ABSTRACT
This chapter concentrates on Hugh Miller's range of popular descriptive writing and social commentary, rather than on his more erudite scientific compositions, with an examination of three strands of Miller's popular social commentary: maxim, metaphor and memorial. Maxims are rules by which to live. They govern personal and social conduct and are a form of 'etiquette' by which social behaviour is moderated and purport to illustrate what happens when social conventions are adhered to behaviour which is cited as leading to personal success. Metaphorical writing, where a phrase is symbolic of something else, is a more subtle form of narrative expression. In a piece published in the Inverness Courier on 13 May 1829, Miller retold a local folktale, called the 'Story of the Noble Smuggler'. This piece of oral history tells the story of a boat in Cromarty harbour, sailed by Lord Byron a member of the landed gentry who was a genius writer with a touch of madness.
