442 JOHN DUNCAN, WEAVER AND BOTANIST. 



by the gathering moisture in the eye. The flowers roused 

 his enthusiasm, and were linked with more of his past 

 life and deeper memories than anything else, with a 

 single exception. In talking of them now, he recalled the 

 technical terms with surprising ease, though it cost him 

 much effort, often unsuccessful, to remember the rarer ones. 

 His harder or more dangerous adventures in search of 

 them were dramatically related, and roused much of the 

 old fire in eye, voice and manner. When he failed to 

 recollect a word, he would bend his neck, scratch his head, 

 say, " that was what-ye-ca' what-ye-ca' ; " and if he did 

 not succeed, which was always painful to him, he would 

 excuse himself by saying that his " memory was noo gey 

 failin', though it was ance a very guid ane ;" while regretting 

 that I "hadna kent him in his- better days." After he 

 had talked for an hour or so, he got exhausted and had to 

 give up. When I offered him refreshment, of which abun- 

 dance had been provided, he accepted it with reluctance, 

 but he often refused it, saying : " I was never muckle o' a 

 drinker never indulged ; I ha'd awa frae intoxicatin' liquors. 

 Whisky's a hasty * concern, destructive to baith mind an' 

 body, raisin' ye up to a great pitch and then lattin' you 

 fa' doon a' at ance." It was noticeable that moral concep- 

 tions always roused his vigour, even under weakness. 



At intervals, he passed through states of extreme 

 debility, when he could with difficulty rise from his chair, 

 and consciousness and memory became confused. This he 

 himself attributed to rheumatism, but its true cause Was the 

 natural decay of great age, and, in the doctor's opinion, 

 loss of blood and sluggish and intermittent action of heart. 



* Quick and fiery, as in the phrase " a hasty fire." 



