rtly scientific. It was to embrace the substance of
some lectures lately delivered, and a paper read last year before
the British Association at Glasgow on the fossil plants collected
by himself from the Oolite and Old Red Sandstone of Scotland. It
was likewise to contain the figures of some thirty or forty
hitherto undescribed species of vegetables. We hope that, as it was
all but ready for publication, it may yet be given to the world.
The name of Hugh Miller will ever stand forth as synonymous with
all that is honest and manly; as the impersonation of moral courage
and indomitable energy; as the true ideal of a self-educated man.
From the humblest sphere of life, and from the toils of a
stone-mason's apprentice, without means, without friends, without
other than the most rudimentary education, he rose, by his own
unaided and unwearied exertions, to fill one of the brightest pages
in the annals of our country. And when, in future years, an example
is sought of unconquerable perseverance, of fearless integrity, and
of earnest, ceaseless activity, the voice of universal approbation
shall proclaim--"_the stone-mason of Cromurty_." We have spoken of
this mournful event only as a public calamity; yet, to those who
were personally acquainted with the departed, it is invested with
no ordinary sadness. Long, long shall they remember the playful
fancy, the rich humor, the warm, genial heart of their friend. His
simple, open frankness endeared him to every one, though his
retiring disposition prevented him from making many intimate
friendships. To those who enjoyed this higher privilege, his death
must have caused the most poignant regret. Yet what can even their
sorrow be to that of the relatives of the departed? We lament the
death of one who was alike an honor to his profession, to
literature, to science, and to his country,--one of the most loved
and cherished of friends. Let us not forget to mingle our sympathy
and our sorrow with that deeper grief that mourns the loss of a
husband and a father.
As coming from a different quarter, and presenting a somewhat different
view, the following, from the _London Literary Gazette_, should have a
place here.
Hugh Miller was born at Cromarty in 1805. In his early life he
worked as a laborer in the Sandstone quarries i
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