ferent 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 title-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 amusement 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 hoard 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 shine 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 wi