DIFFICULTIES, DUMPS AND DIMPLES. 159 



So John and Charles used to go to Mayfield a pretty 

 and auspicious name, suggesting a happy spring to an abun- 

 dant harvest of knowledge and over a gill of whisky, pur- 

 chased for the good of the house and as a sort of return for 

 the kindness shown them, as well as, no doubt, for their own 

 entertainment after the labours of the day, got a look at 

 the books as long and as often as they wished. And many 

 a sixpence was spent, many a long and ardent hour passed 

 by the two men, poring over these hidden treasures at 

 botanical lore, and many a plant was deciphered by their 

 help. 



But what of their morals, in such a place and with such 

 potent draughts ? Their enthusiasm was an all-powerful 

 protection, and there is none greater. Would that this 

 potent and delightful safeguard of our young men, an 

 ardent love for nature and for science during the critical 

 period of their lives, were better understood by them and 

 their educators, and earnest steps taken to put them in 

 possession of it ! It would preserve and purify the youth 

 of our country, more even than religion itself at such an 

 age, and it would redeem their lives from many a stain and 

 their memories from many a sorrow. 



Charles was himself able, when he went to Edinburgh, 

 to purchase the first volume of Hooker, for which he paid 

 eleven shillings, and he got the second from a fellow- 

 gardener. These he brought back with him to Whitehouse 

 when he returned there in 1840, while Davidson still 

 kept the inn at Mayfield. There they were at John's 

 service, and they became their consulting cyclopaedia in all 

 botanical difficulties. 



Some time after this, in 1852, the year Duncan went 



