Page:Penelope's Progress.djvu/63

Rh or in the characteristic picture of William Dunbar, a wit of the lime, and the merriest of the Fencibles:— As I cam by Crochallan
 * I cannily keekit ben;

Rattlin', roarin' Willie
 * Was sitting at yon boord en';

Sitting at yon boord en',
 * And amang guid companie!

Rattlin', roarin' Willie,
 * Ye're welcome hame to me!"

or in the verses on Creech, Burns's publisher, who left Edinburgh for a time in 1789. The "Willies," by the way, seem to be especially inspiring to the Scottish balladists. Oh, Willie was a witty wight, And had o' things an unco slight! Auld Reekie aye he keepit tight
 * And trig and braw;

But now they'll busk her like a fright—
 * Willie's awa'!"

I think perhaps the gatherings of the present time are neither quite as gay nor quite as brilliant as those of Burns's day, when Willie brewed a peck o' maut, An' Rob an' Allan cam to pree;"

but the ideal standard of those meetings seems to be voiced in the lines:— Wha last beside his chair shall fa', He is the king amang us three!"