New-York tribune., 1908-12-19
I'm M4CLAREN." "
Il Good Portrait Of the Scots Parson
and AMh0r.
IAN MACLAREN." The Life Of the Rev. john
Watson, d d. BY w. Robertson Nicol. Svo
PIP viii, 367. Dodd Mead & Co.

John Watson. of Liverpool was over forty
years old and he had been fifteen years city
pastor before he used any of his holiday hours
in writing the idyIls of Scottish life that won
such wide attention for his pen name, Ian
Maclaren." The disguise Of the authorship of
Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush was never thick
enough for concealment, and although Watson
persisted in treating the book but a by
product of his activity it brought him celeb
rity which made no small difference in his posi-
ton as a public man. Perhaps TO his fellow
| citizens of Liverpool the sudden accession OF
| fame interesting less as a revelation of the
gifts of their tovnsman than the ratifyng
of more locally established renown. Whether
| apart from the popularity of his stories he
would have gained a hearing from the wider
world passes knowledge. What can be agreed
! on is that being the man he the literary
success was important episode in his career
| without beginning TO constitute his sole claim
to regard. 4 biography that reported John
! Watsons life in terms of. let say. its friend
| ships would be we'll worth while, and DR.. Rob
ertson Nicol who the man 70 do it, has
given US this and more
As Watson was Of pure Highland blood. ne
was simply victim of circumstances in being
born at Manningtree. in Essex At the age Of
four he was taken to his proper country. living
with his parents first Perth and later at
eraI of Taxes in Scotland was methodical and
somewhat stern man, devout Free Kirk elder
who saw to it that in his home every Sunday
the toast The Queen" was drunk with grave
loyalty. Watson's mother Maclaren of Loeb
Tay, who could speak the Gaelic tongue Of
Jacobite and Roman Catholic ancestry and she
had an uncle well known and of some influence
in the Highlands priest. DR.. Nicoll says
she was a splendid and fearless horsewoman,
and she accustomed her to ride from in
fancy, mounting him the widest of farm
colts She possessed an extraordinary gift Of
mimlcry which would sometimes prove ire
pressible after the departure of a pompous Wis
itor.
Entering the University of Edinburgh when
he was sixteen years old, Watson's academic
ambitions seem to have reckoned on nothing
more than passing examinations with a view to
taking his degree in the regular course. He did
attain some distinction however, IN English
literature and in philosophy In the English
literature class sat Robert Louis Stevenson 1t
does not appear that Watson spoke to him,
but he remembered that his attendance was
very occasional and that when he entered the
classroom with his velvet jacket and Bohemian
air he usually greeted with a round of
cheers.
Either the army or the bar would have suited
Watson's inclinatiCns, but after taking his mas
ter's degree he found his father and mother so
desrous Of his entering the Church that he
dutifulIy proceeded a four years course IN
divinity at New College. Despite his unwilling
ness IN entering the the illogical hall, IL turned
out that here he far more at home than
he had been in the university. His powers
were maturing. and there the stimulating
camaraderie of a group that included James
Stalker. David Patrick, the present editor of
Chambers Encyclopaedia and Henry Drum
! mond his friend from boyhood Among intel
| ectual and spiritual influences To which he
yielded himself Robertson, OF Brighton. and
Thomas Hill Green OF oxford. we're particularly
potent. \ semester al Tubingen was added to
/ the eight years OF preparation at Edinburgh
| Then came three happy years as minister Of