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TALES OF MY LANDLORD.
CHAPTER IV.
At fairs he play'd before the spearmen,
And gaily graithed in their gear then,
Steel bonnets, pikes, and swords shone clear then
As ony bead;
Now wha sall play before sic wier-men,
Since Habbie's dend?
Elegy on Habbie Simson.
The cavalcade of horsemen on their road to the little borough-town were preceded by Niel Blane, the town-piper, mounted on his white galloway, armed with his dirk and broad-sword, and bearing a chanter streaming with as many ribbons as would deck out six country belles for a fair or preaching. Niel, a clean, tight, well-timbered, long-winded fellow, had gained the official situation of town-piper of by his merit, with all the emoluments thereof; namely, the Piper's Croft, as it is still
