MILLER, HUGH (1802-1856).--Geologist, and man of letters, _b._ at
Cromarty, had the ordinary parish school education, and early showed a
remarkable love of reading and power of story-telling. At 17 he was
apprenticed to a stonemason, and his work in quarries, together with
rambles among the rocks of his native shore, led him to the study of
geology. In 1829 he _pub._ a vol. of poems, and soon afterwards threw
himself as an ardent and effective combatant into the controversies,
first of the Reform Bill, and thereafter of the Scottish Church question.
In 1834 he became accountant in one of the local banks, and in the next
year brought out his _Scenes and Legends in the North of Scotland_. In
1840 the popular party in the Church, with which he had been associated,
started a newspaper, _The Witness_, and M. was called to be ed., a
position which he retained till the end of his life, and in which he
showed conspicuous ability. Among his geological works are _The Old Red
Sandstone_ (1841), _Footprints of the Creator_ (1850), _The Testimony of
the Rocks_ (1856), and _Sketch-book of Popular Geology_. Other books are:
_My Schools and Schoolmasters_, an autobiography of remarkable interest,
_First Impressions of England and its People_ (1847), and _The Cruise of
the Betsy_. Of the geological books, perhaps that on the old red
sandstone, a department in which M. was a discoverer, is the best: but
all his writings are distinguished by great literary excellence, and
especially by a marvellous power of vivid description. The end of his
life was most tragic. He had for long been overworking his brain, which
at last gave way, and in a temporary loss of reason, he shot himself
during the night.
_Life and Letters_, P. Bayne (1871), etc.
MILLER, THOMAS (1807-1874).--Poet and novelist, of humble parentage,
worked in early life as a basket-maker. He _pub._ _Songs of the Sea
Nymphs_ (1832). Going to London he was befriended by Lady Blessington
(_q.v._) and S. Rogers (_q.v._), and for a time engaged in business as a
bookseller, but was unsuccessful and devoted himself exclusively to
literature, producing over 40 vols., including several novels, _e.g._,
_Royston Gower_ (1838), _Gideon Giles the Roper_, and _Rural Sketches_.
In his stories he successfully delineated rural characters and scenes.
MILMAN, HENRY HART (1791-1868).--Poet and historian, _s._ of Sir Francis
M., a distinguished physician, _ed._ at Eton and Oxf. Taking orders he
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