gifted at once with the power of "accurate observation, of logical deduction, of broad generalization, and of poetic and pictorial representation."

"He quarried truth all rough-hewn from the earth,

And chiseled it a perfect gem."

More than this, he was pre-eminently the exponent of science to the people. Of all geological works, his, undoubtedly, enjoy the widest circulation. But lastly, and above all, his scientific labors derive especial importance from the consideration that the fruits of his researches were all made to bear more or less upon the elucidation and defence of the oracles of truth.

"Twain at a birth,

Science with a celestial halo crown'd

And heavenly truth: God's works his word illumed.

These twain he viewed in heavenly concord bound."

Mr. Miller's mind may be classified among the few original, creative, productive ones. He could analyze, collate, criticise. So can thousands. But he could construct, originate, develop. His was likewise a comprehensive mind. He could contemplate a subject in all its relations, and as a part of one great whole. It was this power which enabled him so successfully to refer any given individual object to a system. This faculty it was which, aided by , a powerful imagination, qualified him, as it had Cuvier, from a single fragment of bone to describe the whole animal; from some fragmentary fossil skeleton imbedded in the strata of mother earth, to realize a life-like picture at once of the plants that adorned, and the living things which peopled an earlier world. However vigorous in thought, conclusive in argument, or well furnished with the facts and figures of both ecclesiastical and profane history, undoubtedly the paramount endowment of his mind was this intellectual grasp of which we speak, and which, more than anything else, distinguishes all leading and truly great minds; this power of taking in the whole of a subject as a whole, or of getting at the great central idea, the fundamental underlying principle of a given subject, with reference to which all things are manifestly to be contemplated or adjusted, and around which the details of either business or study naturally and necessarily group themselves.

Touching the personal appearance of Mr. Miller, or Old Red, as he was familiarly called by his scientific friends, it has been said. that once seen it was never to be forgotten. "A head of great massiveness, magnified by an abundant profusion of sub-Celtic hair, was set on a body of muscular compactness, but which in later life

felt the undermining influence of a life of unusual physical and mental toil. Generally wrapped in a bulky plaid, and with a garb ready for any work, he had the appearance of a shepherd from the Rossshire hills, rather than an author or a man of science."

In conversation, as in every other capacity, the man of original genius and cultivated mind at once shone out, evincing a wealth of information and a philosophical acumen only less remarkable than his amiable disposition, generous spirit, and his consistent and humble piety. Modest in his demeanor, gentlemanly in his bearing, he dealt with the feelings of others with such a natural delicacy, and with the opinions of others with such a genial, manly deference, he at once made you confess his natural kindness, while he won your unbounded confidence, admiration, and esteem. Seldom, if ever, excited by any petty jealousies or fitful envyings, playful in his mirth, abiding in his friendships, warm in his domestic attachments, always ready and willing to oblige, he may be said, more than is common to the lot of mortals, to have been crowned with those lesser attributes and graces which, like the "gold on the spire, or the sunlight on the corn field," give the last touch, the perfection finishing to a noble character.

"His life was gentle, and the elements

So mixed in him, that nature might stand up
And say to all the world, THIS IS A MAN."

Finally, as the man fully imbued at once with the passion for civil freedom which fired the soul of Wallace, with the zeal for religious liberty which animated a John Knox, and with the practical and scientific spirit which characterizes the present age, we are by no means sure but there are quite sufficient grounds for the high claim instituted by his biographer in his behalf-that, more than any other Scotchman, more than Sir Walter Scott, who, notwithstanding all his geniality and breadth of character, was rather a relict of feudalism than a representative of modern times; than Robert Burns, who, though Scotia's greatest bard, was so sunk in the mire of an odious sensuality as to be cut off for ever from the faith of the country, Hugh Miller stands as SCOTLAND'S REPRESENTATIVE MAN.

ART. III.-WESLEY AS A MAN OF LITERATURE.

[SECOND ARTICLE.]

MR. WESLEY as a reader, and what kinds of books he was in the habit of perusing, with a list of the several sorts, we have shown in a former article. We are now to show this distinguished man as an AUTHOR and PUBLISHER, and what works he wrote himself, and what books he published (with various alterations) from other pens. We shall classify Mr. Wesley's original and selected works, and so review them more conveniently and more briefly.

I. The first class of works. will be on the subject of MUSIC. In the worship of God in heaven are "harpers harping with their harps," and others singing as it were a new song before the throne." So in the worship of God on earth, the instrumental and the vocal are and may be beautifully and harmoniously united. Such was the opinion of Mr. Wesley, and therefore he provided music, both for instruments and the voice, for private use and for public congregations. In the infancy of Methodism, and so early as 1742, was published for the Methodist congregations throughout the country, "A Collection of Tunes set to Music, as they are sung at the Foundery," that is, in the congregation in London. Another of Mr. Wesley's early publications was called "The Grounds of Vocal Music," a tract of twelve pages. On two occasions he published a Sacred Harmony, or a choice Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes, in two and three parts, for the Voice, Harpsichord, and Organ," one of the editions being a good-sized book of three hundred and fifty pages, and the other about half the size. The harpsichord, a keyed instrument with wires, in the first half of the eighteenth century was in the fashion, but has long ago fallen into disuse. Charles Wesley seems to have been highly pleased with the harpsichord in the domestic circle. In a letter to his wife, in 1755, he urges her to urge her sister (living with them) concerning music in general and the harpsichord in particular. Says he "Beck must recover her music; must positively, or not look me in the face. It lies upon you to drag her to the harpsichord, and tie her down in the chair." The organ has for centuries been a popular instrument, and now suits the public ear as well as ever. At that time little did the founder of Methodism think that, in a century after, hundreds of Methodist congregations would praise God with the organ as well as the voice.

He was always interested in the art of music. Dr. Pepusch was a celebrated musical theorist and composer, and especially noted for his investigations into the music of the ancients. In 1748, Mr. Wesley says that he spent an hour or two with this eminent man, and learned "that the art of music is lost, and that the ancients only understood it in its perfection." He allowed that the art revived a little in the reigns of Henry VIII, and Elizabeth, and in the time of Purcell; but that the "true ancient art, depending on nature and mathematical principles, had gained no ground, the present masters having no fixed principles at all." In 1768 Mr. Wesley read a masterly essay on music, and was "surprised to find that the music of the ancients was as simple as that of the Methodists; that their music wholly consisted of melody;" and that what is now called harmony, or singing in parts, is quite novel. The author observes further, that "singing different words by different persons" destroys melody, and defeats the very end of music, which is to affect the passions. The opinion of this author and his own exactly corresponded. Four years before, he went to hear the Oratorio of Judith performed. The music was fine, but he objected to two things in it, and in all modern music. One is, singing the same words ten times over; the other, singing different words by different persons at one and the same time." Four years after he passed strong condemnation on the singers of the church at Neath, in Wales:

"I began reading prayers at six, but was greatly disgusted at the manner of singing. 1. Twelve or fourteen persons kept it to themselves, and quite shut out the congregation. 2. These repeated the same words, contrary to all sense and reason, six or eight or ten times over. 3. According to the shocking custom of modern music, different persons sing different words at one and the same moment: an intolerable insult on common sense, and utterly incompatible with any devotion."

A pretty faithful picture of many a choir in many a present congregation! His opinion on harmony, as the musical professionals call it discord, as the people of common sense, term it-never varied. Fourteen years after, and when an old man of nearly eighty, he came to Warrington to preach, and says:

"I came just in time to put a stop to a bad custom, which was creeping in here: a few men, who had fine voices, sang a psalm which no one knew, in a tune fit for an opera, wherein three, four, or five persons sung different words at the same time! What an insult upon common sense! What a burlesque upon public worship! No custom can excuse such a mixture of profaneness and absurdity."

He and the whole conference entered the strongest protest against the complex tunes and repetitions, as injurious to devotion

and religion. Thus, in the Large Minutes, is the thirty-ninth question: "How shall we guard against formality in public worship, particularly in singing?" and in the answer is the following:

"Is not this formality creeping in already, by those complex tunes which it is scarcely possible to sing with devotion? Such is, Praise the Lord, ye blessed ones with the long quavering hallelujah annexed to the morning song tune, which I defy any man living to sing devoutly. The repeating the same words so often, (but especially while another repeats different words, the horrid abuse which runs through the modern Church music,) as it shocks all common sense, so it necessarily brings in dead formality, and has no more of religion in it than a Lancashire hornpipe. Besides, it is a flat contradiction to our Lord's command,' Use not vain repetitions.""

The preceding quotations will show the reasons against the “fugue tunes," mentioned in the Discipline of the American and Canadian Methodist Churches, in the section "Of the Spirit and Truth of Singing." It appears then from one of the best authorities, that ancient music was simple melody, and that there were no complex sounds in the Hebrew, the Babylonian, the Grecian, or the Roman music. The grand old ode of Moses was set to simple melody, accompanied by the timbrel of Miriam, and the response of the mothers in Israel. So powerful was the Hebrew melody that David thereby stilled the evil passions of the vexed and enraged Saul. The music and singing of the temple was of the same grand and effective kind. The Babylonish music was equally simple, whether heard in the vast plain of Dura, at the banquet of the terror-struck Belshazzar, or by the sleeping-couch of the aged and short-reigned Darius. The Grecian Orpheus, too, accompanying the Argonautic expedition, essayed the lyre to melody, and calmed the troubled beasts on the wild shores of the stormy Euxine. Nor was the renowned Terpander, father of the Grecian music, acquainted with the complications of the modern art. And, at the feast of the mighty Alexander,

"Timotheus to his breathing flute,

And sounding lyre,

Could swell the soul to rage, or kindle soft desire,"

by simple melody. As the evil complained of by our founder still exists, and even in our own congregations, the digression will doubtless be excused; and his remarks and opinions may perhaps obtain the attention of the deep-thinking and the leaders of our public and devotional music.

Another musical work published was called "Sacred Melody, or a choice Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes." In the introduction, Mr. Wesley gives directions for congregational singing, as, "Sing all, sing lustily, sing modestly, sing in time, sing spiritually."