The Testimony of the Rocks: or, Geology in Its Bearings on the Two Theologies, Natural and Revealed — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
The Testimony of the Rocks: or, Geology in Its Bearings on the Two Theologies, Natural and Revealed
John Stuart Mill · en
On reaching the General Post-Office, in Waterloo Place, the ranks
of the funeral procession were largely augmented, there being here
as many as from twenty to thirty private carriages in waiting,
filled with the leading citizens, and a large body of the
inhabitants, of all ranks, classes, and denominations, drawn up in
line three or four abreast.
The Kirk-Session of Free St. John's, of which Mr. Miller was an
office-bearer, headed by the Rev. Dr. Guthrie and the Rev. Dr.
Hanna, who left the carriage at the Post-Office, occupied the front
of the procession, immediately followed by the Royal Physical
Society, of which the lamented deceased was a leading member, the
_employes_ in the _Witness_ office, and a large body of the general
public. A still more numerous body of the citizens, as well as of
parties from Glasgow, Liverpool, Stirling, Bridge of Allan, and
other parts of the country, drew up in the rear of the long line of
carriages, while the sides of the streets were also lined with
mourners, who accompanied the procession to the Cemetery. Besides
the large concourse of people who here joined the procession, the
whole front of the Register Office and the corners of the North
Bridge were densely occupied by some thousands of spectators; and
it may be safely said, that no event since the death of Dr.
Chalmers has caused such deep-felt sorrow and regret in Edinburgh.
The numbers present in the funeral _cortege_ must have amounted to
from one to two thousand; indeed, one paper states that "at one
time there could not have been many less than four thousand people
in the procession;" whilst another journal says, that although the
inclemency of the weather, the day being one of the dreariest of
the season, "kept back many who would otherwise have swelled the
line of mourners, even with this drawback, it has been informed
that the attendance was even greater than on the occasion of the
funeral of Dr. Chalmers in 1847."
After a short delay, caused by these accessions to the procession,
the whole moved up the North Bridge. It was gratifying to observe
that nearly all the shops on the North and South Bridges, and in
Nicolson and Clerk streets, along which the _cortege_ passed, were
closed; and along the whole route many a saddened countenance and
tearful eye could be seen, all testifying to the deep respect
entertained for him whose manly form had so often traversed these
same streets.