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314

��NOTES BY THE WAY.

��Henry Bradshaw.

��'The Dumfries Album.'

��nearly always was absolutely victorious, even if he banged the brawlers into silence. He was, inter alia, a believer in the mil- lennium and the early coming and personal reign of our Lord and Saviour. He kept himself well up to date in relation to science and dialectical theology. . . .No man, not even Free Kirk Guthrie of ' The City : its Sins and Sorrows,' took deeper interest in the poor, or laboured more effectually, than George Gilfillan .... My friend at Cambridge and best man at my wedding, Henry Bradshaw, Dean of King's College Chapel and Principal Librarian, Cambridge University, used to mock, parrot like, at G. G., of whom he knew absolutely nothing, on account of a supposititious phrase assigned to him, ' the moultings of the celestial Dove ' ; but this was like the chatter of Benedick's assailants in ' Much Ado ' : " I '11 tell thee what, prince : a college of wit-crackers cannot flout me out of my humour. Dost thou think I care for a satire or an epigram ? " Dr. Robertson Nicoll, knowing of Ebsworth's friendship for Gil- fillan, in " a kind letter" dated December 15th, 1903, invited him to write the review, in The Bookman (a publication which he always read with delight), of Watson's Memoir of Gilfillan.

In ' The Dumfries Album,' 1857, edited by A. Mercer Adam, M.D., is a contribution of Ebsworth's. This Album was published as a help to a fund for the Dumfries Mechanics' Institution, all the contributions being gratuitous. In this Carlyle's ' The Opera ' first appeared. Among other writers were Charles Mackay, Tupper, Gilfillan, Blackie, and Mrs. S. C. Hall.

��'MACPHAIL'S ECCLESIASTICAL JOURNAL.'

MaophaiUs Mr. Alexander W. Macphail has kindly sent me an account

Ecclesiastical of the founding, by his father and uncle, William and Myles Mac- JournaL phail, of MacphaiVs Edinburgh Ecclesiastical Journal and Literary Review, to which Ebsworth was a constant contributor. He wrote the 'Editorial Farewell' in the last part issued, and frequently varied his signature, writing under Karl, J. W. E., Bedouin, &c. William and Myles, were the nephews of Alexander Macredie, the chief publisher and bookseller for the Church of Scotland. In 1846 they succeeded him, and started the Journal to champion the interests of the Established Church, after her great trouble arising from the dis- ruption, which happened in 1843. William took the editorship, and the leaders in the Church, both in theology and literature, contributed to its columns during its entire history (1846-1862) ; also many men of note outside the Church, De Quincey among others. Mr. Wright of Borthwick wrote a good deal for it. He was, Mr. Macphail informs me, " a rather noted figure in the Kirk in his day ; he was deposed, or had to retire, for holding ' advanced

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