FAIRY ELVES,

Whose midnight revels by a forest side,

Or fountain, some belated Peasant sees,

Or dreams he sees; while over-head the moon

Sits arbitress, and nearer to the earth

Wheels her pale course. They, on their mirth and dance

Intent, with jocund music charm his ear;

At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds.

Paradise Lost, i. 78x.

THE PERSONS.

SIR JOHN BONNITON.

MEN.

ADAM, a farmer, father to Jamie and Ann, and tenant to Sir John.

JAMIE, a young shepherd, Adam's son, in love with Jean: SYMON, his friend, in love with Ann.

MASS JAMES, the minister.

HERD BOY.

A SHEPHERD.

WOMEN.

CATHARINE, Adam's wife.

ANN, her daughter, sister to Jamie.

JEAN, a young woman stolen in her infancy by the Fairies

MAB the Queen.

BOB.

Other Fairies.

FAIRIES..

The SCENE is laid near Lanark ; sometimes in a Cavë behind the Bonniton Lin, sometimes in Bonniton House, in Adam's cottage, and the neighbourhood. The time of action within twenty-four hours. The period near the close of the 16th Century.

THE

FALLS OF CLYDE:

OR,

THE FAIRIES.

ACT I.

SCENE I

Wi' louder sound the torrent seems to roar,
The waukrif' collie barks at every door;
For now the moon, to deck the evening still,
Broad, flaming, red, climbs o'er the cairn-top'd hill ;
And see, while through the boughs her lustre plays,
The wood feems kindling in a sudden blaze:

Here's Adam's house---we'll through the window look,
And see if they're to bed-They're at the book!

Catharine, awaking from sleep. CUT short the prayer, gudeman!

Ann, who has just waked. He's fall'n asleep!

• Canis domesticus, cauda sinistrorsum recurvata, impudentissimus, saepe (noctû praesertim vel advenâ accedente) latrans; sed, arrepto lapide, facile fugiens.B. Syft. Quad. 83.

Catharine. Tuts! stupid body-But there's nane can

keep

Frae sleeping; he's sae langsome that ilk night
I sleep, though struggling 'gainst it a' my might:
For, first, he takes us round the Red Sea's coast,
And drowns a man ca’d Pharaoh and his boast * ;
(What is't to us if Pharaoh had the caul',
That winna sink or save a body's saul :)
Then he will tell us about things were doon,
For ought I ken, ere there was sun or moon;
How ane ca'd Noah, in some rainy weather,
Himsel', an' wife, an' weans, gaed a' thegither,
Into a great meal ark, as big's a mill,

And how it swam, and rested on a hill;
And of a craw and do'e, whilk in its neb

Brought back a leaf, and show'd the tide did ebb:
Than o' a great big weaver he will tell,

Wha wi' his beam cam' on the folk pell-mell;

An' how this creeshy rascal too was slain,

By a wee hird, that slung at him a stane:
An' how a man ca'd Simpson down did maw
Twa or three hundred, wi' an ass's jaw;
(Some frien' of auld John Simson o' Drumale,
Whose dog last week pu'd aff our Crummie's tail.)
Waken your father, Ann!

(Adam is waken'd, rubs his een, and then shakes
Jamie, who is sleeping on his knees.)

Adam. Rise up, man !—It's a sin and shame to sleep In time o' prayers; up, ye lazy sheep!

Hooft, cough.

Oh, sirs! your corrupt nature !-whan ye eat,
I never see ye noddin' at your meat;
Na faitha! but fu' aften ane, alas,

May see folk sleep in time o' prayer and grace!
Waesucks! your corrupt nature!-Katrine, thou
Hast gotten a base trick o' rising now,

Frae prayer, to steer the sweens.

Catharine.

Deed! I could not

Do less, for they were sticking to the pot.

Set in the supper, Ann.

Ann, going to the dresser. The cat * has lick'd the milk:

Is there nae mair?

Adam. I saw her at it in the time o' prayer.

Catharine. Could ye nae spoken then?

Adam. I threw my bonnet at her, which did miss,

And cried, hiss tae cat! plague on ye! hiss!

She stood a bonny wee, then ran away,

But cam' again when I began to pray:
But how can cat or dog religion mind,
Whan till't sae little we're oursells inclin'd?
First set a good example, than I trow
Ye'll hae a douce an' sober horse an' cow;
Nor cat and dog will quarrel at the fire,

But peace will reign in stable, barn, and byre.

Ann. What's this amang the sweens? no, sure its not! My father's thrown his bonnet in the pot !!

* Felis Catus cauda elongata, fufco-annulata.-Lin. Syft. Nat. p. 62.

Catus---eques arborum.-Klein. Quad. p. 75.