OBITUARY NOTICE OF REV. THOMAS LEISHMAN 211 



the Church of Scotland, commonly known as John Knox's 

 Liturgy, and the Directory for the Public Worship of God, 

 agreed upon by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster," 

 with historical Introductions and Notes. These Intro- 

 ductions and Notes by the Joint-editors abound in curious 

 and interesting information relating to the worship of the 

 Church in the periods dealt with, and form a valuable 

 addition to the literature of the subject. Dr Leishman was 

 mainly responsible for that part of the book which deals 

 with the Directory. In 1875 he published a pamphlet with 

 the title, "May the Kirk keep Pasche and Yule?" in which 

 he advocated the special observance of Easter and Christmas 

 as religious festivals in the Scottish Church. Still later, he 

 furnished the section on "The Ritual of the Church" to 

 the volumes entitled "The Church of Scotland, Past and 

 Present," edited by Principal Story of Glasgow University, 

 using his wealth of knowledge to present a clear historical 

 account of the varied practice in public worship that has 

 been observed since the Eeformation. He was also selected 

 to deliver one of the Lee Lectures, his subject being " The 

 Moulding of the Scottish Reformation," and the Macleod 

 Memorial Lecture on " The Church of Scotland, as she was, 

 and as she is." 



Dr Leishman was admitted a member of the Club, October 

 20th, 1856, the year after he came to Linton. If he were 

 still alive, he would now stand second on the list of members. 

 He attended the meetings very frequently, and in 1885 he 

 was elected President. While he was interested in all the 

 varied pursuits of the Club, he applied himself mainly to 

 the branch of Antiquities and Archaeology. He had studied 

 neither Botany nor Zoology, his tastes running in another 

 direction, but an old church or a ruined castle appealed to 

 his historical instinct. His wide historical reading enabled 

 him to throw himself easily into the past, and to reproduce 

 the scenes of its story, whether the building were a fastness 

 of the Kerrs or an Abbey of the Dominicans. He was a 

 good conversationalist, and a most interesting companion at 

 any meeting of the Club where interest centered in the 

 records of the past, rather than in animals and plants. 

 Unfortunately his contributions to the Club's Proceedings 



