CHAP. XXHI. SALE OF DICK'S LIBRARY. 415 



If he had been able to leave anything to anybody, he 

 would have done so to his housekeeper, Annie Mackay, 

 a worthy, independent-minded woman, who had served 

 him faithfully for thirty years. But he died without 

 making any will, as he had nothing to leave. 



The flour, the books, and the furniture were sold by 

 "public roup," and they realised sufficient to pay his 

 ordinary debts. The furniture of one room was given 

 to Annie Mackay, who still lives, to laud, amidst tears, 

 her kind and good "maister." How she contrives to 

 live is a mystery. 



Dick's library was extensive. It consisted of 

 twenty-seven volumes on Geology, eighteen volumes on 

 Botany, eight volumes on Conchology, nineteen volumes 

 on Entomology, thirty-three volumes of the Naturalist's 

 Library, twenty-seven volumes of the Penny Cyclopedia, 

 thirty-eight volumes of the Edinburgh Cabinet Library, 

 and two hundred and twenty-nine volumes on miscella- 

 neous subjects, many of which were of a scientific cha- 

 racter, in all, three hundred and eighty-nine volumes. 

 The whole of these were sold for 32 : 12s., or at less than 

 two shillings a volume. But second-hand books never 

 sell well, even when they are the property of a genius ; 

 and especially when they are of a scientific character. 



While Dick lay ill, his kind friend Mr. Miller asked 

 his consent to apply to the Queen for a pension for his 

 geological discoveries. Mr. Miller's intention was to ask 

 Sir Eoderick Murchison to use his influence with scien- 

 tific men in London, to sign and support the necessary 

 memorial to her Majesty with that object. Dick, when 



