(5)
While modestly she’ll act wi’ caution
Say ay or no, an' watch his motion,
An' mark the flee occasion weel
To slip into his pouch the Pill,
Then rise wi' seeming indignation,
An' leave him to his meditation,
Sae, he'll believe she disna prize him.
But scorns his flight, an' can despise him.
"Now, Nanse, if Bess by my direction
Gang thro' this plot wi' circumspection,
I spae, ye'll soon gie me a ca'
To tell me he’s your son in law."
Nanse wi' the pill gade happy hame,
Gae it to Bess — laid down the scheme.
An' Bess determin'd to gang through it,
Tho' he shou'd ever after rue it.
Soon after this there was a weddin',
At it threescore at least paradin';
Bess was amang them busket braw,
False hearted Davie, Nanse and a';
An', Nota Bene (illegible text) declare,
The pill incog, was also there.
Bess banish'd grief, an' rous'd the spirit
She once so happy did inherit,
Firmly determin'd if she cou'd,
To jundish Davie in the crowd.
When ilk ane in the merry meeting
Had cramm'd their kytes wi' dainty eating,
The young folks on the floor did striddle,
An' cut their capers to the fiddle,
Alternate join'd the bowl an' glasses,
To drink and crack, baith lads and lasses,
An' Bess, I trow, might bauldly boast,
that night she was the greatest toast,
For wi' the chiefs she gat nae slackin',
For dancin', walkin', an' for crackin'.
When Davie saw her way sae winnin',
An' a' the chaps about her rinnin,
A racking love-pain dirl'd within him.
Yet reason coudna' ha'd nor bin' him,
