on its way, through a hundred channels, to the
west, to the east, and to the south, carrying with it mourning and
lamentation throughout the vast area which is covered by the
language in which Hugh Miller wrote. Writing, as it were, amid the
deep shadows of the funeral chamber, and brought in a manner into
the very presence of the dead, we are made strongly to feel, and we
daresay our readers to a large extent will feel, too, the
nothingness of those discussions which usually occupy and engross
men. The weightiest matter that ever occupied the wisdom of cabinet
or the pen of journalist appears verily but fleeting and
transitory, when brought thus into prominent contrast with the
awful realities of human existence and destiny; and it is only when
reflection shows us that these matters are yet parts of a grand
Providential scheme, embracing man's happiness now, and entering
deeply into the question of his future and eternal well-being, that
we can see in them that amount of significance and importance which
they really possess.

From the firmament of British literature and science a great light
has departed. But yesterday we rejoiced in its beams, and now it
has set all suddenly and forever; and to us there remains but the
melancholy task of bewailing its departure, and tracing very
hastily and imperfectly its track. The intellectual powers of Hugh
Miller had certainly not declined. He was marked to the very last
by that wonderful robustness of mind which had characterized him
all through life. His sense was as manly, his judgment as sound and
comprehensive, his penetration as discriminating and deep, his
imagination as vigorous and bold, and his taste as pure and trusty,
as they had ever been. The whole of his great powers were found
working together up to the last week of his earthly career, with
their usually calm, noiseless strength, and finely balanced and
exquisitely toned harmony. We have evidence of this fact under his
own hand in recent numbers of the _Witness_. His last two articles
were, the one on Russia, and the other on our modern poets. The
former,--that on the resources of the Russian empire,--is
characterized by the same wide range of thinking, the same skill in
analysis, and the same power of grouping and arranging details, and