The Scottish songs - National Library of Scotland

353
And ilka auld wife cried, Auld Mahoiuij
I wish you luck o' tlie prize, man.
The deil's awa, the deil's awa,
The deil's awa wi' the excisenian ;
He's danced awa, he's danced awa,
He's danced awa wi' the exciseman I
We'll mak our maut, well hrew our drink,
We'll laugh, sing, and rejoice, man
And mony braw thanks to the meikle black deil,
That danced awa wi' the exciseman.
There's threesome reels, there's foursome reels,
There's hornpipes and strathspeys, man ;
But the ae best dance e'er cam to the land,
Was, The deil's awa wi' the exciseman.*
* Mr Lockhart, in his excellent Life of Burns, gives the following
account of the coinposition of this poem :— " At that period, (1792), a
great deal of contraband traific, chiefly from the Isle of Man, was going on
along the coasts of Galloway and Ayrshire, and the whole of the revenueofficers
from Gretna to Dumfries, were placed under the orders of a superintendent
residing in Annan, who exerted himself zealously in intercepting
the descent of the smuggling vessels. On the 27th of February, a suspicious-looking
brig was discovered in the Solway Frith, and Burns was one
of the party whom tlie superintendent conducted to watch her motions.
She got into shallow water the day afterwards, and the officers were enabled
to discover that her crew were numerous, armed, and not likely to
yield witliout a struggle. Lewars, a brother exciseman, an intimate friend
of our poet, was accordingly sent to Dumfries for a guard of dragoons
the superintendent, Mr Crawford, proceeded himself on a similar errand
to Ecclefechan, and Burns was left, with some men under his orders, to
watch the brig, and prevent landing or escape. From the private journal
of one of the excisemen, (now in my hands,) it appears that Burns manifested
considerable impatience while thus occupied, being left for many
liours in a wet salt-marsh, with a force which he knew to be hiadequate
for the purpose it was meant to fulfil. One of his friends hearing him
abuse Lewars in particular, for being slow about his journey, the man
answered, that he also wished the devil had him for his pains, and that
Burns, in the meantime, would do well to indite a song upon the sluggard.
Burns said nothing; but after taking a few strides by himself among
the reeds and shingle, rejoined his party, and chanted to them the well-
known ditty, « The Deil's awa wi' the Exciseman.' Lewars arrived shortly
after with the dragoons ; and Burns, putting himself at their head, waded,
sword in hand, to the brig, and was the first to board her. The crew lost
heart, and submitted, though their numbers were greater than those of the
assailing force. The vessel was condemned, and, with all her arms and.
stores, sold by auction next day at Dumfries ; upon which occasion Burns,
whose behaviour had been highly commended, thought fit to purchase four
3arronades, by way of trophy. But his glee," continues Mr Lockhartj
** went a step farther; he sent the guns with a letter to the French Con^
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