58 JOHN DUNCAN, WEAVER AND BOTANIST. 



Dr. Kidd, one of the most popular and peculiar clergymen 

 that ever lived in Aberdeen, about whom hundreds of 

 remarkable stories are still current. 



John furnished a house, determined to do all he could 

 to make a pleasant home for all of them. The future, 

 in the circumstances, did not look very auspicious, but 

 might have been happy, as it has proved even in worse 

 cases. Here it turned out disastrous. His wife seems to 

 have been radically ill-conditioned in tone, and unsettled 

 in disposition and habit, with strong inclinations towards 

 those indulgencies that had made her a mother too soon. 

 From the first, she was not very kind or considerate to 

 him, and, ere long, began to exhibit tendencies that rendered 

 domestic peace impossible. Quarrels ensued, and she was 

 accustomed to exclaim in rage, that when her boy was 

 old enough, she would ask him to thrash her husband's back 

 for him. This child, whose name was Andrew Durward, 

 though occasionally called Duncan, stayed with them, being 

 kindly adopted by John, as his wife's son. 



In time, two daughters were born to them, the eldest, 

 Mary, on the 2Oth of July, 1821, more than two years after 

 marriage, and the second, Elizabeth, or Beattie, on the 

 22nd of December, 1823. These double pledges of affec- 

 tion should have consummated their true union, and 

 restored peace and happiness, if anything could. It was in 

 vain. Matters grew worse. Her natural proclivities only 

 became more pronounced. She began more or less openly 

 to " take up " with other men ; and when women " yoke 

 that way," as her husband sadly said long after, "they 

 winna bind. When they dinna hae the richt side o' that 

 question, they're fairly thro'." 



