One of the most recent publi tions of the Scottish Text Society, is the re-issue of Ferguson's "Pro-16th century. collection.
hook—which of course is only circulated to membera_of the Soyi—is of peculiar interest to Scots, and a few "swatches" may therefore be given of its contents. A number of the proverbs are not the major-is generally re-izarded as our racial character. For! instance we have an addition to the very familiar proverb, not purely Scottish, "A penny cat may Took at a king." In the form in vhich it appears it is a halfpenny cat—"A halfpenny cat may look to the king, and so may the cat that costs nothi Again we have—"Byting and scarting is Seote if that could have pi Froode, whut a difference it, would have made to his Life of Carlyle, going back to the pair: "Tt ly hard to wife an:
"Sound advice is two pennies in "eye draw thee then there is the fancy to have been uw many, circum-tances "Mong speake ing, but few of my sor We find als) proverbs which, bri 4 focus on the history of Scotland, some of them used on sry famous occasions, for example, "Better bairns greet than hairdod men," that remark which amoyed poor King James VI so much the age of 14 or 15. Of more tragic association ix the prover) quoted when Queen Mary was being betrayed to allow her to be executed in England without serious interference from her son, Tt ran "lead men byres not." A proverb ich might be put in an examina ion paper in Scottish history was earest the king, nearest the widdle," that is gallows. There is alto in the collection a very' considerable number of general pro-Yerbs, such as "An ounce of mother it is worth a pound of clergie"—8 pound of learning—or the contomptuous proverb, "Send him to the sea and he will' not get water;" er the proverb, "Lykit gair is half bought." Lastly; we find admiring amusement which less fortunate towns derive from Aberdeen did not date from our own day. Here in
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.