Professor Blackie : his Sayings and Doings. A Biographical Sketch
by his Nephew, Edward Angus Kennedy. (J. Clarke and Co.)—Mr. Kennedy describes both the seria and the jocose of Professor Blackie's life. It would be a mistake to suppose that he did not do a great deal of work. Full of patriotism as he was, he did not shut his eyes to faults and defects in Scottish matters. Against discreditable neglect, for instance, of secondary education, he struggled not without success. Of course, this touched him personally, for it threw on him as Professor work that ought to have been done by grammar-school masters. But in other direc- tions he was a genuine and disinterested worker. His patriotism, too, was more enlightened than some of his ways of talking and acting would lead one to think. Of his merits as a Professor it is difficult for an outsider to judge. One thing is certain, he kept his classes alive ; if a man had the possibilities of enthusiasm in him, Blackie was sure to rouse thew. The humdrum student. who after all had his rights, if only because he paid his fees, complained, and not without reason. Of these things and others Mr. Kennedy has much that is interesting to say. His study is of the miniature kind, but it presents the man with not a little vividness.
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