LIFE AND STAR-GAZING AT AUCHLEVEN. Ill 



understood, and more appreciated, than at most places in 

 which he sojourned, and his old companions there retain 

 a pleasant and grateful remembrance of the man, and 

 speak of him with high respect. 



He worked in the carding-mill at the south end of the 

 village, where the Gadie crosses the road to Alford. He 

 lodged with a weaver on the other side of the road, called 

 Sandy Smith, in a tumble-down, thatched cottage, now 

 entirely removed. He slept above a thatched stable at 

 the mill, in a loft reached by a ladder directly from the 

 highway. This apartment was merely the triangle formed 

 by the sloping roof, seven feet in length, with sufficient 

 height to stand up in at the centre. It was lighted only 

 by an opening, three feet by two and a half, in the small 

 door that gave entrance to it. This hole for light was 

 without glass, being closed by means of a sliding piece 

 of wood ; so that when it was shut, the place was in dark- 

 ness, and when it was open, the wind had free entrance, 

 even in the wildest winter day. John's bed was at one 

 side of the space, under the sloping thatch, his chest con- 

 taining his clothes and books being at the other, with a 

 narrow passage between. 



From his studious habits, which soon became the talk 

 of the village, this close, miserable hovel obtained the 

 name of " the philosopher's hall," or " philosopher's den," 

 or more curtly " THE PHILOSOPHER," which it retained for 

 many years after he had left it. Here John slept during 

 the ten or more years in which he lived at Auchleven, 

 contented and solitary ; here he kept his books and 

 instruments, and wrote his letters and papers on the lid 

 of his chest ; here he used to sit for hours, reading and 



