They wha’d on genuine horrors sup,
And scare a body,
Are not inspired by raw pork-chop,
An’ whusky-toddy.
But oh! a leddy-novelist’s Deil
Wad scarcely gar a bairnie squeel!
Like Hotspur’s “sarcenet oath,” we feel
It hath nae terror.
Is lathen dagger ta’en for steel
A greater error?