which the pious characters were all made odious, he paid an indemnity of £500. Art and morals alike may sneer, but Macleod’s compromise was well considered and justified in the result. The storm blew over, and another step was gained for religious freedom. _Good Words_ carried the name of Norman Macleod over the English-speaking world, and had a vogue in the remotest Hebrides. Principal Tulloch once met in the mountains a man who, on learning the traveller’s name, said, ‘I know you from _Good Words_.’ The numbers were so cherished that households generally had them bound, and to this day the early volumes are held precious in many a Scottish home. The sight of one of the old familiar pictures still sends a thrill through thousands, recalling the quiet Sabbaths of their childhood, dear old rooms, and faces they shall see no more.’ Before he became the editor of _Good Words_, Macleod had published little that was of interest outside religious circles. _The Earnest Student_, doubtless, has considerable merit as a biography, and is written with a tender grace; but it suffers from the inherent unfitness of the subject for extended treatment,--an uneventful life and a character wanting in colour. To say that it deserved a place beside the _Life of M’Cheyne_, to which it bears a resemblance, would be high praise. In the mass of his contributions to _Good Words_ there is, of course, much that need not be criticised. The sermons put one in mind of the student who, being asked why he was not going in for the ministry, answered, ‘I don’t want to spoil my style.’ His records of travel were eagerly read when they appeared, having a certain interest from the person of the adventurer, with humorous and graphic touches; but to give permanence of charm to the account of voyages and journeys requires all the arts of a Kinglake or a Stevenson.