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    the present aspects of scenes familiar to Lis auditors , and which represent in their formations the several stages of palseontological history . -Doubtless much of elementary geology is taught to the reader , ere he has reached the end of the lectures ; but in a discursive and , to some extent , an unmethodical and unscientific way . We cannot therefore but regard the title as a misnomer-Hu <> -h Miller ' s mind -was led to the study of eeolo

    taught their chisels to perpetuate sacred innocency -of cherubs and the graceful fomis of nymphs . Hugh Miller ' s , earliest operative days were spent down in the recesses of a quarry whose lowest rampart , were of venerable red sandstone , and whose topmost layers were deposits of red boulder clay . The mind of artistic bent is led forward from the fashioning of the rock into routine and useful fabrics , to the forming it into new and unborn shapes . Hugh Miller ' s speculative mind was led backward from " his toil , into inquiries into the origin and history of the sandstone in which ever and anon he unexpectedly came upon a cavity exactly representing in its form some curious unknown reptile , or of the boulder clay in which he found pebbles polished to the smoothness of enamel , and rutted with lines which seemed to

    have been impressed by gnome or genii gravers Under any circumstances , in any age Hugh Miller would have been a geological inquirer . The inquiring mind , situated as his was , would always have been awakened into curiosity and speculation by the phenomena placed before his eyes . Luckily for himself , he came into the world , and began to philosophise in his quarry , a sufficient number of years after other men ' s minds had begun to speculate in the same line , to have at his disposal the fruits of the first expeditions , into the wilds of tellurian history—certain ascertained facts and deductions , which guided

    him in his further inquiries . For geology this man s mind was utilised in maximat He arrived just at the right time . Fifty years earlier his cravings would have been unsatisfied ^ and Ins observations turned to no scientific account . There was just enough , of geological . truth , radiating to Cromarty , when he began to hew slabs from the formation he has made his own for ever , b y the unassailed right of exclusive conquest , to light him some solacing steps on his way ; but its glimmer was just faint and short , —reaching enough to display without illuming still further recesses of research and speculation . One curiosity was

    allayed only to beget others more enthralling . Hugh Miller began to philosophise in the natural and spontaneous way ; that is to say , he began , untutored as lie -was , to wonder what were the causes of what he saw around him . To students of . any science , in any'stage other than that of the very earliest development , this way of p hilosophisi ng is impossible . Progressive science is only possible under the condition of each student beginning where the last left ; oft " . For the positive gain pi the increased radiance , and under illumination ofn truth in science , we pay tho pe nalty of removal furtlicr and further from the fresh wonder and

    delight of the , pioneers on whose eyes its rays first dawned . ' ¦ In the sketch of geology , which these , six lectures contain , Hugh Miller conducted his auditors , and now conducts his readers into every stratum of the earth ' s substance , especially the fbssiliferous formations , in the Irtish and natural method of unfornial and primitive philosophy . His whole method is analytical . Instead of starting from tho bowels ot the earth , an a systematic grammarian of geology would , ami leading you through rod-hot gneiss and of

    solust , enigmatic BHurian bands , cinctures peat hardening and blackening into coal , scams of lias rich in shells and lizard scales , tilted up on tho slopes of Bcott ' iKli mountains , or enriching , as a Hub " soil , the hops wliich wave over the Weald of Kent , and s

    touches off ; in a sketchy way , some of the more obvious and interesting of minor details ; and then satisfies the curiosity he has incited as to their causes , by vivid and imaginary descriptions combining all the circumstantial reality of a verbal Pre-Raphealitismwith the grandeur of an apocalyptic vision , of the processes and states through which coal , porphyry , or limestone have passed . As an illustration of this plan , we shall summarise for our readers , the popular view he gives , in the last lecture , of the primary rocks , that is , those deposited and done with , ere life was aders

    bora into matter . Many of our re are , doubtless , familiar with the scenery of the Western Highlands . Take your seat , then , once more , with Hugh Miller as fellow-passenger , on the coach that runs between Glencoe and Loch Lomond . In the glen you are in a region of primary porphyry , itself dingy , and made all the more sombre by the dark heath which covers without c l othing it , and by the long shadows cast by its masses over the vale . Igneous these rocks must be . Their semi-columnar structure betrays their origin ; and their towering pyramidical form tells the same tale .

    We emerge from Glencoo , and the scene entirely loses its character . We have just left towering masses , broken into dizzy precipices . Now , _ that first mountain that breaks upon our sight is . ' ? a mere hummock , magnified into a mountain , and ¦ wrapped round by a continuous caul of brown heath . " And just beyond , the scene rolls out into one of the dreariest moors in Scotland . We have passed from . porphyry to granite , and to granite largely composed of feldspar . Feldspar contains a large proportion of potash , which decomposes readily , and thereby accounts for the rounded form , at once , of granite boulders , and these , granite hills . We pass from granite to a region representative of the staple scenery of the Highlands .

    " Its swelling hills' are rolled , like p ieces of plain drapery , into but a few folds , " and its valleys are ong and withdrawing . The hills are broad of base and squat , as if they were well begun , but interdicte d in the building , and wanted upper stories , They are mountains " of one heave ; " whereas , all the grander Scottish mountains , such as Ben Lomond and Ben Nevis ,, are of two heaves , at least . We have been journeying through gneiss . We pass from gneiss , arid become aware , by the peculiar contour of the hills miles before us , that

    we are approaching anew formation . The rocks are grey , of a silky lustre ; curved , wrinkled , and contorted , like pieces of ill-laid-by satin . The outlines of the hills arc tuberclcd : projecting knobs and sudden recesses break up their surfaces into picturesque wildernesses of light and shade . The decomposition of the rock evidently forms a soil favourable to the production of grasses , and the common dicotyledonous trees . For , as Sir Walter says , in the " Lady of the Lake , " with his invariable absolute truthfulness of local description : —

    " Xor were these earth-bom enstlcs bare , Koi- Jnokcd they man y a banner fitir ; KoriVom their » hlvorod browa displayed , J- ' ni- o ' er the unfathomable tflndo , All twinkling with . tho dow-drnp ' s sheen , The briar rose foil In streamers <; roon . And crecniuff shrubs of thousand dyuH , YVav'd . lu tlio west wood ' s minnner sia'hs . Loch Katrine , the Trosachs , and Ben Lomond are in a mica " -schist district . Anil so we travel on through the clay-slate of the encroaching lowland scene , between Loch Lomond and Dumbarton , sacred to tho momory of George Buchanan and Dr . Tobing . SmoHet . . .

    The above is n fair specimen , allowance being made for the unavoidable marring in tho transcript and . condensation of the general style and treatment of the lcoturos . To those who wish to acquire by rotes the skeleton of geological science and uomonclaturo , tho book in not appropriate . It is all that can bo desired by thu hearts of those who would place themselves , with the alacrity of joyful disci- , plesihip , at the feet of one who has mastered many of nature ' s darkest and most wondrous secruts ; whose soul has risen unil expanded with the theme ; _ who has taken unto'himself strength and ' sovereignty qvqi' ovory new domain of discovery , and who possesses tho rare faculty of enkindling , as a loiiuhor , tho enthusiasm and tremulous awe lie full , himself ¦ wh on first he crossed the portals of thu pnst , and stopped upon tho virgin shores of the old rod sandstone epoch .

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    ELLEN RAYMOND . Ellen . Raymond ; ov , Upa and ])<>* > ' [*< ^ y M ™ - Vidal . 3 vols . Smilli . M 0 « r , ami Co . Tub heroine , Ellen Raymond , is tho foremost character in this work—wry handsome vyvy clovor , v » y decided , tihe in throug hout nulyuotud to u series of trials mid luiaadvontm-es , Uiu ^ onacquonco of not bourn- properly understood ; 8 he w placed in situations rather critical ic . rhurpur . ty of character ; slio is rustnuiKid fi ' om vnulioatuw herself . b £ obligations which arc not clearly defined ; fll j made tho victim of circumstances and situations whibh nnpoar in some respects overstrained 5 but she sum / aunts all her trial - with dignity and decorum . Tho interest is mado to concentrate

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    LIFE'S FORESHADOWINGS . Life ' s Foreshadowings . 3 vols . Hurst and Blackett ; We are presented in the preface with a gratuitous key to the " aim " of the author of " Life ' s Foreshadowings . " If the author has met with the characters in real life pourtrayed in these remarkable volumes , then his or her experiences must have _ been somewhat exclusive . The passion of love is presented to us under two widely different modifications of its influence arid action , in neither of which is it very probable that living types could be found , even in this commonplace world of ours . Certainly the scene is laid in Ireland , and the characters are Irish . This may account fora good deal of the talent and much more of the

    eccentricities , that unquestionably display themselves m this work . The first portraiture of " love " is shadowed forth in the history of Mr . Pierce Henderson and Annie . Brandon . The gentleman is more than middle-aged , bald , anything but good-looking , cold , selfish , an unnatural son , a hard , unfeeling husband , a severe father when passion is up ( he horsewhips his daughter over her bare shoulders ) , a spendthrif t bankrupt ; . and to all this " intolerable quantity of sack " the only redeeming morsel oi " bread " - —if there be any redemption at all—is a pleasant voice and a great command of shallow small talk . And yet Annie Brandon , a lovely , wealthy , talented young creature , who lias been brought up to view Pierce Henderson in the light

    of a second father , falls in veritable love with this elderly piece of masculinity , and consents to become his wife . The match is broken oft \ however , because Annie Brandon becomes acquainted with the contemptible character of her jiance ; but no sooner does ah apoplectic attack—herniplegia , so it is described by the author—reduce this elderly ladykiller to a slavering semi-idiot , with features hideously distorted and limbs paralysed , than the love of young Annie Brandon revives , and becomes so intense that she marries him as soon as the doctor can get him upon a pair of crutches . It is true that the author , hi order to cover what would otherwise be the revolting aspect of this affair , restores the paralytic cripple to a moderate share of health ; still it is difficult to reconcile such a marriage to

    notions of propriety , to nature ' s workings , or to life ' s ; foreshadowings . The other love passage has reference to Christie Roach and Jay Henderson , daughter of Pierce Henderson . Roach is a penniless man of plebeian extraction , gifted , however , with strong mental faculties , and devoted to abstruse science . Jay Henderson is a fairy in beauty and accomplishments , well-born , and her father ' s heiress . She , when a mere child , falls in love with Christie Roach , then her fathers agent ; Roach loves Annie Brandon , and runs daft when he finds his hopes in that quarter are vain , Poor and ugly , and not over clean , he still has attractions in the eyes of Jay Henderson , who would marry

    him , nothing loth , did her worldly-wise parent consent . Christie Roach becomes eventually an astronomical and scientific luminary in laris , acquires fame , name , and money , comes to Ireland , and marries Jay Henderson , even then quite young enough to l ) e his daughter . These are a few of " life ' s foreshadowings " in this work . Wo must put the author on his or her trial—empanel a jury of the reading public—and having , as critical judge , given our charge , leave them to pronounce the vprdict . We will not close tliis notice without a word or two of positive approbation . The author has a fine , cultivated , elegant , but somewhat

    crotchety mind , and a pictorial and inscinnting style . " Life ' s Foreshadowings" we assume to be a first production , but it sliows po muHi real promise that we feel confident the writer , if ho or ahc chooses , may become a celebrity .

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    No . 472 , April 9 , 1859-T THE LEADERS 461

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 9, 1859, page 461, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2289/page/13/