Page:Thrummy cap, a tale (2).pdf/21

 My Muse will nae assist me langer,

The dorty jad sometimes does anger;

I thought her ance a gay smart lass;

But now she's come till sic a pass,

That a' my cudgelling an' whipping,

Will hardly wake her out o' sleeping;

To plague her mair I winna try,

But dight my pen an' lay it by.





The Brownie is supposed to have been a descendant of the of Greece, as he generally attached himself to some family, whom he faithfully served every night by performing any laborious task which he thought would be acceptable. day time he always retired to some ruinous castle, unfrequented church, or solitary den or valley in the neighbourhood; and was his attachment, that any offer of reward, particularly of food or clothing, he invariably reckoned a hint from the  that they wished to dispense with his services, which he immediately transferred to another. He has likewise been known to a beloved haunt, when often surprised in his places of daily ement, or when any particular observations were made on his, which was "meagre, shaggy, and wild." It is very probable, as we have no later tradition concerning the  of the following ballad, that the questions put to him by  at the door of the farm house, occasioned his  from his favourite Fearnden for ever.

liv'd a man on Noranside,

When Jamie held his ain;

He had a mailen fair an' wide,

An' servants nine or ten.