Review of Het-iexce, 20,2/06. 



Character Sketches. 



I 5 I 



' Robert Falconer.' " A modest way of calling it 

 his best. The popular verdict agrees with this. 

 This book to many twenty or thirty years ago was 

 a veritable veil of life. And it shows how far we 

 have travelled to remember that this book was of- 

 fered to Dr. Norman Macleod for Good Words, and 

 he was afraid to publish it. 



As to his poetry, Mr. Ruskin has said that " The 

 Diary of an Old Soul " is one of the three great 

 sacred poems of the last century. If that be true — 

 and it is rather a big statement — it is true only of 

 the ideas and not of their lyric form. I once said 

 to him, " There are lovely ideas in your hymns, 

 but they lack clearness." He replied, "Yes, you are 

 right. I never had time to polish them. :) Pro- 

 bably his finest hymn is " A quiet heart, submissive, 

 meek," which is clear, picturesque, and lyrical. 

 Lovers of ballads say that ' : The Yerl o' Watery 

 Deck " is one of the finest in the language. Pro- 

 bably they are right. I should not be very surprised 

 if his fairy stories do not hold their place longest in 

 public esteem. To a large extent his novels have 



accomplished their work. Their ideas have become 

 current coin, and so have lost their novelty. 



Had he not given himself so fully to fiction he 

 might have been one of the surest and sanest critics 

 and exponents .of English literature. I know of no 

 treatment of English sacred verse more satisfactory 

 than his " England's Antiphon." 



Many people were astonished, and some, it may 

 be, a little shocked at the announcement, some 

 twenty years ago, that George MacDonald and his 

 family would appear in " The Pilgrim's Progress." 

 Very charming it was. No one who ever saw it will 

 forget George MacDonald as Great-Heart. 



Dr. MacDonald was really a fine actor. I was 

 once present at a private recital of " Macbeth," when 

 he played the title role, and his eldest daughter, 

 who had magnificent histrionic gifts, that of Lady 

 Macbeth. 



Altogether he was a many-sided man, who in his 

 day played many parts, but chiefly that of a Seer of 

 the Unseen and Eternal, through whom multitudes 

 found the " life that is life indeed." 



[Topical Press Photo. Agency. 



The Charing Cross Railway Disaster: View of the Station, showing how the roof 



is being repaired. 



