HUGH MILLER 41 



Tonans,' as he was called from sitting to Gavin 

 Hamilton the painter for his portrait of Jupiter, had 

 been the fanatical defender of the theatre at a time 

 when his friend John Home, the writer of Douglas^ had 

 been compelled by public opinion to seek relief from 

 pulpit duties, and a more fitting sphere for his rants of 

 ' Young Norval on the Grampian Hills ' in the ranks of 

 the laity. Carlyle and his friend Dr. Hugh Blair were 

 constant patrons of the legitimate drama in the old 

 playhouse in the Canongate, when the burghers at 

 night would ' dauner hame wi' lass and lantern ' after the 

 manner described with such power by Scott in the 

 Tolbooth scene of Rob Roy. On one occasion, the 

 doctor had, for once in his long life, to play the part of 

 non-intrusionist, when he repelled vigorously with a 

 bludgeon the attempt of some wild sparks to force an 

 entry into his box ! Missions he denounced in the 

 spirit of a fanatical supporter of the repressive regime 

 of Pitt and Dundas. He trusted to the coming of 

 Christ's Kingdom by some lucky accident or sleight of 

 hand, ' as we are informed it shall be in the course of 

 Providence.' He had no belief in * a plan which has 

 been well styled visionary.' In the closing years of his 

 own life, the very slight modicum of zeal for the 

 discharge of his ministerial duties ebbed so low that 

 he left these entirely to an assistant, and spent the 

 Sunday on the Musselburgh race-course. Yet this is 

 the man whom Dean Stanley with exquisite infelicity 

 selects as one of the heroes of the Church of Scotland. 



