122 MR HENDERSON ON THE PROVERBS AND POriTLAR SAYINGS 



wicksliire, and is applied to the son wlio equals or surpasses his father 

 in any handicraft or profession, althoiig'h it is oftencr used in a bad 

 sense. Who the far-famed cooper was, we have no account, but the 

 following rhyming commentary, which I have once or twice heard, so 

 far explains the mystery «7/// he was so celebrated. 



" He's faither's better, cooper o' Fogo, 

 At girding a barrel, or making a coggie, 

 Touming a stoup. or kissing a rogueie." 



10. '' I)inif:r (liiujs rt'." 



For what no one can tell. May it not have originated in conse- 

 quence of the encampment of General Leslie on Dunse Law, with his 

 20,000 men, in May 1639 ? Dunse might then have been said to beat 

 all the country. 



11. " Ilka lannoch had its maike (epial) but the bannock o' ToUishill.'''' 



Tollishill is a farm in Lauderdale, and its bannock was unequalled, 

 because gold was baked in it for the purpose of being conveyed to John, 

 first Duke of Lauderdale, a loyal adherent of Charles II., and remark- 

 able in after times for his political power and rapacity, when he was 

 confined in the Tower after the battle of Worcester, in 1651. The 

 heroine who baked the bannock and conveyed it to her landlord, for 

 which purpose she went up to London, was Margaret Lylestone. wife to 

 Thomas JIardie, tenant in Tulloshill. There were anciently three farms 

 of TuUos in Lauderdale, and from her abode, by way of distinction, she 

 was called Midside Maggie. For further information on this matter, we 

 refer to the late John M. Wilson's " Tales of the Borders ;" a tale on 

 the same subject b}^ Miss Margaret Corbett, in Chambers's Journal, No. 

 146 ; and to a ballad, entitled " The Gudewife of Tulloshill," by James 

 MiUer, author of " St Baldred of the Bass." 



12. " YoxCil hae your a in wag like the miller o' BiUymill, although the 



Merse should sink." 



"WTiat the particidar way of the miller referred to was, we cannot 

 learn, but we have heard it (and that only once) applied to those who 

 are particularly headstrong and self-willed. Billgmill stands upon a 

 small stream in the parish of Buncle, and is a lonely place, quite out 

 of the thoroughfare of any road. 



13. " Yoxi're like the Miser &' Reston, youUl rather he droicncd than pay for 



a theeker.'''' 



It is said that a person of considerable property, who died in lieston 

 about forty years ago, was so parsimonious, that rather than give a 

 few shillings to a thatcher to mend the roof of his house, he allowed 



