DR M'COSITS RECOLLECTIONS. 455 



sister, astronomy, Miller has done for the younger, 

 geology, in wedding her to religion. Both lived for the 

 purpose of elevating their countrymen and their race ; 

 and in order to effect this end both* laboured to promote 

 the Church's independence and the freedom of its 

 members. Each had his own field of influence ; each 

 had a class of minds on whom he exercised a burning 

 and enduring power for good. Most appropriately, now 

 that their day's work is done, do they sleep side by side 

 in the same grave-yard. 



' I am tempted to compare Miller, and when I com- 

 pare him, to contrast him with another eminent Scotch- 

 man, Robert Burns. Both were sprung from the nobler 

 order of the Scottish peasantry ; neither was originally 

 educated as a scholar ; both rose to the highest eminence 

 in the midst of difficulties which led the one as well as 

 the other seriously to propose emigrating to America ; 

 both had a deep love for Scotland and her common 

 people ; both will go down through all coming ages as 

 household words, and as representatives of the intelligence 

 of the sons of toil in their native land ; and both were 

 characterized by a noble modesty and a manly inde- 

 pendence of nature, " Owre blate to seek, owre proud 

 to snool." But with the resemblances there were differ- 

 ences. In respect of native genius they rank in my 

 view equally high; but the complexion and bent of 

 that genius differed in the two individuals. No one 

 would compare any poetry published by Hugh Miller 

 with the poetry of Robert Burns; though there are 

 passages of very high poetic power in all the prose 

 works of Miller. Let us only look at that bold sketch 

 of a proposed Epic towards the close of the sixth 

 Lecture of his Testimony of the Rocks, in- which he 

 represents Lucifer, son of the morning, cast down on the 



