F.R.S.L. F.S.A.

FRANCIS BENNOCH, F.R.S.L.

BY BUTLER WOOD.

CHIEF LIBRARIAN, FREE LIBRARY, BRADFORD; FELLOW OF THE YORKSHIRE LITERARY SOCIETY; MEMBER OF THE BRADFORD PHILOSOPHICAL

SOCIETY: MEMBER OF COUNCIL, BRADFORD HISTORICAL

AND ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY; ETC., ETC., ETC.

FRANCIS BENNOCH was born at Drumcool, in Durisdeer Parish, Dumfriesshire, on the 25th of June, 1812. At the age of sixteen he left his birthplace and went to London, where he was employed in one of the mercantile houses in the City. When he was twenty-five, he entered into partnership and commenced business as a silk merchant. In this venture he was successful and realized a large fortune, which, however, he was soon fated to lose. Subsequently his attention was directed to foreign commercial transactions, and these turned out so well that he was more than able to retrieve his former position. Being of a philanthropic disposition, he engaged in many schemes of benevolence connected with the city of London, where he was widely known and greatly respected. In his early life he associated with Wordsworth, Allan Cunningham, Samuel Rogers, Hawthorne, and many other literary celebrities of the time. Jerdan, too, was his friend, as may be seen from the passages in his autobiography. Bennoch was particularly bountiful in his aid to struggling artists and men of letters, many of whom, including the unfortunate Haydon, and Miss Mitford, were indebted to him for counsel and assistance. He published "The Storm, and other Poems": London. 1841; which passed into a second edition; and some other minor works at a later date. In 1877 appeared "Poems, Lyrics, and Sonnets," London, with portrait, and memoir of the author. Bennoch contributed many pieces in prose and verse to the "Dumfries Courier," besides other periodicals and newspapers. He was a member of the Society of Antiquaries, Royal Society of Literature, and the Society of Arts, while in his business relations he was a member of many Companies, and Chairman of others. He died at London in June, 1890, at the ripe age of seventy-eight.

My Books

I LOVE my books as drunkards love their wine;
The more I drink the more they seem divine;
With joy elate my soul in love runs o'er,
And each fresh draught is sweeter than before!
Books bring me friends where'er on earth I be,
Solace of solitude,-bonds of society!

I love my books! they are companions dear,
Sterling in worth, in friendship most sincere;
Here talk I with the wise in ages gone,
And with the nobly gifted of our own:

If love, joy, laughter, sorrow, please my mind,
Love, joy, grief, laughter in my books I find.

An Appeal for Peace

During the Franco-German war.

O LUST of Conquest, Power, and Fame,
Ambition, Wealth, and Pride!
What evils follow in your train;
For you have millions died!
Alas! alas! for bonny France!

Her rivers Loire and Seine

Run red with blood; their sunny banks
Are reeking with the slain.

O Europe, lift your mighty voice,
And bid the carnage cease!
From out the sea-walled citadel,
O England plead for peace!
Plead for the helpless, homeless ones,
Childhood and hoary years;
Plead for the orphan's piteous cry,
The wailing widow's tears.

Republic, Council, Kaiser, King,
Forget not this DECREE,

Each loving life your lust destroys

Heaven will demand of thee;

Command, O God, Thou King of Kings,

Break angry passions down;

That PEACE, and LovE, and BROTHERHOOD
May all the nations crown.

JOHN STUART BLACKIE.

BY RICHARD GARNETT, LL.D.

KEEPER OF THE PRINTED BOOKS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM, AUTHOR OF THE LIVES OF "CARLYLE," "EMERSON," ETC., ETC., ETC.

JOHN STUART BLACKIE, emeritus Professor of Greek in the University of Edinburgh, claims, beyond most writers of the age, the distinction of versatility, not merely in subject, but in mental constitution. A Celt by temperament, a Greek by education and study: these conflicting factors of character seem alternately to prevail with him, and it is difficult to decide whether he can be best classed or will be best remembered as poet, philosopher, or practical politician. The teaching of Greek and the cultivation of Greek literature have been the official training of his life, but his Celtic affections and instincts, and his indomitable energy, restless and unbroken as ever at the age of eighty-two, have continually carried him into by-paths, followed up with so much ardour as to seem for the time the main purpose of his existence. Born at Glasgow in July 1809, Professor Blackie is by a few days the senior of Lord Tennyson. He supplemented his Aberdeen and Edinburgh training by study at Gottingen, Berlin, and Rome, and at the age of twenty-five evinced the energies which have ever distinguished him by a translation of Faust. At the same time he was called to the Scottish Bar, a profession which it is supposed he did not find congenial, since in 1841 he forsook it for the Professorship of Humanity in Marischal College, Aberdeen; a charge which seems to indicate that he must have paid considerably more attention to classical than to legal studies. His career at Marischal College must have been eminently successful, for in 1852 we find him elevated to one of the greatest educational positions Scotland has to bestow-the Greek professorship at Edinburgh-which he held for thirty years, retiring in 1882. His promotion may probably have been assisted by the fine translation of "Eschylus" he had published in the previous year, which still ranks among the two or three best in the language. The metrical form adopted for his version of the Iliad (1866) is, we think a mistake, but it deserves to be represented, and was no doubt better adapted to the translator's idiosyncracy than one admitting of greater polish. His "Songs and Legends of Ancient Greece," (1857); "Hora Hellenicæ," (1874); and " Wise men of Greece," (1887) are also interesting contributions to classical study; while his 'Language and Literature of the Highlands" (1875) is still more important, because more peculiarly his own. His enthusiasm for the Highlands was

evinced yet more energetically in his persevering and successful efforts to procure the endowment of a Celtic chair, and in numerous discourses, letters, and peregrinations, undertaken mostly after his resignation of his Greek professorship, at an age when most men think only of repose. But Professor Blackie is indefatigable and indomitable: and the eccentricities of manner which have sometimes prevented a man of the most earnest convictions being taken quite seriously are mellowed by a ripe, ethical wisdom, sweet, sane, and living. These are especially manifested in his "Discourses in Beauty," (1852) and his "Self-Culture" (1873) the latter in the opinion of many, the most valuable of his writings.

Moments.

IN the beauty of life's budding,
When young pulses beat with hope,
And a purple life is flooding

Round thoughts blossoms as they ope.

When the poets song is dearest,

And, where sacred anthems swell,
Every word of power thou hearest
Holds thy spirit like a spell;

O these are moments, fateful moments,
Big with issue-use them well!

When a sudden gust hath tumbled
Hope's bright architecture down;
When some prouder fair hath humbled
Thy proud passion with a frown;
When thy dearest friends deceive thee,
And cold looks thy love repel,
And the bitter humours grieve thee

That make God's fair earth a hell,
O these are moments, trying moments
Meant to try thee-use them well!

When a flash of truth hath found thee,
Where thy foot in darkness trod,
When thick clouds dispart around thee,
And thou standest nigh to God.
When a noble soul comes near thee
In whom kindred virtues dwell,
That from faithless doubts can clear thee
And with strengthening love compel;
O these are moments, rare fair moments;
Sing and shout, and use them well!

JOHN STUART BLACKIE.

When a haughty threat hath cowed thee
And with weak, unmanly shame,
Ignoble thou hast bowed thee

To the terror of a name;
And then God holds the mirror
Where thy better self doth dwell,
And thou dost start with terror,

And thy tears gush like a well;
O these are moments, blessed moments,
Weep and pray and use them well!

In the pride of thy succeeding,
When beneath thy high command,
Every soul must own the leading

Of thy strong controlling hand;
When wide cheers of acclamation,
Round thy march of triumph swell,
And the plaudits of a nation

Every thought of fear expel;

O these are momemts, slippery moments,
Watch and pray and use them well!

When the term of life hath found thee,
And thou smilest upon fate,

And the golden sheaves around thee
For the angels' sickle wait;
When the pure love thou achievest
Doth the mortal pang expel,

And a shining track thou leavest

To dear friends that love thee well;
O these are moments, happy moments,
Bless God, with whom all issues dwell!

65

Advice to a Favourite Student on Leaving College

E

DEAR youth, grey books no blossoms bear;
Thou hast enough of learning;

For life's green fields thy march prepare
And take my friendly warning.

I would not have thee longer stay,

To read of others' striving;

Wield thine own arm !-the only way
To know life is by living.