Allan Ramsay. [A biography.] - National Library of Scotland

132
FAMOUS SCOTS
' ' Habbie,' after whom the How '
or house is named.
Glaud is so overjoyed at the news that he seeks to
persuade Symon to remain and dine with him, offering,
for it was before the age of good roads and carts,
'To yoke my sled, and send to the neist town
And bring a draught o' ale baith stout and brown.'
But Symon wishes to exercise hospitality himself, and
insists upon Glaud, his sister Madge, his daughter Jenny,
and his niece Peggy, all dining with him, in honour of
the day. This they are to do. We have here presented
a graphic picture of rural fare on fete-days
—
' For here yestreen I brewed a bow of maut,
Yestreen I slew twa wethers prime and fat.
A furlet of good cakes, my Elspa beuk,
And a large ham hangs reesting in the neuk.
I saw mysel', or I cam o'er the loan,
Our muckle pot that scads the whey, put on,
A mutton-bouk to boil, and ane we'll roast
And on the haggles Elspa spares nae cost.
Small are they shorn, and she can mix fu' nice
The gusty ingans wi' a curn of spice
Fat are the puddings,—heads and feet weel sung.'
The second scene introduces a new element into the
drama. Another shepherd, Bauldy (Archibald) by name,
has also been smitten with Peggy's charms—and it affords
an excellent idea of the simplicity of these rural districts
in Scotland, when he repairs to a poor old woman
named Mause, whom the district reputes to be a witch,
to entreat her aid in turning Peggy's heart towards
himself. Bauldy's picture of Peggy, in his soliloquy, is
beautiful in its very simpUcity
—
' O Peggy ! sweeter than the dawning day,
Sweeter than gowany glens or new-mawn hay;
;
;