HUGH MILLER. 



HE name of Hugh Miller is one which commands 

 universal regard and respect, whether we view him 

 as a geologist, a man of letters, or as a stone- 

 mason, who possessed sturdy independence of character and 

 indomitable perseverance. In telling the story of his life, we 

 have at least two good sources of information. There is the 

 interesting autobiography which he wrote, My Schools and 

 Schoolmasters ; or, The Story of my Education, and also The 

 Life and Letters of Hugh Miller, by Peter Bayne, LL.D. 



Hugh Miller was born in the town of Cromarty, loth 

 October 1802. His father, who was brave and gentle, and 

 seldom angry without just cause, had a strange dream regard- 

 ing his first-born. There was a dash of Celtic blood in his 

 descent, but his character belonged more to the lowland type. 

 His paternal ancestors had all been seafaring men; and for 

 more than a hundred years before his birth not one of these 

 ancestors had been laid to rest in the churchyard of Cromarty. 

 His own father perished at sea when he was but five years old. 

 Of this sad event, and before the news of it had arrived at his 

 home. Miller writes ; — 



'There were no forebodings in the master's dwelling; for 



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