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 a perusal, to see the remains of it, among the more unenlightened in our own.

"

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.

I.

UPON that night, when fairies light,
On Cassilis Downanst dance,
Or owre the lays, in splendid blaze,
On sprightly coursers prance;
Or for Colean the route is ta'en
Beneath the moon's pale beams;

Is thought to be a night when witches, devils, and other mischief-making beings, are all abroad on their baneful, midnight errands; particularly those aerial people, the Fairies, are said on that night, to hold a grand anniversary.

+Certain little, romantic, rocky, green hills, in the neigh bourhood of the ancient seat of the Earls of Cassilis.

There up the cove, to stray an' rove
Amang the rocks an streams

To sport that night.

II.

Amang the bonnie winding banks

Where Doon rins, wimplin, clear,
Where BRUCET ance rul'd the martial ranks,
An' shook the Carrick spear,
Some merry, friendly, countra folks,
Together did convene,

To burn their nits, an' pou their stocks,

An' haud their Halloween

Fu' blithe that night.

III.

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

Whiles fast at night.

• A noted cavern near Colean-house, called the Cove of Colean; which, as Cassilis Downans, is famed in country story for being a favourite haunt of fairies.

+ The famous family of that name, the ancestors of ROBERT, the great deliverer of his country, were Earls of Carrick.

IV.

Then first and foremost, thro' the kail,
Their stocks* maun a' be sought ance;
They steek their een, an' graip an' wale,
For muckle anes and straught anes.
Poor hav'rel Will fell aff the drift,

An' wander'd thro' the bow-kail,
An' pow't, for want o' better shift,
A runt was like a sow tail,

Sae bow't that night.

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Then, straught or crooked, yird or nane,.
They roar an' cry a' throu❜ther;

The vera wee things todlin, rin

Wi' stocks out-owre their shouther;

An' gif the custoc's sweet or sour,

Wi' joctelegs they taste them; Syne coziely, aboon the door,

Wi' cannie care, they've plac'd them

To lie that night.

* 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 wird, 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 indica tive 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,

VI..

The lasses staw frae 'mang them a'

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pou

their stalks o' corn;

But Rab slips out, an' jinks about,
Behint the muckle thorn:
He grippet Nelly hard an' fast;
Loud skirld a' the lasses; -

But her tap-pickle maist was lost,
When kiutlin in the fause houset
Wi' him that night. ·

VII.

The auld guidwife's weel-hoordet nits+
Are round an' round divided,
And monie lads and lasses' fates,
Are there that night decided:
Some kindle, couthie, side by side,
An' burn thegither trimly:

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.

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,

Some start awa wi' saucy 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 into hersel:

He bleez'd owre her, and she owre him,
As they wad never mair part;

Till fuff! he started up the lum,
An' 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 compared to Willie :
Mall's nit lap out wi' pridefu' fling,

An' her ain fit it brunt 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: