20 AUGUST 1921, Page 25

.Matthew Leishman of Govan and the Middle Party of 1813.

By J. F. Leishman. (Paisley : Gardner. 10s. 6d. not.)—Dr. Leishman, the parish minister of Govan from 1821 to his death in 1874, was the leader of " the forty " who strove earnestly to avert the Disruption of the Scottish Church in 1843. He shared Dr. Chalmers's dislike of lay patronage, but ho felt that secession would be disastrous and must be avoided if a tolerable compro- mise could be secured. His grandson, who is himself a well- known Scottish minister, explains the position of the middle party of 1843 very clearly in this interesting memoir. Leishman lived to see the patronage system abolished. The reunion of the Church, whose Disruption he strove to avert, is now, after eighty years, on the eve of being accomplished. Tho biographer reminds us that Leishman saw Govan transformed from a quiet country village—shown in an illustration of the year 1826— into one of the greatest and smokiest shipbuilding centres in the world. Leishman helped to set up a dozen new churches in his large parish for the rapidly growing population.