140 SomE LETTERS OF PatTRICK MILLER. 
that I had nearly left it never to return. A mere accident 
detained me for two or three months. During that period 
I made some improvements. I was pleased with the 
change, and made others; and although I had never any 
great desire to be a Laird, I felt an inclination to keep 
what I had brought from a state of sterility and deformity 
to one that was useful and beautiful. Of late I have en- 
deavoured to eradicate this petty selfish feeling, and I now 
consider it as an unmanly prejudice, and can return to my 
first intention of selling without reluctance. To what pur- 
pose do you make the commonplace remark upon the 
gentleman farmer, the gentleman manufacturer, the 
gentleman merchant, and the gentleman banker? It is 
known to every schoolboy. In the three last characters I 
have acted, but it was in a laborious way. If I had acted 
other ways, you would be now a day labourer or a muck- 
man. Asa farmer I have not yet acted. I have brought a 
great extent of ground from a state of nature or exhaus- 
tion to one fit for a farmer to act on.’’? 
cé 
Whether or not the reference to ‘‘ the muckman ’’ brought 
the correspondence to an abrupt close, this is the last letter 
in the bundle. For six more years Miller lived at Dalswinton, 
dying in his 84th year, esteemed and respected by his neigh- 
bours. On his reputation and achievements there is no need 
to dwell. It is to be hoped that they wil some day be dealt 
with in an authoritative Life.® 
Notes. 
1 Miller was a shareholder in the Carron Company, and later 
pushed its interests very actively. The company had just brought 
out a new gun, christened a ‘‘ Carronade,’’ of which tradition vaguely 
attributes to Miller the invention. There is nothing to support the 
claim, though as an energetic shareholder he successfully pushed the 
merits of the gun with the Admiralty, and even fitted out a ship to 
demonstrate its great utility at short range. Commenting in one of 
these letters (3rd May, 1794) on the capture of some French frigates, 
he states:—‘‘ One French frijate is said to have carried 44 guns, 
24-pounders; unless our ships are armed with Carronades of a larger 
calibre, that frijate should have been a match for any two of ours 
armed in the ordinary way.’’ The invention is ascribed both to 
