Page:Monk and the miller's wife (3).pdf/2

 The Monk and Miller's Wife. —— AN honest miller wonr'd in Fife, That had a young and wanton wife, Wha sometimes thol’d the parish priest To mak her man a twa-horn’d beast. He paid right mony visits till her, And, to keep in wi' Hah the miller, Endeavour’d aft to mak him happy, Where’er he kend the ale was nappy. Sic condescension in a pastor, Knit Halbert's love to him the faster: And by his converse, troth ’tis true, Hab learn’d to preach when he was fou Thus all the three were wonder pleas’d; The wife well serv'd, the man well eas'd: This grounds his corns, and that did cherish Himsel wi’ dining round the parish. Bess, the gudewife, thought it nae skaith, Since she was fit to serve them baith. When equal is the night and day. And Ceres gives, the schools the play, A youth sprung frae a gentle pater. Bred at St. Andrew's alma-mater. Ae day gaun hameward, it fell late, And him benighted by the gate: To lie without, -pit-mirk did shore him, He coudna see his thumb before him ; But clack—clack—clack, he heard a mill, Whilk led him be the lugs theretill. To tak the thread of tale slang, This mill to Halbert did belang: Not less this note your notice claims, The scholar’s name was Master James.