PRELIMINARIES I. OUR OLD GRANDFATHER, II. MY OWN FATHER, The weaver he gied up the stair, Dancing and singing; A bunch o' bobbins at his back, Rattling and ringing. _Old Song_. III. COMING INTO THE WORLD, --At first the babe Was sickly; and a smile was seen to pass Across the midwife's cheek, when, holding up The feeble wretch, she to the father said, "A fine man-child!" What else could they expect? The father being, as I said before, A weaver. HOGG'S _Poetic Mirror_. IV. CALF-LOVE, Bonny lassie, will ye go, will ye go, will ye go, Bonny lassie, will ye go to the Birks of Aberfeldy? BURNS. For a tailor is a man, a man, a man, And a tailor is a man. _Popular Heroic Song_. V. CURSECOWL, From his red poll a redder cowl hung down; His jacket, if through grease we guess, was brown; A vigorous scamp, some forty summers old; Rough Shetland stockings up his thighs were roll'd; While at his side horn-handled steels and knives Gleam'd from his pouch, and thirsted for sheep's lives. ODOHERTY'S _Miscellanea Classica_. VI. PUSHING MY FORTUNE, Oh, love, love, lassie, Love is like a dizziness, It winna let a puir bodie Gang about their business. JAMES HOGG. VII. THE FOREWARNING, I had a dream which was not all a dream. BYRON. Coming events cast their shadows before. CAMPBELL. VIII. LETTING LODGINGS, Then first he ate the white puddings, And syne he ate the black, O; Though muckle thought the Gudewife to hersell, Yet ne'er a word she spak, O. But up then started our Gudeman, And an angry man was he, O. _Old Song_. IX. BENJIE'S CHRISTENING, We'll hap and row, hap and row, We'll hap and row the feetie o't. It is a wee bit weary thing, I dinnie bide the greetie o't. PROVOST CREECH. An honest man, close button'd to the chin, Broad-cloth without, and a warm heart within. COWPER. This great globe and all that it inherits shall dissolve, And, like the baseless fabric of a vision, Leave not a rack behind. SHAKESPEARE. X. THE RESURRECTION MEN,