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