he deevil_.

_Raise nae mair deils than ye are able to lay_. Provoke no strifes which
ye may be unable to appease.

_The deil's aye gude to his ain_. A malicious proverb, spoken as if
those whom we disparage were deriving their success from bad causes.

_Ye wad do little for God an the deevil was dead_. A sarcastic mode of
telling a person that fear, rather than love or principle, is the motive
to his good conduct.

In the old collection already referred to is a proverb which, although
somewhat _personal_, is too good to omit. It is doubtful how it took its
origin, whether as a satire against the decanal order in general, or
against some obnoxious dean in particular. These are the terms of it:
_The deil an' the dean begin wi' ae letter. When the deil has the dean
the kirk will be the better._

_The deil's gane ower Jock Wabster_ is a saying which I have been
accustomed to in my part of the country from early years. It expresses
generally misfortune or confusion, but I am not quite sure of the
_exact_ meaning, or who is represented by "Jock Wabster." It was a great
favourite with Sir Walter Scott, who quotes it twice in _Rob Roy_. Allan
Ramsay introduces it in the _Gentle Shepherd_ to express the misery of
married life when the first dream of love has passed away:--

"The 'Deil gaes ower Jock Wabster,' hame grows hell,
When Pate misca's ye waur than tongue can tell."

There are two very pithy Scottish proverbial expressions for describing
the case of young women losing their chance of good marriages by setting
their aims too high. Thus an old lady, speaking of her granddaughter
having made what she considered a poor match, described her as having
"_lookit at the moon, and lichtit[136] in the midden_."

It is recorded again of a celebrated beauty, Becky Monteith, that being
asked how she had not made a good marriage, she replied, "_Ye see, I
wadna hae the walkers, and the riders gaed by._"

_It's ill to wauken sleeping dogs._ It is a bad policy to rouse
dangerous and mischievous people, who are for the present quiet.

_It is nae mair ferly[137] to see a woman greit than to see a goose go
barefit._ A harsh and ungallant reference to the facility with which the
softer sex can avail themselves of tears to carry a point.

_A Scots mist will weet an Englishman to the skin._ A proverb,
evidently of Caledonian origin, arising from the frequent complaints
made by English visitors of the heavy mists which han