CHAPTER II. 



EARLY FRIENDSHIPS SWANSON, FINLAY, ROSS PLEASURES OF 



FROM his early boyhood Miller had given proof of 

 the blended faithfulness and tenderness of his nature 

 by the affection with which he clung to one or two 

 chosen friends. His friendship with John Swanson, 

 him of the Doocot cave, already warm and confiden- 

 tial when Hugh was twelve and John ten, continued 

 in freshness and intensity until the hour of Miller's 

 death. Finlay, whom he describes as a gentle-spirited 

 boy, who loved to share with him the solitude of the 

 caves by moonlight, seems to have held the first place in 

 his regard in the period immediately preceding his ap- 

 prenticeship. In The Village Observer for January, 

 1820, I find 'The Farewell,' a copy of verses in which, 

 on departing for the south, .Finlay bids adieu to Cro- 

 marty, and which is alluded to and partly quoted in the 

 Schools and Schoolmasters. The five stanzas of which it 

 consists, though boyish, are not without a certain pensive 

 sincerity and sweetness. 



'Ye pleasures of childhood, farewell, 

 In which I have oft had a part ; 

 Where mirth and where gladness prevail, 

 Without affectation or art. 



