In vain thy Kate awaits thy comin ! Now, wha this tale o' truth shall read, 210 220 Holy Willie was a rather oldish bachelor elder, in the parish of Mauchline, and much and justly famed for that polemical chattering which ends in tippling orthodoxy, and for that spiritualized bawdry which refines to liquorish devotion. In a sessional process with a gentleman in Mauchline-a Mr. Gavin HamiltonHoly Willie and his priest, Father Auld, after full hearing in the Presbytery of Ayr, came off but second best, owing partly to the oratorical powers of Mr. Robert Aiken, Mr. Hamilton's counsel; but chiefly to Mr. Hamilton's being one of the most irreproachable and truly respectable characters in the country. On losing his process, the muse overheard him at his devotions, as follows."' VIII Besides, I farther maun avow — IX Maybe Thou lets this fleshly thorn If sae, Thy han' maun e'en be borne Until Thou lift it. 30 40 50 |