41 8 JOHN DUNCAN, WEAVER AND BOTANIST. 



the spot where he should be laid ; and he indicated one of 

 a species of volcanic boulders, widely scattered over the 

 district, locally known as u heathens." * This was the only 

 desire for fame, posthumous though it would be, John had 

 ever spontaneously expressed. The wish thus uttered by 

 him to have an honourable grave, even in his poverty, was 

 at once natural, simple and pardonable, and it is common 

 amongst the very poorest everywhere, and not least in 

 Scotland ; as in the case of Widow Smith in " Jonas 

 Fisher," f who would have died in perfect peace but for one 

 thought that vexed her mind to have, if it were His will, 

 " a decent funeral." Like her, John Duncan 



" Wanted neither help nor food, 

 But one thing his whole heart did crave : 

 That, saved from pauper's lot, his corpse 

 Might rest within a decent grave." 



John also presented his friend with some other volumes 

 in memory of the giver, saying, " I hae had my day o' 

 them," and he accompanied the gift with his best counsels 

 and dying blessing as from a father to a son, which 

 intellectually and morally he had been. He advised him, 

 with special emphasis, to continue and extend his study of 



* These boulders are of a special kind of diorite, containing, as 

 Mr. J. S. G. Wilson, of the Geological Survey, informs me, in addition 

 to the usual constituents, another mineral not yet determined. They 

 form a remarkable stream in Aberdeenshire, stretching from their 

 parent source in the Highlands of Glen Bucket. Such stones are 

 so called because found on the wild heath. From the same word, we 

 have heather, the heath plant ; and the heathen, as remaining pagan 

 in the wilder country after the towns were Christianised. 



t " Jonas Fisher : a Poem in Brown and White," by the Earl of 

 Southesk. A remarkable book, traversing a great part of the religions 

 and social problems of the day. . 



