With the royal family he was both a social favourite and a trusted counsellor. To Prince Alfred, who seemed to be particularly attached to him, he once gave this advice,--that ‘if he did God’s will, good and able men would rally round him; otherwise flatterers would truckle to him and ruin him, while caring only for themselves.’ Both sons and daughters, when residing on the Continent, had flying visits from this chaplain. One Monday he left Glasgow for Windsor; thence, on royal errands, he proceeded to Bonn and Darmstadt; he was back at Windsor on the Friday: and on the Sunday following, it may be added, he preached three times in the Barony Church. The Prince of Wales (with whom he sometimes stayed at Abergeldie) once put in a plea for short sermons. Said the Doctor, ‘I am a Thomas à Becket and resent the interference of the State’; and sure enough, at the first opportunity, he preached for three-quarters of an hour, only so well that His Royal Highness wished it had been longer. To show how much he was thought of at Court, it may be mentioned that one day he was at Inverness to meet the Crown Prince and Princess of Prussia, the next (which was a Saturday) at Balmoral, and for half of the following week with Prince Alfred at Holyrood. But here is the crowning instance: ‘The Queen sat down to spin at a nice Scotch wheel, while I read Robert Burns to her, _Tam o’ Shanter_ and _A man’s a man for a’ that_, her favourite.’ Her Majesty never forgot what Dr. Macleod had been to her in the time of her desolation, but extended her confidence, nor failed to take an interest in his personal cares. Some of the truest and most touching words ever written of Norman Macleod are from the pen of Queen Victoria. CHAPTER VII 1860-1866 TRAVELS--BROAD CHURCH MOVEMENTS