lose of the day or the close of life--

_Ruse[143] the fair day at e'en._

But a very learned and esteemed friend has suggested another reading of
this proverb, in accordance with the celebrated saying of Solon (Arist.
Eth. N.I. 10): [Greek: Kata Solona chreon telos hozan]--Do not praise
the fairness of the day _till_ evening; do not call the life happy
_till_ you have seen the close; or, in other matters, do not boast that
all is well till you have conducted your undertaking to a
prosperous end.

_Let him tak a spring on his ain fiddle._ Spoken of a foolish and
unreasonable person; as if to say, "We will for the present allow him to
have his own way." Bailie Nicol Jarvie quotes the proverb with great
bitterness, when he warns his opponent that _his_ time for triumph will
come ere long,--"Aweel, aweel, sir, you're welcome to a tune on your ain
fiddle; but see if I dinna gar ye dance till't afore it's dune."

_The kirk is meikle, but ye may say mass in ae end o't;_ or, as I have
received it in another form, "If we canna preach in the kirk, we can
sing mass in the quire." This intimates, where something is alleged to
be too much, that you need take no more than what you have need for. I
heard the proverb used in this sense by Sir Walter Scott at his own
table. His son had complained of some quaighs which Sir Walter had
produced for a dram after dinner, that they were too large. His answer
was, "Well, Walter, as my good mother used to say, if the kirk is ower
big, just sing mass in the quire." Here is another reference to kirk and
quire--_He rives[144] the kirk to theik[145] the quire_. Spoken of
unprofitable persons, who in the English proverb, "rob Peter to
pay Paul."

_The king's errand may come the cadger's gate yet._ A great man may need
the service of a very mean one.

_The maut is aboon the meal._ His liquor has done more for him than his
meat. The man is drunk.

_Mak a kirk and a mill o't._ Turn a thing to any purpose you like; or
rather, spoken sarcastically, Take it, and make the best of it.

_Like a sow playing on a trump._ No image could be well more incongruous
than a pig performing on a Jew's harp.

_Mair by luck than gude guiding._ His success is due to his fortunate
circumstances, rather than to his own discretion.

_He's not a man to ride the water wi'._ A common Scottish saying to
express you cannot trust such an one in trying times. May have arisen
from the districts where fords abounded