Neat-footed, weak-fingered, in his face,—
Lean, large-boned, curved of beak, and touched with race,
Bold-lipped, rich tinted, mutable as the sea,
The brown eyes radiant with vivacity,—
There shines a brilliant and romantic grace,
A spirit intense and rare, with trace on trace
Of passion, impudence, and energy.'
Another friend of those days, Mr Andrew Lang, also lets his friendship run into rhyme, and sends across the seas to the author of The Master of Ballantrae a quaint greeting in the best of Southland Doric:
'Whan Suthern winds gar spindrift flee
Abune the clachan, faddumes hie,