Reminiscences of Scottish Life & Character Part 22

The proverbs, amounting to 945, are given without any comment or explanation. Many of them are of a very antique cast of language; indeed some would be to most persons quite unintelligible without a lexicon.

The printer, in his address "to the merrie, judicious, and discreet reader," refers in the following quaint expressions to the author:--"Therefore manie in this realme that hath hard of David Fergusson, sometime minister at Dunfermline, and of his quick answers and speeches, both to great persons and others inferiours, and hath hard of his proverbs which hee gathered together in his time, and now we put downe according to the order of the alphabet; and manie, of all ranks of persons, being verie desirous to have the said proverbs, I have thought good to put them to the presse for thy better satisfaction.... I know that there may be some that will say and marvell that a minister should have taken pains to gather such proverbs together; but they that knew his forme of powerfull preaching the word, and his ordinar talking, ever almost using proverbiall speeches, will not finde fault with this that he hath done. And whereas there are some old Scottish words not in use now, bear with that, because if ye alter those words, the proverb will have no grace; and so, recommending these proverbs to thy good use, I bid thee farewell."

I now subjoin a few of Fergusson's Proverbs, verbatim, which are of a more obsolete character, and have appended explanations, of the correctness of which, however, I am not quite confident:--

_A year a nurish[86], seven year a da[87]_. Refers, I presume, to fulfilling the maternal office.

_Anes payit never cravit_. Debts once paid give no more trouble.

_All wald[88] have all, all wald forgie[89]_. Those who exact much should be ready to concede.

_A gangang[90] fit[91] is aye[92] gettin (gin[93] it were but a thorn),_ or, as it sometimes runs, _gin it were but a broken tae, i.e. toe_. A man of industry will certainly get a living; though the proverb is often applied to those who went abroad and got a mischief when they might safely have stayed at home--(Kelly).

_All crakes[94], all bears[95]_. Spoken against bullies who kept a great hectoring, and yet, when put to it, tamely pocket an affront--(Kelly).

_Bourd[96] not wi' bawtie[97] (lest he bite you_). Do not jest too familiarly with your superiors (Kelly), or with dangerous characters.

_Bread's house skailed never[98]_ While people have bread they need not give up housekeeping. Spoken when one has bread and wishes something better--(Kelly).

_Crabbit[99] was and cause had_. Spoken ironically of persons put out of temper without adequate cause.

_Dame, deem[100] warily, (ye watna[101] wha wytes[102]

yersell_).--Spoken to remind those who pa.s.s hard censures on others that they may themselves be censured.

_Efter lang mint[103] never dint[104]_. Spoken of long and painful labour producing little effect. Kelly's reading is "_Lang mint little dint_." Spoken when men threaten much and dare not execute--(Kelly).

_Fill fou[105] and hand[106] fou maks a stark[107] man_. In Border language a _stark_ man was one who takes and keeps boldly.

_He that crabbs[108] without cause should mease[109] without mends[110]_. Spoken to remind those who are angry without cause, that they should not be particular in requiring apologies from others.

_He is worth na weill that may not bide na wae_. He deserves not the sweet that will not taste the sour. He does not deserve prosperity who cannot meet adversity.

_Kame[111] sindle[112] kame sair_[113]. Applied to those who forbear for a while, but when once roused can act with severity.

_Kamesters[114] are aye crees.h.i.+e[115]_. It is usual for men to look like their trade.

_Let alane maks mony lurden_[116]. Want of correction makes many a bad boy--(Kelly).

_Mony tynes[117] the half-mark[118] whinger[119] (for the halfe pennie whang_)[120]. Another version of penny wise and pound foolish.

_Na plie[121] is best_.

_Reavers[122] should not be rewers_[123]. Those who are so fond of a thing as to snap at it, should not repent when they have got it--(Kelly).

_Sok and seill is best_. The interpretation of this proverb is not obvious, and later writers do not appear to have adopted it from Fergusson. It is quite clear that sok or sock is the ploughshare. Seil is happiness, as in Kelly. "Seil comes not till sorrow be o'er;" and in Aberdeen they say, "Seil o' your face," to express a blessing. My reading is "the plough and happiness the best lot." The happiest life is the healthy country one. See Robert Burns' spirited song with the chorus:

"Up wi' my ploughman lad, And hey my merry ploughman; Of a' the trades that I do ken, Commend me to the ploughman."

A somewhat different reading of this very obscure and now indeed obsolete proverb has been suggested by an esteemed and learned friend:--"I should say rather it meant that the ploughshare, or country life, accompanied with good luck or fortune was best; _i.e.,_ that industry coupled with good fortune (good seasons and the like) was the combination that was most to be desired. _Soel_, in Anglo-Saxon, as a noun, means _opportunity_, and then good luck, happiness, etc."

_There's mae[124] madines[125] nor makines_[126]. Girls are more plentiful in the world than hares.

_Ye bried[127] of the gouk[128], ye have not a rhyme[129] but ane_.

Applied to persons who tire everybody by constantly harping on one subject.

The collection by Allan Ramsay is very good, and professes to correct the errors of former collectors. I have now before me the _first edition_, Edinburgh, 1737, with the appropriate motto on the t.i.tle-page, "That maun be true that a' men say." This edition contains proverbs only, the number being 2464. Some proverbs in this collection I do not find in others, and one quality it possesses in a remarkable degree--it is very Scotch. The language of the proverbial wisdom has the true Scottish flavour; not only is this the case with the proverbs themselves, but the dedication to the tenantry of Scotland, prefixed to the collection, is written in pure Scottish dialect. From this dedication I make an extract, which falls in with our plan of recording Scotch reminiscences, as Allan Ramsay there states the great value set upon proverbs in his day, and the great importance which he attaches to them as teachers of moral wisdom, and as combining amus.e.m.e.nt with instruction. The prose of Allan Ramsay has, too, a spice of his poetry in its composition. His dedication is, To the tenantry of Scotland, farmers of the dales, and storemasters of the hills--

"Worthy friends--The following h.o.a.rd of wise sayings and observations of our forefathers, which have been gathering through mony bygane ages, I have collected with great care, and restored to their proper sense....

"As naething helps our happiness mair than to have the mind made up wi'

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 saws_, that s.h.i.+ne wi' wail'd sense, and will as lang as the world wags. Gar your bairns get them by heart; let them have 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 ruck, or on the green howm, draw the treasure frae your pouch, an' enjoy the pleasant companion. Ye happy herds, while your hirdsell are feeding on the flowery braes, you may eithly make yoursells master of the haleware. How usefou' will it prove to you (wha hae sae few opportunities of common clattering) when ye forgather wi' your friends at kirk or market, banquet or bridal! By your proficiency you'll be able, in the proverbial way, to keep up the saul of a conversation that is baith blyth an usefou'."

Mr. Henderson's work is a compilation from those already mentioned. It is very copious, and the introductory essay contains some excellent remarks upon the wisdom and wit of Scottish proverbial sayings.

Mr. Stirling's (now Sir W. Stirling-Maxwell's) address, like everything he writes, indicates a minute and profound knowledge of his subject, and is full of picturesque and just views of human nature. He attaches much importance to the teaching conveyed in proverbial expressions, and recommends his readers even still to collect such proverbial expressions as may yet linger in conversation, because, as he observes, "If it is not yet registered, it is possible that it might have died with the tongue from which you took it, and so have been lost for ever." "I believe," he adds, "the number of good old saws still floating as waifs and strays on the tide of popular talk to be much greater than might at first appear."

One remark is applicable to all these collections--viz., that out of so large a number there are many of them on which we have little grounds for deciding that they are _exclusively_ Scottish. In fact, some are mere translations of proverbs adopted by many nations; some of universal adoption. Thus we have--

_A burnt bairn fire dreads.

Ae swallow makes nae simmer.

Faint heart ne'er wan fair lady.

Ill weeds wax weel.

Mony sma's mak a muckle.

O' twa ills chuse the least.

Set a knave to grip a knave.

Twa wits are better than ane.

There's nae fule like an auld fule.

Ye canna mak a silk purse o' a sow's lug.

Ae bird i' the hand is worth twa fleeing.

Mony cooks ne'er made gude kail_.

Of numerous proverbs such as these, some may or may not be original in the Scottish. Sir William remarks that many of the best and oldest proverbs may be common to all people--may have occurred to all. In our national collections, therefore, some of the proverbs recorded may be simply translations into Scotch of what have been long considered the property of other nations. Still, I hope it is not a mere national partiality to say that many of the common proverbs _gain_ much by such translation from other tongues. All that I would attempt now is, to select some of our more popular proverbial sayings, which many of us can remember as current amongst us, and were much used by the late generation in society, and to add a few from the collections I have named, which bear a very decided Scottish stamp either in turn of thought or in turn of language.

I remember being much struck the first time I heard the application of that pretty Scottish saying regarding a fair bride. I was walking in Montrose, a day or two before her marriage, with a young lady, a connection of mine, who merited this description, when she was kindly accosted by an old friend, an honest fish-wife of the town, "Weel, Miss Elizabeth, hae ye gotten a' yer claes ready?" to which the young lady modestly answered, "Oh, Janet, my claes are soon got ready;" and Janet replied, in the old Scotch proverb, "Ay, weel, _a bonnie bride's sune buskit_[130]." In the old collection, an addition less sentimental is made to this proverb, _A short horse is sune wispit_[131].

To encourage strenuous exertions to meet difficult circ.u.mstances, is well expressed by _Setting a stout heart to a stey brae_.

The mode of expressing that the worth of a handsome woman outweighs even her beauty, has a very Scottish character--_She's better than she's bonnie_. The opposite of this was expressed by a Highlander of his own wife, when he somewhat ungrammatically said of her, "_She's bonnier than she's better_."

The frequent evil to harvest operations from autumnal rains and fogs in Scotland is well told in the saying, _A dry summer ne'er made a dear peck_.

There can be no question as to country in the following, which seems to express generally that persons may have the name and appearance of greatness without the reality--_A' Stuarts are na sib[132] to the king_.

There is an excellent Scottish version of the common proverb, "He that's born to be hanged will never be drowned."--_The water will never warr[133], the widdie, i.e._ never cheat the gallows. This saying received a very naive practical application during the anxiety and alarm of a storm. One of the pa.s.sengers, a good simple-minded minister, was sharing the alarm that was felt around him, until spying one of his paris.h.i.+oners, of whose ignominious end he had long felt persuaded, he exclaimed to himself, "Oh, we are all safe now," and accordingly accosted the poor man with strong a.s.surances of the great pleasure he had in seeing him on board.

_It's ill getting the breeks aff the Highlandman_ is a proverb that savours very strong of a Lowland Scotch origin. Having suffered loss at the hands of their neighbours from the hills, this was a mode of expressing the painful truth that there was little hope of obtaining redress from those who had no _means_ at their disposal.

Proverbs connected with the bagpipes I set down as legitimate Scotch, as thus--_Ye are as lang in tuning your pipes as anither wad play a spring_[134]. You are as long of setting about a thing as another would be in doing it.