CHAPTER XL. 

 DUNCAN'S CHARACTERISTICS AND CHARACTER. 



IT will now be well to gather the scattered threads of our 

 presentation of the man, and weave them into a closer web r 

 while inserting additional colours to complete the fabric. 



Physically, John Duncan inherited an excellent con- 

 stitution, being remarkable healthy, " teuch," as he said of 

 himself, and unusually enduring ; and he was never laid up 

 with sickness all his days. In stature, he was short, being 

 at his best only five feet seven. Muscular and spare, he 

 was never " what you call a heavy man," as he remarked 

 a style of body which his abstemious habits, great activity, 

 and much walking preserved to the end. His general 

 appearance, especially in his later years, was what was 

 reckoned "odd," even in his own time, as has been fre- 

 quently noted, and his peculiar, old-fashioned garb increased 

 the quaintness of his aspect ; so that latterly, in the streets 

 of Aberdeen, he drew the attention of passengers as a kind 

 of Rip Van Winkle of the early century, just reawakened' 

 to the modern world. 



His head was larger than common, and indicated 

 unusual capacity of both thought and feeling.* It showed 



* Its dimensions, as taken by his friend John Taylor, who is a 

 practical phrenologist, were 22! inches in circumference, 5-8- inches. 



