A COLLOP of the foray. This Highland phrase refers to a part of the robbers' booty, anciently called steakraid." Waverley," ch. 23. A CONSCIENCE that ne'er did him ony harm. i.e., an accommodating elastic conscience.—“Waverley,” ch. 11. A COOKIE shine. i.e., a tea party. A CORBIE messenger. One that is long upon his errand, or who, like the raven sent from the ark, returns not again. A CORRESPONDENCE fixed wi' heaven Is sure a noble anchor.-Burns. A CRAIL capon.-Fife. i.e., a haddock. So, A Yarmouth capon-a red herring.-E. The Italian friars (when disposed to eat flesh on Fridays) call a capon, piscem è corte," a fish out of the coop.-Ray. 66 A CRAMMED kyte maks a crazy carcase. A full belly sets a man jigging.-Fr. A CROMARTY fire. i.e., one that is spark out. The Cromarty people were proverbial for thrift, and there is an old joke about the key of the peat chest, which a Cromarty farmer entrusted to his daughter, with instructions to bring out a turf and a half and make a good fire. A CROOK in the Forth | Is worth an Earldom in North. Refers to the fertility of the lands on the banks of the Forth, which is noted in some parts of its course as a meandering river with many crooks or turns in it. A CROOKED (lame) man should sow beans, and a wud (foolish) man peas. The one agrees to be thick sown, and the other thin.— Kelly. A CROONING (singing) cow, a crawing hen, and a whistling maid were ne'er very chancy. A whistling wife and a crowing hen Will call the old gentleman out of his den.-E. Whistling of women, and crowing of hens, two forbidden things.- The house doth every day more wretched grow, -Fr.-probably the original. A CRUEL king ne'er reigns long. A DEAR ship lies lang in the harbour. A DEED grip. The grasp of a drowning man.-Hogg. A DEED light bodes the living nae gude.-Hogg. A DINK (neat, trim), maiden often maks a dirty wife. A DOG in a deer's den. grow auld. --Ramsay. Spoken when a widow or widower marries a person inferior to their former match.-Kelly. A DOUCER man ne'er broke warld's bread. i.e., a better man never lived. A douce woman is often called a decent body. A DOUGLAS! a Douglas! The Douglas slogan. A DOWAL. i.e., a dram. A DRAP and a bite's but a sma' requite. An inducement to a friend to accept your hospitality as a meal is after all but a poor return for his past services.-Hislop. A DREEPING roast. i.e., a good downsitting. A DREIGH drink is better than a dry sermon. i.e., anything is better than a dry sermon, for, of course, a dreigh drink is no drink at all. A DRINK is shorter than a tale. Nicolson says this is a proverb of purely Gaelic origin, and he explains it as referring to the hospitable Highland custom of offering a visitor a drink of the best whenever he enters the house. It first appeared in print in Allan Ramsay's "Collection," 1736. Hazlitt gives it as an English proverb. A DRUCKEN doctor is aye clever. A DRUDGER gets a darg, and a drucken wife the drucken penny. i.e., a willing labourer manages to get work, and a drunkard contrives to get drink somehow or other.--Hislop. Kelly explains this proverb in a different sense. He says, They that are free and liberal will have to spend, when the saving and penurious will get hard labour. ✔A DRY summer ne'er made a dear peck. A DRY stick. An uninteresting, unpopular preacher. A wooden minister.-Gaelic. Unless an advocate has the gift of the "gab," he is of very little use. A DYKE louper. A man who is given to illicit amours.- "Fortunes of Nigel," ch. 32. A FIDGING (skittish) mare should be weel girded (restrained). A FIE man and a cursour fears na the deil. i.e., a predestined doomed man, and a stallion.—“Guy Mannering," ch. II. A FINDLY bairn gars his daddy be hang'd. i.e., one who finds, or steals.-Kelly. A FINE hoo-dy-ye-dae. i.e., a pretty business-ironically. A FLANDER'S baby. i.e., a doll, because in former times Flanders was famous for producing these toys. A FLEA-LUGGED fallow. i.e., a scatter-brained fellow." The Ayrshire Legatees," ch. 6, letter 18. A FLEVER (Coward) would aye hae a follower. Cowards like to have Compare, A skittering cow in a loan, etc. associates so as to relieve them of responsibility for mean actions.— Hislop. Girls run away to be pursued.-Kelly. A FOOL is happier thinking weel o' himsel' than a wise man is o' ithers thinking weel o' him. A FOOL may make money, but it requires a wise man to keep it. V V The English say, to spend it. A FOOL of a nurse maks a wise child. Said as an excuse for the nonsensical bawling of nurses to their children. -Kelly. The nurses' tongues are privileged to talk.-E. A FOOL Winnae gie his toy for the Tower o' London. وو There seems a reference here to an incident in the life of Charles II., who, according to the Earl of Rochester, "never said a foolish thing, and never did a wise one : the allusion being to the monarch chasing butterflies in his garden for the amusement of the ladies of the Court, while the Dutch fleet was threatening his capital. Fools will not part with their bauble for all Lombard Street.-E. A FOUL fit maks a fu' wame. Because a dirty foot implies industry.-Kelly. A FOUL hand maks a clean hearthstane. A FRIEND at Court is worth a penny i' the purse. A friend at Court makes the process short- Fr. This proverb is also found in English collections. It is, however, peculiarly applicable to the condition of things at one time prevailing in Scotland, for, as Kelly says, 1721, "a purse seems to be the only friend at Court, for without that there is nothing there but neglect and empty promises.' A friend in Court is better than a crown in the purse, or than a cow in the fold.-Gaelic, Also Irish and Welsh. As a man is friended, So the law is ended.-E. A FRIEND'S dinner is soon dight. i.e., prepared. A FROSTY winter, a dusty March, a rain about April, Another about the Lammas time when the corn begins to fill, George Buchanan, being asked what would buy a plough of gold, answered in the words of this rhyme. A FU' cup is ill to carry. A full cup must be carried steadily.-E. and in Gaelic. A FU' heart is aye kind. A FU' heart never lied. The truth comes out under the impulse of the feelings.-Hislot. A FU' man's a true man. When wine's in wit's out.-E. Drink washes off the daub and discovers the man.-E. What soberness conceals, drunkenness reveals.-E. Wine neither keeps secrets nor fulfils promises.-E. In vino veritas.-L. Wine wears no breeches.-Spanish, for in liquor men expose their most secret thoughts. A drunken heart won't lie.-Gaelic. A FU' purse maks a haverin' merchant. A full purse makes the mouth run over.-E. Another version is, A fu' purse maks a man speak, ¿.e., gives him courage. VA FU' sack can bear a clout i' the side. レ V i.e., a slight misfortune does not affect the prosperous. A FU' wame maks a straight (or stiff) back. The two preceding proverbs mean that when a man is in prosperous circumstances, he bears himself in accordance with his position, and cares little for the envious remarks of his less fortunate neighbours. Hislop. A GALLOPIN' Tam. A sermon re-preached in different churches. A GAUN fit aye gets gate aneuch. A willing worker never wants a job. A GAUN fit's aye getting, were it but a thorn or a broken tae. 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. A GAUNT at the door. A yawner; a useless loafer. A GENTLEMAN of Wales, | With a knight of Cales, A yeoman of Kent, | Upon a rack's rent, Will buy them out all three. Osborne's "Traditional Memoirs of Queen Elizabeth," circa 1650. A Knight of Cales, a Gentleman of Wales, Ray says:-Cales (Cadiz) Knights were made in that voyage by Robert, Earl of Essex, to the number of sixty, whereof (though many of great birth) some were of low fortunes, and therefore Queen Elizabeth was half offended with the Earl for making knighthood so common. Of the numerousness of Welsh gentlemen nothing need be said, the Welsh generally pretending to gentility. Northern lairds are such who |