48 JOHN DUNCAN, WEAVER AND BOTANIST. 



have been replaced by the scream of the locomotive and 

 the heavy roll of his chariot wheels, with all the concurrent 

 remorseless innovations on old rural village life. 



That very year, 1814, there appeared in Edinburgh 

 the now world-famous anonymous tale called " Waverley," 

 the first of that wonderful series, inspired by genius almost 

 Shakespearian, which inaugurated a new era in novel- 

 writing and modern literature. But it took long till the 

 springtide of interest and admiration reached our rural 

 towns and villages. To such literary achievements, un- 

 happily, John never was introduced, the prejudices of the 

 time in such regions, and the rigid religious influences 

 under which he afterwards came, effectually shutting him 

 out all his life from their broadening and enlightening 

 pages. 



