5
Near and more near the thunders roll!
When, glimmerin thrpsthe groaning trees
Kirk Alloway! seem;d in a bleeze!
Thro' ilka borethe behms were ⟨glancin⟩
And loud resounded mirth and dancin.
Inspirin bold John Baileycorn
What dangets thou can mak us scorn!
Wi' tippeny we fear nae evil;
Wi' usquebae we'll face the devil!—
The swats sae ream'd in Tammie's noddle;
Fair play, he car'd na deilas a boddle;
But Maggie stood right aair astonish'd,
Till by the heel and hand admonish'd,
She ventur'd forward on the light;
And, vow Tam sav an unco sight!
Warlocks and witches in a dance;
Nae cotillion brent new frae France,
But hornpipes, jigs, strathspeys and reels,
Pat life and mettle in their heels:
A winnock-bunker in the cast,
There sat auld Nick ih shape o' beast;
A towzie tyke, black, grim, and large,
To gie them music was his charge:
He screw'd the pipes, and gart them skirl,
Till roof and rafters in' did dirl,—
Coffins stood round like open presses,
That shaw'd the dead in their last dresses,
And by some devilish cantrip ⟨slight⟩
Each in its could hand held a light;—
By which heroic, Tam was: able
To note upon the haly table,
A murderer's banes in gibbet airns;
Twa span-lang, wee, uncristen'd bairns;
⟨A⟩ thief, new cutted frae a rape,
