RECOLLECTIONS BY A LADY. 349 



'In the end of 1848 I happened, when calling on 

 Mrs Miller in Stuart Street, to hear that her husband 

 was giving some little lectures on geology to a few lady 

 friends, and I was most kindly invited to join the party. 

 We met on Saturday forenoons, and sat round a table 

 on which he had arranged some specimens to illustrate 

 what he was going to tell us about. These lectures 

 were the germs of those he afterwards delivered before 

 the Philosophical Institution, and which have been pub- 

 lished under the title of the Sketch-look of Popular 

 G-eoloyy. Any one who reads that volume may see how 

 pleasant as well as instructive they were. But it cannot 

 convey the interest of being taught by such a teacher, 

 who thought no question too trivial to be answered, and 

 explained himself by all manner of illustrations, homely 

 or otherwise, but always comprehensible and distinct ; 

 while over everything his imagination threw an endless 

 charm, and his earnest faith a deeper interest. His 

 manner to women I always thought particularly good, 

 wholly wanting in flattery but full of gentle deference. 

 Our meetings frequently ended by our enjoying Mrs 

 Miller's hospitality and society at luncheon, when we 

 witnessed the same gentle manner in his own family, 

 and various little incidents which showed his strong 

 parental love. As spring came on our lectures took 

 place in the open air instead of in Mrs Miller's drawing- 

 room, and we had some charming walks to shores and 

 quarries in the neighbourhood of Portobello, and to 

 Salisbury Crags and Arthur Seat, where the Queen's 

 Drive had been lately opened, and afforded us many 

 illustrations of what we had learnt from him during the 

 winter. Never was geology more pleasantly studied. 



' We spent a few weeks that autumn in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Melrose, and having asked him to visit us 



