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And ran through midden-hole and a',
And pray'd, wi' zeal and fervour,
Fu' fast that night.

They hoy't out Will, wi' fair advice,
They becht him some fine braw ane:
It chanc'd the stack he faddom't thrice,[1]
Was timmer-propt for thrawin:
He taks a swirlie auld moss oak,
For some black, grousome carlin:
And loot a winze, and drew a stroke,
Till skin in blypes cam haurlin
Aff's nieves that night.

A wanton widow Leezie was,
As cantie as a kittlin;
But, och! this night, amang the shaws,
She gat a fearfu' settlin!
She through the whins, and by the cairn,
And o'er the hill gaed scrievin,
Whar three lairds' lands met at a burn,[2]
To dip her left sark-sleeve in,
Was bent that night.


  1. 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 cach in your arms the appearance of your future conjugal yoke-fellow.
  2. You go out, one or more (for this is a social spell), to 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 before midnight, an apparition, having the