II.

FROM GUY MANNERING.

THE NATIVITY CHANT.

(BY MEG MERRILIES.)
CANNY moment, lucky fit;
Is the lady lighter yet?
Be it lad, or be it lass,

Sign wi' cross, and sain wi' mass.

Trefoil, vervain, John's-wort, dill,
Hinders witches of their will;
Weel is them, that weel may
Fast upon Saint Andrew's day.

Saint Bride and her brat,
Saint Colme and her cat,
Saint Michael and his spear,
Keep the house frae reif and wear.
Chap. III.

THE SPINDLE SONG.
(BY MEG MERRILIES.)

TWIST ye, twine ye! even so
Mingle shades of joy and woe,

Hope, and fear, and peace, and strife,
In the thread of human life.

While the mystic twist is spinning,
And the infant's life beginning,
Dimly seen through twilight bending,
Lo, what varied shapes attending!

Passions wild, and follies vain,
Pleasures soon exchanged for pain;
Doubt, and jealousy, and fear,
In the magic dance appear.

Now they wax, and now they dwindle,
Whirling with the whirling spindle.
Twist ye, twine ye! even so
Mingle human bliss and woe.
Chap. III.

THE GIPSY'S DIRGE.

(BY MEG MERRILIES.) WASTED, weary, wherefore stay, Wrestling thus with earth and clay? From the body pass away;

Hark! the mass is singing.

From thee doff thy mortal weed
Mary Mother be thy speed,
Saints to help thee at thy need ;-
Hark! the knell is ringing.

Fear not snowdrift driving fast,
Sleet, or hail, or levin blast;
Soon the shroud shall lap thee fast,
And the sleep be on thee cast

That shall ne'er know waking.

Haste thee, haste thee, to be gone,
Earth flits fast, and time draws on,--
Gasp thy gasp, and groan thy groan,
Day is near the breaking.

Open locks, end strife,
Come death, and pass life.

Chap. xxvII.

THE PROPHECY.

(BY MEG MERRILIES.)

THE dark shall be light,

And the wrong made right,

When Bertram's right and Bertram's

might

Shall meet on Ellangowan's height. Chap. XLI.

GLOSSIN sings:

GIN by pailfuls, wine in rivers,
Dash the window-glass to shivers,
For three wild lads were we, brave
boys,

And three wild lads were we ;
Thou on the land, and I on the sand,
And Jack on the gallows-tree!

Chap. XXXIV.

'Before my breath, like blazing flax, Man and his marvels pass away! And changing empires wane and wax, Are founded, flourish, and decay.

'Redeem mine hours-the space is brief

While in my glass the sand-grains shiver,

And measureless thy joy or grief When TIME and thou shall part for ever!'

Chap. x.

ΑΝ ΕΡΙΤΑΡΗ.

HEIR lyeth John o' ye Girnell;
Erth has ye nit and heuen ye kirnell.
In hys tyme ilk wyfe's hennis clokit,
Ilk gud mannis herth wi' bairnis was
stokit.

He deled a boll o' bear in firlottis fyve, Four for ye halie kirke and ane for pure mennis wyvis.

Chap. XI.

'THE herring loves the merry moonlight,

The mackerel loves the wind, But the oyster loves the dredging sang, For they come of a gentle kind.'

Now haud your tongue, baith wife and carle,

And listen, great and sma',
And I will sing of Glenallan's Earl
That fought on the red Harlaw.

The cronach 's cried on Bennachie,
And doun the Don and a',

And hieland and lawland may mournfu' be

For the sair field of Harlaw.

They saddled a hundred milk-white steeds,

They hae bridled a hundred black, With a chafron of steel on each horse's head,

And a good knight upon his back.

They hadna ridden a mile, a mile,
A mile, but barely ten,
When Donald came branking down
the brae

Wi' twenty thousand men.

Their tartans they were waving wide, Their glaives were glancing clear, The pibrochs rung frae side to side, Would deafen ye to hear.

The great Earl in his stirrups stood, That Highland host to see;

Now here a knight that's stout and good

May prove a jeopardie :

'What would'st thou do, my squire

'To turn the rein were sin and shame, To fight were wond'rous peril ;

'Be brave,' she cried, 'you yet may be our guest.

shall excuse me

hath tamed us;

dumb ;