26 THE BEE, OR DeC. 22, 



III. 



At e'en in the gloming 



gloomiog, twilight 



Nae fwankies » are roaming, 



no yuuug men 



'Mang flacks with the laffes at bogle to play '•j 



among * 



For ilk ane fits drearie, 



Lamenting her dearie. 



The flow'rs o' the foreft wh' are a' wed away. 



tiu krc ail weeded 



IV. 



tn har'ft ' at the fliearing, 

 Nae blythe lads are jeering, 



jcftine, mocKing 



In the corner of the fold was iifually reared a fniall pen, into which 

 the ewes were driven wlicn they were to be milked, in which they 

 were crowded fo clofe as to he eafily taken. This finall pen was called 

 a tiiiht. The younjj men officioufly alfifted in collcdiinjj them : and 

 as the rams were fomctinus ilyly flipped in among the ewes, this gave 

 room for many a ruftic joke, and great rural merriment. In (liort, it 

 was in general a merry playful expedition, when the young men and 

 women were mixed together ; aiid affordt^ a moil lively fubjed for con- 

 trail to the poet. 



g Sivaniies, a cant tcrifi for young lads, half-grown men. 



h The diverfion here alluded to is ftiil a common amufement among- 

 young people in Scotland, and is called iog/i uiout tbe jiach. To undcr- 

 ftand it, let the Enghfh reader be informed, that //a7v, it it is cuftomary 

 to put up the corn.-, in round ritks, called jlacks^ clofe together in a 

 yard adjoining to the barn. The diverfion confilis in one pcrfon hunt- 

 ing feveral others among thefe Jlach, and ufually confifts of as nume- 

 rous a party as can be eafily colleded together. It is chiefly confined 

 to very young boys and girls, for very obvious reafons, near towns ; 

 but in the country, it affords fometimes a verj' innocent and attradivc 

 amufement for the youth of bolh fexe:., when farther advanced iu life. 



i In haivcfl, the corns in Scotland are all cut down by the fickle, 

 tifually by bands of men and women intermixed, where much cheer- 

 iuiucls aiid good humour ufua'Iy pievaiU, and where many a courtfliip 



