The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-10-21
oKORHE MAoDONALD.

lowing critical notice Of his works by Samuel
w. Duffeld will be read with interest,"
In something less than three years we have
become acquainted with a new name in lite
nature. 1t has drifted to us across the Allan
tic, and with it has come a vague hint OF a
personality whereof in future we may know
more. The works of this hand and brain are
mainly in poetical prose, with an occasional
relapse into verse. His books sell largely,
and he is better known as "the author of
ANNALS of Quiet Neighborhood than as
George Macdonald.
Lately he appears among us as the editor of
Good Words Tor tie Young, always, however,
forgetting the prefix tRev.," and carrying
that balancing I'LL. D." as 'the draigon" of
his own Robert Falconer carried the weight
which steadied her in mid-air. We hear of
him rs a tall man, of earnest demeanor and
shaggy beard, proclaiming now and then in
clear and forcible speech his own peculiar
doctrines of righteousness, temperance, and
Judgment to come" He is reputed to have
the ear of his audience on these rare occa-
sions, and certainly if the humanity of his
books is test, he deserves it.
AS far bnck as ''Phantastes, Faery Ro-
nance, his imaginative style seems to have
begun. "Within and Without" poem of
about the same date shows more deliberate
thought-perhaps more metaphysics than
the beginning of his fame Gf indeed he had
no share in the composition of "The Green
Hand, Short Yarn }, have been entirely dis
placed to American readers by other and more
mature productions.
First. we had as reprints "Alec Forbes of
Howglen," and Gould Court, a London
Story"
To these succeeded the importation of
s'The Disciple and Other POEMS" another
volume entitled "Unspoken Sermons" and
the ''Annals of Quiet Neighborhood, witt
its sequel ''The Seaboard Parish" Next
came David Elginbrod" and 'tRobert Fal-
coner," both reprints; and current
literature was at the same date re-
freshed by a series of articles on the
''Miraces of Our Lord" in the Sunday
MGgasjne, and by "Ranald Bannermans
Boyhood, and cat the Back of the North
Wind, in Good Words for tie Y0ung.
In attendance upon these, Mr.. Macdonald
sent forth volume of the Sunday Library,
uniform with Charles Kingsley's "Hermits"
and Miss Yonges "Pupils of St. John the
Divine" which was styled ''Englands Anti
phon." 1t is most important contribution
to our knowledge of the singers and songs of
the English Church.
In all these books there is vein of con-
sistent, fresh, original thought, often ex-
pressed in language extremely apt and power
III
times, and particularly it tends to that blunt
plainness as to hypocrisy and cant and sham
of every kind in which our dear departed
masters Thackeray and Dickens took the
lead. But to compare MIR. Macdonald with
either, or with both, would be unfsir. He
has not the same elements in him. He can
not, if he would, write in their light, easy,
man-of-the-world style, which, like Saladin's
scimetar, cuts deep and to the quick.
htn In s.lnr IL
us, have thought that resume of his me-
thod and writings might aid in fuller appre-
citation Of the mans actual talent-not to say
his genius of certain sort.
His novels are, with one exception, Scotch
in scene, and with a great deal of the dialect
about them. Their central figure is much
the samoa boy, who, while hearty, active
lad, nevertheless has his fancies and his
thoughts This fine fellows life possesses
many points of humor-especiallyi in 'Alec
Forbes'-and introduces scenes and pictures
which are at times simply exquisite. This
education of the hero evolves the aesthetic
from its lurking-place within him. A female
presence casts halo of protecting beauty and
goodness over his path. He has stalwart male
friends -adherents of the cast-iron theology
of the North, or else scapegraces of droll
and facetious turn, in whom he detects the
good beneath the bad. He generally befriends
or finds in the horizon OF his career some for.
saken boy of a curious devotedness. Rela
tives or near friends, of the pure Scottish
type, are around him, who like Falconers
grandmother, have warm hearts under bosoms
calmly cold. And, as nearly as words car
achieve it, we have process of photography
going on from the day we set eyes upon oul
principal actor until he goes off the stage
with the closing of the book.
kaFor all this, Mr.. MacDonald's abundant
observation, fruitful fancy, and thorough sym
pathy fit him excellently well. Leaving ou
such eccentric persons as Count Halko, il
'David Elginbrod, who practises mesmerisn
and electrical bewilderments, his character
stick to common facts, and invest ordinar,
things with the charm of spicy conversation
and o minuteness which never degenerate
into tedious recapitulation. Wit sparkles il
the speech of Cosmo Cupples as naturally a
a. brook laughs in the sun, and you may b.
profoundly sure that the talk will rippl
freshly up whenever any obstruction appear
in the channel.
The books are of their own kind. The,
are professedly of high intention-the late
ones, by which l do not mean our lates
reprints, being the best One cannot reat
them without being stimulated to somethin,
nobler and purer, for they may honestly b.
called both. They are mine of original an
quaint similitudes, and their deep perception
of human nature are certainly remarkable
To have realized some of the scenes as b.
has, Mr.. Macdonald must have known the
student-life of Aberdeen, and the boy-life of
little Scotch town. Nature, from smallest {,
largest, must have been carefully under hi
notice. And in the world, so wide as it is t
all of us, he has seen the little flower gro7
up in a life, or the great storm sweep over it
This is notably the case in the "Annals of
Quiet Neighborhood, and its sequel, tn
lattar haino NV no n1aana tha hast Hara n