A similar graceful and moral saying inculcates an acknowledgment of gratitude for the past favours which we have enjoyed when we come to the close 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, and the crossing them was dangerous. _He rides on the riggin o' the kirk._ The rigging being the top of the roof, the proverb used to be applied to those who carried their zeal for church matters to the extreme point. _Leal heart never lee'd,_ well expresses that an honest loyal disposition will scorn, under all circumstances, to tell a falsehood.