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THE PROVERBS OF SCOTLAND.




    "I am of opinion, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "that there is no
    proverb which is not true, because they are all sentences drawn from
    experience itself, the mother of all the sciences."




                 THE

         PROVERBS OF SCOTLAND

                 WITH

  EXPLANATORY AND ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES
           AND A GLOSSARY.


                  BY

          ALEXANDER HISLOP.


             NEW EDITION.

 _ENTIRELY REVISED AND SUPPLEMENTED._


              EDINBURGH:
     ALEXANDER HISLOP & COMPANY.
                1868.




Transcriber's Note:

    Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. Dialect
    spellings and inconsistent hyphenation have been retained. The oe
    ligature is represented by [oe].




                  TO

    SIR WILLIAM STIRLING MAXWELL,
         BART. OF KEIR, M.P.,

 "ONE DEEPLY VERSED IN PROVERB LORE,"

      THE PRESENT COLLECTION OF

          SCOTTISH PROVERBS

          IS, BY PERMISSION,

     MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED.




PREFACE.


The gathering together of the Proverbs of Scotland has occupied the
attention of several collectors. The earliest work on the subject which
has been traced is that of Beaton, Archbishop of Glasgow, who, about the
time of the Reformation, made a small collection. The definite
information which we have of this work is so very slight, however, that
it has been of little or no value to subsequent collectors and writers
on the subject. The first collection of importance is the well-known one
made by the Rev. David Fergusson, minister of Dunfermline, who was a
contemporary of Archbishop Beaton. Fergusson's collection, which
numbered 940 proverbs, was, all circumstances considered, a very
commendable one; and it has served as a foundation to the labours of
subsequent workers in the same field. The next is that of James Kelly,
published in London in 1721. This volume contains nearly 3000 proverbs,
and is very carefully arranged, with notes and parallel illustrations.
The collection of Kelly is an able and valuable one, as he was perfectly
conversant with the subject of proverbs generally; but we are compelled
to agree with Motherwell, when he says that this writer's rendering of
the Scottish dialect is "most barbarous;" nor do we wonder that it
excited the profound contempt of Allan Ramsay, who, from his thorough
knowledge of the Scottish vernacular, was openly indignant at the
reputation gained by Kelly's work, and made a collection himself, which
was published at Edinburgh in 1763. In a sensible but pedantic preface,
which he addressed to the "Tenantry of Scotland, Farmers of the Dales,
and Storemasters of the Hills," he states his reasons for issuing a work
on the subject, and strongly recommends the use of proverbs,
particularly among the agricultural portion of the community. After
alluding to the work of Kelly as a "late large book of them, fou of
errors, in a style neither Scots nor English," he goes on to say:--"As
naething helps our happiness mair than to hae the mind made up with
right principles, I desire you, for the thriving and pleasure of you and
yours, to use your een and lend your lugs to these _guid auld says_,
that shine with wail'd sense, and will as lang as the world wags. Gar
your bairns get them by heart; let them hae a place among your family
books; and may never a window-sole through the country be without them.
On a spare hour, when the day is clear, behind a rick, or on the green
howm, draw the treasure frae your pouch and enjoy the pleasant
companion. Ye happy herds, while your hirdsels are feeding on the
flowery braes, you may eithly mak yoursels maisters of the hale ware!
How usefou it will prove to you (wha hae sae few opportunities of common
clattering) when you forgather with your friends at kirk or market,
banquet or bridal! By your proficiency, you'll be able, in a proverbial
way, to keep up the soul of a conversation, that is baith blythe and
usefou."

Nearly a hundred years elapsed before a new collection appeared,
although, during that period, many editions of the works which we have
mentioned were brought out to supply the demands of a proverb-loving
public. In 1832, the collection formed by Andrew Henderson was published
at Glasgow. It is based upon the previous books, and is a very extensive
one, although in arrangement it is defective. This collection, which is
more ample than the former ones, has the advantage of an elaborate
historical and literary disquisition on the general subject, in the
form of an introduction by the poet Motherwell, which is allowed to be
one of the most interesting and comprehensive papers on proverbs which
has yet appeared.

The present collection of Scottish Proverbs, the first edition of which
