with critical observations and biographical notices, by Robert Burns

wind.
259
Note I.
When hailstones drive wi* bitter skyte.
The slanting stroke of hail when carried by the
Note II.
Ae night at e'en a merry core
0* randie, gangrel bodies.
In Posie-Nansie's held the splore.
To drink their orra duddies.
Randie, gangrel bodies, are blackguard vagrants.
The splore is a frolic, a merry meeting. In the slang
language of the inhabitants of St. Giles's, in London,
it is called a spree, or a go. Orra duddies are su-
perfluous rags. Posie Nansie is an expressive Scot-
tish nickname for one whose fingers are too familiar
with the purses of others. A pose signifies a purse
of money, a quantity of coin, &c. Posie Nansie's
was also a designation for a well-known barn in the
outskirts of Mauchline, belonging to a whiskey-
house, in which the Beggars held their orgies, and
where the present group actually met.
s 2