"He's a great man for gathering gowans and other sic trash. He's maybe for a dander up the burn juist. They say he's a great botanical man."
"Ay," said Brodie, "paidling in a burn's the ploy for him. He's a weanly gowk."
"A-a-ah!" protested the baker, who was a Burnsomaniac, "there's waur than a walk by the bank o' a bonny burn. Ye ken what Mossgiel said:—
'The Muse nae poet ever fand her,
Till by himsel' he learned to wander,
Adown some trottin' burn's meander,
And no thick lang;
Oh sweet to muse and pensive ponder
A heartfelt sang.'"
Poetical quotations, however, made the Provost uncomfortable. "Ay," he said dryly in his throat; "verra good, baker, verra good!—Who's yellow doag's that? I never saw the beast about the town before!"