484 JOHN DUNCAN, WEAVER AND BOTANIST. 



for corn, he asked its name with a grand air ; but before 

 he could receive a reply, happening to trample on it, he 

 turned it sharply on its side and caused it to give himself 

 a severe blow on the front part of the leg. The pain made 

 him at once forget his fine Attic accents, and the native 

 Doric burst out in the vigorous exclamation, " Damn the 

 riddle ! " which at once exposed his hollow pretensions,, 

 amidst a general titter. When any one put on airs and 

 affected an unnatural polish, John would quietly remark, 

 " Ay, just bide a wee, and ye'll sune hear him ' damn the 

 riddle ! ' " 



On asking a friend to accept a suit of his own weaving,, 

 made from native wool prepared by the fireside, he recom- 

 mended the home-made cloth by saying, "Ay, man, there's 

 a bane irit * even aifter it's gaylees f dune ; far better than the 

 Galashiels sey,J though no just sae braw " an apt way 

 of putting the facts regarding good home-spun. In talking 

 to one of his disciples, John said that there were two things 

 at the very least that a good botanist required, though 

 these were not all : " Tae wit, a gweed memory and to be 

 licht 'o fut " that is, good at walking ; to another friend, 

 he remarked that Botany needed "a gweed e'e and a 

 gweed understandin' " the four requirements constituting, 

 no doubt, a capital equipment for the successful study of 

 flowers. 



Although he seldom spoke of his unhappy married life, 

 he once told a young friend whom he was counselling 

 to thrift, and to whom he was talking of the influence of 

 "sillar" in the world, this experience of his relations to 

 his ill-conditioned wife. Weaving in Aberdeen becoming 

 * Bone in it. t A good deal. Serge. 



