When click the string the snick did draw; | Still, as in Scottish story read, And jee! the door gaed to the wa'; An' by my ingle-lowe I saw, Now bleezin bright, To ev'ry nobler virtue bred, She boasts a race, And polish'd grace. The Wallaces. † William Wallace. Adam Wallace, of Richardton, cousin to the immortal preserver of Scottish independence. Wallace, Laird of Craigie, who was second in command, under Douglas earl of Ormond, at the famous battle on the banks of Sark, fought anno 1448. That glorious victory was principally owing to the judicious conduct, aud intrepid valour of the gallant Laird of Craigie, who died of his wounds after the action. Coilus, king of the Picts, from whom the district of Kyle is said to take its name, lies buried, as tradition says, near the family-seat of the Montgomeries of Coil'sfield, where his burial-place is still snown. Barskimming the seat of the Lord Justice-Clerk. **Catrine, the seat of the late doctor and presen professor Stewart. In vain the burns came down like waters, An acre braid! Now ev'ry auld wife, greetin, clatters, Owre many a weary hag he limpit, An' ay the tither shot he thumpit, Till coward death behind him jumpit, Wi' deadly feide; Now he proclaims, wi' tout o' trumpet, Tam Samson's dead! When at his heart he felt the dagger, He reel'd his wonted bottle-swagger, But yet he drew the mortal trigger Wi' weel aim'd heed; "L-d, five!" he cry'd an' owre did stagger; Tam Samson's dead! Ilk hoary hunter mourn'd a brither; Whare Burns has wrote, in rhyming blether, There low he lies, in lasting rest; Perhaps upon his mould ring breast Some spitefu' muirfowl bigs her nest, To hatch an' breed; Alas: nae mair he'll them molest! Tam Samson's dead! When August winds the heather wave, And sportsmen wander by yon grave, Three volleys let his mem'ry crave O' pouther an' lead, Till Echo answer frae her cave, Tam Samson's dead! Heav'n rest his saul, whare'er he be! Ae social, honest man want we: Tam Samson's dead! THE EPITAPH. TAM SAMSON's weel-worn clay here lies, The following Poem will, by many readers, be well enough understood; but for the sake of those who are unacquainted with the manners and traditions of the country where the scene is cast, notes are added, to give some account of the principal charms and spells of that night, so big with prophecy to the pea santry in the west of Scotland. The passion of prying into futurity makes a striking part of the history of human nature in its rude state, in all ages and nations; and it may be some entertainment to a philosophic mind, if any such should honour the author with a perusal, to see the remains of it, among the more unenlightened in our own. Yes! let the rich deride, the proud disdain, The simple pleasures of the lowly train; I. UPON that night, when fairies light, Beneath the moon's pale beams; Amang the bonnie winding banks, * Killie is a phrase the country-folks sometimes use for Kilmarnock. Is thought to be night when witches, devils, and other mischief-making beings, are all abroad on their baneful, midnight errands; particularly those aerial people the Fairies, are said on that night, to hold a grand anniversary. Certain little, romantic, rocky, green hills, in the neighbourhood of the ancient seat of the Earls of Cassilis. A noted cavern near Colean-house, called The Cove of Colean; which, as Cassilis Downans, is famed in country story for being a favourite haunt of fairies. The famous family of that name, the ancestors of Robert, the great deliverer of his country, were Earls of Carrick. |