and independent. A close and shrewd observer, with quick grasp of character and a humorous sense tinged with cynicism, he was always fresh and attractive – and not seldom brilliant – as preacher, writer, or conversationalist. His sermons were literary and practical rather than dogmatic; his essays, although often commonplace in thought and expression, caught the attention by their common sense, their easy allusiveness, and transparency of style; and his brisk unflagging talk was enriched with endless and apposite anecdotes, although it was not devoid of a certain overbearing element. "I came to the conclusion," says Sir Edward Russell, "that he was almost, if not quite, the greatest raconteur I had ever known" (That Reminds Me, p. 135). His best books resemble his conversation, and his autobiographical reminiscences are exceptionally realistic and outspoken. An excerpt from Recreations of a Country Parson, selected and introduced by Paul Collins, appears in the boxed literary magazine Dancing Star, vol 26 (2002) as a 12-page standalone booklet titled "Early Morning at the Station". Bibliography Recreations of a Country Parson (Series 1, 1859), (Series 2, 1861), (Series 3, 1878) The Graver Thoughts of a Country Parson (1862) Leisure Hours in Town (1862) Counsel and Comfort Spoken From A City Pulpit (1863) Sunday Afternoons at the Parish Church of a University City (1866) The Critical Essays of a Country Parson (1867) Lessons of Middle Age (1868) Sunday Afternoons at the parish church of a university city (1869) Present Day Thoughts; Memorials of St. Andrew's Sundays (1871) The Autumn Holidays of a Country Parson (1878) Our Little Life: essays consolatory and domestic with some others (1882) Twenty-five years of St. Andrews, September 1865 to September 1890 (1893) St. Andrews and Elsewhere: Glimpses of Some Gone and of Things Left (1894) References Attribution External links 1825 births 1899 deaths People educated at King's College School, London Alumni of King's College London Fellows of King's College London 19th-century Ministers of the Church of Scotland Scottish memoirists Alumni of the University of Glasgow People from East Ayrshire Moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland