CHAP. xvii. THE MONK OF CAMERA Y. 261 



too much loveliness in Nature ; but that the hunting for 

 objects of interest squeezes me so very confoundedly 

 that the wonder perhaps is, not that I do so little, but 

 rather that I manage to beat the bushes at all. 



" The monk of Cambray ! Yes, I think 'twas he, 

 The monk of Cambray was a wonderful man ! 



He turned his face to the northwards, 

 And, mutt'ring a prayer with Amen ! he began 



Reading backwards instead of forwards ! 



" Exactly so ! And dull disciples in the school of Stones 

 too much resemble him. Whether from the effect or 

 defect of early training, when too much left to them- 

 selves, they soon fall back to their first ideas, and 

 monkishly read backwards. Our friend Hugh Miller 

 knew that I never fell in love with his peculiar views 

 on the order of creation ; and how he did me the 

 honour of enrolling me among the geological gods re- 

 mains a mystery to this day. I suspect that, just before 

 pushing me in, he had been consulting the Apostle 

 Paul, who says ' Him that is weak in the faith receive 

 ye ; ' but then he adds, ' Not to doubtful disputations.' 

 Ah ! there's the rub ! I am a sad mule. What then ? 

 Every one according to his gift. Conviction must pre- 

 cede conversion. 



" All that lived during the deposition of the Old Eed 

 Sandstone has not been preserved. What has been pre- 

 served has not been found. What has been found is 

 understood very imperfectly. No geologist has said that 

 all that lived during the deposition of the Silurian, the 

 Old Ked, Carboniferous, and other formations, has been 



