278 HUGH MILLER 



estuaries. Finding me not quite clear as to the precise 

 geographical position of his shell-bed, he burst out 

 triumphantly with the lines placed by Scott at the 

 head of the chapter in Rob Roy, which tells of the 

 journey of Bailie Nicol Jarvie and Osbaldistone into 

 the Highlands : 



'Baron of Bucklyvie 



May the foul fiend drive ye, 

 And a' to pieces rive ye, 

 For building sic a toun, 

 Where there's neither horse meat, nor man's meat, nor a 

 chair to sit doun.' 



I remember, too, that on that occasion I had brought 

 with me the detailed map of Arthur's Seat at Edin- 

 burgh, of which I had just completed the geological 

 survey, and I explained to him in some detail what 

 I had found to be the structure of the hill. Having 

 grasped the main succession of the rocks, he with 

 characteristic rapidity passed from the particulars which 

 I had given him to the events of which they were 

 the record, and turning to his daughter, who was 

 sitting near, he exclaimed to her, ' There, Harriet, 

 is material for such an essay as has been prescribed 

 to you at school.' Then in a few graphic sentences 

 he drew a picture of what seemed to him to have 

 been the history of the old volcano. 



While various causes no doubt contributed in this 

 country to the remarkable and rapid increase in the 

 general appreciation of the interest of geological 

 investigation, I feel assured that one of the chief of 

 them has been Hugh Miller's imaginative grasp of 

 the subject, and his eloquent advocacy. The personal 



