THE BOOK PUBLISHED. 45 



public into what must be regarded as an unfair bargain. 

 I have no eye to pecuniary advantage. My hopes and 

 fears are those of the literary aspirant only ; and, little 

 known either as a man or a writer, my eye naturally 

 turns to one whose favourable opinion, holding as he 

 does so high a place in society and letters, would obtain 

 for me the suffrages of the class best able to forward my 

 little plan/ 



The disappointment experienced by Miller in pro- 

 curing the publication of his book was confined to his 

 attempts to induce a bookseller to undertake the risk of 

 issuing it. No sooner did he adopt the plan of sub- 

 scription, than he met with encouragement and aid on all 

 hands. Without any conscious effort he had succeeded 

 in inspiring every one who knew him with confidence, 

 and those who knew him well were not only confident 

 of his future, and proud of his abilities, but bound to 

 him by strong personal attachment. He had shown 

 himself friendly, and he had found friends who took de- 

 light in serving him. At last Mr Black agreed to pub- 

 lish on terms which, under the circumstances, must be 

 pronounced generous. Miller received 400 copies for 

 his subscribers at cost price, and, in the event of profit 

 being realized on the sale of the remainder of an edition 

 of 1250 copies, was to share it with Mr Black. The 

 selling price was fixed at seven shillings and sixpence. 

 On these terms Miller would clear about sixty pounds, 

 even if the unsubscribed copies should not sell. These 

 terms were not arranged until after Mr Black had met 

 Miller in Edinburgh, and it is evident that he also had 

 learned to believe that the Cromarty mason, just develop- 

 ing into a Bank clerk, was a man with a future. 



In the spring of 1835, then, the book was in the 



