364 JOHN DUNCAN, WEAVER AND BOTANIST. 



visit to the north, to see the friends and scenes of youth. He 

 stayed with his brother at Stoneywood, on the Don, a few 

 miles from Aberdeen, and there James invited the weaver 

 to meet him. John came with alacrity, and the two par 

 nobile fratrum, spent several dear hours together, after 

 fifteen years' long-drawn separation. 



John arrived before his friend. When told that Charles 

 was just coming, the effect on him was electrical and 

 remarkable. He stood all eager attention, with that peculiar 

 alert and expectant expression seen, as James Black 

 remarks, in dogs on the hunt when prey is instantly looked 

 for ; while his countenance seemed to glow like a saint's 

 with inexpressible joy. Mr. Black had observed such a 

 light on the human countenance only once or twice in his 

 life, indicating a state best conveyed by the word beatitude. 

 " I have seen," he says, " the eyes glow like a dull, lambent 

 flame, while all the face seemed to emit light. I have 

 seen this at farewell partings, and, to some extent, in the 

 countenances of lovers and mothers when much moved. 

 But I never saw it more marked in healthy life than I did 

 in the face of John Duncan when momently expecting my 

 brother to appear." * 



When they met, Charles was much affected, and even 

 quiet, undemonstrative John could not hide the moisture in 

 his eye, while his voice discovered deeper unexpressed 

 emotion. They sat and talked long and earnestly of the 

 dear old days, with their joys and sorrows, their studies and 

 wanderings ; of their subsequent experiences, the new 



* This beatific glow is a known fact, under strong human emotion, 

 and has attracted the attention of psychologists, poets, and other 

 observers of the finer and rarer forms of human expression. 



