Chapter CXXIX

This ‘matchless wail’ (as Scott called it) was written in 1756. For some time it was thought to be a genuine relic of the past. Burns was one of the first to insist that it was a modern composition. The ‘Forest’ is, of course, Ettrick Forest, that romantic district comprising most of Selkirkshire and the neighbouring parts of Peebles and Edinburgh shires. A few straggling thorns and solitary birches are the sole remaining traces of this ‘fein foreste,’ once the favourite hunting-ground of the Scottish kings.

_bandsters._ Binders of sheaves.
_bogle._ ‘Hide and seek.’
_buchts._ Pen in which ewes are enclosed at milking-time.
_daffin’._ Making merry.
_dool._ Sorrow.
_dowie._ Doleful.
_fleechin’._ Coaxing.
_gabbin’._ Talking pertly.
_har’st._ Harvest.
_ilk, ilka._ Every.
_liltin’._ Singing.
_loanin’._ Lane.
_laighlin._ Milking pail.
_lyart._ Hoary-headed.
_mair._ More.
_runkled._ Wrinkled.
_swankies._ Lively young fellows.
_wae._ Sad.
_wede._ Weeded.