171 



CHAPTER VI. 



POEMS ADDRESSED TO ROSS SERIOUS THOUGHTS CORRESPOND- 

 ENCE WITH SWANSON FREAKISH HUMOUR DESCENDS 



INTO THE TOMB OF THE URQUHARTS IS CATECHIZED BY 



MR STEWART WRITING IN THE OPEN AIR A PROSE- 

 LYTIZING BORE CORRESPONDENCE ON RELIGION. 



TWO of Miller's early poems are addressed to William 

 Ross, the one entitled an Ode, the other an Epistle. 

 Neither is of importance, but in the Epistle, written in 

 the Scottish dialect, occur the following lines, part of an 

 enumeration of the joys of wealth, 



' The power o' aiding honest men 



Should be itsel' a heaven o' pleasure.' 



These, I think, are worthy of Burns. 



The Epistle is sad throughout. It is Miller's design, 

 as he informs Ross in prose, to give him a ' faithful 

 picture ' of his mind ' when overcast by those clouds of 

 constitutional melancholy that obscure it so often.' 



' The lover's joy, the star o' fame, 



The Muse, the bliss that waits upon her, 

 The ray that gilds the warrior's name, 



The tags and toys o' boastful honour, 

 . Are shades that on the calm smooth wave 

 Shine bonny as the northern streamer ; 

 But they fade arid die when the wild blasts rave, 

 And leave to woe the wakened dreamer. 



