Nae man can tether time or tide: The hour approaches Tam maun ride; That hour, o' night's black arch the key-stane, That dreary hour Tam mounts his beast in, And sic a night he taks the road in As ne'er poor sinner was abroad in.

Again, during the prevalence of a murrain about the year 1629, certain persons proposed to stay the plague with the help of a celebrated "cureing stane" of which the laird of Lee was the fortunate owner.

His wee bit ingle, blinkin bonilie, His clean hearth-stane, his thrifty wifie's smile, The lisping infant, prattling on his knee, Does a' his weary kiaugh and care beguile, And makes him quite forget his labour and his toil.

James, also, good-naturedly complied with the Ambassador's request, and agreed to act as judge on the occasion; and he laughingly remarked to Buckingham"Ye are demented, Steenie, to risk a' those precious stanes with which ye are bedecked on the skill with which ye can yield a frail lance.

While on the arch of the 'old brig' was the reply: "I'll be a brig when ye're a shapeless stane.