HIS CHARACTERISTICS AND CHARACTER. 487 



pointed and forcible, and generally piquant and picturesque. 

 Like all old men who have had a varied experience, he 

 frequently illustrated and clinched what he said with appro- 

 priate anecdote, proverb, sentiment, or verse from a song. 

 In speaking to me one day, for instance, of a greedy fellow 

 who would part with nothing even to a friend in need, he 

 said he was 



" Like the wife o' Glenshee ; 

 He likit better to get than to ga'e." 



Not seldom the words he used were unconsciously 

 poetical. When we were crossing a little burn together, 

 he wished me to notice "hoo bonnily the watter trinkled ! " 

 Once, in referring to the "bad harvest" of 1811, when 

 he was in Drumlithie, he characterised the following year, 

 which had abounding plenty, as " rinnin' ower ! " In 

 speaking to him, I wished greatly to take more notes than 

 I was able of his telling Scotch and nai've remarks, but 

 that would have stopped the natural flow of the words ; 

 for in such talk, as in a quotation from a poet, the chief 

 value lies in the exact expression, the ipsissima verba, of 

 the moment, which the speaker himself could scarcely 

 repeat and with difficulty correctly recall. 



Solemn and retiring as John looked to all outsiders, 

 he could beam amongst his friends, as we have seen. On 

 these occasions, he took an active part in all the frolics 

 of their happy meetings, and often added to the general 

 harmony by singing a song. He could sing several songs, 

 and his want of voice, which was, as Charles Black ex- 

 presses it, of a " heather and dub " * order, was more than 



* Aberdeen Scotch for "rough," like travelling through heather and 

 mossy pools or dubs. 



