“ Sawny. Hech, hey! but courting be a curst wark, and costly too: an marrying be as mortifying and murdering, the deil be married for me.
Mither. Wa Sawny, man, what's come o'er thee now? Thou's gotten skaith; some auld wife has bewitched thee, or the deil has dung thee o'er in some dirty midden ”

“ But Sawny, man, I’ll tell you what we’ll do, I’ll hame and broach her the night on’t, an come ye the morn, we’ll mak it fu’ fast in a wee time, so thou’s get mair tocher than a Cramon, gammon to gammon; she has baith blankets and sheets, a covering, and twa cods o’ caff, a caff bed and bowster, and hear’st thou’ my laddie, I hae a bit auld hogger, and something in’t, thou’s get it when I die; but by my sooth it will be the last thing that I’ll part wi’, I kenna what I may need yet—it is an auld wife that kens her ain weird. ”

“ Mither. Ay will she lad, wink and keek well to her, she’ll hae a guess, seek a quiet word of her at the door, and gin it be dark, gie her a bit wee kiss when ye hae tell‘d her your errand, and gin they gie you cheese and bread, or ony meat, be sure you ca‘t guid, whether it be sae or no; and for my blessing, be mensfu wi your mouth, and dinna eat unca muckle, for I've seen you sup as mony milk brose as would have saired twa men to carry on a barrow. ”

“ Hame he goes in a passion, and to his bed he ran, crying, O death! death! I tho't the jade wad a jumped at me; no comfort nor happiness mair for me. O mither, gae bake my burial bread, for I'll die this night or soon the morn. But early next morning in comes auld Be-go his good mither, who had left her daughter in tears for slighting o' Sawny, and hauls him and his mither awa' to get a dinner o dead fish; where a' was agreed upon, and the wedding to be upon Wednesday, no bridal fouks but the twa mithers, and themselves twa. ”

“ So awa’ she took me, quo’ Sawny, down a dark stair, to ane o’ the houses beneath the yird, where it was mirk as in a coal heugh, and they had a great fire. Sweet be wi me quo’ Sawny, for it minds me of the ill part; an a muckle pot has a little eauldron, seething kail and roasting flesh, the wife forked them out as fast us she could into coags and caps, for there came in a wheen sutor like fallows, with black thumbs and creoshy aprons, that cutted them all up in a wee time, but they never fashed with us, nor we with them ”

“ Mither. A dear Sawny man, an thou were anee fairly aff the fodder, I’ll be cast into a hole of a house by mysel, where I’ll just lye and break my heart, and weary myself to death; but an I eould get a bit honest weaver, a eobbler, or some auld tailor by the tail, I would taekle to him yet, let the country elash as they please about it.
Sawny. A well, a well mither, tak your ain flight, there’s nae fool like an auld fool; for the morn I’ll be aff or on wi’ the hissie I hae in hand. ”

“ Mither. Na na, my man Sawny, I hae mony a time heard thy honest father say, that never a ane would do well that capstrided the kirk or cuckold the minister.
Sawny. A tell nae me, mither, of the minister, they’re aye for their ain end as well as ither fouk, and if a poor beggar body had a bit wean to christen the deil a bait they-ll feike him o’t.
Mither. Hute awa man, there’s na body has weans but what has siller to pay the christening of them; or if they be that poor, they sudna get nae weans, and they wadna be fashed syne. ”

“ POOR Sawny had a terrible night, o't wi' a sair head and a sick heart, his een stood in his head, his wame, caddled like ony mill-trows, and a' his puddings croaked like a wheen paddocks in a pool; his mither rocket and wrang her hands, crying, Wae be to the wife that brew'd it, for I hae lost a weel foster'd bairn wi' their stinking stuff, a meikle deil ding the doup out of their cauldron, my curse come upon them and their whisky-pots. It's burnt him it's burnt him alive ”

“ Hute, things, to mak ye hae as mony things as ye'll need, woman; canna ye spin gowns in your ain house wi' me, as weel as here, wi' an auld girning mither?
Kate. But dear Saunders, ye maun gie a body time to think on't—twad be ill-far'd to rush thegither just at the first.
Sawny. And do ye think I hae naething ado but come here every i'her day hoiting after you, it'll no do! I maun be either aff or on wi' you, either tak me or tell me, for I ken of ither twa. and some of you I'll hae, for as I'm a sinner, my mither is gaum to be married too, an she can get ony bit man o' ony shape or trade. ”

“ Heigh how, quo' Sawny, and 'tis e'en a great pity, for she's a weel-far'd lusty hissy; had a great kindness for her.
Matty. A well-a-wat she's no lingletailed, she may be a caff bed to a good fallow but an thou had seen me at her age, I was a sturdy gimmer; there was nae a Hyne in a Dabbyside could lay a corpen to a creel wi me, the fint a fallow in a Fife but I wad a laid on the bread o' his back, an' a his gear uppermost, I was nae a chicken to chatter wi' indeed laddie, for I had a flank like an ox, an' a pair of cheeks like a chapman s arse. ”

“ Sawny. I think some of the fishers and her might mak it up.
Matty. A fisher, laddie! haith the fishers wad rather hae a piekle good bait to their hooks, and twa three bladders to their lines, than put up wi' the like of her, a stinking prideful jade, altho' I bore her, ay scourin and washin at hersel, priekin and prinnin keeps, her face ay like a Flander's baby, and naeless than ribbons and rings, and her shoon made of red clouts; a devil stiek pride, when our auld guidams ran barefoot, and our gutchers gade wi bare hips. Gie her a man! ”

“ Mither. Wa Sawny man, thou's a fool an that's a fault; gin every ane were as easy about women as thou is, the warld wad be a wilderness in a wee time there wad be nae body to inhabit the earth but brute beasts; cats and dogs wad be worrying ither and every thing wad gae to confusion. Gae to the courting, ye dog, 't ye are, and either do something or naething at a'. ”

“ A man laddie, wha wad hae her? a muckle, lazy, useless jade; she can do naething but work at husband wark, card and spin, wash ladies rooms, and a gentleman’s bonny things: she canna tak a ereel on her baek, and apply to merehandizing as I do, to win a man’s bread. ”

“ He behaved with the greatest affability to such merchants whose superior knowledge could suggest any means of extending the benefits of commerce; and that he might engage them to be more communicative, he frequently invited them to his table. ”

“ Aha, but mither ye're lying now, or it was na a' at ance than, but an' they set meat before me, and I be hungry, a deil claw the cloungest an' I be na upsides wi't for the same. A faith mither, fouks maun hae meat an' they sud ne'er get wives, there's some of them no worth the cursing gin a body were na letting an oath whether or no ”

“ So according to appointment, they met at Edinburgh, where Sawny got the Cheap Priest, who gave them twa three words, and twa three lines, took their penny and a good drink, wished them joy, and gaed his wa's. Now, said auld Be-go, if that be your minister, he's but a drunken b—h, mony a ane drinks up a', but he leaves naething, he's got the penny for devil haet, ye might hae crackot lufes on't, and been as weel if no better, I have seen some honest man say mair owre their brose nor what he said a' thegither ”

“ John intoxieated by the familiarity of the King, who very often admitted him in particular to dine with him, took it in his head one day, to request his Majesty to grant him letters of nobility. The King did not refuse his request ”