206 JOHN DUNCAN, WEAVER AND BOTANIST. 



" Honest man," says his friend, " he could not even turn 

 me off with some grand name, as he might easily have done." 

 John soon found out and told all about it. He would 

 scarcely believe it grew so near Tough, till he went to the 

 spot, " Ann Watson's moss," and got it for himself ; 

 announcing the find in a letter to Charles Black of July, 

 1842, along with that of the Lmn&a borealis, his first dis- 

 covery of the favourite, obtained " to the west of Tully- 

 nessle hills, above Dalpersie Castle." 



In after years, William Beveridge distinguished him- 

 self in several departments. He became eminent, as an 

 ornithologist, his knowledge of birds, studied personally in 

 the fields, being, unusually minute ; as a bird-stuffer, with 

 a power of representing them in grace of form and attitude 

 'that is acknowledged by the highest authorities to be 

 amongst the first, of which a beautiful case of sixty-seven 

 Aberdeenshire birds prepared by him, now in the Free 

 Church College Museum, Aberdeen, is sufficient proof ; as a 

 carver in wood, his skill being such that he was employed 

 for many years in the interior decoration of Balmoral by 

 Prince Albert ; and as a maker of violins, in which he intro- 

 duced some improvements, the taste and timbre of his 

 instruments being attested by experts, one of them being 

 ordered by the Prince. He also possessed no mean skill as 

 a violinist. Amongst other works connected with wood 

 carving, he made neat snuff-boxes, and presented one of 

 these, finely painted with leaf and stem all over its outer 

 surface, and with the weaver's arms on the lid, to Duncan. 

 John prized it greatly. Though no snuffer himself, he 

 carried it on high occasions, and indulged his friends with 

 a pinch. 



