THE FAIRIES." 235 



trine of development. Pointing to the sketches of the 

 Greek boy and the ape on the walls, he asked, ' whether 

 that could come out of this ?' 



" Returning to Hugh Miller, I naturally expressed my 

 sorrow that a life so brilliant and valuable as that 

 described in his Schools and Schoolmasters, should have 

 ended so sadly. ' Ah, poor Hugh !' said he, ' I knew him 

 well. His life, as he could write it, would be as interest- 

 ing as a romance. But I am not at all astonished at the 

 way it ended. His mind was touched somehow by 

 superstition. I mind,' he continued, ' after an after- 

 noon's work on the rocks together at Holborn Head, we 

 sat down on the leeside of a dyke to look over our spe- 

 cimens, when suddenly up jumped Hugh, exclaiming, 

 ' The fairies have got hold of my trousers ! ' and then 

 sitting down again, he kept rubbing his legs for a long 

 time. It was of no use suggesting that an ant or some 

 other well-known ' beastie' had got there. Hugh would 

 have it that it was ' the fairies ' ! " * 



" When the news of Hugh Miller's death came," said 

 Dick to his sister, " I thought it was the end of all 

 things. I was more shocked than I could tell to 

 anybody. Poor Hugh ! I knew him so well ! I shall 

 always remember him. Indeed, he is now, and almost 

 always, with me. I cannot look on a stone without 

 thinking of him. I am not likely ever to forget him. 

 He was sorely afflicted with his head while he was 



* Hugh Miller wrote a good deal about the fairies in his works. 

 See his description of the Fairies of the Ravine of Eathie, in Old 

 Red Sandstone, pp. 221-2, Ed. 1875. 



