SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Under this heading we notice such Books of the week as haus not been reserved for review in other forms.]
Robert Wallace: Life and Last Leaves. By J. Campbell Smith and William Wallace. (Sands and Co. 16s. net.)—Robert Wallace left an autobiography which occupies the first seventy-three pages of this volume. It ends abruptly in a description of the religious surroundings of his youth. His father was an elder of the Church, and kept up the traditional regime with some severity. Here is the programme of the Sunday. " Seven hours were devoted to exer- cises of Biblical worship, including the reading of good books, tracts, sermons, and other literature having a Biblical reference ; three hours and a half to conversations on the sermons, services, and other religious topics ; two hours and a half to preparations for worship, dressing and changing our dress, and walking to and from church ; and two hours to meals." The meals, it may be remarked, were prefaced by long graces, " half-mile graces," as Burns called them. The autobiography is, we need hardly say, a capital bit of work, but it does not contain so many quotable good things as we could wish. One of the best comes from James Hannay, who, having a controversy with the well- known Dr. Begg, a very intense Sabbatarian, argued that no narrow limits must be put on the definition of "works of neces- sity and mercy." Dr. Begg was not great at Greek, and Hannay declared that it would be "a work of necessity for him to have a Greek dictionary, and a work of mercy to lend him one." The autobiography is followed by an essay, " Education and Church Life," from the pen of Mr. J. Campbell Smith. Robert Wallace was a student of St. Andrews, where he won the first bursary (of the value of £10 per annum). The Professors are vividly described, but the notices of Wallace himself are not very satisfying. More is said about his years in the ministry. The rest of the volume is devoted to extracts from articles and reviews, lectures, &c. We are glad to have the book, but it is not all that we expected.
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