6 JOHN DUNCAN, WEAVER AND BOTANIST. 



years after his birth, was not far off; and the town cross 

 that stood by its walls, was the centre of many youthful 

 pranks ; while] a curious round boulder half-way down the 

 High Street, on the side path, near a heckling shop, was the 

 special rendezvous of the town lads. 



At that time, "Bony," as Napoleon was familiarly known 

 amongst the people, was the terror of Europe ; and our con- 

 tinental wars were then in full rage, with all their heavy 

 drain on the national manhood and the national purse. 

 War was the daily sigh of our homes, the talk of our 

 streets, and even the cry of our children in their games. 

 In Stonehaven, in Duncan's youth, the boys regularly played 

 at soldiering. They used to appoint their officers, enlist and 

 arm their men with wooden swords and guns, hold court- 

 martial over deserters, and imprison and punish the re- 

 fractory ; a friend of John's, James Barclay, spoken of in 

 this history, being thus immured for a considerable time in 

 a hen-house. These mimic war-plays were entered into 

 with remarkable zest by the boys of that time, and, no 

 doubt, did much to develop a patriotic spirit and intensify 

 the national hatred of the great continental aggressor. 



Then what was grander in the world than the liveried 

 four-in-hand coach from Aberdeen, which daily clattered 

 into town, drawing an admiring crowd of urchins, and then 

 slowly climbed the Red Braes to the south, on its way to 

 Edinburgh ; the red-coated guard with the post bags catch- 

 ing it up, by a short cut, at the top : while the return coach 

 from Edinburgh came rattling down them at a splendid 

 pace, and repeated the same pleasures ? 



When little Johnnie was able to take a wider range, as 

 he grew older, there existed in the country round a won- 



