NATIONAL AND LOCAL CHARACTERISTICS. LOCAL ALLUSIONS.
A right Englishman knows not when a thing is well.
It would seem, too, that he does not know when a thing is ill; for the French say the English were beaten at Waterloo, but had not the wit to know it.
A Scotsman is aye wise ahint the hand.—Scotch.
A Scotsman aye taks his mark frae a mischief.—Scotch.
Scotsmen reckon aye frae an ill hour.—Scotch.
That is, they always date from some untoward event. "A Scottish man," says James Kelly, "solicited the Prince of Orange to be made an ensign, for he had been a sergeant ever since his Highness ran away from Groll."
The Englishman weeps, the Irishman sleeps, but the Scotsman gaes till he gets it.—Scotch.
Such, according to Scotch report, is the conduct of the three when they want food.