Chapter the First

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      O ay! the Monks, the Monks they did the mischief!

       Theirs all the grossness, all the superstition

       Of a most gross and superstitious age—

       May He be praised that sent the healthful tempest

       And scatter'd all these pestilential vapours!

       But that we owed them all to yonder Harlot

       Throned on the seven hills with her cup of gold,

       I will as soon believe, with kind Sir Roger,

       That old Moll White took wing with cat and broomstick,

       And raised the last night's thunder.

      OLD PLAY.

      The village described in the Benedictine's manuscript by the name of Kennaquhair, bears the same Celtic termination which occurs in Traquhair, Caquhair, and