Page:Alloway Kirk or Tam o Shanter a tale and man was made to mourn a poem with a sketch of burnss life.pdf/5

5 superstition, she had, he supposed, the largest collection in the country, of tales and songs, concerning devils, ghosts, fairies, brownies, witches, warlocks, spunkies, kelpies, elf-candles, dead-lights, wraths, apparitions, cantrips, giants, enchanted towers, dragons, and other trumpery. He no doubt believed them, and would sit trembling when he heard these tales at night, until his manly spirit rose above them, which cultivated the latent seeds of poetry; but had so strong on effect on his imagination, that to the end of his career, in his nocturnal rambles, he sometimes kept a sharp lookout in suspicious places; and though nobody could be more sceptical than he was in such matters, yet, he said, it often took an effort of philosophy to shake off these idol terrors.

, in the 17th year of his age, to give his manners a brush, went to a country dancing school.