* The first ceremony of Halloween is, pulling each a stock, or plant of kail. They must go out, hand in hand, with eyes shut, and pull the first they meet with: Its being big or little, straight or crooked, is prophetic of the size and shape of the grand object of all their spells-the husband or wife. If any yird, or earth, stick to the root, that is tocher, or fortune; and the taste of the custoc, that is, the heart of the stem, is indicative of the natural temper and disposition. Lastly, the stems, or. to give them their ordinary appellation, the runts, are placed somewhere above the head of the door: and the christian names of the people whom chance brings into the house, are, according to the priority of placing the runts, the names in question.

They go to the barn-yard and pull each, at three several times, a stalk of oats. If the third stalk wants the top-pickle, that is, the grain at the top of the stalk, the party in question will come to the marriage-bed any thing but a maid.

But Rab slips out, an' jinks about,
Behint the muckle thorn:
He grippet Nelly hard an' fast;
Loud skirl'd a' the lasses;
But her tap-pickle maist was lost,
When kiuttlin in the fause-house*
Wi' him that night

VII.

The auld guidwife's weel hoordet nitst
Are round an' round divided,
An' monie lads' and lasses' fates,
Are there that night decided:
Some kindle, couthie, side by side
An' burn thegither trimly;
Some start awa wi' saucie pride,
And jump out-owre the chimlie
Fu' high that night.

VIII

Jean slips in twa, wi' tentie e'e⚫
Wha 'twas she wadna tell;
But this is Jock, an' this is me,
She says in to hersel:
He bleez'd owre her, an' she owre him,
As they wad never mair part;
Till fuff! he started up the lum,
And Jean had e'en a sair heart
To see't that night.

IX.

Poor Willie, wi' his bow-kail runt,
Was brunt wi' primsie Mallie;
An' Mallie, nae doubt, took the drunt,
To be compar'd to Willie :
Mall's nit lap out wi' pridefu' fling,

An' her ain fit it burnt it;
While Willie lap, and swoor by jing,
"Twas just the way he wanted
To be that night.

X.

Nell had the fause-house in her min,'
She pits hersel an' Rob in;
In loving bleeze they sweetly join,

Till white in ase they're sobbin:

* When the corn is in a doubtful state, by being too green, or wet, the stack-builder, by means of old timber, &c., makes a large apartment in his stack, with an opening in the side which is fairest exposed to the wind: this he calls a fause-house.

↑ Burning the nuts is a famous charm. They name the lad and lass to each particular nut, as they lay them in the fire, and accordingly as they burn quietly together, or start from beside one another, the course and issue of the courtship will be.

• Whoever would, with success, try this spell, must strictly observe these directions: Steal out, all alone, to the kiln, and, darkling, throw into the pot a clue of blue yarn; wind it in a new clue off the old one; and, towards the latter end, something will hold the thread; demand who hauds? i e. who holds? an answer will be returned from the kiln-pot, by naming the Christian and surname of your future spouse.

†Take a candle, and go alone to a looking glass; eat an apple before it, and some traditions say, you should comb your hair, all the time; the face of your conjugal companion, to be, will be seen in the glass, as if pecping over your shoulder.

*Steal out unperceived, and sow a handful of hemp seed; harrowing it with any thing you can conveniently draw after you. Repeat now and then, "Hemp seed I saw thee, hemp seed I saw thee; and him (of her) that is to be my true-love, come after me and pou thee." Look over your left shoulder, and you will se the appearance of the person invoked, in the attitude of pulling hemp. Some traditions say, "come after me, and shaw thee," that is, show thyself: in which case it simply appears. Others omit the harrowing, and say, "come after mine, and harrow thee."

*This charm must likewise be performed unperceived, and alone. You go to the barn, and open both doors, taking them off the hinges, if possible; for there is danger that the being, about to appear, may shut the doors, and do you some mischief. Then take that instrument used in winnowing the corn, which, in our country dialect, we call a wecht; and go through all the attitudes of letting down corn against the wind. Rebeat it three times; and the third time an apparition will pass through the barn, in at the windy door, and out at the other, having both the figure in question, and the appearance or retinue, marking the employment or

station in life.

A ratton rattled up the wa',

An' she cry'd L-d preserve her An' ran thro' midden-hole an' a', An' pray'd wi' zeal an' ferv sur, Fu' fast that night.

XXIII.

They hoy't out Will, wi' sair advice:
They hecht him some fine braw ane;
It chanc'd the stack he faddom'd thrice,*
Was timmer propt for thrawin:
He taks a swirlie, auld moss-oak,
For some black, grousome carlin;
An' loot a winze, an, drew a stroke,
Till skin in blypes came haurlin

Aff's nieves that night.
XXIV.

A wanton widow Leezie was,
As canty as a kittlen;

But Och! that night, amang the shaws,
She got a fearfu' settlin!
She thro' the whins, an' by the cairn,
An' owre the hill gaed scrievin,
Whare three lairds' lands met at a burnt
To dip her left sark-sleeve in,
Was bent that night.

XXV.

Whyles owre a linn the burnie plays,
As thro' the glen it wimpl't;
Whyles round a rocky scar it strays;
Whyles in a wiel it dimpl't;
Whyles glitter'd to the nightly rays,
Wi' bickering, dancing dazzle;
Whyles cookit underneath the braes,
Below the spreading hazel,
Unseen that night.

XXVI.

Amang the brachens, on the brae, Between her an' the moon, The deil, or else an outler quey, Gat up an' gae a croon :

*Take an opportunity of going, unnoticed, to a Bear stack, and fathom it three times round. The last fathom of the last time, you will catch in your arms the appearance of your future conjugal yoke fellow.

You go out, one or more, for this is a social spell, te a south running spring or rivulet, where "three lairds' lands meet," and dip your left shirt sleeve. Go to bed in sight of a fire, and hang your wet sleeve before it to dry. Lie awake; and sometime near midnight, an ap parition, having the exact figure of the grand object ir question, will come and turn the sleeve, as if to dry the

other side of it

Poor Leezie's heart maist lap the hool;

Neer lav rock height she jumpit,

But mist a fit, an' in the pool
Out-owre the lugs she plumpit,

Tho' now thou's dowie, stiff, an' crazy, An' thy auld hide's as white's a daisy, I've seen thee dappl't, sleek, and glaizic, A bonnie gray:

XXVII.

In order, on the clean hearth-stane,
The luggies three* are ranged,
And ev'ry time great care is ta'en,
To see them duly changed:
Auld uncle John, wha wedlock's joys
Sin Mar's year did desire,
Because he gat the toom-dish thrice,
He heav'd them on the fire

In wrath that night.
XXVIII.

Wi' merry sangs, an' friendly cracks,
I wat they dinna weary;
An' unco tales, an' funnie jokes,

Their sports were cheap an' cheery,
Till butter'd so'ns,† wi' fragrant lunt,
Set a' their gabs a-steerin;
Syne, wi' a social glass o' strunt,
They parted aff careerin

Fu' blythe that night.

THE AULD FARMER'S

NEW-YEAR MORNING SALUTATION

ΤΟ

HIS AULD MARE MAGGIE,

Ance in a day.

Thou ance was i' the foremost rank, A filly buirdly, steeve, an' swank, An' set weel down a shapely shank, As e'er tread yird;

An' could hae flown out-owre a stank, Like ony bird.

It's now some nine an' twenty year, Sin' thou was my good father's meere; He gied me thee, o' tocher clear,

An' fifty mark; Tho' it was sma', 'twas weel-won gear, An' thou was stark.

When first I gaed to woo my Jenny, Ye then was trottin wi' your minnie: Tho' ye was trickie, slee, an' funnie, Ye ne'er was donsie; But hamely, tawie, quiet, an' cannie, An' unco sonsie.

That day, ye pranc'd wi' muckle pride, When ye bure hame my bonnie bride; An' sweet, an' gracefu' she did ride, Wi' maiden air! Kyle Stewart I could bragged wide, For sic a pair.

Tho' now ye dow but hoyte an' hobble An' wintle like a saumont-coble,

That day ye was a jinker noble,

For heels an' win'!

in the New-Year.

A GUID New-year I wish thee, Maggie!
Hae, there's a ripp to thy auld baggie:
Tho' thou's howe-backit, now, an' knaggie,
I've seen the day,

Thou could hae gaen like ony staggie
Out-owre the lay.

*Take three dishes; put clean water in one, foul water in another, leave the third empty: blindfold a person, and lead him to the hearth where the dishes are ranged; he (or she) dips the left hand: if by chance in the clean water, the future husband or wife will come to the bar of matrimony a maid; if in the foul, a widow; if in the empty dish, it foretells, with equal certainty, no marriage at all. It is repeated three times, and every time the arrangement of the dishes is altered.

↑ Sowens, with butter instead of milk to them, is always the Halloween Supper.

D

Far, far behin'.