REPLY TO FINLAY. 199 



beneath which there are better braced muscles or spirits 

 of a more vigorous tone. 



' But what apology am I to make you for not writing 

 you on return of post as you wished me ? Just this, 

 that, as Burns says, " my nose has been held so closely to 

 the grindstone " ever since, that I have not had more 

 than time to write you a hurried note, and I was desirous 

 to write you a letter. I hate Chartists and Radicals in 

 the gross from my very heart, but I have great sympathy 

 with the poor Chartists and Radicals who, having to 

 work sixteen hours per day for a meagre livelihood, 

 avenge their hard fate on all and sundry when they 

 break loose. It does not surprise me that a man who 

 has no other amusement should take a longing to cut 

 throats/ 



The visit thus eagerly anticipated proved as pleasant 

 a translation of hope into fact as is ordinarily experienced. 

 The friends, it is true, did not reach that climax of resus- 

 citated boyhood which Miller imagined. No potatoes 

 were stolen or roasted. Time failed, and perhaps heart 

 also, even for the kindling of fires in the caves. The men 

 found, when they engaged in confidential talk, that they 

 had notes to compare which eclipsed in interest the 

 memories of their boyhood. Finlay had been engaged 

 to a young lady who perished at sea, and the tender- 

 hearted man remained single for her sake. His affairs 

 in Jamaica had not prospered, affairs in Jamaica seldom 

 did in those years. In one word, Hugh also having a 

 weight on his mind, there was probably as much of 

 pensive reflection, prospective and retrospective, in the 

 intercourse of the friends, as of gaiety and mirthfulness. 

 This was the last meeting of Pinlay and Miller. The 

 former returned to Jamaica, was elected to the House of 



