(RECOMMENDING a boy).
Mosgaville, May 3, 1786.
I HOLD it, Sir, my bounden duty
To warn you how that Master Tootie,
Alias, Laird M'Gaun,
Was here to hire yon lad away
'Bout whom ye spak the tither day,
An' wad hae don't aff han':
But lest he learn the callan tricks,
As faith 1 muckle doubt him,
Like scrapin' out auld Crummie's nicks,
An' tellin' lies about them;
As lieve then I'd have then,
Your clerkship he should sair,
If sae be, ye may be
Not fitted otherwhere.
Altho' I say't, he's gleg enough,
An' 'bout a house that's rude an' rough,
The boy might learn to swear:
But then wi' you, he'll be sae taught,
An' get sic fair example straught,
I hae na ony fear.
Ye'll catechise him every quirk,
An' shore him weel wi' hell;
An' gar him follow to the kirk-
-Ay when ye gang yoursel.
If ye then, maun be then
Frae hame this comin Friday,
Then please Sir, to lea'e Sir,
The orders wi' your lady.
My word of honour I hae gien,
In Paisley John's, that night at e'en,
To meet the Warld's worm;
To try to get the twa to gree,
An' name the airles† an' the fee,
In legal mode an' form:
I ken he weel a Snick can draw,
When simple bodies let him;
An' if a Devil be at a',
In faith he's sure to get him,
To phrase you an' praise you,
Ye ken your Laureat scorns :
The pray'r still, you share still,
Of grateful MINSTREL BURNS.
Master Tootie then lived in Mauchline; a dealer in Cows. It was his common practice to cut the nicks or markings from the horns of eattle, to disguise their age. He was an artful trick-contriving character; hence he is called a Snick-drawer. In the poet's "Address to the Dell," he styles that august personage an auld, snick-drawing dog!
↑ The Airles-Earnest money.