.1H-I E

COAL M A M's

COURTSHIP TO A CREEL Wilt’s

DAUGHTER;

O il, A Dialogue between an- Old Wonikn

and her Son;-wherein fhe inftrilcl him in the real ART of Courtship

Very bcntficial far yonn? beginners, or blots WOOERS.

T H E YOUNG COALMAN’S GOU^TSHI

TO THE CRiEL^WIFE’S' DAUGHTER.::,

£ 1JL \.j X .& X x •,* ALL you that’s curious of courtfhip

give attention to this hiftory c Mary and her fonSawny, a ^oungCoa man," who lived in the country a fev

miles from Edinburgh. Mary, his mither, was a gay heart

wife had mair wantotinefs nor wealtl was twelve years a married wife, nin years a widow, was very chafte in he behaviour, wi’ hera in tail, for want c charging; for a’ the time o’ her widow hood there was never a man got a kii of her lips, or laid a foul hand on he hind quarters

Sawny, her fon, was a ftout-joun taw lown, full fac’d wi’ flabby^cfieek duddy breeks, and a rag^d driblet gade always wi’ his bOfom^re^fome simeshad ae gartan, a lingel ^riifh rap was good enough for Sawny: His ver belly was a’ fun-burnt, like a jiiper bag, or the head of an auld drum; an his very beard began to fptout out iik

herrin banes ; he took thick bfoie to his breakfaft, and baps anil ale through the day, and when the coals fell’d dear, hn’thewindcauld, bought an oven fa tie and twa Dumbar wedders, jftr' a Qlaf- gow Magiftfate,,winch fiih-^iyes ca’ a Wallen hefrin.

His neither, aiilaMary, plpiujea him ay. in the morning, got dp >vh^ the j‘hen& kedkled, ringed die ribs, b^ew her iinotter-box, primed herrnofe, kindled her tBbacco pif>Q,'..ana” at every puff

- breathed'out fre^tirigs againlf hef Hard 'fbrtune, and largely Jingle li^e. O but a widow be a poor na^ne, but I live in a wildernefs in this laug-lohingj mony d man gaes by my door, but few.fp’ks tooksin to poor Mary. Hoch hey/will I

' :never win out o’ this weary’d'iite?/Wa, Sawny man, wa’ Sawny man, wil^dion na rife the d^y ; th^fun’s up, an’ a the nibours round aboutVWiilie and.'Char-

"ire’s rcfthe hill an hour fyne and haf- gate hame again. Wilt thou rife an’ gie the beads a bite^ thou minds na them I vrat man, Grurhphjgrumph.co* Sawny, they got their fupper an houd after I got mine. Shut to dead come

h

on them an’ thjey get a bit frae me til they work for’t.

But, mither, I ,liav-e been dreamir that I was married, and i’ the bed ; boon the bride, I wonder gin it l rrue : Od ! I ne’er got fy: fun ; wrh; wil’t be, think ye ? How old atn I, m ther? Do you think I could man a hi fy yet i- figs I have a mind te try, bi the faucy hiffics winna hae me, I ke well enough.

Mither. Hae you lad, ay, mony hungry heart wad be blythe of you

• there was never a fcaw’d Jockey bi there was a fcabbed Jenny till him ye’I dinna be fear’d lad

Sawny A kech, mither, I’fe no i j lordly, an’ I fud tak {a beggar wife a| the hie gate ; but I’ll tell ye fomethir that I’m thinking on, but ye manr tell’t to the nibours, for the chiels wa ay jamph me wi’t.

Mither. Wad I tell on thee lad, I wa! tell on myfel as foon.

Sattny. Do you mind mither that da I gaed to the Pans, I came in by au! Matty’s your countrymans, the Fi wife, it came out o’ the town ye cair fftie* the wife it ay fays, Be-yo Laddts

' ^ Ji gaed there an’ (he was na in, and the daughter Lend me ; (he was uneo kind, jind made me fat, fat brofe out o’ the tee fide o’ her kail pot, there wasbajth beef and paunches in it, o?d they finelt (tike ony haggles, and fhin’d a’ like a goud lac’d waificoat, 'feg's I fuppit (ill 1 was like to rive o‘ them, and had a rift [o’ them the morn a’ day; when J came put 1 had a kite like a cow wi’ ca’f, (he ifpier’d for you mither, and I faid ye was gaily > and Hie look’d at me and leugh, gripped my lhakel bane,and faid I wad be a fturdy fallow .y et-—I look- ed to her and thought I liked her, and thinks on it ay finfyne ; ftie leugh and bade me feek ont a coal driver for'her, for (he did not like to carry a full creel.

Milker. Forfopth,,$awny,rU gie my twa lugs for a ]a\Terock’s egg if mef be ha iii love wi’ thee, and that will be h bargain.

Sawny. And upon my word, tnither, (he’s a ftiifciy gimmer, well worth the inoaking after, (he has a dimple on eve- ry cheek, and an on her chin, twa legs like twapefts,-andhaunches like.n lo- ger’s lady’s hoop, they hobble when Ihe

, fbakes, and her paps play niddety hod.

fodofe to them, uhtber. Ay', but Sawny maii, there

'c \ £^e for every-thing and that too Pn T7 f* fit' 1 1 >1 i. uiai too. when ye fit where nae body feesV you nny tak her head in your oxter like I creefh pig, dab nebs wi’ her now an<S than, but be fure'ye keep a clofe mouth ^henyt klfs her j clap her cheeks draik ner paps, but for your, drowning gang nae farther down, but fouks that’s tjarried can put their hand to ony part they like. ■ 1

bawt.y. Aha, but mither, I diimaken the frfi word o’ courting, the l^e Tli ho ken what I’m Coin’d1 for. 1

Mitber. Ay will die lad, wink and keek well at her, {he’ll hate' a guefs • feeS a quiet word o’ lifer at the doer- and gin if be dark, gi’e her wee bit kift when ye have tell’d her your errand • an’gin they gi’e you dheefe and brea({ or ony meat, ca’t good, whether it be fie or no; and formybiefling be mehsh fa’ \ti'7;yonr tnou, and dinna eat o’er miickle, for I ha’e feen you fup as mb-, ny milk brofe as twa men wo did'car- ry oh ^a batroW.; .

Stevry: ‘Oh, but mither, ye’re lying sow, dr it was ne’er a’ at ance than, b "

4 wh/en fi*e, gangs, I ken by her keckling fhe has a conceit o’ me.

Miihir. but Sawny man, an’thou.fee her mither Matty in the town, auld Be- go laddie, as ye ca’ her, gi’e her a dram, fhe lik’ft well, fpout ye a mutchkm o’ molafh in her cheek, ye’il get her mind land fpeed the better.

y.$awny. But, mither, how fud I do when I gang tojjourt her; will I kife her an’ than kittle her, an’ding her o’er as the chiels does the hiffies amang the hay; I’ve feen them gang o’er ither, an’ o’erither, and when they grip them by the wame, they’d fqueek like a mauk- en when the dogs are worrying them.

Mtiber. Hute'awa’, daft dog it tou is, that’^ no the gait* thou maun gang in wi’braw good manners, andfomething manfu’,..put on.a Sunday’s face, an’ figh as' jk: were, a faint; fit down befide her as ye were a Mefs. John; keek ay till her now and then wi’ a flown look, an’ baud your mouth as mim and grave as a May-paddock, or a whore at a chrift- ening; crack weel o’ our wealth and hide our poverty,

Sawny. Ay, but mither, there is fome other way of courting than that, or the?

agd ir they i'et meat before me, an’ I be hungry, de’il claw theclungeft. but I’fe 'te tipiides wi't for the fame. A deed nither, fonts man hae their meat and hey ne’er fud get wives, an’there’s fome

o’them no worth the cuffing, an’ a body AXtenti letting an oath whether or no, a hear ye that now, when ye pit me tili’t m gar me fpeak; ay , by my louth, I wad rather lia’e a bit good powny an’ a pound o’ chcefh. or I were bound to hab after ony hifly’s buttocks I fee yet.

Mzthtr. Wa Sawny man,thou’s a fool nd that’s a faut; gin every ane were

as eafy about women as thou is, the wardje wad be a wildernefs, in a wee time there wad be nae body to inhabit the earth, but brute beafts, cats an’dogs wad be worrying ither, and every thing wad gang to confufion, Gae to the courting ye dog it ye arc, and either do fomething or naething ava.

PART II.

UP got Sawnyr' in the morning, and fwalipwed o’er his fodden meat, flag by Sag, and aff he gaes to the coals and The courting, lilting and finging like

9 ja lav’rcck in a May morning, O to be \married if this be the way. The colliers ja’ wondered to lee him fae we!i bulket, wi’ a pair of wally fide auld fafhioned ibreeks of his father’s, and a limg era- ivat, like aminifter, or Bailie t>uff at a burial, a clean face and hands, and n@ lefs than a gun fleev’d-linen lark or. him, which made his cheeks fliine like a (herny weight, and the colliers Ifwore he was as braw as a horfe gaun to a cow’s dredgy.

But Sawny came off with his coals, whiffling, and whipping up the poor ! beads, even as couragious as ony ram at riding time; for no fooner had he fell’d his coals, than he left his horfes to come hame with a neighbour call- an, and away he goes, kecking up the Cowgate* and through the cloffes feek- ing auld Be-go, his good mither to be, then in through the fifli market where he bought a lang herrin, and twa baps, a pair of filter’s auld fhoon, greafed black, and made new agiin, to make his feet femble like, as he kend the lafs would look, at him, for his mither fel- led him the women looked ay to the

i o men’s legs or they married them, and the well leggd anes gaes ay beft afF.

So Sawny came fwaggering thro’ a’l the fhe4 wives, but fhe was nae there, but comijig down the town beneath the guard, hemet auldjV^ojuft i’theteeth, and cries, hey laddie, my dow. how’s your mither honed: Mary ? I thank you co, Sawny, {he’s meat hale, and work- ing fome; how’sa’at hame,isKatewell?

Matty. Fu’ well my dow; you’re a braw fonfy lad grown, a wall} fa’ me ginlkendye.

Come, come co’ Sawny, and I’llgi’e you:a nofTock toiieatyour wamey.it is a cauid day, and ye’re my mithers country man.

Now, fair fa’ you. Sawny, I’ll no re- fus’t; a dram’s better the day than a. clap on.the arie wi’ a cauid ihule fae follow me my dow.

So awa’ die took me* po’Sawny, down • a dark ftatr to an o’ the how houfes, be- neath the yhd, where it was as mirk as in a coal heugh, and they had a great, fire ; Sweet be w? me, co’ Sawny,/or it minds me on the ill part, and a muckle pot, like a little caldron, feething kail an’ roafting flefii. the wife forking them out as m .as die could into cogs and caps.

’rbr there came in a wheen futor like fal lows \vi’ black thumbs and clirecfhy a jprons, that cutted t'hem a’ up in a Wee itime, but the^ never fafti’d wi’j4s nor, ;we wi’ them y we fir ft got a gill ati'd then abet pint; a vow, faid I, iVla'tty, is nae> iKate gauh to get a nun yet ?

A man laddie! a wha wad hae'her' a tnuckle lazy ufelefs jade, die can de maething but work at hufband wark ; card and fpin, wafh ladies rooms, and fcour gentlemens’ bonny things; (he icanna tak a creel on her back, and ap~ :ply herfelfto merchandizing as do, t» •win a man’s bread.

Sawny. I think fomeof the fifherr an* her may mak it up

Matty. Afifher, laddie! hech thefifli S-ers wad rather hae a pickle good bait to their hooks, and twa three bladder^to their lines, than put up wi’ the like of

! her, a (linking pridtu’ jade, although b ! hore her, ay ferapping and wafliihg at I herfelf, pricking ancl prining, keeps ay j l^er face like a fianders baby, an’ no lei’s nor ribbons arid Tings, and her ihime made o’ red clouts a de’il flick pride, when our auld goodams ran barefoot, and our gutchers gaed wi’ bare hips.

Gi^Jicr a.ipaiij.tli.c ill ih^pfilap a gowk in her arfe firft, that,it mayrci'y cuckow whene’er flie fpeaks o’t, ihecando nae- thing but fcqur ladies .yifs^p.ots an’ keep clean the tirlie-wirlie^ thap Hangs about the fire, haith. (lie’s o’er gentle brought up to be a poor man’s penny-worth.

Heigh how, co’ Sawny, an* it’s een a great pity, for (he’s a wed far’d lufty hifiy% 1 had a great kiadneh for her.

Matty. A weel- a-wat (i.e no lingle- * ail’d, (he may be a oafi-bed to a good (illow; but an’ thou had feen me at her age I was a fiurdy gimmer: thcrewas nae a hynd in a Dubbyfide could la a cur- pen to a creel wi’ me; the fient a fallow in a’ fife'but I would have laid on. the, braid o’ his back and a’ his gear upper- mofi:,! was nae chicken to ck at ter wi’in- deed laddie; I had a pair o’ cheeks like a chapman’s arfe, and a .flank like an ox, fae had I een.

Sawny. Nae doubt, co’Sawny, but ye. had a pair o’ beefy buttocks, for your very cheeks hang like leather bags to this very day; but I’ll tell you what I’m gaun to fay ; do you think that your Kate wad tak me an’ I would come to court her.

Matty. Tak you, laddie, tak you, a faith file’ll tak you, for fhe wid a ta’eu a poor button, thing o’ a ha’f blind tail- or wartna me, a poor blind fcabbit like' creature it was, I’ve feen the day I wad carried it in my pouch: WodeTfe war- rant her jump at you like a fiih at a fly, wode I fiy tak you, an’ ihe winna tak you I’fe tak you myfel; but fhe an"

! I cuift out the day about her cockupi I and black caps, gir’d me fay fae meikle I c’ her, but (he’s my fonfy dawty for a’ that, weel-a- wat Ihe is a well natured lafiie, and gin (lie turn out an ill natu- red wife, 1 cannot tell.

Sawny. A well then, I’ll venture on her.as {he is, for mither’s pleas’d, and ye’re pleas’d, and Pm pleas’d, an’ gin fhe be pleas’d, wode Pm fure to get her, an’ the tailor has nae bridled her, or tane a trying trot o’ her.

Matty. But Sawny man, I’ll tell you what we’ll do, PU hame and broach her the night on’t, and come ye the morn, we’ll make it fu’ fall in a wee time, fo thou’s get mair tocher than a Cramon, Gamon to gavion, fhe has baith blankets and fnectr, a covering and l\va cods o;

caff, a c'aff bed and bowfler, and hear'

tqdu ray laddie* I ha’d a bit a-uld liog, ger and fomething in’t, thoii’s ^ec it S’ when I die ; but by my futii it will be* the laft thing I’ll part f I henna what I may need yet; it’s an atild! vrife that kens her ain weird.

On this they paid their fpout and parted; but when Sawny came out,' he ftoited and daggered like a fturdy dote, molafs was chief commander,'for he thought every body had twa heads, and four een, and more nofes than they needed; being fometime in the dark houfe, he thought it was the morning of a new day, a hech, faid he, when was I a night- frae my mither before ? die’ll think I’m put into the guard, tane wi’

i the de’il or the dodfors, or elfe married at and working the wanton trade of weans making.

Matty. Hute daft laddie, the foup drink’s in your head, and gars ye think iae, this day and yederday is a* ae day, ye’ll be banie in liraw time yet.

Sawny A weel,a weefthen good day to ye'goqdmither, ye in urn' gtrr 'Kate take me or thief tak you a^ tlie gither. 3’il ha'me ah”fell the Inigth it’s chrh'c, an’ if it come nae farther, it'maua een dick there —Off hegoea. tacking about

ike a fhip againft the wind, as if he would knock holes in the wa’s an’ win- dows wi’ his elbows, he looked as fierce us a lion; wi’ a red face like a trumpe- ter’s an’ his nofe was like a bubly cock’s neh<ns blue’s a blawart; but or he was halfway hame, his head turned heavier than his heels and mony a filthy fa’ he got. Through thick an’ thin he plafli’d, till hame he gets at laft, grunting and ^graping by the wa’s, that auld Mary

I thought it was their neighbour’s fow, I he was fo bedaubed wi’ dirt.; gets him I to bed, he was in a boiling barrel ie- ;verf.an’ poor Mary grat wi’ grief.

Sawny. Hech, hey, co’ Sawmy, hut courting be a curfl wark an’ coftly, an’

j marriage be as mortifying and murder- ! ing, the-devil may be married for me. I Mitier. Wa’Sawny man, what’s come -o’er the now? thou hail-gotten ikaidi; feme auld wife has witch’d thee, or the de’il has dung thee o’er in fome/dirty midden; wheiV. i.ad thou been or .wlut

| haft thou ieen? thy e,en reel like a wild cat’s, and the iweaf is hailing o’er thy nofe; thou’s witcht, them’s witcht! .O man what will I do ?

i. Sawny. Bock, bock,quothSawny,but it cou’dnawin'up wi’bubbles and Jaerrin

Vi 1

1(5 banes. O co’ Sowny put me in my bed, for may days will foon be done; a curfe on your courting wirk, for it’s kill’d me, and wives is but wicked things, l ken by the fame.

Mither. O dole, dole, my bairn has gotten poifon, for the fmell o’t is like to poifon me.

Sawny. Gin herrin and het ale be poifon, there’ll no money be left alive. Bock co’ Sawny, the bed’s fill’d.

Mither. My bairn, thou was ay a cleanly bairn till now, thou’s furely loft thy fenfes, when thou files where thou lies, as the brute beads does, thou ne’er did the like of this before, fince thou left off caching o’ the cradle.

PART III.

POOR Sawny had a terrible night with a fair head o’t, and fick heart; his cen flood in his head his wame cad- died like ony milk cows, and his pud- dings croaked like a wh^enpaddocks in a pond, his mither rocket an’ wrang her hands, crying a wae be to the wife that has brew’d it, for I hTe lofla well fof-

cr’d bairn, tvi* their (linking ftufF, a neiklc de’i ding the doup om o’ their caldron, my curfe come on them and heir whifky pots, i:' has brunt him a- live, ay, ay, ray bairn’s gone.

But about the break of day his wind broke like the burfting of a bladder ; O happy deliverance! cried Mary his mi- ther, though dirt bodies luck and foul farts~fil.es the blankets, I wiih ne’er war • be amang us. The next thing that did Sawny good, was three rautchkins of milk made into thin brofe, and a fine pickle pepper in them, yet he had a foughing in his lugs, like a faw-mill, an* every thing gade round about with him all that day, when his mother got him out o’ bed in the muckle chair, a pair o’ blankets about his fiioulders, a cod at his back, and a bet brick to his foies, to. gar him true he was nae weel; and there he fat like a lying in-wife, crack- ing like a Hollander, and feat twa dead herin and a cruft, telling a’ the outs an* ins about his bridal; and whan it was to be ; for he fc ad-gotten every bfedy’s confent but the bride’s about it

Mither But, Sawny man, that’s the main thing, ye maun ha’e that too.

1.8 Sawny. ’Niiyp.a, neither, I’m the mainl

thing, mylfelf*,, and.fhe’s but a member, themenrnauiiay befbremoA,gang what way it will Ffe ay be the uppermoft.

Mither But Sawny man, what .way is • hpu gaun to dp? Will ye mak a pay pjenny jedding o’t ? : Or t\ya three gnde ntboursj, a peck meal bakeh, ^vi’ a chepfe an’ a barrets aler will that do r

Sawny. Na, na, m u her. I’ll tak a rjhfiaper gate nor ony o’ them ^ I’ll gar ha’ba croxvn and ba’f a mutchkin, ora rake o’ ;coais, do’t a’, then a body has na$ mair ado, but piis and then go to

Mither. Na. na, my man Sawny, I hae mony a time.heard tby honeil fa- ther fay that never a ane would do well that' eapftrjded the kirk, or cuckoi’d the miniller. . - ’

^ Sawny. ,A tell na me, mitner, o* die ih.inillprs, they’re ayfor their, ain ends as wed as , ithyr Jouk.s, andj if a poor beggar body had a bit wean to chriiien, the de’il a doit they’ll faik, liim p’t. '

Mither. Hute awa’man, there’s nae body has weans but what has filler to pay the chrifteuing o’ themy or if they

be that poor, they fudn^ get nae.,wans? and they wadna be fafli’d fyne.

Sawny. Ha, ha, mither, the poor, fouk is like the lice, ay \yhen.they meet they marry and m^ks mair o’ thorn. An’ I think the minihersmight chrifl- en their bits o’ weans for naething, the water’s.nae fae fcant j they’re; weUpaid for their preaching, they may vex;y well baith marry and chriften a’ the poor fouks weans to the bargain, by way of a mags.

Mither.. Ay, ay, my . man Savvey, marriage is a Aveet thing, far young fouks; and the bed undedled. o: Sawny. Wh.at the vqpgeance, mither, do you think that a body is to hie the bed every night becawfe they do’t ance.

Milker. Na,na, that’s nowh;.t Imean, its thehappineisthat fou^hasthat’sxparn ped.behdes the wearied lopeiome life it lha’e, lying, tumbling and grim ting in d bed my lane : O hrs! but a man in a bed is an ufefu’ body, an’.ix were but to claw ane’s back, as for a. body ’s fore- hde they , can claw it themfelves*

Snwtiy. Ana, mithe'r, mither, ye hae fund.a .ftringagain, f think ye might a wanteda’.yfttir^ewahted fae

20 hng; ye have plenty of baith milk and meal fnnffand tobacco, but ye fmeilat the crack o’ the whip, I kend my mi- ther wad ride yet, for I have feen her waggan this lang tiihe.

Mither A dear Sawny man, an’ thon w^nrance jhi'rly aff the fodder, I’M be cafi -into a hole o’ houfe by myfelf, where I’ll juft fye and break my heart, and weary myfeif to dead; but and I could get a bit hhneft weaver, a cobler, or fome auld tailor by the tail, I wad tickle to him yet, let the country claih as they pleafe about it.

Sazany, A welf a well, then, mither, tak your ain flight; there’s nae fool to an auld fool; for' the morn I’ll be aft or on wi’ the hifty’t hae on hand.

So on the morrow, Sawny got on a’ his claife cleaii, his hair kaim’d and grcas1’d wi’ blitter, and his face as clean as if the cat had licked it; and away he goes fiiigihg,

/ 'iiuLi buy a fotlnd of woo, 1 will wash't and make a pJaidy ; I'm gain o'er the muir to woo. Car line is your daughter ready ?

Now poor Sawny, altho’ he fang, wa* as pale as a ghoft from the grave, hi

face was as whitjy like as a well bjeach’d dilhclout, he look’d as if he had been eaten and fpued again, bur at length he came to the bride’s door, and in he goes wi’ a brattle, crying. How’s, a’ here the day? and what’s corn’d o’ thy ,niither laflie ? O Sanders, faid the bride, (he’s awa’ to the town, what cgme o’ ye.yef- terday ? ihe waited on ypu the whole day; ye gart her loth a whole day’s: trade lad, and {he’s awa’ this morning curling like a heathen, and (wearing,that ye'hae gi’en her the begunk.

Satyny. A dole woman, 1 took a hid- den blaft in the hame gaing, and was never lb near dead in my life

And wha think, ye was in the houfe wi’ Kate the bride, but the wee button, of a tailor, who fat and fewed on a ta- ble, cocking lik a frog on a trencher; but when he kend wha was corn’d, he leaped down on the floor, cult a dafh o’ pride like a little bit prince, he bobbit about, and fo out he goes with the t^af in his eye and his tail between his feet, like a haff worried colley dog,

Sawny. Now Katty, do you ken what I’m corn’d about ?

Kate O yes, my mither tell’d me,

22 but Pm no rfeady yet, I ha?e twa kt&fois to fpin, and things to make.

Sax&Tiy. Hute, things, to mak, ye hae N as mony tilings as ye’ll need, wdrrian, amna yeipin gowns in your ain hotife wi’ mev^s right as here wi’ an auld girnihg blither.

JK-atc. Rut dear Suimders ye muft g:ie a body fome time to think on’t; ’tvvad be! ill far’d to rr.fii the gither iufl at the firti. :

Sawhy. And iio yo:i thinkl Afe.riac- thing ado but comb; here every Icher dd^'hditihg after' yod ? it’ll'no^do ; 1 ritauh be either affor on wi* you, either tell me or take me, for I ken of ither twa, an* fome o’ yon' I will ha’e, for as I’m ra fifiner, my mother’s garni to be married too, if {he can get a bit man of fhape or trade.

Kate. Indeed then, Saunders’ frn.ce you’re in fuch hafte you muft ben tak them that’s readieft, for I. am hot rea- dy yet.

Sawny. Dear woman, when your mi- ther an’ my mither’s pleas’d, I’m will- ing to venture on ye, what a forrow ails you

Kate. Na, na, I’ll think on’t twa or

three days; ifs oWlapg a term to fee without a thought.

Satvny: Wode I thnrk ye’s! is ^amhe- ric p'ifece o’ Huff; it’s true etiotfgh ydur mitlier fatd o’ ye, that je’re nae-for a a poor mart.

Kate, Atr’ what more faid Hie o’ me? ‘ Sawriyi Wode (lie fuid ye cclh’d do naethihg hut waih mugs tfri’ fedm-^en- tlemetis bonny things; bht hiflies that’s bred ama'ng gentle houfes, mihds me o’ my mither’seat, but ye are far eoftlifer to keep, for the cat neither waftes fape ! nor water, but fpits in her Idfc ahd wa- dies her aih face, and wheens o’ you can do nae ither thing, and up he gets.

fcnte O Saunders, but ye be fhort, canna ye no ftay till my mither comes home.

Sawny I’ve ftaid lang enough for o- ny thing the better I’ll be ; an’ I’m nae

- fae fhort as your totum of a tailor, it I cou’il dap in my fhoe fae cou’d 1 een.

Hame he goes in a paflion. and to his bed he ran, crying, O death! death! I thought the jade wad a jumped at me O mither ! gir mak my kill, and gae bake my burial bread, for I’ll die this

/3.

night or focm tile morn. But ear! next morning in comes auld Be-go, h goodmither who had left her daughte in tears for the flighting of Sawny; an hauls him and his raithgr away to ge a dinner of deid fifli, where a’ was.a greed upon, and .the wedding to be oi We^inefday; no bridal fouks l>ut th twa mithers and themfeives twa.

,So, according to appointment, the met at.Edinbnrgh, whereSawny got th< cheap prtefl, who gave them twa thre- words, and t.w,a three lines, tool: thei: penny and a good drink, wifhed then joy, and gaed his wa’s. Nov.', faid au!< Be-goy if that be your minifter, he’s bu a drunken b- h,mony ane drinks uj a’ but he leaves naething; he’s got th< penny for de’il haet, ye migh a cracke lufes on’t, ta’en ane anithers word, j kifs, and a doddle at the hillock fide an* been as well, if no better; I ha’e feen fome honed men fay mair o’ei their brofe nor what he faid a’ the gi- ther; but an ye pleas’d Pm pleas’d, a bout in the bed ends a‘, and makes fare wark; fo here‘s to you and joy to the bargain, it is ended now well I wat

FINIS.