But faith! he'll turn a corner jinkin', dodging
An' cheat you yet.
But fare you weel, auld Nickie-ben!
O wad ye tak a thought an' men'! mend
Ye aiblins might—I dinna ken—perhaps
Still hae a stake:
I'm wae to think upo' yon den,
Ev'n for your sake!
Somewhat akin in nature is [Death and Doctor Hornbook]. The purpose is personal satire, Doctor Hornbook being a real person, John Wilson, a schoolmaster in Tarbolton, who had turned quack and apothecary. The figure of Death is an amazingly graphic creation, with its mixture of weirdness and familiar humor; while the attack on Hornbook is managed with consummate skill. Death is made to complain that the doctor is balking him of his legitimate prey, and the drift seems to be complimentary; when in the last few verses it appears that in compensation Hornbook kills far more than he cures.