Youwhats your name, woman?
Alison Wilson, sir.
You, Alison Wilson, solemnly swear, certify, and declare, that you judge it unlawful for subjects, under pretext of reformation, or any other pretext whatsoever, to enter into Leagues and CovenantsHere the ceremony was interrupted by a strife between Cuddie and his mother, which, long conducted in whispers, now became audible.
Oh, whisht, mither, whisht! theyre upon a communingOh! whisht, and theyll agree weel eneuch eenow.
I will not whisht, Cuddie, replied his mother, I will uplift my voice and spare notI will confound the man of sin, even the scarlet man, and through my voice shall Mr Henry be freed from the net of the fowler.
She has her leg ower the harrows now, said Cuddie, stop her wha canI see her cocked up behint a dragoon on her way to the TolboothI find my ain legs tied below a horses bellyAyshe has just mustered up her sermon, and therewi that graneout it comes, and we are aruined, horse and foot!
And div ye think to come here, said Mause, her withered hand shaking in concert with her keen, though wrinkled visage, animated by zealous wrath, and emancipated, by the very mention of the test, from the restraints of her own prudence, and Cuddies admonitionDiv ye think to come here, wi your soul-killing, saint-seducing, conscience-confounding oaths, and tests, and bandsyour snares, and your traps, and your gins?Surely it is in vain that a net is spread in the sight of any bird.
Eh! what, good dame? said the soldier. Heres a whig miracle, egad! the old wife has got both her ears and tongue, and we are like to be driven deaf in our turn.Go to, hold your peace, and remember whom you talk to, you old idiot.
Whae do I talk to! Eh, sirs, ower weel may the sorrowing land ken what ye are. Malignant adherents ye are to the prelates, foul props to a feeble and filthy cause, bloody beasts of prey, and burdens to the earth.
Upon my soul, said Bothwell, astonished as a mastiff-dog might be should a hen-partridge fly at him in defence of her young, this is the finest language I ever heard! Cant you give us some more of it?
Gie ye some mair ot? said Mause, clearing her voice with a preliminary cough, I will take up my testimony against you ance and again. Philistines ye are, and Edomitesleopards are ye, and foxesevening wolves, that gnaw not the bones till the morrowwicked dogs, that compass about the chosenthrusting kine, and pushing bulls of Bashanpiercing serpents ye are, and allied baith in name and nature with the great Red Dragon; Revelations, twalfth chapter, third and fourth verses.