Norman Macleod. By John Welwood. (Oliphant, Anderson, and Ferrier.) —
Mr. Welwood dates his introduction from a " Manse," and therefore permits himself to say what he would probably resent were it said by any one else. We do not see that ministers are more out of the race now than in former times. We venture to say that more are known by reputation to the world than have ever been known before. The story of Norman Macleod's life is adequately told. It may be doubted whether he was quite as great a man as he is here figured. Thoroughly large-hearted, with a great gift of sympathy, and the keenness of intuition in dealing with men which sympathy gives, but impul- sive and apt to pass hasty judgments. A man who took up the position that he did in the Disruption should have known better than to talk of the help given to Maynooth as a " terrible" measure. And be should not have been carried away by the pre- tentious "Evangelical Alliance," a narrow, one-sided affair from the beginning. That he had a genuine gift of eloquence cannot be doubted. To say that its power depended much upon the viva vox and the potent personality of the man is to say no more than is true of many of the greatest orators,—of Mr. Gladstone, to name one of many. It is curious to find the Queen writing of the first sermon that Norman Macleod ever preached before her at Balmoral that it was " entirely extempore." He had preached it fifteen times before. No one would blame him, but the meaning of the word "extempore" must be enlarged.
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