276 In Memoriam : John Allan. [Sess. 



which the adjoining farm of Middlehouse was added in after 

 years) were his by inheritance, one would have naturally ex- 

 pected that the young lad would now have adopted the life of 

 a farmer. But, for some reason, the legal profession was 

 chosen instead, and accordingly he became a law-apprentice 

 in the office of Mr Davidson, solicitor at Lanark, when, after 

 remaining there a few years, he left to push his fortune in 

 Edinburgh. He secured a place in the office of Messrs 

 Macallan & Chancellor, which firm was subsequently merged 

 in that of Messrs J. & F. Anderson. Mr Allan now began 

 attendance on the law-classes of the University, in order the 

 better to fit himself for the duties of his profession, and con- 

 tinued a member of these classes for three years. When 

 Messrs Drummond and Eeid withdrew from the firm of Messrs 

 Hill, Eeid, & Drummond, to found a new firm, Mr Allan 

 joined them ; and here he continued for the remainder of his 

 life, highly respected by his employers, and filling positions 

 of trust in the firm. 



The summer and autumn holidays of each year were spent 

 by Mr Allan, before his marriage, in excursions to distant 

 places at home or abroad. Various parts of Scotland, Eng- 

 land, and Ireland were thus visited, while longer journeys 

 were also made to France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, and 

 Norway. Many pleasant recollections of these places were 

 stored up in his memory, and it was his great wish to revisit 

 some of them. Paris was seen after the havoc wrought by 

 the Commune, and when order had just been restored ; and 

 he would have liked to see it again, when the evidences of the 

 perils it had passed through were all effaced. To spend a 

 second holiday in Norway was specially desired by him, so 

 much had the wild and romantic natural features of that 

 country impressed him by their charms. But the death of 

 his first wife, and the care of three young children, chiefly 

 prevented the carrying out of these designs. 



John Allan's love of the country, including especially his 

 passion for flowers, dated, as I have said, from his school 

 days. Indeed to such a sensitive nature it could hardly have 

 been otherwise, reared in this upland district, in the retired 

 little cottage, with its large and beautiful garden where 

 numerous ferns and alpine plants were carefully tended, 



