THE SHARK;

OR LANG MILLS DETECTED.

The mair we get by heck and cruk
We aften grow the greedier;
Shark raiket now through every neuk
To hurl till him speedier;
His ghastly conscience, pale and spent,
Was summoned up, right clever;
Syne, wi' an execration sent
Aff, henceforth and for ever,
Frae him that day.

This done, trade snoovt awa wi' skill
And wonderfu' extention;
And widen't soon was every mill,
(A dexterous invention!)
Groat after groat, was clippet aff,
Frae ae thing and anither;
Till fouk began to think on draff,
To help to hand thegither
Their banes that day.

Now round frae cork to cork he trots
Wi' eagerness and rigour,
And “Rump the petticoats and spots!”
His Sharkship roared wi' vigour;
But, whan his harnishes cam in
In dizens in a morning;
And a' grew desolate and grim,
His rapture changed to mourning,
And rage that day.

Thus Haman, in the days of yore,
Pufft up wi' spitefu' evil,
Amang his blackguard, wicked core,
Contrived to play the devil;
High stood the gibbet's dismal cape,
But little thought the sinner
That he had caft the vera rape
Wad rag his neck, e'er dinner
Was owre that day.

Wha cou'd believe a chiel sae trig
Wad cheat us o' a bodle?
Or that sae fair a gowden wig
Contained sae black a noddle?
But Shark beneath a sleekit smile
Conceals his fiercest girning;
And, like his neighbours of the Nile,
Devours wi' little warning
By night or day.

O happy is that man and blest
Wha in the C—n—l gets him!
Soon may he cram his greedy list
And dare a soul to touch him.
But should some poor auld wife, by force
O' poortith scrimp her measure,
Her cursed reels at P——y Corse,
Wad bleeze wi' meikle pleasure
To them that day.

Whiles, in my sleep, methinks I see
Thee marching through the city,
And hangman Jock, wi' girnan glee,
Proceeding to his duty.
I see thy dismal phiz and back,
While Jock, his stroke to strengthen,
Brings down his brows at every swack,
“I'll learn your frien' to lengthen,
Your mills the day.”