THE following POEM will, by many Readers, be well enough understood; but, for the fake of those who are unacquainted with the manners and traditions of the country where the scene is caft, Notes are added, to give some account of the principal Charms and Spells of that Night, fo big with Prophecy to the Peasantry in the Weft of Scotland. The paffion of prying into Futurity makes a striking part of the history of Human-nature, in it's rude ftate, in all ages and nations; and it may be fome entertainment to a philofophic mind, if any fuch should honor the Author with a perufal, to fee the remains of it, among the more unenlightened in our own.

HALLOWEEN. *

Yes! let the Rich deride, the Proud difdain, The fimple pleasures of the lowly train; To me more dear, congenial to my heart,

One native charm, than all the glofs of art.

GOLDSMITH.

U

I.

PON that night, when Fairies light,
On Caffilis Downans † dance,

Or owre the lays, in splendid blaze,
On sprightly courfers prance;

Is thought to be a night when Witches, Devils, and other mifchief-making beings, are all abroad on their baneful, midnight errands: particularly, thofe aerial people, the Fairies, are faid, on that night, to hold a grand Anniversary.

† Certain little, romantic, rocky, green hills, in the neighbourhood of the ancient feat of the Earls of Caffilis.

Or for Colean, the rout is taen,

Beneath the moon's pale beams; There, up the Cove, to ftray an' rove, Amang the rocks an' ftreams

To fport that night.

II.

Amang the bonie, winding banks,

Where Doon rins, wimplin, clear,

Where BRUCE + ance rul'd the martial

ranks,

An' fhook his Carrick fpear,

Some merry, friendly, countra folks,

Together did convene,

To burn their nits, an' pou their stocks,

An' haud their Halloween

Fu' blythe that night.

* A noted cavern near Colean-house, called the Cove of Colean; which, as well as Caffilis 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.

III.

The laffes feat, an' cleanly neat,

Mair braw than when they're fine;
Their faces blythe, fu' fweetly kythe,
Hearts leal, an' warm, an' kin':
The lads fae trig, wi' wooer-babs,
Weel knotted on their garten,

Some unco blate, an' fome wi' gabs,
Gar laffes hearts gang startin

Whyles faft at night.

IV.

Then, first an' foremost, thro' the kail,

Their stocks

* maun a' be fought ance;

* The first ceremony of Halloween, is, pulling each a Stock, or plant of kail. They must go out, hand in hand, with eyes fhut, and pull the first they meet with its being big or little, straight or crooked, is prophetic of the fize and fhape of the grand object of all their Spells-the husband or wife. If any yird, or earth, stick to the root, that is tocher, or fortune; and the taste of the cuftoc, that is, the heart of the stem, is indicative of the natural temper and difpofition. Laftly, the stems, or to give them their ordinary appellation, the runts, are placed fomewhere 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.

They steek their

een, an' grape an' wale,

For muckle anes, an' ftraught 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 fow-tail

Sae bow't that night.

V.

Then, ftraught or crooked, yird or nane,
They roar an' cry a' throw'ther;
The vera wee-things, toddlan, rin,

Wi' ftocks out owre their shouther:
An' gif the cuftock's sweet or four,

Wi' joctelegs they taste them;

Syne coziely, aboon the door,

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

To lye that night.

VI.

The laffes ftaw frae 'mang them a',

They go to the barn-yard, and pull each, at three feveral