of Aberdeen, and they both attended a great dinner given by the latter.  After grace had been said, the Provost kindly and hospitably addressed the company, Aberdonice—­“Now, gentlemen, fah tee, fah tee.”  The Englishman whispered to his friend, and asked what was meant by “fah tee, fah tee;” to which his lordship replied—­“Hout, he canna speak; he means fau too, fau too.”  Thus one Scotticism was held in terror by those who used a different Scotticism:  as at Inverary, the wife of the chief writer of the place, seeking to secure her guest from the taint of inferior society, intimated to him, but somewhat confidentially, that Mrs. W. (the rival writer’s wife) was quite a vulgar body, so much so as to ask any one leaving the room to “snib the door,” instead of bidding them, as she triumphantly observed, “sneck the door.”

Now, to every one who follows these anecdotes of a past time, it must be obvious how much peculiarities of Scottish wit and humour depend upon the language in which they are clothed.  As I have before remarked, much of the point depends upon the broad Scotch with which they are accompanied.  As a type and representative of that phraseology, we would specially recommend a study of our Scottish proverbs.  In fact, in Scottish proverbs will be found an epitome of the Scottish phraseology, which is peculiar and characteristic.  I think it quite clear that there are proverbs exclusively Scottish, and as we find embodied in them traits of Scottish character, and many peculiar forms of Scottish thought and Scottish language, sayings of this kind, once so familiar, should have a place in our Scottish Reminiscences.  Proverbs are literally, in many instances, becoming reminiscences.  They now seem to belong to that older generation whom we recollect, and who used them in conversation freely and constantly.  To strengthen an argument or illustrate a remark by a proverb was then a common practice in conversation.  Their use, however, is now considered vulgar, and their formal application is almost prohibited by the rules of polite society.  Lord Chesterfield denounced the practice of quoting proverbs as a palpable violation of all polite refinement in conversation.  Notwithstanding all this, we acknowledge having much pleasure in recalling our national proverbial expressions.  They are full of character, and we find amongst them important truths, expressed forcibly, wisely, and gracefully.  The expression of Bacon has often been quoted—­“The genius, wit, and wisdom of a nation, are discovered by their proverbs.”

All nations have their proverbs, and a vast number of books have been written on the subject.  We find, accordingly, that collections have been made of proverbs considered as belonging peculiarly to Scotland.  The collections to which I have had access are the following:—­

1.  The fifth edition, by Balfour, of “Ray’s Complete Collection of English Proverbs,” in which is a separate collection of those which are considered Scottish Proverbs—­1813.  Ray professes to have taken these from Fergusson’s work mentioned below.