SCENE OF THE BOATMAN'S TALE. 343 



his right. As for the law, he can either make a merit 

 of judging by it, or transgress it with impunity. For- 

 give me so brief and imperfect a sketch of two of the 

 most talented clergymen in the north of Scotland. I 

 trust you have tendered my best thanks to Mr Grant 

 for his elegant and truly excellent discourse. He carried 

 me with him from beginning to end. He had my full 

 assent to the truth of all his remarks, and the justness 

 of all his principles ; I felt all he wished me to feel, and 

 saw all he intended I should see. 



' I have regularly wound up my watch every night 

 since I left you, and have begun to find out its various 

 uses. One of these belongs to it exclusively, as an indi- 

 vidual watch. Need I point out that one ? ' 



Miss Dun bar had with much difficulty prevailed 

 upon Miller to accept from her the present of a watch. 



The following letter gives us a glimpse of the 

 ' voluntary controversy/ at this time agitating Scotland ; 

 an interesting hint, also, of that anti-patronage fervour 

 which was to make Miller the champion of non-intrusion. 

 The sternness of our friend's orthodoxy is to be noted ; 

 ' the Arminian ' must be driven from his pulpit. Hugh 

 Miller had no sympathy with Broad Churchism in any 

 sense. 



' Cromarty, August 15, 1833. 



' I was a very few days ago at MacFarquhar's Bed 

 and the gipsies' cave, the scene of my Boatman's Tale. 

 About four hundred yards to the west of the Bed there is 

 a second cave, in a corner so wild and sequestered that it 

 is scarcely visited, except, perhaps, by myself, once in a 

 twelvemonth. The sides and roof are crusted over by 

 green mould and white stalactites. It reminds me of a 

 burial vault ; and I never visited it alone and in the 

 evening without keeping a sharp look-out for the inhabit- 



