488 ifcinos of tbe 1Rot>, IRffle, anfc Gun 



the angry wranglings of these kinsfolk over their 

 expected share of the heritage. Suddenly in the midst 

 of the snarling pack stood a tall, gaunt figure, clad only 

 in his white night-shirt. Struck dumb with terror, they 

 gazed wildly at the awful apparition. One swift, fierce 

 glance big John cast at them, then lifted a long, bony 

 arm, and pointing to the door, cried in tones of fury, 

 " Begone, ye' re no heirs of mine. I'll marry this very 

 year and thwart ye all." They fled in consternation, 

 not quite sure whether it were man or wraith they had 

 seen. But "the Beetle" fulfilled his threat. He did 

 marry a few months later, and begat two sons, who 

 shared his estates between them. 



Something of this dour and fierce temperament was 

 at times perceptible even in the poet-angler, who came 

 into the world on February I4th, 1810. He could 

 flare up into a fine Homeric frenzy when he met 

 an argumentative foeman worthy of his steel, and there 

 were times when his hands were ready to support his 

 tongue. 



His up-bringing was stern. His father, Rear- Admiral 

 Stoddart, the third son of a well-to-do Baltic merchant 

 in Leith, was a martinet of the strictest sort, who 

 enforced obedience with the " tawse," almost as terrible 

 an instrument of punishment in the eyes of trembling 

 Scottish bairns as the Russian knout. Thomas Tod 

 Stoddart made early and frequent acquaintance with the 

 "tawse," both at home and at school. For his first 

 pedagogues, he tells us, were " both strict disciplinarians 

 and used the tawse freely, much to the advantage of their 

 pupils." Stoddart was of the stern tribe that swore by 



