SKETCH OF THE AUTHORS LIFE. 31 



local matters, missed the social crack and sneeshin 

 mull. The fascination that was wont to draw 

 delighted listeners, and which stirred so many a 

 bright conversation, and shook out so many a 

 bright idea, which grappled with the dialectics of 

 ever so varied subjects of human enquiry, had dis- 

 appeared. The end of the pleasant village, with its 

 garden intersections and quaint bye lanes, its crumb- 

 ling bluff of river wall, and commanding outlook on 

 the umbrageous pomp of wood and stream, had " lost 

 its wierdest and its wariest eye." 



One morn we missed him on the accustomed hill, 

 Along the heath, and near his favourite tree, 



Another came, nor yet beside the rill, 

 Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he. 



In personal appearance John Younger had always 

 a hale hardy look. Possessing a frame compactly 

 knit, of moderate height, of an erect open bearing, 

 he wore into years without shewing many traces of 

 age. When a young man he was distinguished by 

 his agility and skill in athletic and manly sport, 

 and he excelled as a pedestrian. The faithful etching 

 prefixed to the volume gives the man in his facial 

 expression as he is remembered by all his friends. 

 There was a guileless, frank kindliness of manner 

 about him, which carried in it the freemasonry of 



