IOO JOHN DUNCAN, WEAVER AND BOTANIST. 



not to follow " ? Still true of many other things than physic, 

 most redoubtable Culpepper ! It was impossible, therefore, 

 for any one, much less an earnest disciple like John, not 

 to look into the stars. This he did with ardour, first, it 

 may be, for the sake of the " government " of the herbs he 

 gathered, but by-and-by for their own sakes, and for higher 

 practical ends. Whether he became an astrologer or not, 

 John became an enthusiastic astronomer. 



He obtained text-books on Astronomy at an early date, 

 such as "Astronomical and Geographical Lessons," by James 

 Levett, published in 1814, and the "Catechism of Astro- 

 nomy," and he studied charts of the heavens. By-and-by he 

 grew so familiar with them that he could with ease dis- 

 tinguish and name them singly and in their constellations, 

 and point them out to those friends who would listen to such 

 heavenly lore. So eager did he become in his studies that, 

 on clear frosty nights, he was seen setting off for the tops 

 of bare hills commanding an uninterrupted view of the 

 skies, and he did not return to his cold couch till long after 

 midnight a foolish and thankless proceeding, in the eyes 

 of his wiser and more comfortable neighbours ; so that he 

 began to be thought "no very wise." 



When staying at various places, John used to set up dials 

 on dikes beside the house she lived in, to guide him in his 

 observations. He would be busy at these things in the 

 dead silence and the dark, when, all at once, down went 

 the dial at the far end of the dike, followed by the crackle 

 of bursting laughter, and the hurry-scurry of running feet, 

 the meaning of which John knew too well. It was some of 

 the mischief-loving sparks of the neighbourhood, who were 

 thus making fun of the curious weaver's crazy pursuits 



