THE POPULAR RHYTIIMRS OF BERWICKSHIRE. 151 



draining commenced, few of these slinking quagmires are to be seen in thi* 

 part of the country. It is probable, I think, that this curious rythme has 

 some distant allusion to the introduction of Christianity into our island, 

 to the discomfiture of a dark and horrid superstition, which formerly 

 held in bondage the souls and bodies of our Pagan progenitors. 



1 2. " Huntly wood thy wa's are down, 



Bassendean, and Barrastoun ; 

 Heckspeth wi' the yellow hair, 

 Gordon gowks for ever mair." 



" The people of Gordon were recently a very primitive race ; some of 

 them having lived in the same farms from father to son for several centu- 

 ries. It was perhaps on this account they were stigmatized as the 

 * gowks o' Gordon' in the above popular rythme." Chambers. The 

 other places mentioned in the rythme lie in the neighbourhood of Gor- 

 don, but we know not to what circumstances the rythme refers. In 

 fact, it is a rythme without any obvious meaning a rythme without a 

 reason. 



13. " The hooks and crooks o' Lambden Burn, 



Fill the bowie,* and fill the kirn. w f 



Lambden is in the parish of Greenlaw, where there was anciently a 

 chapel. The rythme relates to the fertility of the banks of " Lambden 

 Burn," remarkable for its many sudden turnings and windings. It is a 

 tributary of the Leek 



14. " Bughtrig and Belchester, 



Hatchet-knows and Darnchester, 



Leetholm and the Peel : 

 If ye dinna get a wife 

 In ane o' thae places, 



Ye'll ne'er do weel." 



The places enumerated in this rythme are all within four or five miles 

 of Coldstream. The rythme should be widely disseminated, for the espe- 

 cial benefit of all bachelors and widowers. 



15. Little Billy, Billy Mill, 



Billy Mains, and Billy Hill, 

 Ashfield, and Auchencraw, 

 Bullerhead, and Pefferlaw, 

 There's bonny lasses in them a." 



The first five places enumerated in this rythme are in the parish of 

 Buucle. Bullerhead and Pefferlaw lie in the parish of Chirnside. About 



* Bowie ft woftdea hallow veuel for holding milk. t Kirn a churn. 



