



Produced by David Clarke, Dan Horwood and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net







{Transcriber's Note:

All square brackets [] are from the original text. Braces {} ("curly
brackets") are supplied by the transcriber.

A caret character '^' indicates the following letters are superscript
in the original.

More transcriber's notes are provided at the end of the text.}




LEADING ARTICLES
ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS.




{Illustration: W. H. McFarlane, Lith^r Edin^r
HUGH MILLER
_Fac-simile of a Calotype by D. O. Hill, R. I. A. 1845.
see page 184_}




MURRAY AND GIBB, EDINBURGH,
PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE.




LEADING ARTICLES

ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS.

BY

HUGH MILLER,

AUTHOR OF 'THE OLD RED SANDSTONE,' ETC. ETC.

_EDITED BY HIS SON-IN-LAW_,

THE REV. JOHN DAVIDSON.

_FOURTH EDITION._

EDINBURGH:
WILLIAM P. NIMMO.
1872.




PREFACE.


The present volume is issued in compliance with the strong solicitations
of many, to whose desire deference was due. In selecting the articles,
I have been guided mainly by two considerations,--namely, the
necessity for reproducing the mature opinion of a great mind, upon
great subjects; and for making the selection so varied, as to convey to
the reader some idea of the wonderful versatility of the powers
which could treat subjects so diverse in their nature with such
uniform eloquence and discrimination. I trust that the chapters on
Education will prove to be a valuable contribution to the speedy
settlement of that question at the present crisis. Those on
Sutherlandshire are inserted because they possess a permanent value,
in connection with the social and economical history of our country.
Some of the articles are of a personal character, and are introduced,
not, certainly, for the purpose of recalling old animosities, but
solely to illustrate the author's method of using some of the more
formidable figures of speech; while over against these may be set some
on purely literary subjects, which show the genial tenderness of his
disposition towards those who aspired to serve God and their generation
by giving to the world the fruit of their imagination, their labour,
and their leisure.

I have not determined the selection without securing the counsel and
approval of men on whose judgment I could rely. It only remains for me
to thank them, and in an especial way to thank Mr. D. O. Hill for the
portrait which forms the frontispiece. An impersonal reference to a
similar portrait taken at the same time will be found at page 184, in
the article on 'The Calotype.'

JOHN DAVIDSON.

_London, March 8, 1870._




CONTENTS


                                                        PAGE

  THOUGHTS ON THE EDUCATIONAL QUESTION,                    1

  LORD BROUGHAM,                                         105

  THE SCOTT MONUMENT,                                    111

  THE LATE MR. KEMP,                                     119

  ANNIE M'DONALD AND THE FIFESHIRE FORESTER,             123

  A HIGHLAND CLEARING,                                   136

  THE POET MONTGOMERY,                                   146

  CRITICISM--INTERNAL EVIDENCE,                          151

  THE SANCTITIES OF MATTER,                              161

  THE LATE REV. ALEXANDER STEWART,                       170

  THE CALOTYPE,                                          179

  THE TENANT'S TRUE QUARREL,                             190

  CONCLUSION OF THE WAR IN AFFGHANISTAN,                 199

  PERIODICALISM,                                         206

  'ANNUS MIRABILIS,'                                     215

  EFFECTS OF RELIGIOUS DISUNION ON COLONIZATION,         223

  FINE-BODYISM,                                          232

  ORGANSHIP,                                             240

  BAILLIE'S LETTERS AND JOURNALS,                        249

  FIRST PRINCIPLES,                                      262

  AN UNSPOKEN SPEECH,                                    269

  DISRUPTION PRINCIPLES,                                 280

  CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CRIMEAN WAR,                    293

  THE POETS OF THE CHURCH,                               302

  THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA,                           315

  A VISION OF THE RAILROAD,                              327

  THE TWO MR. CLARKS,                                    337

  PULPIT DUTIES NOT SECONDARY,                           358

  DUGALD STEWART,                                        369

 