Lang ere the deil dee by the dyke-side. Spoken when the improbable death of some powerful and ill-disposed person is talked of.

Let ae deil ding anither.  Spoken when too bad persons are at variance over some evil work.

The deil’s bairns hae deil’s luck.  Spoken enviously when ill people prosper.

The deil’s a busy bishop in his ain diocie.  Bad men are sure to be active in promoting their own bad ends.  A quaint proverb of this class I have been told of as coming from the reminiscences of an old lady of quality, to recommend a courteous manner to every one:  It’s aye gude to be ceevil, as the auld wife said when she beckit[135] to the 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.