and rafters a' did dirl."

Coffins stood round, like open presses,"

That shaw'd" the dead in their last dresses:
And by some devilish cantrip" slight,
Each in its cauld" hand held a light.—

13 Dirl, rattle, shake. 14 Presses, closets for linen, a sort of cupboards.

15 Shaw'd, shewed.

16 Cantrip, a charm, or spell.

17 Cauld, cold.