godly pour in thrangs
To gie the jars an' barrels [give]
A lift that day.

What signifies his barren shine
Of moral pow'rs an' reason?
His English style an' gesture fine
Are a' clean out o' season.
Like Socrates or Antonine,
Or some auld pagan Heathen,
The moral man he does define,
But ne'er a word o' faith in
That's right that day.

In guid time comes an antidote
Against sic poison'd nostrum;
For Peebles, frae the water-fit, [river-mouth]
Ascends the holy rostrum:
See, up he's got the word o' God,
An' meek an' mim has view'd it, [prim]
While Common Sense[20] has ta'en the road,
An' aff, an' up the Cowgate
Fast, fast, that day.

Wee Miller, neist, the Guard relieves, [next]
An' Orthodoxy raibles, [rattles by rote]
Tho' in his heart he weel believes
An' thinks it auld wives' fables:
But, faith! the birkie wants a Manse, [fellow]
So cannilie he hums them; [prudently, humbugs]
Altho' his carnal wit an' sense
Like hafflins-wise o'ercomes him [nearly half]
At times that day.

Now, butt an' ben, the Change-house fills, [outer and inner rooms]
Wi' yill-caup Commentators; [ale-cup]
Here's crying out for bakes an' gills, [rolls]
An' there the pint-stowp clatters;
While thick an' thrang, an' loud an' lang, [busy]
Wi' logic, an' wi' Scripture,
They raise a din, that in the end
Is like to breed a rupture
O' wrath that day.

Leeze me on drink! it gi'es us mair [blessings on]
Than either school or college;
It kindles wit, it waukens lair, [learning]
It pangs us fou o' knowledge. [crams full]
Be't whisky gill, or penny wheep, [small beer]
Or ony stronger potion,
It never fails, on drinkin' deep,
To kittle up our notion [tickle]
By night or day.

The lads an' lasses, blythely bent