CHAPTER XVIII. 



FURTHER INTERCOURSE WITH CHARLES BLACK. 



CHARLES BLACK left Whitehouse in 1838, after four 

 years' residence, in prospect of a better situation at Bradford, 

 in Yorkshire. As the new place required a married man, 

 he took to himself a wife in his twenty-fifth year ; for 

 devotion to Botany had not dried up his affections, and he 

 had found time at Whitehouse for both love-making and 

 plant-gathering. His choice fell upon fair and sprightly 

 Annie Gall, for some years house and lady's-maid to 

 Mrs. Farquharson, of Whitehouse ; Annie's tact and atten- 

 tiveness being proved by her retaining that service so long. 

 They were married in Aberdeen in July. As John Duncan 

 said, " Chairlie got a guid wife a fine reconcilin' woman," 

 the turn of the characterisation evidently indicating painful 

 memories of the reverse. Charles never reached England, 

 however, for the situation there was filled up by its former 

 occupant, who unexpectedly remained. He immediately 

 removed with his young wife to Edinburgh, for the chief 

 purpose of perfecting his knowledge of Botany, by getting 

 employment, if he could, in the Botanic Gardens there. 

 This he succeeded in obtaining before the close of the year, 

 after enduring considerable privation from the want of work, 

 then difficult to get. There his wages were only ten 



