388 ikfngs of tfoe 1Rofc, IRffle, an& (Bun 



voluminous correspondence, all emanated from his work- 

 shop. Whenever an idea fired his imagination, down 

 went the ploughman's shoe which he was cobbling, and 

 a sheet of paper spread upon the lapstone announced 

 to visitors that John was " rapt, inspired." " Many an 

 evening," says Mr. William Henderson, of Durham, in 

 his " Life of an Angler," " have I spent with this remark- 

 able man, listening to his compositions and sipping a 

 glass of toddy with him. His reading and information 

 were extensive, even for a Scotchman ; there were few 

 of our British poets with whose works he was not 

 well acquainted, and his views on men and manners 

 were racy and original. He was a great politician, and, 

 I am sorry to say, an advanced Radical. At the great 

 county meeting of Selkirkshire, on occasion of the 

 passing of the Reform Bill, John Younger was selected 

 to return thanks for the enfranchisement of the small 

 property-holders, and he did so in a really able speech, 

 which won him general admiration. 



John was remarkable not only for his varied talents, 

 but for his exceeding gentleness and consideration 

 for others. He never flinched from putting forth his 

 views plainly, but the way in which he did so might 

 have read a lesson to many a man of higher station. 

 Never did he forget, as is too commonly the case, that 

 truth itself need not and should not be uttered in an 

 offensive manner." 



The same writer tells us how, many a time, when 

 seated with John in his workshop, he has seen him steal 

 away as secretly as he could to the adjoining room, 

 where, in her chair by the ingle-neuk, sat his poor, 



