328 JOHN DUNCAN, WEAVER AND BOTANIST. 



provoked the stings of the witlings of the country side : 

 while his self-contained nature, and his satisfaction with 

 his own quiet joys, made him independent of the opinion 

 of his neighbours ; his silence and innate reticence prevented 

 explanation when such might have been serviceable ; and 

 his constitutional pride and small love of approbation 

 would not allow him in any way to court popular favour. 

 But be the reasons, internal and external, what they may, 

 the fact remains that the man walked through life, under- 

 stood and appreciated by few, and misinterpreted, if not 

 despised, by most. And, poor good soul, he was contented 

 so to live, blessed by the charms of the higher life he led, 

 and of the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake. He 

 never looked, there can be no doubt, for any reward beyond 

 what he daily received, the delights of his own thoughts 

 and pursuits ; nor did he ever dream of any compensation 

 before he went, or after he was gone, by having his life 

 interpreted to the world in a book, as Cromwell looked 

 forward to having justice done to him. 



What were some of the causes of this misunderstanding? 



First, his odd appearance, solitary studiousness, and 

 unusual, old-fashioned habits inclined his neighbours to 

 think and speak of him as an " odd," " queer," and " curious 

 creetur." Then, his gazing at the distant stars and 

 " pottering" about the ditches and hedges, mosses and 

 mountains, for what they contemned as weeds, caused 

 them to wonder at and despise the man that spent his 

 time on such things, and to count him "silly" or "no 

 very wise " a phrase which in Scotland means not fully 

 ccmpos mentis, or at least as " having a crack " about him ; 

 just as Robert Dick's wise contemporaries at Thurso looked 



