Gr. H. F. Ncttall 
581 
To A Louse, on seeing one on a lady’s bonnet, at church. 
Ha ! whare ye gaun, ye crowlin’ ferlie ? 
Your impudence protects you sairly: 
I canna say but ye strunt rarely, 
Owre gauze and lace; 
Though faith! I fear ye dine but sparely 
On sic a place. 
Ye ugly, ereepin’, blastit wonner, 
Detested, shunn’d by saunt an’ sinner. 
How daur ye set your fit upon her, 
Sae fine a lady! 
Gae somewhere else and seek your dinner, 
On some poor body. 
Swith, in some beggar’s haffet squattle, 
There you may creep, and sprawl, and sprattle 
Wi’ ither kindred, jumpin’ cattle, 
In shoals and nations; 
Whare horn or bane ne’er dare unsettle 
Your thick plantations. 
Now haud ye there, ye’re out o’ sight. 
Below the fatt’rels, snug an’ tight; 
Na, faith ye yet! ye’ll no be right 
Till ye’ve got on it, 
The vera tapmost tow’ring height 
O’ Miss’s bonnet. 
ferlie = a wonder 
haffet =temples 
squattle =to squat or settle down 
sprattle = scramble 
horn = comb for the hair 
bane= poison 
fatt’rels = folds 
My sooth! right bauld ye set your nose out, 
As plump and gray as ony grozet; 
Oh for some rank mercurial rozet, 
Or fell red smeddum, 
I’d gie you sic a hearty doze o’t, 
Wad dress your droddum ! 
I wad na been surprised to spy 
You on an auld wife’s flannen toy; 
Or aiblins some bit duddie boy, 
On’s wyliecoat; 
But Miss’s fine Lunardi ! fie! 
How daur ye do’t? 
O Jenny, dinna toss your head, 
An’ set your beauties a’ abread! 
Ye little ken what cursed speed 
The beastie’s rnakin’! 
Thae winks and finger-ends, I dread, 
Are notice talcin’! 
Oh! wad some power the giftie gie us 
To see oursels as others see us! 
It wad frae mony a blunder free us 
And foolish notion: 
What airs in dress an’ gait wad lea’e us. 
And even devotion! 
grozet = gooseberry 
rozet =resin 
smeddum = a powder 
droddum = breech 
aiblins =possibly 
duddie = wooden dish with two ears 
wyliecoat = undervest or night shirt 
Lunardi: the famous aeronaut. 
Bonnets were called after him in 
1785. 
