A MAN'S hat in his hand ne'er did him ony harm. A MAN'S head is safer in a steel cap than in a marble palace. "Legend of Montrose," ch. 2. A saying of the troubled times, implying that no condition of life was so safe as one of continual defence against the too probable attack. A MAN'S mind is a mirk mirror. A MAN'S weel or wae as he thinks himsel' sae. A MAN'S worst friends are those he brings with him. For if they disparage him they are believed, as being supposed to know him. Spoken also when they whom we thought to have been our friends in such a case, were against our interest.-Kelly. You are good to help a lame dog over a stile.-E. Where shall a man have a worse friend than he brings from home.— Somersetshire. A MART. The fat ox killed at Martinmas and salted for the winter's consump tion. Winter provisions generally. A MARY. Queen Mary of Scotland made it a custom to have four Marys as her ladies of honour, until at last it became a common phrase to speak of a favourite waiting woman as a Mary. A MEIN pot (in which many have a share) never played even. Prospects in which many have a share often prove failures.-Kelly. There is falsehood in fellowship.-E. A pot that belongs to many is ill stirred and worse boiled.-E. So, A party pot ne'er plays even.-Hislop. And he says, An interested party cannot be an impartial judge. A MERSE mist alang the Tweed In a harvest mornin's gude indeed.-Henderson. A MIDGE is as big as a mountain amaist. The latitude afforded in the word “almost " furnishes the point in this and several other proverbs.-Hislop. So, Almost a mare's as great as a mountain.Kelly. The cow is only a good deal bigger than the midge.-Gaelic. Almost was never hanged; and, Almost and very nigh save many a lie.-E. The signification of this word almost having some latitude, men are apt to stretch it to cover untruths.-Ray. Compare, Amaist and very near, etc.; and, Amaist was ne'er a man's life. A MILE and a bittock. "Guy Mannering," ch. 1. A Yorkshire way-bit. A Kentish mile.-E. Ask a countryman how many miles it is to such a town, and he will return commonly "So many miles and a way-bit." Which way-bit is enough to make the weary traveller surfeit of the length thereof. But it is not way-bit, though generally so pronounced, but wee-bit, a pure Yorkshireism, which is a small bit in the northern language.-Ray. A MILE of Don's worth two of Dee, A MIND that's scrimpit never wants some care. But aiblins, neibour, ye hae not a heart, A MISFORTUNE. -Ramsay's "Gentle Shepherd." In Scotland when a young woman bears an illegitimate child she is said to have had "a misfortune." So, "the unfortunate one" is the popular Russian and Siberian name for a criminal. A MISTY May and a dropping June Brings the bonny land of Moray aboon. Shaw's "History of Province of Moray," ed. 1826, p. 198. Moray owing to its gravelly soil is the better of summer rains. A MISTY morning may be a clear day. A misty morning may have a fine day.—E. A MOLL on the coals. A sigher of sadness.-Galt's "The Entail," ch. 18. A MORNING'S sleep is worth a fauld o' sheep to a hudderin' dudderin' daw. A reflection upon lazy, sleepy drabs, who prefer nothing to soaking in their beds in the morning.-Kelly. A MOUTHFU' o' meat may be a tounfu' o' shame. That is if it be stolen, intimating that a little thing picked will procure a great disgrace.-Kelly. Or, An egg is a mouthful of meat and a townful of shame.-E. Also in Gaelic and Irish. A MUCKLE hash. "Old Mortality," ch. 28. i.e., a clumsy, clownish lad. A MUFFLED man. i.e., one who, for his future safety, assumed a mask or disguise in leading the enemy to the haunts of his neighbours or associates whom he betrayed. "Tales of the Borders, "--Archy Armstrong.' "The Abbot," ch. 33, and note, P. A NAG wi' a wame and a mare wi' nane are no a gude pair. That is a well fed man and a hungry man, or, it may be, an intelligent and ignorant man are not well matched.-Hislop. May it not also refer to a married pair who are unequally yoked? A NAKED man maun rin. i.e., a destitute man must exert himself. A NE'ER-DO-WEEL. Never to thrive-a thorough scapegrace. A NEST egg. i.e., the nucleus of a fortune. A NEW mantle and a new hood, Poor brownie, ye'll ne'er dae mair good. If the inmates of a house wished to get rid of a brownie, they had only to leave out for him a new coat or mantle. Hence one of these spirits, where this had been done, was heard to take his leave of the house in the words of this rhyme. A NEW pair o' breeks will cast doun an auld coat. i.e., a new friend may tend to lessen our esteem for an old one. A NEW tout on an old horn. "Fortunes of Nigel," ch. 27. Compare, An auld tout, etc. A NEW warld. Jacobite phrase. i.e., political change.-"The Abbot," ch. 18. A NOD'S as good as a wink to a blind horse. "Heart of Midlothian," ch. 16. You may either nod or wink at a blind horse.-E. A PEAR o' another tree. A hawk of another nest.-E. A PEESMEAL o' clishmaclavers. i.e., a parcel of nonsense. A PENNY in the purse is better than a crown spent. A crown in pocket doth you more credit than an angel spent.-E. A PENNY stane cast. i.e., a short distance.-" Guy Mannering," ch. II. A PENNY wedding. So called because the guests paid for their entertainment. The price paid was originally a penny Scots. A PERTH arrow hath a perfect flight. "Fair Maid of Perth," ch. 24. A PICKLE'S no missed in a mickle. A PICKLED primineary. i.e., an awkward predicament. - The Ettrick Shepherd, “The Brownie of Bodsbeck," ch. 5. A PINT ale's man. i.e., a good jovial companion. A POOR man maks a poor marriage, and there's no meat for him. Spoken when people of mean condition are meanly treated.-Kelly. A POUND O' Woo' is as heavy as a pound o' lead. A PRETTY kettle of fish. The origin of the phrase is said to be as follows:-Michael Scott, the wizard, after a successful day's fishing on Tweed, found the contents of his basket turned into grotesque imps and miniature salamanders by Satanic agency, hence the exclamation. A PRETTY man. This phrase was used in Scotland in the sense of the German prachtig, and meant a gallant, alert fellow, prompt and ready at his weapon. "Rob Roy," ch. 26. A PRICK the clout loon. i.e., a tailor.—“Redgauntlet," Letter 12. A PRIMSIE damsel maks a daidlin' dame. Another version of, A dink maiden, etc. A PROUD heart in a poor breast has muckle dolour to dree. Pride and poverty suffer much. A proud heart and a beggar's purse are never loving companions.-E. A QUERN Stone is the better of being pitted and indented with many blows, so that you do not break it.-Gaelic. This proverb is an old one of a state long before the age of waterdriven grinding mills, and when hand querns were in common, everyday use over all the Highlands. The meaning is that a criminal or evil doer of any sort is to be punished with all necessary severity where the case required it; the end always in view, however, was the reformation of the culprit, not his utter ruin from over severity of bodily punishment, and least of all his death. A RAB HA'. i.e., a restless man. A RAGGIT coat was ne'er a mote in a man's marriage. A RAIK O' water. i.e., two pitchers'-full. A RAINBOW in the morning is the shepherd's warning, If the rainbow comes at night The rain has gone quite.-East Anglia. A rainbow in the morn, Put your hook in the corn; A rainbow at eve, Put your head in the sheave.-Cornwall. A RAVELLED hasp on the yarn windles. A windle is a turning frame upon which A RECKLESS houssie maks many thieves. A RED nose maks a raggit back. As the drunkard goes, he is known by his nose.-E. A REEK hen. In Aberdeenshire the poultry delivered to the landlord as part of the rent were called "reek hens."- -"Johnnie Gibb of Gushetneuk." A REEKY house and a girnin' wife will lead a man a fashious life. Compare, A house wi' a reek, etc. Kelly says, A leakie house and a scolding wife are two bad companions. A REGULAR Pate Stewart.-Orkney. Said of any cruel tyrannical man. This reference is to Earl Patrick Stewart, son of Earl Robert, who received a grant of the Orkney Islands from Queen Mary, his natural sister. While the father was a rapacious and hard taskmaster, the son was even worse. At last his manifold misconduct attracted the attention of the authorities at Edinburgh, and being summoned there to answer the charges brought against him, he was after considerable delay executed at the Market Cross of the metropolis on the 6th February, 1615. In the "Pirate" a fisherman is made to say of Mr. Merton, who had pelted him from his house at Dunrossness with his own fish, “that, if they provoked Mr. Merton any further, he would turn an absolute Pate Stewart on their hands, and hang and head without either mercy or judgment." A RENT is better than a darn. A blunder is often made worse by attempts to explain it away. A REPROOF is nae poison. No, indeed! but a wholesome medicine, whichsoever refuseth is brutish.-Kelly. A RICH man has mair cousins than his faither had kin. Every one is kin to the rich man.-E. and in Italian. |