1 24 RISEN B V PERSE VERANCE. 



intend doing, but many of which, experience says, shall never 

 be done.' This list comprised many projects in geometry, 

 architecture, sculpture, and in literary prose composition. In 

 the summer he formed the acquaintanceship of Dr. (then Mr.) 

 Robert Carruthers, editor of the Inverness Courier^ which 

 was afterwards of so much use to him. Dr. Carruthers printed 

 for him a collection of his verses, under the title of Poems 

 written in the Leisure Hours of a Journeyman Mason, and his 

 book met with a moderate success. Amongst the friends 

 which the publication of his poems procured for him was a 

 Mr. Strahan, who also wrote poetry. One of his sons was 

 Alexander Strahan, whom Miller introduced to Messrs. John- 

 stone & Hunter, publishers, Edinburgh, with a view of 

 learning the business, and who has since become well 

 known in the publishing world. 



After many experiments in versification, he made up his 

 mind that poetry was not his proper vocation, and accordingly 

 he next tried prose. His famous letters on the herring fishing 

 were written for the Inverness Courier in the summer of 1829, 

 and attracted much attention. The publication of his poems, 

 though anonymous, yet made him the literary lion of Cromarty, 

 and extended his friendships even beyond. Sir Thomas Dick 

 Lauder, Mr. Isaac Forsyth of Elgin, Miss Dunbar of Boath, 

 and Principal Baird, for whom he wrote a sketch of his life up 

 till 1825, all gave him their patronage in the disposal of his 

 volume. In 1831 he was vitally concerned in a newspaper 

 correspondence. The minister of the Gaelic Chapel, Cromarty, 

 had petitioned to the effect that he either be assigned a parish 

 within the bounds of the parish of Cromarty, or a collegiate 

 charge with Rev. Mr. Stewart. Hugh Miller acted as the 

 mouthpiece of nearly eight hundred of his fellow-parishioners, 



