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L-d, five!' he cry'd, an' owre did stagger;. Tam Samfon's dead!

Ilk hoary Hunter mourn'd a brither; Ilk Sportsman-youth bemoan'd a father; Yon auld gray ftane, amang the hether,

Marks out his head,,

Whare Burns has wrote in Rhyming blether,

Tam Samfon's dead! :

When Auguft winds the hether wave, And Sportsmen wander by yon grave,

Three vollies let his mem'ry crave

Opouther an' lead,.

Till Echo anfwer frae her cave,

Tam Samfon's dead!

Heav'n reft his foul, whare'er he be !

Is th' wish o' many mae than me:
He had twa fauts, or may be three,

Yet what remead ? ?

Ae focial, honeft man want wę :

Tam Samfon's dead!

THE EPITAPH.

Tam Samfou's weel-worn clay here lies,
Ye canting Zealots, spare him!
If Honeft Worth in Heaven rife,
Ye'll mend or ye win near him.

PER CONTRA...

7

Go, Fame, an' canter like a filly · Thro' a' the freets an' neuks o' Killie,*

Tell ev'ry focial honest billie.

To ceafe his grievin,

For yet, unfkaith'd by Death's gleg gullie,

Tam Samfon's livin !

* Killie is a phrafe the country-folks fometimes use for the

name of a certain town in the Weft.

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 fcene 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 striking part of the Hiftory of Human Nature, in its rude ftate, in all ages and nations; aud it may be fome entertainment to a philofophic mind, if any fuch should honour the Author with a perufal, to fee the remains of it, among the more unenlightened in our

own.

HALL O WE EN*.

Test let the Rich deride, the Proud difdain
The fimple pleasures of the lowly train;
To me more dear, congenial to my heart,

One native charm, than all the glofs of art.

GOLDSMITH.

UPON

I.

PON that night when Fairies, light: On Caffilis Downans † dance,

Or owre the lays, in fplendid blaze,

On fprightly courfers prance; Or for Colean the rout is ta'en,

Beneath the moon's pale beams;

There, up the Cove ‡, to stray an' rove,
Amang the rocks an' streams

To fport that night.

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

+Certain little, romantic, rockey, green hills, in the neighbourhood 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.

II.

Among the bonie, winding banks,

Where Doon rins, wimplin, clear,

Where BRUCE *aince rul'd the martial ranks,
An fhook his Carrick spear,
Some merry, friendly, countra folks,

Together did convenc,

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

Whyles faft at night.

IV.

Then, firft an' foremost, thro' the kail,,
Their flocks † maun a' be faught aince; .

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

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

).

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