And gloriously she'll whang her [thrash]
Wi' pith this day.

* * * * *

Nae mair by Babel streams we'll weep,
To think upon our Zion;
And hing our fiddles up to sleep, [hang]
Like baby-clouts a-dryin';
Come, screw the pegs wi' tunefu' cheep, [chirp]
And o'er the thairms be tryin'; [strings]
O, rare! to see our elbucks wheep, [elbows jerk]
And a' like lamb-tails flyin'
Fu' fast this day!

In the same ironical fashion he digresses in his _Dedication to Gavin
Hamilton_ to satirize the "high-fliers'" contempt for "cold morality"
and for their faith in the power of orthodox belief to cover lapses in
conduct.

Morality, thou deadly bane,
Thy tens o' thousands thou hast slain!
Vain is his hope, whose stay and trust is
In moral mercy, truth and justice!

No--stretch a point to catch a plack; [small coin]
Abuse a brother to his back;
Steal thro' the winnock frae a whore, [window from]
But point the rake that takes the door: