but I want strength: the world will never well, and passed, without sense of incongruity, I have stamina in you, and will force your way; from the Vision of Mirza, or the paper on Westminster Abbey, to the true account of the death of Partridge, or the Tale of a Tub. If, however, he could wonder at the latitudinarian laxity of my taste, there was at least one special department in which I could marvel quite as much at the incomprehensible breadth of his. He was a born musician. When a little boy, he had constructed for himself a fife and clarionet of young shoots of elder, on which he succeeded in discoursing sweet music; and addressing himself at another and later period to both the principles and practice of the science, he became one of the best flute-players in the district. Notwithstanding my dulness of ear, I do cherish a pleasing recollection of the sweet sounds that used to issue from his little room in the outhouse, every milder evening, as I approach-selves. ed, and of the soothed and tranquil state in which I ever found him on those occasions, as I entered. I could not understand his music, but I saw that, mentally at least, though, I fear, not physically, for the respiratory organs were weak,-it did him great good.... It was once said of Thomson, by one who was himself not at all morbidly poetic in his feelings, that "he could not have viewed two candles burning but with a poetical eye." It might at least be said of my friend, that he never saw a To some Miller's subsequent acquaintances succeeded return from Edinburgh to Cromarty—he as- piece of fine or striking scenery without being deeply moved by it. I have seen him awed into deep solemnity, in our walks, by the rising moon, as it peered down upon us over the hill, red and broad, and cloud-encircled, through the interstices of some clump of dark firs; and have observed him become suddenly silent, as, emerging from the moonlight woods, we looked into a rugged dell, and saw, far beneath, the 'slim rippling streamlet gleaming in the light, like a narrow strip of the aurora borealis shot athwart a dark sky, when the steep rough sides of the ravine, on either hand, were enveloped in gloom. My friend's opportu-sidered. If Mr. Miller himself, however, has nities of general reading had not been equal to my deemed it right to maintain a certain reserve own, but he was acquainted with at least one class on this point, it is not for others to discuss it of books of which I knew scarce any thing;-he had carefully studied Hogarth's "Analysis of more at large. It is enough to say that, in Beauty," Fresnoy's "Art of Painting," "Gesner's the few pages which he does devote to the Letters," the "Lectures of Sir Joshua Reynolds,' topic, he represents himself as having been, and several other works of a similar kind; and in up to the period of his return to his native all the questions of criticism that related to exter-place from his temporary residence in the nal form, the effects of light and shade, and the influences of the meteoric media, I found him a high authority. He had a fine eye for detecting the peculiar features which gave individuality and character to a landscape,-those features, as he used to say, which the artist or poet should seize and render prominent, while, at the same time, lest they should be lost as in a mob, he softened down the others; and recognizing him as a master in this department of characteristic selection, I delighted to learn in his school,-by far the best of its kind I ever attended. south, in an uncertain condition as to religious belief-sufficiently decorous in his demeanor towards the Presbyterianism of Scotland, and feeling even a patriotic and hereditary respect for it, as became a descendant of Donald Roy, but personally at sea on the whole question, now a believer and anon a sceptic," and "without any middle ground between the two extremes on which he could at once reason and believe." At this period, he says, and chiefly in consequence of theological converWilliam Ross afterwards removed to Edin-sations with his friend, now a minister of the burgh, where our author found him, on his temporary visit there, working as a decorator, and as full of genius, but as desponding, as "Ah! Miller," he used to say, "you ever. | Scottish Free Church, but then only a student of divinity, he began to find that rest which he had long wanted in the cardinal principles of Scottish evangelism. And the new im pulse thus given to his thoughts was powerfully assisted by his subsequent intercourse with the late Rev. Alexander Stewart, of Cromarty, a man who, though not widely known beyond his own parish till shortly before his death, was in reality, according to Mr. Miller's opinion, the most original mind in the Scottish pulpit of his generation, with the single exception of Chalmers. From this period the plot of Mr. Miller's life rapidly thickens. Found out, as one may say, by the parish minister, and gradually by others, and still others, not only in Cromarty but in its neighborhood also, the stonemason became a local celebrity. Geologists in other towns corresponded with him; editors of local newspapers solicited communications from him; he published a volume of verses, entitled, "Poems written in the Leisure Hours of a Journeyman Mason;" the Cromarty ladies began to lionize him, and would walk up to where he was at work to have the pleasure of conversing with him; and, to add dignity to good-will, he was elected a town-councillor. In one respect, up to this time, he had been very obdurate. Though turned thirty, he still walked in bachelor meditation, fancy free. In due time, however, a conqueress appeared, and chains were wound round the Cromarty Hercules. We will not spoil this graceful episode in our author's life by attempting to narrate it. Suffice it to say, that walking by the side of a young, fair, and highly accomplished companion, between whom and himself it was well understood that they should so walk together during their whole lives, the Hercules came very soon to the conclusion that, in that case, it would not do to remain a stone-mason. What else to become, however, was not so easy a question. The editor ship of a country newspaper offered, in some respects, not unsuitable prospects; but to write savage local politics was not an occupation that one could conscientiously, in most cases, undertake. For several years no progress was made, and the idea of an emigration to the American backwoods became more and more familar both to Hercules and the lady, as the only likely solution of the problem how to make their marriage possible. In the end their patience was rewarded. A branch bank was opened at Cromarty, and the agent, a respectable gentleman in the town, was left to nominate his own assistant. He offered the post to Mr. Miller, who at once accepted it; and after a short visit to Linlithgow, for the purpose of learning the nature of his future business in a branch bank there, he returned to Cromarty, no longer an operative, but an accountant. In this situation he remained one or two years, during which the marriage took place. During this time, also, his "Scenes and Legends of the North of Scotland" first saw the light, and he began to contribute with some regularity to various Scottish periodicals. The NonIntrusion controversy was then just rising to its height, and, at the critical moment following the adverse decision of the House of Lords in the Auchterarder case, Mr. Miller, whose feelings had been gradually but strongly engaged on the side of the Church, published his celebrated "Letter to Lord Brougham." At that moment the Non-Intrusionists of the south were in quest of a suitable man to be the editor of their projected newspaper. Dr. Candlish pointed out the author of the popular pamphlet as the very man of all others to fill this post; and in 1840 Hugh Miller of Cromarty removed to Edinburgh. From the Eclectic Review ERASMUS.* ON one of the bridges of the numberless canals of Rotterdam, in the centre of the city, stands a bronze statue ten feet high, of an ecclesiastic, with a soft and somewhat sickly intellectual expression, diligently reading a book which he holds in his right hand; and hard by is a mean-looking house with the inscription:"Hæc est parva domus, magnus quâ natus Erasmus"-(this is the small house in which the great Erasmus was born.) This bronze statue was preceded by one of stone, and that by a wooden image, erected ten years after the death of Erasmus: the stone statue was substituted eight years later. In 1592, the Spaniards threw it in the Meuse, and thirty years elapsed before its place was occupied by the existing monument, which is regarded as the chef-d'œuvre of Henry de Keiser. The admirers of Erasmus have said that, in this respect, he resembled the divinities of ancient Rome, who were honored with images of clay before golden temples were erected to them. In 1652, this famous bronze was pulled down by the insurgents, who looked on it as having some connection with Popery, and had wellnigh destroyed it. The magistrates of Basel commissioned a merchant of their city, at 5 Hess's Erasmus von Rotterdam nach Seinem Leben und Schriften. [Life and Writings, of Erasmus of Rotterdam.] 2 bde. 8vo. Zurich. 1790. 6. The Life of Erasmus. With Historical Remarks on the State of Literature between the Tenth and Sixteenth Centuries. By Charles Butler, Esq., of Lincoln's Inn. London. John Murray. 1825. 7. Bibliothèque d' Elite.-Eloge de la Folie, traduit du Latin d'Erasme, précédée de l'Histoire d'Erasme et de ses Ecrits. [Select Library.-The Praise of Folly. Translated from the Latin of Erasmus. Preceded by the History of Erasmus and his Writings.] Par M. Nisard. Paris Librai rie de Charles Gosselin. 1842. that time in Rotterdam, to buy the statue; but the authorities at Rotterdam having persuaded the people that Erasmus, though a cleric, was neither a saint nor a sayer of masses, and that his statue required neither adorations nor prayers, it was determined that it should not be sold, but replaced upon its pedestal. Erasmus was the son of a citizen of Tergou, whose name was Gerard. Margaret, his mother, was the daughter of a physician. His parents were not married-a reproach of which his learned adversary, Julius Scaliger, did not fail to make a virulent use in a literary controversy, while the better sort of people defended Erasmus, as a man who had procured for himself a high reputation, notwithstanding the irregularity of his birth. The brothers of Gerard, who was a man of pleasure, would have persuaded him to enter the Church, leaving his patrimony to them. To escape from their solicitations he went to Rome, where he was employed as a copyist. While there, his relatives informed him that Margaret was dead. His grief for her supposed loss induced him to take orders, but on returning to Holland he found Margaret still alive. As a priest, he could not fulfil his promise of marriage to her; she would not marry any other man; and they did not live together. At four years of age, young Gerard-who afterwards adopted the custom of scholars in that age of revived ancient learning, by translating his name into Latin (Desiderius) and Greek (Erasmus)-was sent to school, and while yet a boy, his pleasing voice secured him an appointment in the choir of Utrecht Cathedral. At nine he was removed to the school of Hegius, at Deventer, where one of his schoolfellows was Adrian, who succeeded Leo X. as Pope. Wonderful stories are told of his retentive memory at that early age. His mother, who resided for his sake at Deventer, died of the plague when he was thirteen. His father soon followed her to the grave. Erasmus had an elder brother, who shared with him a small patrimony, which sufficed for the expenses of their studies at the uni versities. Their father was scarcely dead, | little about his wards. They thus came enwhen their relatives and their guardians tirely into the power of the other, whose robbed them of their little property, and name was Guardian. He began to speak sought to cover their delinquency by induc- strongly of a scheme for engaging them in ing the young orphans to become monks. the Church. Erasmus was now fifteen, and The more active of these guardians had for- his brother three years older. The elder merly been a schoolmaster; but he was not brother was feeble, and afraid of Guardian, tinctured with the love of letters, and, under and seeing himself poor, would willingly a reputation for piety, he carried a perfectly have suffered him to do what he liked with selfish nature. Young Erasmus wrote him him, to escape the difficulty of resisting him, one day a somewhat elaborately composed and the uncertainties of a precarious life. letter, to which he sullenly replied-" Write Erasmus, who appears, even then, to have me no more of that kind, without sending felt the instinct of his future, spoke of sellalso a commentary." He was one of those ing the little land that remained to them, "servants of God" who thought they offered making up a small sum, going to the univerto Him an acceptable sacrifice when they en- sities to complete their studies, and commitrolled some helpless youth on the list of some ting themselves thereafter to the grace of monastic order; and he recounted with pride God. His brother was induced to consent, the recruits he had brought to St. Francis, on condition that Erasmus would be the St. Dominic, St. Benedict, St. Augustin, St. spokesman. Guardian called for them, some Bridget, and other heads and founders of days after they had pledged themselves to convents. As soon as the boys were fit to each other. Assuming a gentle tone, he spoke go to college, their guardian, fearing, as he largely of his paternal tenderness towards said, that they might there imbibe sentiments them, his zeal and his vigilance, and aftertoo worldly, sent them to a convent in Bra- wards congratulated them on his having bant, whose monks derived their income from found a place for them in another convent the instruction of children. When a youth of nearer home. Erasmus thanked him, but lively character and precocious intelligence told him that his brother and himself were came into their hands, it was their prac- both too young to take so grave a step-that tice gradually to subdue him, by harsh treat- they could not become monks before they ment of various kinds, to the proper tone of knew what was meant by being a monkthe monastic life. These "brothers" were that they wished to consider the matter more ignorant enough, buried in the shades of their maturely, after devoting some years to the convent, strangers to science, spending in study of letters-that some time for reflecprayers the time not employed in scolding tion could not hurt them. Guardian was not and whipping their pupils, incapable of teach- prepared for a refusal. He broke forth into ing what they did not know, and filling the threats, and could scarcely keep off his hands. world with stupid monks or badly educated He quarrelled with Erasmus, and resigned laics. In this convent Erasmus and his his guardianship, saying that they had not a brother spent two years, under a master who florin left, and that they must look out for was the more severe for his want of learning, themselves. The youth wept, but his resoluchosen not by competent judges, but by the tion remained unshaken. The threatenings general of the order, often the most ignorant having failed, the guardian changed his mode of the monks. This man had a gentle col- of attack. He intrusted the business to his league, who loved Erasmus, and amused him- brother, a man of polish, and of persuasive self with him, and who, hearing him speak talent. He had the youths into his garden, one day of returning home, labored to retain treating them with pleasant conversation and him in the convent, and unite himself with wine. He drew so attractive a picture of their body, telling him all sorts of tales of the monastic life, that the elder youth yielded. happy life they led there, and bestowing on Erasmus, at sixteen, of delicate constitution, him many caresses and little gifts. The boy oppressed with ague, solitary, and poor, what resisted like a man. He said simply that he was to become of him! would take no part until his reason was more advanced. The monk, who was a good-natured man, did not urge him. On returning to Tergou, they found that one of their two guardians had died of the plague, without having given up his accounts. The other, taken up with his trade, troubled himself but He was beset by persons of all qualities. One gave him a lively description of monastic tranquillity; another set before him a tragical representation of the dangers of the world, as if monks were living beyond the world; this man terified him by reciting the miseries of hell, as though convents never led to hell; that other quoted miraculous examples-such as a man being devoured by a lion as he turned back from a monastery; some spake of monks who had been honored by conversations with Jesus Christ, and of St. Catharine, who had been affianced to him, and had enjoyed long interviews with him. Erasmus was looked on as a grand prize, whose precocious abilities promised a monk that would do honor to his gown. While agitated by these uncertainties, he had seen, in a monastery near the town, one of the companions of his childhood, who had been in Italy seeking his fortune, but not succeeding, had been induced by the love of repose, a taste for good living, and a reputation for good singing, to become a monk. Cantelius-such was his name-persuaded Erasmus to follow his example, boasting of the quietude, freedom, harmony, angelic fellowship, and literary leisure of the convent. To Erasmus the convent now seemed to be the garden of the Muses, where the cherished tastes of his life would be indulged. Returning to the town, new assaults awaited him. Again Cantelius plied his charms, and put an end to his hesitation by asking him to become his pupil. Erasmus sought relief from present attacks in the convent, but without intending to remain there. After many months spent in literary luxury and equality, without being obliged to fast or to perform nocturnal duties, the day arrived for taking the habit of the order. He spoke of resuming his freedom, but he was met with new threats, and after a brief struggle, he suffered himself to be made a monk. A whole year passed away without regrets. But by slow degrees, he learned that neither his soul nor his body could conform to that way of life. He saw studies neglected or despised. Instead of true piety, for which he had some relish, there were endless chants and ceremonies. His brother monks were, for the greater part, stupid, ignorant, sensual, and ready to oppose any among them who gave signs of a delicate intellect, and a stronger inclination for study than for feasting. The most robust had the greatest influence. Though at first he had been exempted from fasting, he was soon brought under rule. So tender was his constitution, that if his meal was postponed for an hour, his heart failed him, and he fell into a swoon. suffered grievously from cold and from wind; but how could he escape them in an unhealthy convent, with long damp passages, and with cells imperfectly closed? He He was in a continual shiver. The mere smell of fish gave him a headache, and brought on symptoms of fever. So light was his slumber, that it was with the utmost difficulty, and after some hours, that he could fall asleep, after rising to perform the nightly offices of devotion, from which, during his novitiate, he had been exempt. Deeply did he now sigh for liberty once more. But he was met by horrible scruples. "Tricks of Satan," said one, "to draw away a servant from Jesus Christ." "I had the same tempt. ations," said another, "but since I overcame them, I have lived as in Paradise." "There is danger of death," insinuated a third, “in abandoning the habit; for this offence against St. Augustine, men have been smitten with incurable disease, blasted by the thunder, or killed by the bite of a serpent: the least of the evils is the infamy attached to an apostate." The young monk feared shame more than death his repugnance was conquered, and to the gown he now added the friar's cowl. Regarding himself as a prisoner, he sought consolation in study; but as letters were viewed in the convent with suspicion, he was forced to study secretly in the religious house where men were allowed to be drunk in public. Erasmus had attained his twenty-third year when the Bishop of Cambray invited him to come and live with him. Having obtained the consent of his bishop in ordinary, of the particular prior of the convent, and of the general prior of the order, he gladly accepted the invitation; but he staid with the bishop only a short time. He entered the famous theological College of Montaigne, at Paris, whose very walls, he said, were theological. But the regimen of the place was deadly. John Standonnée, the governor at the time, who had spent his youth in poverty, and was as hard as the rocks of the desert, fed his young pupils with fish and tainted eggs, never allowing them meat, making them lie on wretched beds in damp chambers, and, to crown all, forcing them to wear the monk's gown and cowl. Many youths contemporary with Erasmus became mad, blind, or leprous; some of them died under this harsh treatment; and Erasmus himself was so ill, that he had great difficulty in recov ering; and, according to his own statement, he must have lost his life, but for the protection of St. Geneviève! The love of letters and of theology had drawn Erasmus to Paris the first time, but the college diet and sickness drove him away. He soon repaired thither again to complete his studies, but was driven away the second |