7 Rejoice, ye birring paitricks a';
Ye cootie muircocks, crousely craw;
Ye maukins, cock your fud fu' braw,
Withouten dread;

Your mortal fae is now awa'

Tam Samson's dead!

8 That woefu' morn be ever mourn'd
Saw him in shootin' graith adorn'd,
While pointers round impatient burn'd,
Frae couples freed;

But, och he gaed and ne'er return'd--
Tam Samson's dead!

9 In vain auld age his body batters;
In vain the gout his ancles fetters;
In vain the burns cam' down like waters,
An acre braid!

Now every auld wife, greetin', clatters,

Tam Samson's dead!

10 Owre mony a weary hag he limpit,
And aye 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!

11 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-, five!' he cried, an' owre did stagger-.

Tam Samson's dead!

12 Ilk hoary hunter mourn'd a brither;
Ilk sportsman youth bemoan'd a father;
Yon auld gray stane, amang the heather,
Marks out his head,

Whare Burns has wrote, in rhyming blether,
Tam Samson's dead!

13 There low he lies, in lasting rest ; Perhaps upon his mould'ring breast Some spitefu' muirfowl bigs her nest,

To hatch and breed ;

Alas! nae mair he 'll them molest!—

Tam Samson's dead!

14 When August winds the heather wave, And sportsmen wander by yon grave, Three volleys let his memory crave

O' pouther and lead,

Till Echo answer frae her cave,

Tam Samson's dead!

15 Heaven rest his saul, whare'er he be! Is the wish o' mony mae than me : He had twa faults, or maybe three,

Yet what remead?

Ae social, honest man want we:

Tam Samson's dead!

THE EPITAPH.

Tam Samson's weel-worn clay here lies,

Ye canting zealots, spare him!

If honest worth in Heaven rise,

Ye'll mend or ye win near him.

PER CONTRA.

Go, Fame! and canter like a filly,

Through a' the streets and neuks o' Killic,'
Tell every social, honest billie

To cease his grievin',

For yet, unskaith'd by Death's gleg gullie,
Tam Samson's leevin'.

HALLOWEEN.2

"Yes! let the rich deride, the proud disdain,
The simple pleasures of the lowly train;
To me more dear, congenial to my heart,
One native charm, than all the gloss of art.'
GOLDSMITH.

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 peasantry 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 the perusal, to see the remains of it among the more unenlightened in our own.-B.

1 Uron that night, when fairies light,

On Cassilis Downans3 dance,

''Killie:' is a phrase the country-folks sometimes use for Kilmarnock.--B. —2 ' Hallowe'en :' is thought to be a night when witches, devils, and other mischief making beings, are all abroad on their baneful midnight errands; particularly those aërial people, the Fairies, are said on that night to hold a grand anniversary.-B.-' Cassilis Downans:' certain little romantic rocky green hills, in the neighbourhood of the ancient scat of the Earls of Cassilis.

Or owre the lays, in splendid blaze,
On sprightly coursers prance;
Or for Colzean the route is ta'en,
Beneath the moon's pale beams;
There, up the cove, to stray an' rove
Amang the rocks and streams

To sport that night.

2 Amang the bonnie winding banks,
Where Doon rins, wimplin, clear,

2

Where Bruce ance ruled the martial ranks,
An' shook his Carrick spear,

Some merry, friendly countra folks
Together did convene,

To burn their nits, an' pu' their stocks,
And haud their Hallowe'en,

Fu' blithe that night.

3 The lasses feat, and cleanly neat,
Mair braw than when they're fine;
Their faces blithe, fu' sweetly kythe,
Hearts leal, and warm, and kin':
The lads sae trig, wi' wooer-babs,
Weel knotted on their garten,
Some unco blate, and some wi' gabs,
Gar lasses' hearts gang startin'
Whiles fast at night.

4 Then first and foremost, through the kail,
Their stocks maun a' be sought ance;

'Cove:' a noted cavern near Colzean-house, called The Cove of Colzcan; which, as Cassilis Downans, is famed in country story for being a favourite haunt of fairies.-B.- Bruce :' the famous family of that name, the ancestors of Robert, the great deliverer of his country, were Earls of Carrick.—B. -'Stocks:' the first ceremony of Hallowe'en is pulling each a stock, or

They steek their e'en, and graip an' wale,
For muckle anes and straught anes.
Poor hav'rel Will fell aff the drift,
And wander'd through the bow-kail,
And pu't, for want o' better shift,

A runt was like a sow-tail,

Sae bow't that night.

5 Then, straught or crooked, yird or nane,
They roar and cry a' throu 'ther;

The vera wee things, todlin', rin

Wi' stocks out-owre their shouther;

And gif the custoc's sweet or sour
Wi' joktelegs they taste them;
Syne coziely, aboon the door,

Wi' cannie care, they 've placed them
To lie that night.

1

6 The lasses staw frac 'mang them a'
To pu' their stalks o' corn;
But Rab slips out, an' jinks about,

Behint the muckle thorn:
He grippet Nelly hard an' fast:

Loud skirled a' the lasses;

But her tap-pickle maist was lost,

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 state 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.-B.-Stalks o' corn:' they go to the barnyard 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 anything but a maid.-B.