120 MR HENDERSON ON THE PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS 



tiou : hence the proverb is with great appropriateuess applied to those 

 persons of lax principles who can accommodate their consciences to all 

 circumstances, and who can stretch it to any extent to suit their selfish 

 Xmrposes. 



2. " The third and last of Aytun Fairy 



As the pleasant and thriving- village of Ayton is well known to all 

 the members of the Club, it would be a waste of time to give any 

 description of it here. When the good housewife has brought forth 

 the last of her stone of meal, potatoes, &c., it is usual with her to 

 repeat the above saying. How it originated, it is not easy to say. 



3. " This is lihe Hilton Kirhy 



The ancient parish of Hilton now forms the eastern part of Whitsome. 

 The kirk is in ruins, but its burial-ground is still used. The Eev. 

 Daniel Douglas was minister here in Scotland's persecuting times, and 

 he had to flee to Holland to escape the fury of his enemies. He seems 

 to have been a man of apostolic simphcity, sincere piety, and every 

 way endowed as becomes a minister of the Gospel. After the Revolu- 

 tion he returned to his charge at Hilton, and died there on the 24th 

 July 1705, in the eighty-sixth j^ear of his age, and his Through is still 

 pointed out in the church-yard. A certain laird of Hilton, who had 

 been freely reproved by Daniel Douglas for his licentiousness, so far 

 forgot what was due to decorum, as to drag the reverend gentleman 

 from the pulpit. Such a scene would naturally excite great disorder 

 and confu.sion in the congregation, and hence may have arisen the 

 proverb, — as it is commonly applied to a noisy assembly of village 

 politicians, or when things are in great disorder about a house. 



4. " Tliis is like Cranshaw Kirk, there^s as many dogs as folk." 



In a wild pastoral region like that of Cranshaws, lying in the midst 

 of the Lammermuir Hills, it is usual for the shepherd dogs to accom- 

 pany their masters to the church, and, in times of severe stormy 

 weather, it may have happened that few people, except the shepherds, 

 who are accustomed to be out in all seasons, could attend divine 

 service ; and in such circumstances, it may have occurred that the dogs 

 may have equalled in number the rational hearers of the Word, and 

 hence has probably originated the saying, which I have often heard 

 applied by bustling servant-girls to a scene where three or four dogs 

 were lying abovit the fireside, and impeding her in her work. 



5. " He's as bold as a Lammermoor Lion.'''' 



A Lammermoor lion is a sheep, and the proverb is applied in a sar- 

 castic way to a boasting and assuming person. " As fierce as a lion of 

 Cotswold," is an English proverb, and bears the sam. meaning. 



