THE following POEM will, by many Readers, be well enough understood; but for the fake of those who are unacquainted with the manners and traditions of the country where the scene is caft, notes are added, to give fome account of the principal Charms and Spells of that night, fo big with Prophecy to the Peafantry in the Weft of Scotland, The paffion of prying into Futurity makes a ftriking part of the Hiftory of Human. Nature, in its rude ftate, in all ages and nations and it may be fome entertainment to a philofophicmind, if any fuch fhould honour the Author with a perufal, to fee the remains of it, among the more unenlightened in our own.

HALLOWEEN.*

Yes! let the Rich deride, the Proud difdain.
The fimple plafures of the lowly train;
To me more dear, congenial to my heart,
One native charm, than all the glofs of art.

I.

GOLDSMITH..

UPON that night when Fairies light.

On Caffilis Downanst dance,
Or owre the lays, in fplendid blaze,
On fprightly courfers prance;
Or for Colean the route is ta'en,
Beneath the moon's pale beams;

There, up the Cove,t to ftray an' rove,
Amang the rocks an' ftreams

To fport that night.

Is thought to be a night when Witches, Devils, and other mifchief-making beings, are all abroad, on their baneful midnight errands; particularly, thofe ærial people, the Fairies, are faid on that night, to hold a grand Anniversary.

Certain little, romantic, rocky, green hills, in the neigh bourhood of the ancient feat of the Earls of Caffilis.

A noted cavern near Colean-houfe, called the Cove of Colean; which, as well as Caffilis Downans, is famed, in country story, for being a favourite haunt of Fairies.

If.

Among the bonie winding banks.

Where Don rins, wimplin clear,
Where BRUCE* ance rul'd the martial ranks,
An' fhook his Carrick spear,
Some merry, friendly, countra folks,
Together did convene,

To burn their nits, an' pou their flocks..

An' haud their Halloween

Fu' blythe that night.

III.

The laffes feat, and cleanly neat,

Mair braw than when they're fine;
Their faces blythe, fu' fweetly kythe,.
Hearts leal an' warm an' kin':.
The lads fae trig, wi' wooer-babs,
Weel knotted on their gartan,

Some unco blate, an' fome wi' gabs,.
Gar laffes' hearts gang startin,

Whyles faft at night..

IV..

Then, firft an' foremost, thro' the kail,

Their flocks maun a' be faught ance;

*The famous family of that name, the ancestors of Rom BERT the great Deliverer of his country, were Earls of Carrick.

The first ceremony of Halloween is, pulling each as Stock, or plant of kail. They must go out, hand in hand,

They fteek their een, an' grape an' wale
For muckle anes, an' ftraught anes;
Poor hav'rel Will fell aff the drift,
An' wander'd thro' the Bow-kail,

An' pou't for want o' better shift,
A runt was like a sow-tail,

Sae bow't that nights.

V.

Then, ftraught or crooked, yird or nane,
They roar an' cry a' throu❜ther;

The vera wee things, toadlin, rin,

Wi' ftocks out owre their fhouther An' gif the cuftock's sweet or four, Wi' joctelegs they taste them;

Syne coziely, aboon the door,

Wi' cannie care, they've plac'd them

To lie that night.

VI:

The laffes ftaw frae 'mang them a'
To pou their talks o' corn ;*

with eyes fhut, and pull the first they meet with: its being
big or little, ftraight or crooked, is prophetic of the fize and
fhape of the grand object of all their Spells-the husband or
wife. If any yird, or earth, ftick to the root, that is Tocher,..
or Fortune; and the tafte of the cuftoc, that is, the heart of the
Stem, is indicative of the natural temper and difpofition.
Laftly, the stems, or, to give them their ordinary appellation,
the runts
are placed fomewhere above the head of the door;
and the Chriftian names of the people whom chance brings
into the houfe, are, according to the priority of placing the
runts, the name in queftion.

*They go to the barn-yard, and Pull each, at three feveral times. a stalk of Oats. If the third stalk wants the top-pickley .

But Rab flips out, an' jinks about,
Behint the muckle thorn,
He gripped Nelly hard an' fast;

Loud fkirld a' the laffes;

But her top-pickle maist was loft

When kiutlin i' the Fause houfe*

Wi' him that night.

VII.

The auld Guidwife's weel-hoorded nits†

Are round an' round divided, An' monie lads an' laffes' fates

Are there that night decided;

Some kindle, couthie, fide by fide,
An' burn thegither trimly ;.

Some ftart awa, wi' faucy pride,
An' jump out owre the chimlie

Fu' high that night.

that is, the grain at the top of the ftalk, the party in question will come to the marriage-bed any thing but a maid.

When the corn is in a doubtful ftate, by being too green or wet, the ftack-builder, by means of old timber, &c. makes a large apartment in his ftack, with an opening in the fidewhich is faireft exposed to the wind; this he calls a Faufehouse.

Burning the nuts is a favourite charm. They name the lad and lafs to each particular nut, as they lay them in the fire; and according as they burn quietly together, or start. from befide one another, the course and issue of the Courts ship will be.