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On this the hill, on that the brae,
The town's baith snug and trig.

The brig is built abune the ford;
Below it is the stance

Of Peggy's mill; and o'er't the howm
Where was a yearly dance *.

The street in breadth is sixty feet;
The houses all are neat,

With doors and windows painted white,

And roofs of tyle, and slate.

Half

way between the rocks and brig,
The street spreads to a square,
A fountain there supplies the town,
And keeps it clean and fair.

Eastle the rocks a canty inn

Gives lodging, beer, and bread;

Over the door it has the sign

Of Mause the witch's head:

'Tis thirteen miles from Edinburgh,

Upon the Biggar road;

Which runs below the Pentland Hills,
Through where the green is broad:

* See the preceding poem, on Peggy's Myll below The Carlyng's Loupis.

Be-south the craigs the carline lived,

So blithesome Ramsay tells,
When Bauldy, Madge once sent away

With towzled harigells:

The tree still stands, where, like a stane,
Half petrified with fear,

He stood in sight, and swithered lang

Or he durst venture near:

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East from the inn, and rocks,

And of west winds from Carlops Hill,

It still can bear the shocks *.

The craigs, be-north of Mause's hut,

Directly intervene,

And make a narrow pass, betwixt
The village, and the green:

Beyond the green, half round it, south,
There sweeps a trotting burn,

* See the View of Mause's Cottage, and Roger's Habitation ; and the Map. Roger's Habitation was once used as an inn. See Dr Pennecuik's Description of Taceddale. Before that, it was the mansion of the estate; and after, in the days of Allan Ramsay, the farmstead to the whole lands of the Carlops, as one sheep walk, on their annexation to New Hall.

Beneath a gently-rising bank,
Directing every turn;

Till, ending in a swelling know,
Formed by King Charlie's Nick,

It opens to a haugh below,
And lets it pass it quick;

In distant vista, down this vale,
Which verdant slopes surround,
Appears the house, upon the height
Where Symon, once, was found;

The loyal friend of honest Glaud,
That o'er good news to laugh,
In old times, oft, across the burn,

Called on him at Monk's Haugh *.

East, from this valley's southern edge,
Springs up the Rumbling Well;
West, up its Dean, three curious mounts
Contrast the Carlops Hill †.

Behind the opening 'twixt the rocks,
Runs, bright, the village forth;
'Tween and gay Patie's 'Spital Hill,

Its shelter on the north:

See the View, and Description of Glaud's Onstead; and the

Map.

+ See the Map.

As far's the square, the houses line

The street without a bend ;
Along the level street is view'd
The fount at farthest end.

Upon this flat expanded spot,
Whence all these round appear,
A market's seen, the twenty-third
Of April, every year *:

"Twixt Patie's Hill, and Roger's Rig,
The poet's tower ascends † ;

There pastoral flutes, with vernal glee,

For the prize pipe contend ‡.

Another in October's held,

Upon its fifteenth day;

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This day, when Ramsay first drew breath,
The green is ever gay:

* See the Descriptions of Mause's Cottage; and The Lin Burn ; also the Almanacks.

See the Map, for the site of Ramsay's Tower.

These annual contests, among the shepherds of the Pentland Hills, at Ramsay's Tower in the spring, for a Scots pastoral flute, recall the days of Theocritus, and Virgil, and the competitions for the prize pipe, amidst the Arcadian scenes of Sicily, and Italy, which constitute the chief subjects of their Idyls, and Eclogues.

To crowds, at e'en, amidst the scenes

That gave

his drama birth,

The shepherds act it, to the life,

And crown his fame with mirth *.

The tents are pitched upon the heights
The merchandize to hold;

And, to attract the dealers more,
Well covered from the cold:

There gingerbread, and ribbons gay,
Are placed to catch the eye;
For older heads, too, whisky stoups,
That all may come and buy.

The farmers hale their cattle bring;
The young folks all conveen;
And many a fairing is exchanged
That day at CARLOPS GREEN.

Sometimes the drums and streamand pipes,
Are like to deave their ears;

Whan thro' the fair the serjeant struts,
Enlisting volunteers:

* See the Description of Mause's Cottage, and Roger's Habitation; and, in NO. 6. of this Appendix, among the Popular Poems, the Prologue to The Gentle Shepherd, written by James Forrest, when it was acted at Roger's Rig, near the Carlops.

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