Excerpt from Sketches of Tranent in the Olden Time Upon that monstrous mud-heap called The Mound, Which helps to join Edina old and new, But spoils a very pretty piece of ground, And in the lovely vale obstructs the view; And where Fine Art the blunder to increase Has placed two buildings in the style of Greece, There stood a Gael named Alastair MacCraw, Who, by a quarry-shot was rendered blind, And he, attention to his case to draw, A barrel-organ all day long did grind; And many when they saw his eye-balls dim Pitied and gave a coin, - but not to him! For close beside him stood a crafty jade Who as his lawful help-mate tried to look, And whilst the Gael the weary organ played The spurious wife the coppers quietly took; And grateful glances on the givers cast; - But this impostor was found out at last. How many authors is like that Gael we find, Who even when the public ear they gain, To tricks of trade and worldly cunning blind Employ their mental organs all in vain; Who labour hard, but still make little of it, For some sharp publisher takes all the profit. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.