NOTE.--_The Cotter's Saturday Night_ was written in 1785 or the beginning of 1786. In all English poetry there are few pictures of home life so charming as that portrayed in this poem. The stanza employed is the Spenserian stanza, named for Edmund Spenser, who first used it. The first eight lines have five feet each, while the last has six feet. Cotter, as used by Burns, means _peasant farmer_. [1.] Much respected friend, Robert Aiken, an early friend of the poet's, to whom the poem was inscribed. [2.] Ween, think, fancy. [3.] Sugh (pronounced much like sook, with the _k_ softened; _i.e._ like _such_ in German), wail, sough. [4.] Frae, from. [5.] Pleugh (the _gh_ has a guttural sound), plough. [6.] Trains o' craws, trains of crows. [7.] Moil, toil. [8.] Mattocks, implements for digging. [9.] The morn, to-morrow. [10.] Hameward, homeward. [11.] Stacher, totter. [12.] Flichterin', fluttering. [13.] Ingle, fireplace. [14.] Bonilie, cheerfully, attractively. [15.] Hearth-stane, hearth-stone. [16.] Does a' his weary kiaugh and care beguile, Does all his weary cark (fret) and care beguile. _A'_ has the sound of _a_ in _all_; pronounce _kiaugh_ something like _kee-owch'_, giving the _ch_ a harsh, guttural sound. (In later editions, _carking cares_ was substituted for _kiaugh_ and _care_.) [17.] Belyve the elder bairns come drapping in, Presently the older children come dropping in. (The vowel sound in _bairns_ is like that in _care_.) [18.] Ca', follow. [19.] Some tentie rin a cannie errand to a neebor town, some, heedful, run on a quiet errand to a neighboring town. [20.] E'e, eye. [21.] Braw, fine. [22.] Sair-won penny-fee, hard-earned wages. [23.] Spiers, asks. [24.] Uncos, wonders, news. [25.] Sheers, scissors. [26.] Gars auld claes look amaist as weel's the new, makes old cloth look almost as well as the new. [27.] Younkers, young people. [28.] Eydent, diligent. [29.] Jauk, trifle. [30.] Gang, go. [31.] Wha kens, who knows. [32.] Neebor, neighbor. [33.] Hafflins, half. [34.] Nae, no. [36.] Ben, inside. [36.] No ill taen, not ill taken; _i.e._ Jenny's parents are pleased to have the young man come in. [37.] Cracks, chats. [38.] Kye, cattle. [39.] Blate and laithfu', shy and sheepish. [40.] Wi' a woman's wiles, with a woman's penetration. [41.] Sae, so. [42.] The lave, the rest. [43.] Ruth, pity, tenderness. [44.] Healsome parritch, chief o' Scotia's food, wholesome porridge, chief of Scotland's food. [45.] Soupe, milk. [46.] Hawkie, cow. [47.] That 'yont the hallan snugly chows her cood, that beyond the wall snugly chews her cud. In a cottage of this kind the cow lives under the same roof with the family. [48.] Her weel-hained kebbuck, fell, her well-saved cheese, pungent; _i.e._ her carefully saved, or kept, strong cheese. [49.] And aft he's pressed, and aft he ca's (pronounced like _cause_) it guid, And oft he's urged, and oft he calls it good.