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JOHN MAC GREGOR

("ROB ROY")

John MacGregor
("ROB ROY")

EDWIN HODDER
' AUTHOR OF
THE "LIFE AND WORK OF THE SEVENTH EARL OF SHAFTESBURY, K.G.,
"SAMUEL MORLEY," "SIR GEORGE BURNS, BART.,'''
ETC. ETC.

WITH ETCHED PORTRAIT BY H. MANESSE
AND NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS-
FACSIMILES OF SKETCHES, ETC. ,

LONDON
HODDER BROTHERS
18 NEW BRIDGE STREET, E.C.
1894

PREFACE
I gratefully acknowledge my obligation to Mrs. John
Mac Gregor for valuable assistance of various kinds,
and especially for placing at my disposal her late
husband's diaries, manuscripts, sketches, and corre
spondence, and for furnishing me with information
and explanations which could not otherwise have been
obtained. To other relatives, friends, and co-workers
of John Mac Gregor I am also deeply indebted.
My object throughout the following pages has been
to draw a true portrait of a Man who exercised a
wide and still-spreading influence by his courage, per
severance, reverence, and buoyant hopefulness ; whose
character may be summed up in one word — Manli
ness, in the fullest, freest sense — physical, moral, and
spiritual. Wherever possible I have left him to speak for
himself, quoting freely from his diaries, correspondence,
and writings. E. H.
St. Aubyn's, Shortlands, Kent, ,

CONTENTS CHAPTER I
1825
A STORY OF THE SEA
A ship on fire ! — Rescue of John Mac Gregor— The Clan Mac Gregor — Major
Duncan Mac Gregor — Sketch of his career — Under orders for India — Rob
Roy's birth at Gravesend — The burning of the Kent — An extraordinary
letter — Tragic events — Rescue in the Cambria — Explosion — Total destruc
tion of the Kent — A perilous voyage to Falmouth — Safe on shore — Some
curious coincidences .... ... Pp. I — 22
CHAPTER II
1823— 1845
CHILDHOOD AND EARLY YEARS
Another perilous voyage — Mrs. Hannah More — The 93rd, or Sutherland,
Highlanders — Colonel Mac Gregor sails for Barbados — Little "Rob
Roy " — Anecdotes of his childhood — Goes to school at Canterbury, and
at Weedon in Northamptonshire — Exploits — Religious influences — Joins
a life-boat crew — Colonel Mac Gregor appointed Inspector-General of
Constabulary in Ireland — An adventure in Kingstown Harbour — A long
swim — On the hanging bridge at Carrick-a-rede — At Cambridge — Muscular
Christianity — A tour in Scotland — Jokes — Writes for Punch and for
Mechanics' Magazine .... . . Pp. 23 — 45
CHAPTER III
1847— 1850
SHAPING FOR A CAREER
Takes B.A. degree— A scene at Baptist Noel's church — The year of revolutions
— Commences a systematic diary — In Ireland—The Young Ireland Party
—Stories of "Pat" — Colonel Mac Gregor made K.C.B. — John's opinions

viii CONTENTS
thereon — Joins the Ragged Schools — Early experiences in the work —
Appointed member of Ragged School Union — John as an organiser —
Lectures to teachers — A teller of stories — Cape Matapan — Sympathy
with children — Daily life and habits — Studies music — Studies Patent Law
— His first tour in the East — Adventures by the way — Serious illness —
Sport — His first books, " Three Days in the East " and " Eastern Music "
Pp. 46-77
CHAPTER IV
1851
SHOEBLACKS AND SLUMS
A memorable meeting and a bright idea — Founding the Shoeblack Society —
Messrs. Snape and Fowler — First " demonstration" — The Great Exhibition
of 185 1 — The shoeblack system- — In the Boys' Home — Some stories of
shoeblacks — A humorous "Parliamentary Bill" — Broomers — Boy mes
sengers—Steppers — Laurence Oliphant . . Pp. 78 — 96

CHAPTER V
1851—1853
IN FULL CRY
Created Master of Arts— Called to the Bar— Interruptions— The Papal Aggres
sion — Protestant Defence Committee — Maynooth — Oxford Movement 
' ' No Popery ! "—The Protestant Alliance— Its aims and objects— Francesco
and Rosa Madiai— Pressing engagements— The Monthly Letter— Roman
Catholic Bibles— " Popery in a.d. 1900 "—Individuals and the system-
Letter to a pervert— The Lawyers' Prayer Union— A glimpse into spiritual
life— Faith and Works— Prayer— A diary of "special events "—Conference
at Birmingham— Origin of the Reformatory and Refuge Union— Industrial
Schools Acts— Examined before Parliamentary Committee— The Law of
Reformatories  Pp. 97-121

CHAPTER VI
1852—1855
TRAVELS, STORIES AND ADVENTURES
London life and influence— Rational amusements— Study of character— A tour
in Ireland— Hot Protestantism— A grand tour on the Continent— Homburg
—The Galenstock-Ascent of Mont Blanc with Albert Smith— Incidents of
the ascent— Through Italy— Ascends Vesuvius— Ascent of Etna-A popular

CONTENTS ix
lecture— Rumours of war— Departure of Douglas Mac Gregor to the
Crimea— Tour in Norway— Death of Douglas Mac Gregor— Effect on Sir
Duncan Mac Gregor— A touching prayer— Tour in Norway— Wolves !
Pp. 122—145
CHAPTER VII
1853 AND ONWARDS
IN THE OPEN AIR
Beginning of interest in open-air work— " The Life of Haldane "—Objects
claiming attention — Open-air Mission founded — Strange experiences — A
street controversialist — Infidels, spiritualists, mormons, teetotalers,
anarchists, socialists, and sceptics — "Go out quickly!" — Curious hand
bills—Pluck—Treading on the devil's tail— At the Mansion House— Rag
Fair — At King's Cross — A popish opponent— Quiet sarcasm — The sun
rising and setting — Redburn — A strange story with a pleasant sequel —
" Come and see ! " ... ... Pp.146 — 170

CHAPTER VIII
1853—1858
PERSONAL
How philanthropists work — Incessant labour — Reports and other literary
work — A man of prompt speech and action — A man of method — Early
rising — Punctuality — Preparation — Claims of family and friends — Visitors
— Athletic recreation — A man of industry — Annotated Greek Testament
— Enthusiasm — New enterprises — Crossing sweepers — Newspaper boys —
Varied reading — Founding of Pure Literature Society — Friendship with
Lord Shaftesbury, Hon. A. Kinnaird, Mr. Alexander Haldane — Common
lodging-houses — Jack Collins of the Kent — The inner life — Self-righteous
ness — Free expressions of opinion — Convocation — Interview with Wilber-
force, Bishop of Oxford ... , . Pp. 171 — 198

CHAPTER IX
1857— 1859
IN SPAIN, AMERICA, RUSSIA AND ELSEWHERE
Predilection for science — Patent Law — " Language of Specifications "—Digest
of Patent Laws — Marine propulsion — Invention of steam engine — Spanish
claims — Blasco de Garay — Palma — Majorca — Mosquitoes — Spanish notes
— The Archives of Simanchas — " The Paddle and the Screw from the

CONTENTS
Earliest Times "—The miracles at La Salette— With Dr. Livingstone-
Letter from same — Death of Mrs. Mac Gregor— In America — Halifax —
The days of slavery — Laying the Atlantic cable— Nigger settlements and
sermons — Boston— The "round of the churches" — Emigration — In
Russia— Tea-drinking— The great Fair of Nijni Novgorod— In Moscow-
Fetes in St. Petersburg— In the Swedish iron mines . Pp. 199 — 229

CHAPTER X
1859—1868
THE LONDON SCOTTISH
The national defences— Formation of Volunteer Rifle Corps— A Kilted Company
—Notes from the diary — Popularity — Prizes— The Hythe School of
Musketry — Moral, social, and hygienic effects of the Volunteer movement.
—A gentle rebuke— The Volunteers' Prayer Union — A mother's thanks-
Character and motive — A page of self-revelation — Stages of progress —
Letter from the Earl of Wemyss and March . . " . Pp. 230 — 249
CHAPTER XI
1858— 1866
CONCERNING MEN, PLACES AND THINGS
A meteoric career — Controversy — Letter from Mr. George Jacob Holy-
oake — Parliament — Honours — On the Danube — The cave at Adelsberg —
The Isles of Greece — An idyll — A gale — In Algeria — The lion country —
Caves and volcanoes — London thirty years ago — Garotters — Care for
criminals — In the slums — A terrible East End picture — The Industrial
Schools Act, 1866 — Objections to the Act — The boy's beadle — Temporary
unpopularity — Philanthropic almoners — The playful side of life — Up in a
balloon — The cruise of the Beagle — A sequel — Evening services in West
minster Abbey— A narrow escape — International Reformatory Exhibition
— With Mr. Gladstone — Notes from the diary . . Pp. 250—276
CHAPTER XII
1865—1868
THE ••ROB ROY" CANOE
Germ of the idea— The first Rob Roy — Outline of tour — " A Thousand Miles in
the Rob Roy " — Success of the book — Motive of the enterprise — Formation
of the Canoe Club — " Rob Roy on the Baltic" — Outline of tour  Boat
v. Canoe — Objectors — Replies to critics and objectors — Canoe v. Boat 
Canoe chasing — The Paris Exhibition — Exhibition of pleasure boats 

CONTENTS xi
The Prince of Wales, Commodore of Canoe Club — The yawl Rob Roy — An
unusual cargo — " The Voyage Alone " — Notes from the diary — Bound for
Palestine . . . , ... Pp. 277 — 302

CHAPTER XIII
1868—1869
ROB ROY ON THE JORDAN
Letters home — The fifth Rob Roy— Port Said— The Suez Canal — In the
desert — Incidents of travel — Hany the Dragoman — Ismailia — Mixed
nationalities — The Wells of Moses — Pleasures of solitude — Zoan — Mouth
of the Abana — Christmas Day — The Hauran — Beyrout — A crocodile in
the Kishon — Anxiety of friends — With Captain Warren in Jerusalem —
Reflections on the tour . . ... Pp. 303 — 327
CHAPTER XIV
1865—1869
ST. REMIGIUS, THE CANOEIST
A satirical article — A tract-distributing traveller — The Sabbath Day —
Incongruities — The mission of the traveller —Good humour — Skill and
courage — Capture of the canoe by Arabs — Affection for canoe — Descrip
tion of the kingfisher— Mac Gregor as an explorer . . Pp. 328 — 345
CHAPTER XV
1869— 1873
ON THE CREST OF THE WAVE
Publication of " Rob Roy on the Jordan" — Work for young men — A new
idea — Lecturing campaign for ^10,000 — Mac Gregor as a popular lecturer
— Charles Dickens — Sir J. E. Millais — Canoes for religious purposes —
In the Scilly Islands — A mummy — In Dutch waters — The Shetland Isles
— In the Azores — A sudden resolution — Letter to Sir John Burns —
Married — Professor Tyndall and the Bishop of Sodor and Man thereon.
Pp. 346—371
CHAPTER XVI
1870— 1876
LONDON AND THE LONDON SCHOOL BOARD
First meeting of School Board — Lord Lawrence — Form of prayer-^Religious
instruction in Board Schools — Street sellers and street workers — Beggars — ¦

xii CONTENTS
Crossing-sweepers — Chairman of School Management Committee —
Training boys for soldiers — Drill competitions — Swimming — The Royal
Humane Society — Boys' Literature — A Westminster School Boy. Pp. 372—389
CHAPTER XVII
1874—1886
FAMILY, SOCIAL, AND CITIZEN LIFE
At Blackheath — Love of children — A dog story — Death of Sir Duncan
Mac Gregor — Science and the Book — Overwhelming engagements —
Laurence Oliphant — Proposed canal in Palestine — With Lord Tennyson
— The Martyrs' Memorial — William Tyndale — Character and work of
Tyndale — Monument on the Thames Embankment — • Death of Lord
Shaftesbury — The Shaftesbury and Gordon Memorials — Letters from
Miss Whateley (Cairo), Martin Tupper, Frank Buckland, Bishop of
Manchester (Dr. Fraser), Sir George Grove, Matthew Arnold, Benjamin
Waugh, C. H. Spurgeon, Dr. Samuel Smiles, Bishop of Exeter (Dr.
Bickersteth), Lord Kinnaird ... . Pp. 390 — 427

CHAPTER XVIII
1888— 1892
BY THE STILL WATERS
The strain and stress of life — Politics— Anti-Home Rule —A burglary  Last
entries in the diary— On his last voyage— At Boscombe, Bournemouth—
In the gloaming— Notes from diary of Mrs. Mac Gregor— Death— Testi
mony— A message to young men— Life-lessons— The power of a simple
faith ¦ • ¦ • -Pp. 428—446

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Portrait of John Mac Gregor, Etched by H. Manesse

Frontispiece

PLATES

PAGE

Facsimile of Letter written on the burning Kent

20

Facsimile page of Annotated Greek Testament

176

Portrait of Mac Gregor as Captain in the London Scottish 234

FROM JOHN MAC GREGORYS SKETCH-BOOKS

Carrick-a-rede

35

Selmone

63

St. Paul's Monument ....

. . . . 64

Smyrna ..... ...

• • ¦ • 65

Road through Roman Aqueduct, Acre

66

Stone Carvings at Beyrout 

. . . . 67

The Gateway at Baalbec 

. 68

Life in the East — Striking Camp ....

. 71

My First Crocodile . . . .

• 73

Boatmen's Chorus on the Nile .

¦ • 76

Our Caravan ... ...

• 77

Shoeblack Sketch .... .

81

Protestant Alliance Monthly Letter .

104

The Ascent of Mont Blanc . . . ' .

• 131

The Summit of Mont Blanc ...

133

The Crater of Etna 

. . • 136

Diagram of Open-Air Mission Stations

. 148

In the Market-place, Palma . . •

. 204

Mosquito Precautions . .

. 205

Indian Tent ... ...

. 214

xiv ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE
Fair of Nijni Novgorod . . . .... 222, 223
Tarantas to Moscow ........... 224
Descent of the Dannemora Mine . . ..... 228
My Sleeping Place with the Arab Chief  257
" From the Log of the Beagle " .... 269, 270, 271, 273
Shooting the Rapids, Ekengen . . . . . . . . .281
Rapids of Vreng's Elv .......... 285
Spying out the Channel — Lake Venern  286
On the Abana  321
The Island, Lake Hijaneh ........ 323
Captured by Arabs ........... 339
The Rob Roy at the Isle of Urk, Zuyder Zee  363
The Rob Roy on the Texel at Moonrise .  365

FROM OTHER SOURCES
The Burning of the Kent, East Indiaman  7
The First Rob Roy Canoe  27g
The Yawl Rob Roy  2gg
John Mac Gregor in his Lecturing Costume . . . 3 Si
The Tyndale Monument ... .,0

THE LIFE OF
JOHN MACGREGOR ("ROB ROY")
CHAPTER I
A STORY OF THE SEA
On the ist of March, 1825, the Kent, East Indiaman,
of 1350 tons burden, under the command of Captain
Henry Cobb, was driving, close-reefed, in the Bay of
Biscay before a south-west gale of unusual violence,
bound for Bengal and China. She had on board 364
men and officers of the 3 i-st Regiment, commanded by
Colonel Fearon, 109 women and children, 20 private
passengers, and a crew of 148 men, including officers —
641 persons in all.
About mid-day smoke was seen issuing from the
hatchway and port-holes. The ship was on fire!
Gallant and heroic efforts were made to stop the
progress of the flames, but in vain, and recourse was
had to the daring expedient of scuttling the ship.
As she was settling down a shout was raised, "A
sail ! A sail ! " Boats were lowered to meet the brig

2 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. i.
slowly coming to the rescue, and in one of these,
tossing on a furious sea, under the leaping flames of
the burning vessel, with
the bubbling cry
Of some strong swimmer in his agony,
mingling with sobs of grief and ravings of despair, a
little child of five weeks old lay nestling in his mother's
arms. The perilous passage from the blazing ship to the
brig was made in safety, and the first to be handed
up from the frail boat into the strong arms of the
brave Cornish miners on the brig Cambria, was
that little child, John Mac Gregor, the hero of our
story. He was born at Gravesend on the 24th of January,
1825, his father, Major Mac Gregor, then in the 31st
Regiment, being, at the time, under orders to proceed
to India. His mother, formerly Miss Elizabeth Dick,
was the youngest daughter and co -heiress of Sir
William Dick, Baronet, of Prestonfield, near Edin
burgh, a member of an old Scottish family, one of
whom was a banker and lent money to the im
pecunious monarch Charles I., which was never
regained, and who figures in Scott's " Heart of Mid
lothian."* Mrs. Mac Gregor was a woman of great ability, of
splendid character, and of as brave a spirit as ever
woman possessed.
* See note " R " in Notes at end of " The Heart of Midlothian."

1825 THE CLAN MACGREGOR 3
Major Mac Gregor was an altogether exceptional
man, as we shall presently see. He possessed, and
transmitted to his descendants, the spirit of daring
courage which had come down to him from a long
line of ancestors of the Clan Mac Gregor — famous in
Scottish history as much for their misfortunes as for
their indomitable pluck in maintaining themselves as a
clan in spite of most severe laws, remorselessly passed,
not only against them but against any clan which,
when overborne by those more powerful, refused to
assume the name of their conquerors. Tradition says,
and Sir Walter Scott and family memorials are our
authority for quoting it, that the sept of Mac Gregor
claimed descent from Gregor or Gregorius, third son
of Alpin, King of Scots, who flourished about 787.
Their original patronymic was MacAlpine, one of the
most ancient in the Highlands, of Celtic descent and
occupying extensive possessions in Perthshire and
Argyleshire. For generation after generation the Mac Gregors
were fighting men, holding their own with almost
ferocious tenacity. So late as 1560 Queen Mary
granted a commission to the most powerful nobles and
chiefs of clans to pursue the Mac Gregors with fire
and sword. Gradually they were deprived of their
possessions and had recourse to predatory forages to
procure the means of subsistence.
" Rob Roy " Mac Gregor Campbell — the latter name
he was compelled by Act of Parliament to bear —
one of Sir Walter Scott's finest characters, made

4 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap, i
the clan famous for all ages, and, as we proceed
in our narrative, we shall find that not a few of the
splendid qualities which characterised the Scottish
hero are reproduced in the life of our "Rob Roy"
Mac Gregor. We may therefore quote Wordsworth,
who was quoted by Scott, and apply these words :
Say then that he was wise and brave,
As wise in thought as bold in deed,
For in the principles of things
He sought his moral creed.

All kinds and creatures stand and fall
By strength of prowess and of wit,
'Tis God's appointment who must sway
And who is to submit.

The mottoes of the Mac Gregors are " E'en do and
spair nocht," and the Gaelic, " Srioghal mo dhream "
(" Royal is my tribe") ; the crest, a lion's head crowned
with an antique crown with points.
Major Duncan Mac Gregor, the father of the " Rob
Roy" of this history, was born on the 16th of March,
1787, and was appointed to an ensigncy in the 72nd
Regiment at the early age of thirteen. At eighteen he
was commissioned as one of the captains of the second
battalion of the since famous regiment, the 78th, or
Ross-shire Highlanders. That battalion, when at
Shorncliffe, consisting as it did of six hundred High
land lads under , twenty years of age, won the
admiration of the celebrated Sir John Moore, who
took a deep personal interest in it, intensified when,

1825 CAPTAIN DUNCAN MACGREGOR 5
in 1806, it embarked for the Mediterranean and con
spicuously shared in the honours of the brilliant victory
at Maida in Calabria, gained by less than six thousand
British, under Sir John Stuart, over a superior force
of Frenchmen commanded by General Regnier. In
this action, out of 7000 men under Regnier, 1300
were left dead, and over 11 00 were wounded, while
the British only lost 44 killed and 275 wounded.
Among the latter were Captain Duncan Mac Gregor,
who was wounded in the right shoulder by a musket-
shot, and his Major, David Stewart, afterwards the
general who became the " historian of the Highland
Regiments." Busy years followed. In 1807 he Was engaged with
his regiment in Egypt in the sanguinary but fruitless
attempt to occupy Alexandria, Rosetta, and the ad
joining coast. In August 1809, his regiment joined
the disastrous Walcheren expedition under Pitt's elder
brother, the Earl of Chatham, in which the troops
suffered severely from fever. After four years in
Aberdeen, employed in recruiting, the regiment em
barked for Holland, and, though not actually engaged
at Bergen-op-Zoom, took part in several severe
skirmishes, for one of which they drew forth this
testimony in a despatch from General Sir Thomas
Graham, afterwards Lord Lynedoch : " An imme
diate charge with the bayonet by the 78th decided
the contest. No veterans ever behaved better than
these men, who then met the enemy for the first
time. The discipline and intrepidity of the High-

6 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. i.
land battalion reflect equal credit on the officers and
men." After this there came a long pause in active service ;
Captain Mac Gregor became Major Mac Gregor, and
while residing in Scotland he married, as we have
seen, Miss Elizabeth Dick on the 19th of March,
1824. ¦ Not long after, he was under orders to leave
with his regiment, the 31st, for India, and in order
to be near the ship by which he was to voyage,
he proceeded with his wife to Gravesend. There,
in lodgings at the Bathing Houses — the Kent being
stationed immediately before the windows of the
house, and not more than two hundred yards from
the shore — John Mac Gregor was born on the 24th of
January, 1825.
By the 3rd of February the excitement of leaving
home and country in her weak condition so told upon
the health of Mrs. Mac Gregor, that it would have
become a question whether she could undertake the
voyage had not her sister, Joanna Dick — whose name"
deserves to be enrolled permanently in the list of the
world's heroines — resolved, almost at a moment's
notice, to accompany her ; a resolution that brought
back health and strength to the invalid. On the 18th
of February, still weak, and almost helpless, Mrs.
Mac Gregor was wrapped up, with her infant in her
arms, and laid in a cot which was carefully carried on
men's shoulders and placed in a small boat. Thence
she was removed to the comfortable cabin of a yacht
until finally placed on her sofa-bed on board the Kent,

1 82 s LITTLE "ROB ROY" 9
where her medical attendant, Dr. Beaumont, visited
her, and her faithful nurse remained on board for
the first night. Next day the ill-fated Kent left the
Downs. It is recorded of little "Rob Roy," as he was even
then called, that in the early days of the voyage he
" throve charmingly, but having a good strong voice
rather annoyed the cabin passengers when at their
morning and evening toilet."
Before the Bay of Biscay was entered, two infants
had died on board and were committed to the deep,
and Mrs. Mac Gregor having, unwittingly, gone on
deck at the time, was much affected, thinking of what
might perchance happen to her babe. Of the tragic
disaster which befell the Kent, of the undaunted
heroism of some of the dramatis personce of this
narrative, no words that can now be written will
ever exceed in vividness the following extracts from
a letter written by Major Mac Gregor to his father,
amid scenes of unparalleled excitement and distress
and within two days of his standing again on British
soil, after being rescued from a hundred threatened
deaths. The letter has never before been published
and its length will therefore be pardoned.*
* "The Loss of the Kent" — another graphic description , of the scenes
described in this letter, and published by the Religious Tract Society, who
sold it by tens of thousands — was written by Major Mac Gregor at a later
date to an old and intimate friend, Mr. Evans. The last edition of this
work, issued during the veteran's lifetime, bears this prefatory note: "The
¦older I grow, and I am now in my ninety-fourth year, I am the more con
vinced of the special interposition of Divine Providence in the events
recorded."

10 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. i.
From Major Mac Gregor to his Father, Mr. John
Mac Gregor.
Falmouth, yth March, 1825.
My dearest Father,
.... It will be impossible for me to give you more than a con
fused account of our miraculous deliverance  After the date
of my last letter, sent by the pilot off the Land's End, we continued
to proceed for a day or two with a favourable wind. But we had
hardly entered the Bay of Biscay when it veered round to the south
west and forced us to beat about without making much way. After
encountering several days of bad weather, a tremendous gale from
the W. and by S. came on about 2 o'clock on the 1st inst. It
increased rapidly until the sea rose extremely high even for the Bay
of Biscay. We put in our deadlights — drove along under our
storm stay-sail and rolling our main-chains under the water. Indeed
the violence of our rolling was so great that the crew were lashed to
the deck, and all our young sailors, and even some of our old ones,
looked unusually grave. I had just quitted Elizabeth [his wife] and
Joanna [Miss Dick, his wife's sister] for a moment to go on deck
about noon, when an officer as pale as death met me, and wringing
his hands, said : ' Sir, the ship is on fire in the after hold ! ' I
hastened towards the spot, where I met Captain Cobb and others.
The smoke was slowly issuing from the hatchway, and all hands
immediately employed themselves in conveying water. I then re
turned to Colonel Fearon's * cabin, and, not to alarm his family, I
called him out, and in a whisper told him our awful condition. The
smoke, however, in a few minutes rolled forth in such volumes as
very soon to render secrecy unnecessary. The horror that was now
observable baffles all my powers of description. Elizabeth and
Joanna were comparatively composed, but the screams of some of
the other ladies and of the soldier's wives who came running from
the lower decks .... were piercing .... Our driblets of water
* Colonel Fearon was commanding the troops.

1825 THE BURNING OF THE KENT 11
poured down from the buckets were absolutely useless. Wet sails,
blankets, and other woollen articles were thrown down in the hope of
their smothering the flames, but all to no purpose. The only means
that now remained was to scuttle the lower ports and allow the sea
to rush in. Some officers of the ship descended for this purpose,
but the smoke below was so thick as to render a long stay there
certain suffocation. Myself and one or two of our officers, how
ever, were not driven from below until we had succeeded, and
during the operation one of our people fell over three dead bodies of
those who had been suffocated early in the business before they
could gain the upper deck.
The sea now rushed in in torrents, but though it tended to keep
under the flames, it appeared evident that the quantity of water
which was now running into the hold was sinking the ship, which
would scarcely obey her helm, and as it had all the appearance of
settling, as it is called, previous to going down, we endeavoured to
shut the ports again. The only thing that now remained was to
close the hatches, and by the exclusion of the external air to pro
long our existence, the speedy termination of which appeared
certain. Some were now filled with terrible despair — others were
very properly imploring the mercy of that God who alone could
pardon and save us. Elizabeth and Joanna were the organs of
prayer to as many females as could find access to their cabin. It is
quite impossible for a human being to be nearer to death without
tasting it, than we were, and believed ourselves to be at that
tremendous hour. Notwithstanding that those whom I most loved
were about to share with myself the same melancholy fate, I declare
that I really felt as great a composure and collectedness of mind, as
I do at this moment. I felt the nearness of my Redeemer .... I
look back with utter amazement at the strength that was given me.
It now occurred to me that to prevent to yourself, my dearest father,
and to my brothers and sisters at home* the terrible years of anxiety
which our fate would occasion to you, it would be well if I resorted
to a plan which has often proved useful, of addressing a few parting
lines to you — getting with some difficulty an empty bottle and cork
ing it hard up, and afterwards throwing it into the deep.

12 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. i.
Elizabeth and myself had determined to sink in each other's arms.
She was wonderfully composed, but Joanna's conduct was mag
nanimous in the highest degree  Some of our old soldiers and
sailors who dreaded death by drowning, ran to the forecastle, under
which was the magazine, and there awaited the explosion which
every moment they expected. But most providentially the fire
travelled towards the stern. In this state it occurred to a gallant
young townsman of ours, Mr. Thompson, the fourth mate, and son
of the Rev. Mr. Thompson of Duddingstone, to desire a man to go
aloft, and try whether anything was in sight. The sailor, after get
ting to the foretop, looked around, and a moment after, taking off
his hat, he exclaimed with ecstasy, " A sail on the weather bow ! "
His announcement was received with three cheers upon deck. As
the sail, however, appeared at a great distance — the fire had been
making progress for some hours — the sea was tremendously high —
and as no small vessel and few large ones could be expected in
addition to their own crew, to take on board nearly 700 human
beings — neither Captain Cobb, Colonel Fearon, nor myself enter
tained much hope  On a nearer approach she appeared to be
a small merchant brig with English colours. A glimpse of hope,
not for myself, but for the dear ones around, now shot across my
mind. Seeing that some of the sailors were preparing to cut away
our boats with a view to provide for their own safety only, Colonel
Fearon, myself, and two other officers, stationed ourselves con
veniently with our drawn swords to cut down the first man who
should touch the boats without orders, or dare to enter them until
the means of escape had been presented to the poor women. It
was impossible notwithstanding, to prevent a rush into the first boat
that was launched, which was in consequence instantly swamped,
and the work of death was begun. The miserable men on board of
it we saw struggle for a moment with the breakers, and then dis
appear for ever. On board the next boat Captain Cobb resolved on
placing the ladies, and as many of the soldier's wives as it would
contain. My dearest lassie implored for leave to remain with me,
but on reasoning with her calmly for a moment she consented to
proceed. At this instant shall I attempt to describe my agony of

J82S THE RESCUED BABE

i3

mind ? The boat hung over the quarter, and we determined to fill
it first from the cuddy window, and lower it down afterwards. The
ladies proceeded one by one. I stood outside on the chains to lift
them into the boat. When I had handed in my infant and saw the
boat lowering down into an ocean so tempestuous that no sailor on
board thought it would live for a moment, I grew blind. But my
confidence was in the Lord my God. Twice the cry was that the
boat was swamped. It at last was seen fairly clear of the ship, and
encountering the billows. Sometimes it disappeared for several
seconds. At last it reached the brig. I poured out my praises to
the Lord, as well as did poor .Fearon. Our hearts were compara
tively light in consequence of their miraculous deliverance. It
seems that on their passage to the brig, which prudently kept at a
great distance from us lest they should be involved in the explosion
of our ship, the boat was half filled with water, and Elizabeth and
the other ladies who were obliged to sit at the bottom of the boat,
were up to their waists in it. The other boats were now lowered
down, but three out of the six that the Kent possessed were sunk,
and almost all the soldiers and sailors in them perished, the others
reached the brig. But on gaining it the cowardly seamen instead of
returning for another supply, sought shelter in the rigging, and had
it not been for the determined conduct of our deliverer, Captain
Cook, an Ayrshire man, the master of the brig, and some blunt but
honest-hearted Cornish miners (who were going as passengers in her
to South America, in the employment of the Anglo-Mexican Com
pany), who seized the poltroons by the neck and heels, and
threatened to throw them into the water if they did not return to
our assistance, all of us must inevitably have perished. On return
ing to us, however, the boats only hovered round the ship without
coming near enough to allow any of the men to get on board. We
looked round for some powder to fire into them to bring them to.
Some of the women were now lowered down by slings contrived for
the purpose, but the time (which was unutterably precious to us)
required for saving one woman, might have preserved several men,
and therefore while the one process was going on with regard to the
former, many of the men, throwing themselves into the water, made

i4 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. i.
towards the boats ; some perished, the greater number were saved.
Nothing could exceed the composure and energy evinced by Colonel
Fearon and Captain Cobb ; and, with a few exceptions, the gallantry
and subordination of all the officers and men. Seeing that the sun was
fast sinking under the horizon, and that the boats were slowly
carrying off our people, myself and other officers superintended the
construction of rafts formed of spars, hencoops, &c, but on
launching them they were dashed to pieces. In the long absence of
the boats between their trips, I employed myself in sitting quietly,
first among one group and then another, of the soldiers, some of
whom were giving way to terrible despair. And I endeavoured to
preach to them Christ crucified. Never was preaching less eloquent
or studied, or more earnest. Never was it more intently listened to.
Some of them begged me to pray with them. It is impossible to
describe the scene. These means, however, if they have not, as I
earnestly trust they have, been blessed permanently to some souls,
had at least the effect of composing those who were in the greatest
agony, and of moderating the noisy lamentations of the poor women.
The night was now closing in upon us, but our numbers were
diminishing, either by being carried off in the boats, or by their
perishing in the water. The upper deck was becoming insufferably
hot, and our thirst excruciating. About eight o'clock almost all the
officers and men of the 31st, and all the officers of the Kent (with
the exception of Cobb), as well as the sailors, had taken their
departure. Shortly afterwards, as the boats did not and could not
approach so near as to endanger them by crowding, since the plan
latterly adopted for escape was either to throw themselves at once
into the water on any oar or piece of plank on which they held with
the chance of being picked up by the boats— or by dropping
themselves down from the spanker-boom, Colonel Fearon, who
could not be of any further use on board the Kent, and might be of
some service in the brig in hastening the boats, attempted his escape
by dropping from the boom in question, by a swinging rope, in
doing which he was so frequently dashed against the side of the boat
below, and by the heaving of the ship plunged so deeply into the
water, that all thought he was gone. He was however preserved, but

1825 PERISHING IN THE FLAMES 15
with one leg so bruised as to require the greatest care to prevent the
most serious consequences. Almost all had now escaped who were
not prevented either by wild despair, or by brutal drunkenness
caused by despair, from availing themselves of the means. In an
early part of the day, however, I had pledged myself to the soldiers'
wives who flocked around me for consolation, that I would not quit
the ship so long as a single woman remained on board, the presence
of a few of them still in the burning ship, kept me and two other
officers on board for an hour after the time I now allude to. One of
these, a noble little kind fellow, who was particularly active in saving
the women, having received a terrible blow in the chest, I ordered
on the boom, as I saw him still disposed to remain. I then directed
our excellent serjeant-major to proceed, and, having seen the last
woman fairly off, the officei and myself prepared to depart. The
boom stretched a great many feet beyond the stern, and by the
heaving of the ship was sometimes not less than forty feet above the
surface of the water. A rope hung from its extremity, down which
you slid to the boat beneath. But it was not only the danger of
going creeping-ways along the boom, and of afterwards catching with
dexterity the rope suspended from it, or of afterwards dropping hand
under hand — but, from the tremendous swell of the sea, which in an
instant would carry a boat which the one moment seemed directly
beneath you, twenty yards off the next ; if you let yourself too low,
or even sometimes as low as fifteen feet from the surface, the next
heave of the ship would carry you, supposing the boat to be
removed, ten or twenty feet under the water, and this perhaps
several times over. The consequence was that many men who
dreaded this process, stood on the boom unable to go either
backwards or forwards, and ultimately perished in the flames. The
few that remained were either frantic or stupefied, but notwithstanding
my comparative awkwardness at such feats, I had already encountered
too much, and was too firmly convinced of the nearness of the awful
closing scene, to be deterred for a moment from mounting the
perilous boom, and having thrown my leg across, with a thankful
heart that I had been enabled to perform honestly my temporal
duty, I committed my spirit (for which I was incomparably more

!6 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. i.
solicitous at that moment than for what should become of my frail
body) into the keeping of my faithful Creator and Saviour, and slowly
crept forward, feeling at every step the utmost difficulty to hold on.
And watching the opportunity when the boat below had been carried
away by the surf, I slid half-way down the rope, conceiving, very
justly as it proved, that by the time I got there, the heaving of the
wave would be bringing the boat back, when I should have time to
slide down the other half of the rope, before the boat again retired.
Thus by the mercy of the Lord, I believe I was the only officer and
almost the only man, who got at once into the boat, without being
frequently plunged in the water, or without some serious bruise.
The night was now far advanced, and our boat was nearly broken up
— one large hole at the bottom we stuffed with soldiers' jackets, &c.
twisted into it — and after rowing for a considerable time, in which I
assisted, expecting every instant to be engulphed — we came alongside
the brig. But here the sailors told us the danger was as great as in
getting from the ship, for the rise of the sea was so great that some
of our men were either drowned or bruised to death against the side
of the ship. I waited a favourable moment, made a spring upon the
chains, and was caught by a friendly hand which pulled me, with a
heart oppressed with joy and praise, into the ark of refuge. It
seems that the agony of mind evinced by Elizabeth, the darling,
during the many long hours she had for reflection on my account, on
board the brig, was painful to all around her. As boat after boat
arrived, with officers and passengers, her piteous inquiries for me
were heartrending. Her cousin, David Pringle, on his arrival
endeavoured to prepare her for the worst. But she says her hopes
did not entirely die within her until the arrival of Colonel Fearon,
who, from his manner more than his words, expressed but little
hope. What greatly increased her horror was, that the arrival of
each boat being announced, her spirits were buoyed up for a
moment, and then to be broken, as the loud gratulation was given to
the officers who successively arrived ! At last however the Lord,
who never tempts above that which we are able to bear, turned my
darling's mourning into great gladness — the news of my arrival was
scarcely conveyed to the cabin, when I had her and my dearest

1 82 s DESTRUCTION OF THE KENT 17
Joanna in my arms. Poor dear lassie — she was stupefied — my cup
ran over — we could not speak — but God knows our hearts were
filled with the praises of the Lord. Shortly after my arrival, the
boat, which was under the Kent's stern when Captain Cobb left it,
returned empty, none of the few men who remained on board having
been able to avail themselves of it. The flames had now ascended
to the rigging and masts, and the blaze from the immense mass
illumined the whole heavens. As the fire reached the guns which
were loaded, they went off, and it required some manoeuvring on the
part of the brig to avoid the effects of them. The unhappy men
who were still on board, were now seen climbing up the rigging, and
their yells as the fire approached nearer became quite unearthly. A
speedy termination was put to their suffering. The magazine, which
was inundated early in the day, had at last been dried up — the fire
reached — the explosion took place — the firmament was filled with
the fragments of the once beautiful Kent — the sky was in a blaze for
a moment, and the next all was darkness. On witnessing the fatal
issue we put up our helm and bore away for the nearest port. We
were four hundred miles from land. Our brig was crowded ....
even in the cabin we had seventy individuals. There was no room
for lying down, nor were many of us permitted to take up the room
of sitting except by turns — and most of us, I believe, stood up for
two days and three nights without closing an eye, and in a heavy
gale of wind. Some children died of exhaustion on board, and I
verily believe that had we remained twenty-four more hours longer in
the brig, that many must have expired. Our situation in some
respects was worse if possible than in the Kent. The baby's tongue
and mouth were white as paper with the thrush, and since our arrival
medical men say that he could not have lived many hours longer on
board. Elizabeth had no milk for him, and from the crowded state
of the vessel and the violence of the gale, no fire could be made to
heat water. On the morning of Friday last we came to anchor in
Falmouth. Our feelings, first on land being discovered from the
mast-head, and afterwards on coming to anchor, no language can
describe. And two hours afterwards the wind changed in such a
direction, that had we not reached a port we must have been beating

18 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. i.
about several days in the Atlantic. But the instances of the
superintending care of Providence are so numerous, that I must
make them the subject of a future letter. I came ashore, for Fearon
was unable, to report the circumstances to the Governor here. All
boats were immediately out and our people landed. The whole
town turned out — and never have I seen or heard of such an
outpouring of the feelings of humanity. This place is noted for
possessing a large body of serious people and of Quakers. We were
instantly taken to their houses, clothed, fed, comforted. With the
exception of a few sovereigns which I put into Elizabeth's hand
when she left me, as I thought for ever, we have not saved a single
article, nor was ten pounds' worth preserved by any individual on
board. We are therefore penniless — shirtless — but not comfortless.
A most liberal subscription has been made for our women and men,
who have all been clothed by the worthy inhabitants. But of all
this more hereafter. We know not our movements, but to-morrow
we shall hear from the Horse Guards. As I am employed among
other things in drawing up letters to our deliverers in the name of
the officers, &c, I have no time. Ever most &c. &c.
Dun : Mac Gregor.
The loss is sixty-eight men of the 31st, one woman suffocated in
the smoke, and twenty-one children.
Five seamen only have been returned, but as no regular muster of
them was made, it is supposed many more perished.
All this does not include those that died on board the brig since
our arrival. Some of our officers and men badly bruised ; one must
lose his leg*
* In proof of the permanent interest in this historic wreck it may be men
tioned that so recently as 1893 a large oil-painting by Thomas M. Hemy,
was on view at the galleries of Messrs. Henry Graves & Co., 6, Pall Mall,
London, representing "The Burning of the Kent" and the departure of the
boat in which Mrs. Mac Gregor and her infant were sent ofif to the Cambria.
By kind permission of Messrs. Henry Graves & Co., a reproduction of this
picture from the engraving published by them is given on p. 6.

1825 ON BOARD THE CAMBRIA

19

Hundreds of interesting anecdotes and exciting
incidents cluster round the narrative of Major Mac
Gregor. We can only refer briefly to one or two, and
first we may note that frantic efforts were made to put
Mrs. Mac Gregor and her baby, and Mrs. Fearon and
her young children into the gig-boat, the first to leave.
Happily these efforts were frustrated ; the gig-boat
sank, and all the occupants perished.
Safely on board the Cambria, Mrs. Mac Gregor and
her infant were wrapped in dry blankets and placed in
a cabin. Then as boat after boat arrived with rescued
passengers, but not her husband, she was for a time in
an agony of mind, but after a while she said calmly,
" He is in the path of duty, and God's power can
preserve him there."
When Colonel Fearon came on board the Cambria
Miss Joanna Dick sought eagerly to speak to him but
it was impossible ; he went straight to Mrs. Fearon's
cabin, and his first words were, " I fear poor Mac
Gregor is gone ! "
Certainly no man ran greater risks or bore himself
with greater composure than he, and no one was more
wonderfully preserved. At one time thinking his last
chance was to construct a raft of hen-coops and lash
himself to them, he calmly took his sash and some
rope and set to work to this end, first of all placing an
apple in a convenient pocket to enable him to preserve
existence so long as it was possible !
Bravely through a stiff gale the overloaded Cambria
ploughed her way. It was a terrible voyage. The

20 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. i.
passengers were packed so closely together that the
atmosphere was intolerable, insomuch that the light of
a candle coming in contact with the impure air was
instantly extinguished. It was almost impossible to
get either food or water and the suffering and exhaus
tion were intense. Poor Mrs. Mac Gregor was unable
to give her babe its natural food any longer, and little
Rob Roy — who was fed only on sugar until arriving at
Falmouth — cried incessantly throughout the voyage.
The fact that so young a child should have survived
so many perils, such great exposure and discomfort, is
one of the most extraordinary events of that time of
trial and disaster.
. On the safe arrival of the Cambria in Falmouth
Harbour on the 5th of March, Major and Mrs. Mac
Gregor and their party found a very hospitable re
ception in the house of Mr. William Crouch, an
excellent man and a member of the Society of Friends,
with whom and his wife and daughters a life-long
friendship was maintained.
. It was a solemn day in Falmouth that Sunday
following the arrival of the saved ones from the Kent
and never had the Church there presented a stranger
pr more interesting spectacle than when Colonel
Fearon, followed by all his officers and men, and
accompanied by Captain Cobb and the officers and
private passengers of his late ship, entered the Church
and joined in the expression of thanksgiving to
"Almighty God, Father of all mercies." It was a
thrilling moment when all voices, some choking with

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FAC-SIMILE OF LETTER WRITTEN AND PUT IN A BOTTLE BY THE FATHER
OF JOHN MAC GREGOR DURING THE BURNING OF THE " KENT " EAST INDIAMAN.
FOUND AT BARBADOES NINETEEN MONTHS AFTER.

l825 CURIOUS COINCIDENCES 21
emotion, uttered the words, " We bless Thee for our
creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this
life ! "
The Mac Gregors and their immediate friends left
Falmouth on the 18th of March and what further
adventures befell them thereafter will appear in the
following chapters, but two curious coincidences may
well be recorded here.
On the 30th of September, 1827, about nineteen
months after the loss of the Kent, when Major
Mac Gregor was at Barbados, a gentleman bathing
from the Western shore of that island picked up a
floating bottle. On breaking it he found within a
folded paper bearing a signature with which he was
familiar :" D. Mac Gregor, 1st March, 1825." It was
the paper, of which we have given a facsimile, written,
as it seemed then, almost in the hour of death ! A
strange thrill must have passed through the frame of
Colonel Mac Gregor as he looked once again on that
paper handed to him personally by the finder.
Another curious circumstance may be mentioned
here. In the year 1856, when John Mac Gregor was over
thirty years of age, he was one day on Lanark race
course in connection with the work of the Open-air
Mission, when an old sailor was seen among the crowd
selling doggerel verses relating to the burning of the
Kent, at which he stated he had been present. Mr.
Mac Gregor went up to the man and said that he too
was on board the ship at the time of the catastrophe.

22 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. i.
The sailor, seeing that the speaker was much younger
than himself, curtly exclaimed, "That you were not
unless you were the baby I helped into the boat ! "
Surely a life thus miraculously spared from fire and
wreck, and again from air — the foul and suffocating
air of the overcrowded ship in which he was rescued
— was to have some great mission before it. What
that mission was we shall unfold in the succeeding
chapters.

CHAPTER II
1825— 1845
CHILDHOOD AND EARLY YEARS
After leaving Falmouth the Mac Gregors went to
Scotland for rest and recovery of strength.
Of course the strain on all had been tremendous ;
and it is a never-ceasing wonder how much it is
possible for women to bear and sometimes to forget.
This was the experience of Mrs. Mac Gregor and also
of Miss Joanna Dick who wrote : " For some weeks I
was unable to write, and for part of the time even to
read letters or anything to agitate the mind, but after
being twice bled and carefully attended by many kind
nurses I feel now quite as well and stout as ever."
Three or four months after the loss of the Kent, the
child who had excited so much solicitude was stricken
down with infantile illness, and his mother wrote to a
friend : "I was too vain of him. I had so many
friends who flocked to see him, and I did feel mortified
to show my once noble boy reduced, as he then was, to
one-third of his previous size." He pulled through,
however, and his mother says : "A more engaging,
lovely child, never blessed a mother's arms. I feel

24 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. ii.
him a constant source for prayer and fondly hope he is
indeed saved for the Lord's service, — perhaps he may
be a minister of Christ yet."
After some months rest in Scotland, it was deemed
necessary that Major Mac Gregor should be near the
Horse Guards, and accordingly he, his wife, and the
babe, sailed from Edinburgh in a steam-vessel for
London. The weather was fine at starting, but within
twelve hours a fearful hurricane was raging. The
vessel lost her anchors and drifted during the night in
the direction of Newcombe Sand Banks. When the
morning dawned it was seen that the position was
one of great peril. Within a mile and a half the
breakers were dashing on those dangerous sands.
The sea was so high that it broke over the deck,
nearly extinguishing the fires, while the vessel was
drifting almost helplessly towards speedy destruction.
Then the gale suddenly fell, the wind veered com
pletely round, and the rest of the journey was accom
plished in safety.
" Poor little John has again been preserved in great
danger," wrote Joanna Dick to her Falmouth friend,
Miss Crouch; "he is now quite well and vigorous
again, and uncommonly intelligent at his age, and is, I
am told, looking joyful and rosy though his terrors and
screams, poor infant, during the voyage up were truly
distressing. Poor Elizabeth (Mrs. Mac Gregor) indeed
says her nerves are so shaken with this last alarm that
she looks forward with dread to another sea voyage."
And no wonder !

1826 LINES BY HANNAH MORE 25
An incident, very gratifying to Mrs. Mac Gregor
at this time, was a visit to the celebrated Hannah
More, then in her eighty-first year. On the following
day she sent a present to "little Rob Roy" accom
panied by the following lines :
To Master John Mac Gregor.
( With a pair of boots of my own knitting?)
Sweet babe twice rescued from the yawning grave,
The flames tremendous and the furious wave,
May a third better Life thy spirit meet, —
E'en Life Eternal at thy Saviour's feet.
Barleywood, May 23, 1825. HANNAH MORE.
At the Horse Guards Major Mac Gregor's noble
services were specially appreciated and were recognised
by well-merited promotion. He was made Lieutenant-
Colonel of that splendid regiment the 93rd, or Suther
land Highlanders. But — and the inevitable "but" is
almost always as " the fly in the ointment " — his
destination was the West Indies, and there was before
him, almost immediately after the awful experiences
through which he had passed on board the Kent,
another sea. voyage.
In August 1826, he sailed for Barbados, and after
a perilous voyage arrived at his destination towards
the end of September. At one time it was in con
templation that Mrs. Mac Gregor, "little Rob Roy"
and Miss Dick should accompany him, but while
they were staying in Edinburgh, on the 16th of

26 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. ii.
July, another son, William, was born, and it was de
cided that the Colonel should go out alone. During
his absence they went to a small but very pleasant
country-house in Fife, placed at their disposal by an
uncle of Mrs. Mac Gregor, and writing from that
house to her friends in Falmouth, she said : " You
would be pleased to see the talkative amusing little
John, and the rosy smiling sweet little William his
brother. They beguile the hours of long separation."
The separation came to an end in 1828. "I know
you will join in praising God with me," Mrs. Mac
Gregor wrote, "for the joyful tidings my last West
India letters brought me, that ere long my too much
loved husband is to be restored to me  My
two darling boys are in the highest health ; John
is really quite a companion to me now, a most in
telligent dear child as it is possible for a mother to be
blessed with  "
The child is father to the man, and some of the
anecdotes of John's childhood illustrate the bent of his
mind and foreshadow his later experiences. One of his
earliest vivid recollections was the coronation day of
William IV. John was with his parents in a house at
Westminster, and at an open window of one of the lower
rooms he and his younger brother watched the carriages
passing to the Abbey, while their plates of porridge
were cooling on the window sill. Suddenly, on the
pavement close by them, a nobleman passed in court
dress wearing a coronet glistening with jewels. He
saw the two little boys at the window gazing with such

1 834 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS 27
astonishment and curiosity that he stopped and spoke
to them, and to their extreme delight took off his
coronet and smilingly placed it on their heads. It
was an eccentric but a most kind action, and made
a deep impression upon one who afterwards spent so
much of his life in showing love and kindness to
children. Another of his earliest recollections was sitting on
Dr. Chalmers's knee when a very little boy while the
learned divine talked to him about a small piece of
coal which he held in his hand.
In 1834, when he was nine years old, the 93rd
Highlanders, under the command of his father, were
stationed at Canterbury, and there John went to his
first school — the King's school, within the precincts of
the Cathedral. Accompanied by his brother William,
who was eighteen months younger than himself, and
two other boys, also "Macs," sons of an officer of the
regiment, he was taken to school each morning by a
stalwart Highlander. After a short time the Mac
Gregor spirit rebelled against this infringement of the
liberty of the subject, and the boys asserted their in
dependence by making their attendant keep on the
other side of the road.*
Owing to the constant removal of the regiment
from one station to another, John Mac Gregor's educa
tion was varied. At Weedon, Northamptonshire, in
* In after years John Mac Gregor used this incident in his addresses as an
illustration of the saying, "The law is the 'child-leader,' to bring us to the
great Schoolmaster (Christ)." (Galatians iii. 24.)

28 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. ii.
1835, the two brothers were sent in a covered cart
with the other two " Macs " to a school some distance
off. They received so much a day to buy their
dinners but after a short time it was found that the
boys were not in such good health as usual, and on
questioning them it was ascertained that they had
dined each day on candied peel in preference to more
wholesome and nourishing food.
There were merry, happy days at Weedon. John
had always an intense love for the water, and from a
very early age he was allowed to manage a boat alone.
He often spoke of dangerous exploits and hairbreadth
'scapes on the canal at Weedon, and could tell stories
that would make the ears of boys tingle.
Brought up from babyhood with the constant recog
nition of God's wonderful love in sparing him from
fire and wreck, having always around him the prayers
and example of his saintly and heroic father and
mother, being in himself a good-tempered and loving
child, little John was easily susceptible to religious
influences, and the following incident made so deep
an impression on his mind, that even in the fulness of
manhood he looked back upon it with pleasure as his
first experience of "answered prayer." We give the
story in his own words : —
At the age of eight I was staying with an uncle and aunt, Mr.
and Mrs. Smith-Cunningham, of Caprington Castle, Ayrshire. I had
been fishing one morning for some time and had caught nothing,
when I suddenly thought ' I will ask God to let me catch a fish.' I
prayed to God, and soon after I caught a fish. Then the thought

1 834 A CHILD'S THOUGHT OF GOD

29

flashed through my mind, ' If God can answer this prayer will He
not take away my sins and give me a new heart if I ask Him ?'
It was merely a child's thought, but it may per
haps be interpreted thus : "If God can give me
the small things of life for which I daily pray, will
He not give me the greatest gift of all for which I
have never yet consciously asked Him in downright
earnest." Religion is not, as some erroneously suppose, a
depressing influence, and it did not for a moment mar
the full enjoyment of his boy-life or check the spirit of
adventure, for, as we have seen, there were merry days
at Weedon, and others followed close after, and the
same spirit remained in him. At Belfast, when twelve
years of age, he was with a number of sailors on the
beach during a terrific storm watching a ship in distress.
The life-boat was launched, and at the last moment
John jumped into it and went off with the crew to
assist in the work of rescue.
We have not been able to follow in detail the move
ments of Colonel Mac Gregor, and it will be enough
for our present purpose to say that wherever he went
he exercised a singular power for good and was almost
worshipped by his men for his splendid manliness.
One fact alone will give an idea of the extent of his
influence. When the 93rd, under his command, was stationed
at Halifax, Nova Scotia, every one of the soldiers
used to march to church with his Bible and Presby-

30 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. ii.
terian psalm-book under his arm, and it is on record
that on one occasion nearly 700 of them partook of
the Sacrament.
In 1838 he was called home to occupy the lucrative
and important office of Inspector-General of the con
stabulary force in Ireland — an office which he held for
twenty years with great credit to himself and much
advantage to the country in very perilous times. The
establishment of a police force in Ireland had engaged
the attention of the great Duke of Wellington, then
Sir Arthur Wellesley, in 1808, and subsequently of
Sir Robert Peel, when he too was Secretary for
Ireland ; but to no one does the organisation of that
valuable force belong more than to Colonel Mac
Gregor, and it is recorded of him that "by his
superior and judicious arrangements in that establish
ment he gained for himself the confidence of the
Government and the gratitude of every class of the
people with whom he came in contact, not only in his
official but also in his private capacity." During the
time he held this post he resided at Belvedere House,
Drumcondra, near Dublin, his family consisting of John
and William ; Duncan, born in 1830 ; Elizabeth Joanna
Anne, born 1831 ; Douglas Alexander, born 1835 ;
Henry Grey, born 1838.
At the age of fifteen, when boating was a passion
and John MacGregor had the leisure, means, and
opportunity of indulging it, he was wrecked in an iron
boat, alone, outside Kingstown Harbour, near Dublin,
and had a narrow escape of his life. We will let him

l84© A SECOND SHIPWRECK 31
tell the story of what he calls his "Second Ship
wreck," in his own words, as he told it to boys : —
There was a pretty little iron cutter for sale in the large harbour
of Kingstown, near Dublin, and I saved my pocket-money (as a boy
of fifteen ought to do) and hired the charming craft on Saturday
holidays several times, until the man let me go out alone — you
know the delicious feeling of that, my lads !
Sailing alone makes you understand the whims and fancies of a
boat, and how its boom will gibe and hit you under the left ear ;
and how much sheet is required for the jib.
I got bolder after practice — which was right ; but at last I got
rash — which was wrong ; so I ventured outside the harbour, just ' to
go a little way and then come back' — -the usual intention which is so
difficult to fulfil.
The first few rollers in the great tide-way outside the piers were
perfectly delicious ; but at last a sudden billow gave us such a jerk
that the peak-halyard snapped, and at once my mainsail dropped
and hung dishevelled all in ' a mess.'
It was dangerous to ' wear her,' for the sea would come over the
stern, and it was impossible to ' go about ' in the regular way. So I
had to jog on and thus get into smoother water ; and yet, somehow,
it didn't get smoother.
But eyes were upon me in this danger, and the skipper of a big
yacht, then at anchor in the harbour, kindly ' boused up ' his crew
and gallantly came out to save the lonely mariner. Oh ! how I
thanked him in my heart as I saw the fine schooner dashing through
the waves ; and then' he whirled round my lee and dropped a sailor
boy on my bow with a strong rope to make fast to my sinking cutter.
But the boy took fright and failed to fasten the rope ; and, with a
shout of fear, he scrambled back on board the schooner, while
' oceans of water ' poured into my lilliputian craft, and I was left
alone again. Not only alone, but sinking fast, because my iron
cutter had no compartments ; and an iron boat is sure to sink when
filled.

32 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap ii.
But see now, there are minutes still of hope ; the schooner goes
about to return, and here she is alongside again, in the whistling
wind and the bursting surge — an anxious time indeed. They
heaved a rope again to me, and I rushed forward, seized it, fastened
it well round the ' bits ' (for the anchor and bowsprit), and down
she sank while I climbed on board the schooner — all in a few
seconds. Heavy work it was to tow the sunken iron yacht into the
harbour, until at last she grounded, but when the tide left her dry
she was got all right again.
Of the adventures in his boyhood — and they were
far more than we can find space to record — he made
ample use in after years. Thus, when he was engaged
in an effort to organise agencies by which every boy
in this "sea-girt isle" should be taught to swim, he
spoke on one occasion to some successful prizewinners,
and said :
Of the several cautions which ought to be observed in bathing,
I shall mention only those that relate to chill, water too cold, time in
it too long, diving when tired, or long fasting, or soon after a meal.
Like many lads who forget or defy such cautions, I had a sharp
lesson once which I never wanted again. As a youngster at Liver
pool I used to bathe in the wide sea mouth of the Mersey, going
out in a boat on the swift tide with a man to manage it while I was
in the water. One day, after a long swim I got tired and cold, and
tried to lay hold of a.huge buoy which swung violently as the tide waves
dashed it about. Missing my reach, I sunk under the buoy, and
had to swim to the next buoy farther out to sea. Numbed and
anxious I was swiftly carried near to this, and I leaped and caught
the huge iron ring, but, alas ! our boat had stuck fast on the beach
and it was too heavy for the man to launch it. How I was rescued
I never could find out. Beware of long swims in a tide-way.

l842 SCHOOL DAYS 33
One who knew John Mac Gregor in his early days
better than any one now living, writes :
I don't remember any important event in John's boyhood. But
I well remember our workshop where more than one boat was built
by ourselves (and how we had various upsets in them) and how
John, who showed a great aptitude for mechanics, made a little
locomotive-engine which worked well, also a stationary one for
pumping ; electrical machines, galvanic batteries, &c , and intolerable
chemical mixtures which resulted in several rather serious explo
sions. John was a good tree climber, a very fair boxer and horse
man, in fact he was a manly boy.
I know of no special distinction at school ; he was always a
hard worker and fond of the society of those older than he was, and
no doubt gained the usual prizes ; but I know of nothing special. I
think he was at Dublin College for only a year or so and that he
went direct from there to Dr. Tattersall's. He was very good at
mathematics, and gained honours in these but not in classics — I
think first-class honours. It must have been in 1839-1840 that he
entered Trinity College, Dublin. He never was at a public school.
That is to say he never was a boarder, he always lived at home, and
he did so when at Dublin College. I think you may say he feared
God from his youth and always wished — and that right earnestly —
to be a missionary, but his mother dissuaded him, or rather begged
him not, so he abandoned the idea. Then he very much wished to
be a civil engineer, but Cambridge, I think, gave him a taste for the
Bar, and owing to his scientific proclivities he associated himself with
Patent Law, which then was practically monopolised by one man
"with whom he read and who thought very highly of him. There is
no doubt whatever that he would have succeeded this man if money-
grubbing had been his object.''
This extract has carried us somewhat too far ahead,
and we must go back to the year 1842 to tell one more
story of his youthful adventures.

34 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. ii.
In company with six choice companions, Mac
Gregor, then in his seventeenth year, started off in
holiday time for a tour round the North of Ireland.
One afternoon they went to see the hanging bridge at
Carrick-a-rede, connecting a little island in the sea
with the high cliffs, and formed of two ropes carrying
a plank about seventy feet long and only a few inches
wide, high in mid-air, over the dashing foam. As
they drew near they were pressed by a crowd of men
and women to take one for a guide, but they insisted
upon being conducted only by their driver, a sharp
little Irish lad. The men, disconcerted, followed them
over the bridge, where the tourists inspected the island,
the salmon nets, and the frowning cliffs, and then
came back to the bridge to find all the men huddled
together and the ropes of the bridge slackened.
" Gintlemen," said one of the men, by name Corney
Regan, " ye'll not cross till ye pay." The discussion
lasted long, and after hours of wrangling — the wind
meanwhile having risen to a gale — one of the tourists,
Houldsher, a Cantab, gallantly volunteered to rush
across the bridge if the others could draw it tight.
He gained the other side in safety, ran to the car, and
unharnessing a horse, rode off at full gallop towards
the police-station.
The men were cowed by this bravery and offered
to let the others go, but Mac Gregor said, " Not a
bit of it, you are our prisoners, and we will not let
you stir till we hand Corney over to the police." An
hour of cold suspense followed, but at last the shouts

1842

AN ADVENTURE

35

of Houldsher were heard on the other side, and all he
could say was in Latin, " Non potui ! " (" I couldn't do
it) " ! His horse had fallen, his head was cut, he had
lain insensible, his horse had disappeared, and, after

carrick-a-rede.

vain efforts to ride a donkey, he had given it up in
despair. The men, however, thinking that the police
were coming,, assisted in tightening the bridge, and
in the darkness, with the bridge swaying and creaking
in the wind, and the sea dashing wildly below, four of

36 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. n.
the tourists crossed one by one. Then the men made
a rush for the bridge, but Mac Gregor had arranged
the order in which they should pass, and he told them
that the first who came to the other side out of that
order should be hurled down the cliffs by his com
panions. It was one youth against twenty hulking
and angry men, but " Horatius kept the bridge," the
men gave in, and Corney prepared to cross with Mac
Gregor close behind him. When they came to the
middle of the bridge Corney plumped down, sat
astride the plank, and vowed with dreadful oaths that
he would never move until Mac Gregor had first
passed. It was a moment of intense excitement, the
scene was wild in the extreme, and in after years Mac
Gregor said he never had been before in such peril.
But his blood was up and, standing on that narrow
plank with certain destruction before him if he over
balanced and fell, he buffeted the big bully with his
knees, boxed him with his hands, kicked him with his
feet, until at last he rose and scrambled over on all
fours, followed quickly by Mac Gregor. /
Once on the mainland seven pairs of hands were on
Corney, who was now their prisoner, and they carried
him off straight to a magistrate, although it was two
o'clock in the morning. Corney Regan was sent for a
year to gaol, and Mac Gregor and his friends proceeded
with their Long Vacation tour.
When John was at Liverpool under the care of Dr.
Tattersall, a tutor who took a few pupils to prepare
for Cambridge, he was for some time in a somewhat

*843 AT CAMBRIDGE

37

delicate state of health, and suffered from bronchial
attacks due, it was believed, to the exposure he ex
perienced on board the Kent when an infant. So
frequent had these become, that he was careful to
avoid all occasions of catching cold ; a fire was always
lighted in his room, and a "comforter" — falsely so-
called — was wrapped round his neck. In course of
time he threw aside the comforter, indulged freely
in cold water and fresh cold air, and at length
grew out of his tendency to throat complaints. At
Dr. Tattersall's, among his companions were Lord
Robert Montague and Lord Bangor, for whom, in
after years, he entertained a great regard. From
Dr. Tattersall's Mac Gregor proceeded direct to
Cambridge. It would be as superfluous to say that John took his
religion with him to Cambridge, as it would be to say
that he took his teeth or his hair or his clothes — his
religion was woven, web and woof, into the whole
texture of his character. Therefore by a spiritual law
which works as surely as a natural law, like sought
like, and he at once gravitated towards those persons
and those things which he most cherished, and we find
him from the first associated with the Jesus Lane
Sunday School, and later on with one of the first small
Bible Classes held in the University. In those days
it was a bold and marked thing for a man to join such
societies ; now, as they are comparatively common, no
stigma attaches to membership. But stigma or no
stigma, J.ohn had the courage of his opinions, and he

38 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. n.
no more sought to hide the fact that he was a Chris
tian than he did to conceal the knowledge that he
could handle an oar, or hold his own in a boxing bout,
or skate, or swim. He stood up strongly for "mus
cular Christianity" so ably advocated by Charles
Kingsley, and the robust men of his school, who
brought upon themselves the wrath of the "unco'
guid," who thought it was better to mortify the flesh
than to train it to manly endurance. John soon dis
tinguished himself at Cambridge in athletics, taking
up boating with a wonderful zest, and winning his
reputation as an oarsman in the Trinity eight. Of
course even then he had to put up with a great
deal of ridicule on account of his religious prin
ciples, but he could "give as good as he got," and
he did so.
On his arrival at Cambridge some difficulty was
experienced in obtaining suitable rooms for him out
side the College, but eventually lodgings were found
with some dressmakers named Abbott. When Mac
Gregor threw himself with all a youth's vigour into
Sunday school and other Christian work he was
dubbed with the sobriquet "Abbott's young
Christian." *
For the following interesting account of Mac
Gregor's career at Cambridge we are indebted to
the Bishop of Exeter (the Rev. E. H. Bicker-
steth) :
* Abbott's "Young Christian" was written by Jacob Abbott, an American
Congregational minister, and was much in circulation in that day.

J843 COLLEGE REMINISCENCES 39
The Bishop of Exeter to Mrs. John Mac Gregor.
The Palace, Exeter, April n, 1894.
Dear Mrs. Mac Gregor,—
. , . . When we came up to Cambridge in October
1843, I was very soon drawn to your husband as one of a little band
of five who were knit together for a weekly meeting in each other's
rooms for the study of God's word. I remember at our first meeting
it was discussed whether we should meet on Wednesday or Thursday,
and Mac Gregor said, ' I vote for Thursday ; Sunday is a good hoist,
and carries you far into the week, but you want a little fillip to get
you along to the end.' So we met every Thursday after service in
hall (which was then at 4 p.m.), knelt down for a very short prayer,
and fell to patient study of the Scriptures, referring to our Greek
Testaments and using such helps as we could procure. We closed
at 5 minutes before 6, the chapel hour — though I think most of us
were morning chapel-goers at 7 a.m. The College law then was that
we were to keep six week-day chapels and go twice on Sunday, and
as the chapel door was locked as seven struck in the morning and six
at night it allowed no coming in late.
It soon became known that we were always engaged on Thursday
afternoons, and could not accept invitations to wine parties— very
harmless desserts they were, and as we all had a large circle of friends
we were constantly meeting in those friendly repasts on other days.
Then from time to time we had our breakfast parties, and I
remember Mac Gregor one morning when we met at his rooms,
pointing to a letter from his mother and saying, 'She writes every
day to me, and my morning letter is as regular as my matutinal
egg.' And another morning a letter came from the Editor of Punch
to him at our breakfast-table, accepting his witty sarcasms on the
newly ordered hats for the policemen in London with his diagram
from Euclid, I. 5, showing how easily the pons asinorum was adapt
able to the proposed head tiling of our custodians.
He was a very popular boating man in the Second Trinity Club,
but if I recollect right did not keep his place in their first eight.

40 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. ii.
One day he had sprained and torn one of his hands, and so many
friends crowded round to ask him how it was, that the next day he
wrote ' Better, I thank you ' on his shirt cuff, and to every questioner
only presented his wrist.
I asked him to my father's house at Watton, where he was a
universal favourite, and he was a guest at my marriage on February
24th, 1848, in Norwich, and soon found his way to my Norfolk
home at Banningham, near Cromer, for the links which bound us
together were many and strong, and when my first boy was born,
who is now the Bishop of the Church in England in Japan, Mac
Gregor was one of his godfathers, and when he came down another
year and saw the boy and his elder sister playing together I cannot
forget the deep earnestness with which he said to me, ' I don't think
I could bear to have anything so beautiful as those children entrusted
to me for my very own.' But God in His own time gave him this
enduring heritage and gift that cometh from the Lord.
He was a life-long friend (though we were both too busy often to
meet in London, as the opening of his letter to me on coming down
to Exeter may testify), and I often take comfort in the words of another
beloved friend of nearly forty years' standing (the present Bishop of
Winchester), ' Earth is the place for making friendships ; heaven for
enjoying them.' Yours very sincerely,
E. H. Exon.
The letter from Mac Gregor, to which the Bishop
refers, was as follows :
John Mac Gregor to the Bishop of Exeter.
7 Vanbrugh Park Road East,
Blackheath, May 10, 1885.
My dear Bickersteth Bishop, —
How it does recall old Trinity, and our Bible read
ings, and Watton, and Palestine ! Your father and my father, your
children and my two girls !

l845 A TOUR IN SCOTLAND

4i

I read your sermon with great delight. Yes, ' the dove must settle
on the Cross.'
Don't forget that I may claim to speak to you even when your
mitre is on, for am I not your senior (by one day *) ?
My wife sends her best congratulations. Yours ever,
J. Mac Gregor.
In the summer of 1845 John made a tour in Scotland
with his cousin Sir George Mac Gregor,t and, so far as
we can ascertain, entered, for the first time in his life,
a few notes in the shape of a diary. He records that
he "walked from Loch Earn into Balquhidder and saw
Rob Roy's grave." In the pass of Killiecrankie "saw
piper John Mac Gregor, an old man who had walked
twenty miles with pipes, &c, and a violoncello made
by himself, on his back."
Everybody and everything bearing the name of
Mac Gregor had a fascination for him as the following
rough notes testify :
The wearing of tartan was prohibited in 1745. The Rob Roy
tartan, improperly so called, is the true Mac Gregor pattern. The
play of ' Rob Roy,' being first acted by a man dressed in it, gave it
this name. The Mac Gregors are descended from Acharus, a king,
a.d. 787.
O'Donoghue means grandson of Donoghue as Mac Gregor son
of Gregor — so the country-people call a man's grandchild his O.
Saw a cave where three Mac Gregors were hid many days 
Passed an old castle built to keep Rob Roy in order but which he
demolished. Graves of soldiers he killed still to be seen. . . . Clan
Gregor castle — unfortunately now not in the family.
* MacGregor was born January 24 ; Bickersteth, January 25, 1825.
f The late General Sir George MacGregor, K.C.B.

42 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. ii.
Although he was " Scotch to the backbone," he
always kept a part of one eye open to the humours of
his countrymen, and occasionally jotted down a note
like this :
A man was whistling in Scotland on Sunday. ' Maun ye munnay
whustle.' ' I am whustlin' to the doagie.' ' O ye may whustle to the
doagie but ye maunna whustle.'
Mac Gregor used to relate that the most important
event of the tour was when they visited the battle
field of Culloden, on the anniversary of the battle one
hundred years after (1745).
John was always fond of a joke and especially when
he shared it with his younger brother Douglas.
Neither minded if the joke hit home — on the contrary,
the harder the hit the better it was apparently liked.
Here are some specimens aiming at the law and the
army — the professions to which the brothers were in
course of time to devote themselves.
A lawyer's likeness was taken in a favourite position with hand in
his pocket. "Tain't like.' 'Eh! not like?' 'No faint, 'taint-
it would be twice as like again, if he had his hand in somebody else's
pocket ! '
In a retreat what ought to be the first movement? To extend
the wings.
What kind of facings ought highland regiments to have ? They
should be bare-faced.
In night attacks what should invariably form the advanced
guard ? The light company.
And so on.

l845 FROM A NOTEBOOK 43
A few further extracts from the notebook will
indicate in a small way the bent of his mind at this
period :
There is an interesting book by Sandys, 1637. Paraphrases of
Job, Psalms, and some of the New Testament, quaint, but beautiful
poetry some of it is, and very true and literal in the version. — he
fails however in rendering into verse the description of the horse in
Job xxxix.
Not satisfied with Sandy's paraphrase, Mac Gregor
seems to have tried his hand at it, for the following
bears his initials, and if the poem be his, it is probably
the only attempt at poetry he ever made :
Job xxxix. w. 19-25.
Hast thou bestowed upon the horse his might ?
And clothed his neck with thunder ; hast thou made
Him, who has pawed the valley, at the sight
Of armed men and battle — be afraid ?
The quiver rattles and the glittering spear
And sword and shield — for none of these he turns,
But, as he goeth forward, mocks at fear
Rejoicing in his strength, the foe he spurns.
With rage and fierceness swallowing the ground
Exulting 'mid the trumpets saith, ha ! ha !
The thunder of the captains and the sound
He smelleth all the battle from afar.
J. M. December 8, 1845.
Poetry and music ran in his mind at this period —
the latter to be largely developed later on — and in

44 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. ii.
the rough notebook to which we have referred there
occur such entries as this :
Two strikingly beautiful pieces of sacred music are the following :
Recitative beginning, "We called thro' the darkness," &c— the wild-
ness of a note coming in after the question, " Watchman, will the
night soon pass ? " This is by Mendelssohn. The other is the air
in Handel's Messiah beginning : " He shall feed his flock like a
shepherd " (Alto), where the modulations in the last line are peculiarly
beautiful. J. M., December 1845, Dublin.
In 1845 MacGregor commenced writing for Punch,
and continued his contributions for many years. For
the first five articles he received a cheque which
formed his earliest donation to the Ragged School
Union. These appeared in vols. vi. and ix. of Punch;
between 1845 and 1849 he contributed twenty-four
articles, some half-page and some three-quarter page.*
During the same period he was indefatigable in his
communications to the Mechanic s Magazine, and
between 1845 and 1852 contributed no fewer than
fifty-two papers. The subjects were so various that we
give a few of the titles to show the nature of his
studies : Jopling's Septenary Curve System — Fric-
tionless Pendulum — Registering of Atmospheric Vari
ations — On the Theory of Prismatic Colours — Railway
Locomotion by Electricity — Improvements in Tile

* A writer in the Pall Mall Gazette in 1893 rashly denied that John Mac
Gregor ever wrote for Punch. The present writer has in his possession a list
of the articles referred to above, and also the receipts for some of the pay
ments.

1 847 LITERARY WORK 45
Draining — Decomposition of Water — New Flat One-
fluked Anchor — Yachts and Yacht Sailing — Fire-
engine Improvements — Railway Signals — New Print
ing Press — New Mode of Raising Water, &c. &c.
In 1846 MacGregor left Cambridge and came up
to London to read for the bar.

CHAPTER III
1847—1850
SHAPING FOR A CAREER
In January 1847, John MacGregor obtained his B.A.
degree with honours, being classed as a Wrangler
(34th), in the Mathematical Tripos. Soon after this
he took up his residence in London.
Among those with whom he was intimate at this
time, and whose names occur most frequently in his
diary were the Hon. and Rev. Baptist Wriothesley
Noel and his family. Mr. Noel, who was one of the
Queen's chaplains, occupied the pulpit of St. John's
Chapel, Bedford Row, where he drew together a large
congregation of the upper classes. In 1848, owing to
the revelations in the " Gorham case " — an ecclesias
tical suit which led to the secession of some of the
Church of England clergy to the Church of Rome —
Mr. Noel seceded to the Baptist body of Dissenters,
his conviction being that the Church of England in
her sacramental teaching approached too nearly to
the Church of Rome. He still remained a staunch
supporter of most of the leading evangelical societies.
During the period of transition Mac Gregor was a

1848 HON. AND REV. BAPTIST NOEL 47
constant attendant at his church and frequent allusion
to the impending changes is made in his matter-of-fact
diary :
Nov. 22. — Heard of Mr. Noel's intended secession from the
Established Church. It will be of use to the congregation who have
had too few difficulties to try them.
Dec. 3. — The sorrow of meeting Mr. Noel for the last time as.
our minister was increased by the tumult of the disgraceful
crowd who took possession of the chapel. What a sermon on.
Eph. iii. 14-19 !
In a letter to his sister, he wrote :
Sunday morning saw a large number of us at the early sacra
ment, about 500, and in coming away we found the church doors
even then besieged by people anxious to hear the parting sermon.
Yet this was two hours before the time. We had to dismiss the
school early, and with the greatest difficulty did any of us teachers
get to our pews.
The scene was very disgraceful to numbers of strangers who filled
the church and kept out its rightful congregation. I never saw a
church so full before — ladies standing on the seats all along the
pews so that two rows were in each pew standing — strangers sitting
on the edge of the pew doors all along the aisles, the Communion
rails full, and for a long time none of us could take off our hats.
We hoped earnestly that the service would not proceed, but it did.
The faintings and shrieks and bustle made the serious part of the
congregation doubly grieved knowing how Mr. Noel hates such
scenes. The police had no power, but in the evening everything
was well arranged. The text was from Ephesians iii. 14 to 19, and
it would be of no use to try to praise the sermon. How judicious to
postpone even the very important reasons of his separation to the
greater reasons for turning to God which each soul before him ought
to consider.

48 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. iii.
He began : Neither on this occasion nor in the evening, shall I
make any explanations or waste your time by speaking of myself.
Let us meditate rather on the Word of God  On analysing
my feelings towards Mr. Noel it is not because he preaches exactly
the doctrine I love to hear that 1 love to hear him, but because also
he gives the precise importance to each part of it which in my most
prayerful moments I should wish to do  In the evening I was
asked to assist in the laborious duty of keeping the mob at the
chapel door in order, and getting the pew-holders their proper
accommodation. I was quite done up by the work, and had my coat
torn, and was very much knocked about. John xvii. 24 was the
text, and Mr. Noel .... began his wonderful discourse amidst the
sobs of many a faithful follower.
Many a grey head seemed bowed with sorrow, and the majority
were in tears. It did not seem like a parting of an ordinary kind,
but to me something of a martyr's farewell. ... I thank God we are
to have for a year Archdeacon Dealtry in our pulpit.
Mac Gregor remained a member of St. John's Chapel,
and on the following Sunday noted, " a memorable day.
Our first with our new minister. Both his sermons
energetic, simple, and fluent."
The year 1848 was remarkable in the career of
Mac Gregor, as it was in the history of all thought
ful men. Disaffection was abroad everywhere —
Italy in open revolution, Austria falling to pieces,
France in the throes of reform conflicts, Ireland in
disorder, England harassed by Chartists and republican
principles. A revolutionary epidemic was spreading
everywhere and broke out in all its virulence, with the
third revolution in France, the proclamation of a
Republic, the expulsion of the Orleans dynasty, and
the election of a provisional Government and a National

J848 IRELAND IN 1848 49
Assembly. Although politics, as such, were never a
strong point in Mac Gregors studies, on the 1st of
May, 1848, he commenced systematically to keep a
diary. Unfortunately it is written for the first year
or two mainly in cypher — not one system only but a
conglomeration of several, and these were changed
from time to time, so that the majority of the earlier
entries are quite unintelligible. There are, however, a
few in long-hand, and in the course of a year or two
the notes in cypher practically disappear. A pencil
note precedes the first entry :
I had visited Paris in 1848 before May 1st, and saw the Assembly
in debate the day before they were dissolved and met Louis Napoleon
on the steps of the Madeleine quite unattended and unnoticed.
It is greatly to be regretted that this is the only
record extant, so far as we can ascertain, of what must
have been a most exciting and therefore, to Mac Gregor,
a most delightful time. Nor, owing to the cypher
diary, are we any better off, with regard to his ex
periences in London during the period of the Chartist
fiasco, except that he was one of the special con
stables during the Riot. In Ireland, however, where
throughout the period of famine, and the subsequent
mania for emigration his father had retained and
successfully administered his difficult office as Head of
the Constabulary, Mac Gregor found a fruitful field of
discovery. The cry for Repeal raised by the believers
in the policy of that consummate agitator, Daniel
O'Connell, was giving place to the demands of the

50 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. iii.
Young Ireland party in whose ranks William Smith
O'Brien had allied himself and soon became their
leader, while Thomas Francis Meagher became the
" Peter the Hermit" of the crusade — an orator of
bolder and at the same time far more inspiring and
poetic rhetoric than even the famous Grattan. It
would be foreign to our purpose to tell the story of
the attempted but abortive insurrection which, had it
been allowed to ripen, might have been fraught with
disastrous consequences, or even to record how Colonel
Mac Gregor carried out with coolness and firmness his
difficult and dangerous duties in baffling that con
spiracy and maintaining the cause of loyalty, or how
he won for himself universal admiration and respect.
One or two incidents may, however, be recorded here.
At a meeting in Dublin, Colonel Mac Gregor was
surprised and gratified when a gentleman, who asked
to be introduced, was found to be the great agitator
himself, Daniel O'Connell. The Irish patriot shook
hands with the Colonel very warmly, and said that
" he had always acted with great consideration and
perfect fairness towards his countrymen," a very grati
fying testimony to which he was wont to refer in
after years with justifiable pride. It is a matter of
history that the disturbances in Ireland, including the
rebellion headed by Smith O'Brien, were put down
chiefly by the armed Irish constabulary and for his
eminent services in this connection, Colonel Mac
Gregor received at the end of 1848, the honourable
distinction of a civil K.C.B.

l848 THE VALUE OF K.C.B. 51
The following curious and old-fashioned letter was
written about this time :
John Mac Gregor to his Father, Sir Duncan
MacGregor, K.C.B.
December 1848.
My dearest Father,
It is not very easy to realise at first this new accession
of honour, there being somewhat incorporeal in it. I can hardly
decide which is greater, the sympathy of a parent in the advance
ment of his child, or the pleasure which a son feels in his father's
promotion. It seems to me that we pervert the meaning of the
text, "them that honour me I will honour'' if we expect, much
more if we demand, distinction amongst men as a necessary conse
quence of our right dispositions to God. It should rather be a
matter of surprise and thankfulness if we may be suffered like Christ
himself to increase in favour with God and man. It may savour too
much of my pleader's education to discern in the mode of conferring
this distinction more to congratulate you upon than if it had been
given at once and yet I do see more — for the Government must
have understood fully the merits of their servant in Ireland, the very
focus of that crusade against order which all Europe had engaged in.
If then they considered a Companionship as a fit reward for such
services we see how highly they estimate the rank of CB. Ergo, say
I, how should we value the greater dignity of a Knight Commander?
Colonel Rowan has evidently profited by your refusal of the first
step. No wonder that a government should delight to raise the
status of a civil or demi-military arm of the Executive at a time
when the powers on the Continent are lavish and hasty in rewarding
the few purely military corps that were staunch to their respective
crowns during the late trials. I remember when I was a little boy you
were explaining what a K.H. was to me, and when I said, 'And
what does K.C.B. mean ? ' ' Oh,' you said, ' that is quite a different
thing, it is given only as a high honour to a few great men.'
Your most affectionate son,
John.

S2 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. hi.
The notes in the diary of John Mac Gregor relating
to his stay in Ireland at this time are meagre, but
they are sufficient to show that he followed the course
of events with keen interest and kept his eye open
for anything that might turn up.
Waterford. Went round the barracks to see the preparations for
the rebels, who were expected to break out on the following day.
Arrived last night in Carlow. The rebels in all the villages were
marching to join O'Brien and Meagher in the mountains.
He appears to have picked up a few stories on the
road, and records how a parish clerk, breaking forth
into a poetic oration, said :
To-night's the day, I speak it with great sorrow, that we were
to have been blown up to-morrow.
Another, declaiming against the oppression of the
times, said, with national fervour :
It's not the tenth part that these tyrants take from us but the
twentieth !
In another note is the following :
' How far is it there ? ' asked a half-tipsy Irishman.
'A mile if you go straight.' 'Oh, I don't so much mind how
long it is, but it's the breadth of the road that matters with me, for I
go from one side to the other so often.'
Another story, heard from the man himself, and
often quoted in later years by Mac Gregor in his " No
Popery " crusades, runs like this :
A priest in Ireland crossed a ford and arriving at an inn found

1848 RAGGED SCHOOLS

S3

his 'pyx,' containing the consecrated wafer, wet. He thought of
the sin thus committed but found that provision was made by the
fathers for such a case, and that if corruption had set in, then it was
no longer the Body of Christ. He pondered and wondered and
finally threw it into the fire, renounced popery, and is now a
Protestant clergyman in the same parish.
Unimportant as it may seem in itself, the following
note records one of those pivot-hours in life on which
so many great events revolve.
Nov. 16. Found my article on 'Guy Fawkes' in Punch. Met
Mr. Blackburn and went with him to the Ragged Schools in
Westminster. Delighted.
This appears to have been the origin of his connec
tion with Ragged Schools, and the proceeds from the
article in Punch formed his first contribution to its
funds. Whatever Mac Gregor undertook he carried on
with enthusiasm, and the energy with which he
threw himself into Ragged School work, at a time,
too, when he was reading for the Bar and was im
mersed in many important undertakings, is very note
worthy. The Ragged School was then in its infancy — the
Ragged School Union having only been founded in
1845 — and it was struggling for existence. It greatly
needed the aid of vigorous and able men like Mac
Gregor, and the fact of his joining the movement
was the signal for many of his friends, over whom his
strong character exercised a powerful influence, to

54 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. iii.
associate themselves with him. One of his oldest
friends, Mr. Martin Ware, says : " His fearless con
fession of Christ, his frankness and good-humour
towards all with whom he was brought into contact,
and the charm of his conversation, full of life and
originality, won many who were careless and waver
ing to a life of Christian usefulness ; and not a few
of those who have since done good se'rvice among
the poor of London, trace their introduction to the
work to the encouraging example of John Mac
Gregor." Ragged School work was no easy task in those
early days. Sometimes the teachers could not reach
the schools except under police protection ; not infre
quently a " rebellion " would occur when, in sheer
wantonness, the whole school would, at a preconcerted
signal, break out into laughing, talking, fighting,
smoking and dancing. The present writer has a
grateful, and refreshing remembrance of addressing a
ragged audience in Camberwell, many years later than
the period to which we are now alluding. Having
concluded with what he regarded as a stirring poem,
he received five odorous bloaters on his head and face,
because he declined to respond to an encore !
Mac Gregors diary only gives very brief references
to his Ragged School work, but the following will be
read with interest.
Nov. 30, 1848.— At the Ragged Schools a little disturbance took
place, when one of the boys went up to the master and said, ' I
say, sir, why don't you go and hit those fellows in the eye, they're

1 849 A TEACHER OF TEACHERS

SS

making such a noise ! ' They detect pickpockets by their manner of
holding out the hand or turning round when ordered.
1849. Jan. 4. — Went in the evening to the little Ragged School set
up by some gentlemen under Mr. Maurice's* auspices — the girls
were below with a schoolmistress, neat, clean and orderly, the boys
and young men we had in two rooms above. An absence of
scriptural or sanctified education was marked and affected me, but
much is not to be expected at first. A lad learned addition very
quickly from me, then I recited the story of Joseph. They ended by
repeating the Lord's Prayer after one of their kind instructors. The
cool nonchalance of the scholars amused me, sitting with their hats
on and talking of such odd matters — subjects unaccustomed to be
heard discussed in other society. But the evening had its effect,
and may God bless the endeavours to teach wheresoever and by
whomsoever conducted.
Feb. 7. — Ragged School Union Committee, Lord Ashley in the
chair. Heard of my appointment to the committee.
March 2. — Went to committee meeting of Ragged School Union.
Pleased with their business-like mode of proceeding. Glad to find
they had ^1300 in the bank.
May 15. — Meeting in Exeter Hall of Ragged School Union,
where I stood as steward for six hours. Duke of Argyll's speech
wordy, but clear and fluent. Fox Maule's rather involved. Mr.
Corduroy's very eloquent ; — a fine looking man with a splendid
voice and perfect self-command. Mr. Shearin's, colloquial yet
interesting. Lord Ashley's not forcible. Mr. Labouchere's too fast
in delivery. The parliamentary speakers deliver very slowly, making
each word tell.
Although Mac Gregor was an excellent " teacher," it
was not in that direction that his chief power lay. He
was an originator, an organiser, a teacher of teachers.
In the Ragged School Union Magazine, read at that
* The Rev. Professor Frederick Denison Maurice.

56 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. iii.
time by almost every Ragged School teacher in the
land, he wrote a series of capital papers, full of sug
gestive hints as to the modes of imparting instruc
tion, how to deliver an address, and how to use such
language and imagery as should rivet the attention
of the children. He felt the responsibility of his
task ; thousands of young people were listening each
week to addresses, many perhaps for the first time,
and many, perchance, might drift away and never
have the opportunity again. It was his ambition there
fore, to attract and fascinate them, and it pained him
to think how many good, true, and earnest teachers
were, by lack of training or capacity, and not at
all through want of heart, wasting their golden
chances. The mere sermon, however excellent it
might be, was useless among this class of hearers ; the
religious essayist was as sounding brass and a tinkling
cymbal ; the good but heavy gospeller who strung
together passages of Scripture, incomprehensible
except to those who had been educated in Biblical
knowledge, was really exhorting in an unknown
tongue. What the ragged children wanted was a
speaker who would use language that they could
thoroughly understand, full of sympathy that they
could feel, attractive so that they could listen with
pleasure, and above all that the words should spring
from the heart of one who came to them not as a great
preacher but as one of themselves, to whom they could
speak without fear, and love for what he was to them.
In his printed and oral addresses to teachers there-

1 849 THE ART OF SPEAKING

57

fore, he insisted strongly upon such points as these :
Never to tell pointless stories, never to found dis
courses on "dry doctrines," never to come prepared
with a good 'start and trust to the inspiration of the
moment for the finish "which in such case," he says,
" is generally weak and rambling ; the refreshing wine
being drowned not mixed with water, becomes vague,
insipid, and cheerless " ; never to continue speaking
until your audience is wearied, but always to drive in
one nail to a sticking place, to enforce one cardinal
truth that shall be remembered. Excellent advice !
would that teachers, other than those in Ragged
Schools, would follow it ! Among his strong points
were these, that anecdote should never be employed
for its own sake, never be dragged in by the heels,
and never be used by those who do not know how to
tell a story — and their name is legion though they
know it not. In matters of style he urged, that if
similes were used, at every stage of the simile the thing
signified should be dilated upon ; that, as far as pos
sible, only Saxon words should be employed, and above
all that no one should speak unless he had some
thing to say, and was deeply in earnest in saying it.*
* When he read Hesba Stretton's beautiful little story, "Jessica's First
Prayer," in the Sunday at Home, where it first appeared, he said "it was
a capital story, and deserved being printed as a. book and being translated.
into English." He prided himself on using plain, homely Anglo-Saxon in pre
ference to long, sentimental and Latinised words. It was the pathos of
"Jessica's First Prayer " that secured for it an enormous circulation in many
forms, especially after its favourable launching into public favour by Lord
Shaftesbury, whose remark was, " No one but a woman could have written
such a story."

58 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. hi.
In his own addresses he chose such subjects as the
wise and foolish men who built their houses on the
rock and the sand respectively, and he would sustain
the interest of his hearers until they seemed to hear
the fall of the one house in the crash of the storm and
to feel a sense of personal safety in gazing on the
picture of the house on the rock.
He could tell a story well, and he could give it such
tone, gesture, look, that the young people sat open-
mouthed and spellbound. PI ere is a specimen of an
illustration he often used :
One very dark night, no moon to be seen and no stars, I was in
a steamboat with some hundred passengers. All of them were on
deck, for the sea was smooth and the gentle air was warm, and the
passengers chatted in Italian or in Greek, while the Captain told
us we were nearing Cape Matapan, the most southerly point in
Europe. The noise of the steamer's paddle-wheels was like ' pitta-patta,
pitta-patta,' but suddenly the paddles stopped.
The Captain had ordered them to stop because the night was so
very dark, and he did not know the way, and perhaps we might be
near some of the dangerous rocks in that part of the sea. So
he was right to stop, and listen, and look, and all the passengers
looked and listened in silence. At last some one called out, ' Oh, I
see a light ! ' and all of us looked that way.
The light was very tiny, just like a little star, but it moved first
down, and down, and down, and then it was steady a bit ; then it
waved quietly right and left, then it went out altogether and everything
was dark again.
All of us looked, and all were silent, but the Captain said, ' All
right, go on ahead ! ' and the paddles again went ' pitta-patta,' and
the vessel moved on in safety.

1 849 AN ALLEGORY 59
What was the light ? Why did it move, and why was it put out ?
I will tell you now.
On these black rocks at Cape Matapan there was a little old man,
a hermit monk, who lived in a hut of stones. He was too old and
too feeble to do much work, but what he did was this. Whenever
he heard a ship was near — by the sailors' voices or by the paddle-
wheel's sound — he lighted a little candle, and stepped down slowly to
the edge of the sea, and then he waved his light to the right and to the
left, and then he blew it out and went back to bed in his stone hut.
That was all he did, but it was enough to tell where the rocks were
and safe water was ; and so the sailors knew where to go, and they
thanked the old man, and sometimes (in the daylight) they took
food to him and clothes. Now, you may remember that Jesus said,
' I am the light of the world,' and He came and lighted the way,
and He went back to heaven, and He will come again to the world
in brighter glory. Meantime He left us His word — the blessed
Bible — to be 'a lamp to our feet and a light to our path,' like a
candle in the dark to show us the danger, and to show the right way
for going on our journey through a dark world to the bright heaven
He has gone to prepare.
Every one can hold up the Bible as a light every day in the house,
in the work-place, in the streets, in the school, and even in playtime,
too. His sympathy with children was intense, and some
of his talks with them, whether as a young man of
twenty-five, or later on in life, were models of what
such expressions should be. There were oftentimes
tears in his voice as he spoke to the poor little waifs
and strays in the Ragged Schools and Refuges and
Reformatories, and there were eager glances, tender
sighs, sometimes tearful eyes when, "moved with
compassion," he would address them in words like
these :

60 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. iii.
Many of you have not a good father to shelter you and teach
you ; many of you have not a loving mother to cherish you and kiss
your tears away ; many of you have not brothers or sisters to play
with you and love you. We have done our best to help, and the
masters and matrons over you are very very kind, but they can never
be the same to you as real father, real mother, and real brothers and
sisters. But, dear lads, have you not heard of One who, better than
any father on earth, loves you, One who is a Friend that sticketh
closer than a brother ? He is the Good Shepherd. He will carry you
like lambs in His bosom, and will gently lead you to His bright and
beautiful Home !
Could any words express more womanly tenderness
than these ?
In case any young men into whose hands this book
may fall should think that we have drifted into a
namby-pamby strain, we will turn now to an examina
tion of his ordinary life and habits at this time. John
Mac Gregor was no recluse, nor did he shut his eyes
or ears to anything of genuine interest. He had a
great passion for music and for the society of notable
men — or at least with men who " had something in
them," and he indulged his passion freely. We find
his diary interspersed with many passages such as
these :

1848. July 7.— Carlyle, author of Cromwell's life, &c, came to dinner
last night. A young Scotchman, clever and outri, designedly care
less, uses much strong language, but his epithets often twice over.
Fond of fun and unaffected. Not happy looking.
July 13.— At Sir E. Buxton's. Met the poet Rogers.

1 849 THE GROTTO 61
Jan. 5. — Met Snape at the Cock and became acquainted with
him.* May 17. — Called on Snape and had a long and interesting con
versation with him. It urges forward to hear the panting of a
fellow pilgrim, so lately started on the path.
About this time he was paying considerable atten
tion to music, and "took lessons in singing from
Benson, three for a guinea." "Had some trios with
Ebrington and Cane."
Pleasant concert last night. Sims Reeves's voice is very satisfactory.
Thalberg's fantasia on Masaniello delighted me.
It is wise for a young man to give due place
and proportion to things, and we find him, with a
view to his future work at the bar, training him
self in a variety of ways. One was by his frequent
attendance at the " Grotto " — a debating society
sustained for the most part, it would appear, by
men in the legal profession. His references to
the Grotto, so named from the Grotto Tavern in
Southampton Buildings, are frequent, and, after
attending many debates and other meetings, he was,
to his great surprise, "elected Secretary to the
Grotto by a large majority," and was present for
the first time in his official capacity in February
1849. In the same month he began to write the
" History of the Grotto," but what came of it
this deponent sayeth not. That the meetings were
* This acquaintance ripened into a life-long friendship. Mr. Snape died
April 18, 1894.

62 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. iii.
useful to him there is little doubt and we find occa
sional entries like this :
May 14, 1849. — At Grotto. Felt great improvement in fluency
and delivery whilst speaking. An important rule seems to me to be
this, to abstain from all diversions to parts of the subject not well
prepared before rising, even though the connection between those
considered may appear disjointed.
Mac Gregor, although he had many irons in the fire,
was not neglecting his professional studies and the
following entries in the diary for 1849 indicate what
was to be the distinctive line he had marked out for
himself. 1849. Feb. 13. — Wrote home concerning the Patent Branch of a barrister's
studies. Feb. 24. — Called on Hindmarsh to speak about patent law and
its bearings — it seems more attractive and exclusive than ever.
Recommend me to become acquainted with the arts and manufactures
of the country, and to read with some barrister practising in the line
referred to.
John Mac Gregor's love of travel had early mani
fested itself, but hitherto his experiences had been
mainly confined to Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France,
and Holland. In July 1849 the great dream of his
life came true, and he started on his first eastern
tour comprising Paris, Geneva, Lyons, Malta, Athens,
Marathon, Greece generally, Smyrna, Constantinople,
Beyrout, Tripoli, Syria, Baalbec, Damascus, Tyre,
Sidon, Carmel, Nazareth, Jerusalem, Dead Sea,

l849 ON TOUR 63
Jordan, Gaza, Cairo, Pyramids, Nile, Farshoot,
Thebes, Cairo, Malta, Gibraltar, returning to Lon
don in March 1850 — an eight months' tour. During
the whole of this period he was indefatigable with
his pen and his sketch-book, and we have before us
enough material to form an interesting and a good-
sized book — material that has never yet been pub
lished. We can only give in this place the briefest '
outline of the tour, with an occasional note of some of
its leading incidents.
The start was a bad one.
July 19. — From Paris to Geneva by diligence, three days and
two nights on the road. 23. To Lyons by diligence, all night again.
24. From Valence, again by diligence, to Avignon, making four nights
spent in the baggage as a dormitory without sleep.

Then came a day's pause "to recover health."
At Malta, ' dined with the Governor and sailed in his yacht after
wards. Caught a small turtle lying on the top of the water.' ' Dined
with White at the 44th mess. Bathed for a very long time by
moonlight. Music on the coalscuttle and bellows, feats of strength,
songs, pipes, &c.'
Aug. 8. — Started in the grey dawn in our sailing-boat to Gozo,
fifteen miles. Stopped during the middle of the day at St. Paul's,

64

JOHN MACGREGOR

CHAP. III.

Bay, landing on the island of Selmone on which his ship was
wrecked. Aug. 10.— Bathed, and swam to the mainland the same course
• which St. Paul and his company must have escaped by. Read the
account of the wreck in the Acts 
Aug. 1 8. — Athens. Went in the evening to the Acropolis, where
the ruins exceeded all I had imagined in the beauty and delicacy of
proportions. The sensation of pleasure in beholding such refined

ST. PAUL'S MONUMENT

fulfilments of the longing for perfection of architecture quite over
came the mournful retrospect of what Athens once was.
Aug. 22. — Marathon. Much annoyed by donkeys, cocks, dogs,
babies, swallows, flies, rats, mosquitoes, and bugs. Set off in
the afternoon for Phyle to stop the night at Kephessia. Our
cavalcade included five horses, Demetri, a Frenchman, as cook, and
a man for the horses. These animals are astonishing for their
endurance, strength, patience, and sure-footedness. Passed a solitary
tortoise marching o'er the field of Marathon. Saw a lizard about a
foot and a half long.

1849

THE GREEK ISLANDS

65

Aug. 23. — Kephessia afforded us as many bugs and as little
sleep as Marathon. Thence to the ancient fortress Phyle guarding
the old road from Athens to Thebes. The road in some parts still
bears the marks of the Greek chariot wheels. Phyle is on a lofty
rock, in beautiful scenery ; the walls are built of marble, and the
gate so constructed, as in the other old fortresses, as to compel those
entering to expose their right sides unprotected by the shield.
At Athens, Mac Gregor and his companion (Frend)
went on board a schooner, the Isabel, 100 tons, bound
for Smyrna. Mac Gregor was not in good health, the
fatigue at the start of the tour, the sleeplessness in

Greece and a sharp attack of illness consequent upon
eating over-ripe melons at Marathon, had done him
some mischief and rendered him liable to further
climatic ailments. But he was alert to see and do all
that could be seen and done. Here is an incident of
this part of the tour not recorded in the diary, but
mentioned in a private letter.
In 1849 while among the Greek islands, becalmed in a little
schooner, I heard the sharp rattle of musketry and the big boom of
cannon behind a hill. To get at the cause of this, we entreated the
Captain to lend us the boat. Pirates were at their work and had
murdered the crew of a brig. This we told at Smyrna, and instantlyE

66 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. hi.
an English war-steamer started in pursuit of the sailor's common
enemy, the robbers of the sea. The pirates were captured, and seven
of them were hanged.
Some pleasant days were spent at Smyrna and then
arrangements were made to push forward to Constan
tinople. Just as Mac Gregor was about to leave
Smyrna he heard that an American gentleman, staying
at an hotel there, was taken seriously ill. Although
knowing nothing of him, Mac Gregor called, sat by his
bedside, read and prayed with him till the very last
moment that he could be away from the ship that was

ROAD THROUGH ROMAN AQUEDUCT, ACRE
to take him to Constantinople. In bidding the sufferer
farewell Mac Gregor turned down a page in a New
Testament and left it with him. On their way to
Constantinople Mac Gregor and his friend went ashore
at Gallipoli, and there it is believed they contracted
a fever which proved to be of a most malignant kind.
On arrival at their hotel in Constantinople they
immediately took to their beds, and a doctor was
called in who pronounced the disease to be local
intermittent fever.

1849

IN CONSTANTINOPLE

67

For over a fortnight he was confined to his room,
and, for a long time afterwards, he felt the ill effects
of the dangerous malady, although with his indomitable
pluck he went about as though nothing had happened.
Every sight in Constantinople he seems to have
visited, and, although he prosecuted his researches with
unflagging zeal, the entries in the diary reveal how
much he suffered during this period. Leaving the city
he sailed again to Smyrna, and almost his first act on

STONE CARVINGS AT BEYROUT

arrival was to visit the hotel where, a month before,
he had left the American traveller on his sick bed.
He entered the room and found the traveller lying on
the bed a corpse, his fingers gripping the open Testa
ment that Mac Gregor had given to him, and the page
upon which the dead hand rested was the third chapter
of the Gospel of St. John, which Mac Gregor had turned
down for his reading the moment when he left him.
From Smyrna he went to Cyprus, and from thence
to Beyrout, where, health being now better estab-

68

JOHN MACGREGOR

CHAP. III.

lished, many excursions were made, among them a visit
to the stone sculptures on the rocks near Beibroun,
and to Tripoli.
On the Lebanon Mac Gregor was again stricken
down by illness and confined for a week to his

THE GATEWAY AT BAALBEC

room, but immediately after the words " Feeling
better" occur in the diary, we find him visiting
the cedars, passing over the ridge of Lebanon,
sleeping at the foot of the mountain in a cornfield,
encamped in the midst of the ruins of Baalbec, cross
ing the ridge of Hermon and finally settling down at

1 849 ADVENTURE IN PALESTINE 69
the hotel in the street " which is called Straight." From
Damascus the travellers proceeded to Tyre and Sidon,
St. Jean d'Acre, and to the convent on Mount Carmel,
and here he was kept for some days in confinement
under the care of a doctor who talked only in Latin.
Nov. 7, 1849. — Started for Nazareth, I riding on the donkey
in a most constrained position, and suffering great pain for three
hours. Camped at night near a village where the jackals, dogs,
camels, and donkeys prevented sleep. Frend observed a large
scorpion crawling up the tent near me. We caught him, the second
we have captured in the tent.
Another week of illness ensued at Nazareth, at the
end of which this entry occurs :
1849. Nazareth, Nov 14. —Thank God on this day may be said to end
the illness which has oppressed me for nearly six weeks.
Nov. 15. — Got up and walked out, beholding Nazareth for the
first time. Oh, the pleasure of being without pain !
Proceeding on their route the travellers appear to
have visited every remarkable place and seen every
remarkable sight in Palestine, but, as the notes are
very condensed and matter-of-fact, it would not
interest the general reader to insert them here.
Many years later, however, Mac Gregor contributed
an incident of his tour to the readers of a magazine in
connection with the School-boys' Scripture Union,
edited by university men. It was as follows : —
' The Bloody Way ' was the name of the road from Jerusalem to
Jericho, which Jesus described as you read it in Luke x. 25-37. I
went along it five times with a guard of soldiers ; but at last I went
once quite alone. About the middle of the way, where it was very

70 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. hi.
hot— for the Jordan Valley is the deepest spot in all the world— I
thought I might stop for a rest. In dismounting from the saddle
the handle of my thick umbrella struck a large boil on my face and
burst it, and while I looked at the gush of blood, two strong arms
clasped me from behind and a terrible struggle took place between
an armed robber and myself. Both of us were strong men, and we
wrestled and twisted and groaned, but neither would 'give in.'
Suddenly the hilt of the rascal's sword came near my hand. I
clutched it and drew the sword out, and at once the Arab 'gave in,'
and I tossed the sword into ' the brook Kedron.'
I am not likely to forget the parable of the ' Good Samaritan,'
because I have, even at this time, the scar on my cheek.
A journey was then made overland from Gaza to
Cairo — a most fatiguing and somewhat uninteresting
journey on camel-back.
In January 1850, a start was made up the Nile in a
dahabeah and here adventures came thick and fast —
thus :
Jan. 8, at Sooadee. Got out and walked, and saw a crocodile quite
near me in the water. I had only my pistol with me, and he sank
instantly on hearing me cock it.
Jan. 10. — A crocodile fell into our boat last night from the bank.
Jan. 13. — Girgeh. Took along walk in the morning on the moun
tains and amongst the excavated caverns in the rocks. Last night
five or six men rushed upon those of our crew who were on the
bank tracking, and tried to overcome them, intending no doubt to
rob the boat afterwards. Hany, the dragoman, fired shot and ball
from my gun and they retreated. Though they called me often yet
I slept through all the noise.
Jan. 21. — Thebes. The bats in tomb No. 35 nearly blinded me.
The guides took me down a steep hole in mistake for a tomb.
Jan. 23. — Shot eleven birds for breakfast — four at one shot, three
at another.

i85o

CROCODILE SHOOTING

73

On the 28th MacGregor caught a severe cold, and
two days afterwards, when walking with two men,
Oxford and Cambridge, to Abydos, he felt that he
had received a stroke of the sun on the back.

MY FIRST CROCODILE

Happily, however, some travellers were met with a
day or two afterwards, including Lord Lincoln, Lord
Robert Clinton, his brother Mr. Vernon, and Mr.
Harcourt, who kindly offered him medicines.
Feb. 5. — Went in the small boat with Mustapha and Agedan to
the crocodile rocks. After landing and waiting some time a crocodile
appeared. Shot him in the head. He dived and returned, and I
shot him in the spine, brought him to the boat, and he was skinned.

74 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. iii.
Some time was spent in Cairo and Alexandria, and
the journey back to London was made vid Malta,
Gibraltar, and Southampton.
On his arrival, we find Mac Gregor taking up all
the dropped skeins of his ordinary life, and the first
entry in his diary, after he has noted a round of calls,
is the following :
May 22. — Began to read with Chitty.
But almost immediately afterwards comes the entry :
Conceived the idea of writing a tract, ' Three Days in the East.'
Then follow many items respecting Ragged School
work, prayer-meetings, studies in music, lectures, and
so on, till one is surprised to meet, three months later
than the announcement of "reading with Chitty," the
solitary entry :
Aug. 19. — Read Archibald's 'Criminal Law' !
It was said of him by his friends that "he only
wanted the spur of poverty to supplement a successful
university career by a lucrative practice at the bar."
It is not, therefore, in the line of his profession that
Mac Gregor will stand out most conspicuously in these
pages, for although what he undertook to do he did
well, there were fresh paths of life opening up to him
almost every year, and, at an early period of his
history, he seems to have made up his mind that his
life-work was not to be done in wig and gown.
MacGregor left two permanent memorials of his
first Eastern tour. One was the little book entitled

l85° EASTERN MUSIC 75
" Three Days in the East," the peculiarity of which
was that it was written, with great industry and in
genuity, almost entirely in the words of Holy Scrip
ture. It was published by Seeley and all profits de
rived from the book were given to the Ragged Schools.
The second memorial was a more ambitious one. It
was a valuable work on "Eastern Music," published
by Novello, giving in musical notation the character
istic and national songs of Greeks, Turks, Egyptians,
Nubians, Bedouins, Syrians, Jews. These interesting
airs were caught by the ear, played on the flute, and
sung with a tuning-key at hand, and after many re
hearsals with native orchestras they were written
unaltered precisely as they were performed.
In a review of the book Professor E. F. Rimbault,
LL.D., a musical critic of. no mean order, says :
" The subject of Eastern music is one of very
great interest, not only as regards its antiquity as
the most ancient music in the world, but also in an
ethnological point of view, which is perhaps of more
importance. The way in which sensations of thought
are expressed by modulations of the human voice is
one of the characteristics of races. A great difficulty
exists in procuring copies of these ancient melodies.
Travellers are seldom experienced musicians enough
to write down a melody accurately. An exception to
the general order of travellers in the East must be
made in favour of Mr. John MacGregor, whose volume
of ' Eastern Music ' shows us that he is not only able
to write down the melodies correctly, but to give us at

76.

JOHN MACGREGOR

CHAP. III.

home a good idea of their effects when stripped of
their surroundings."
Each song was preceded by amusing and descriptive
letterpress, and the book was adorned with original
sketches. As in the case of " Three Days in the East,"
the profits were devoted to the Ragged Schools.
We give a specimen of one chorus, which was a
great favourite with John Mac Gregor :

Chords. | (fg^g;

Yulla haily

no te kroots in la fo te

mnftfn
Yulla haily ya sa - Iaa-my

m

' folia haily ya salaamy

Yulla haily

ya salaamy

Yulla haily ya ea-laamy

yul • la hai - ly ya salaamy.
BOATMEN'S CHORUS ON THE NILE

i85o

A PENDING EVENT

77

Towards the end of 1850 an event occurred, unim
portant in itself, but of such far-reaching consequences
to Mac Gregor and tens of thousands of his fellow-
creatures, that we shall reserve the next chapter for
the unfolding of our tale concerning it.

OUR CARAVAN

CHAPTER IV
1851
SHOEBLACKS AND SLUMS
On the 28th of November, 1850, some delegates
from Ragged Schools met in the school-room at
Field Lane, under the presidency of Lord Ashley,
to consider by what means employment might be
obtained for ragged boys when the "Great Exhibition
of 1 85 1 " would draw all the world to London.
Mac Gregor was there, and among many others of
his friends present was John R. Fowler, a student at
the Inner Temple, who, when he was an under
graduate at Trinity College, Dublin, had known Mac
Gregor and had visited his father's house at Drum
condra Castle. In 1850, when they were both attend
ing the same church in London, Mac Gregor in
duced Fowler to visit Field Lane School, where he
was then a teacher, and eventually to throw him
self heartily into Ragged School work. A strong
friendship subsisted between these two until death
interrupted it.
Mr. J. R. Fowler has kindly written us some inter
esting notes of the commencement of a remarkable

1851 SHOEBLACKS 79
movement in which the two friends were deeply inter
ested. He says :
It was in the autumn of 1850 that MacGregor and I attended a
meeting of Ragged School Teachers at Field Lane, where the subject
of industrial employment for the ragged boys of London was
discussed, and various simple industries considered, such as wood-
chopping and mat-making. On leaving the meeting we were
accompanied by Robert James Snape and Francis S. Reilly
(afterwards Sir Francis Reilly, K.C.M.G., and now deceased), and all
four arm-in-arm walked up the middle of Holborn Hill on the way
home. They continued the conversation about industries,
and in a pause the suggestion was made: "Why
should not we employ shoeblacks in the streets of
London as they do in Paris and Rotterdam and else
where ? "
All pronounced it to be a capital idea, and a rapid
calculation was made that a box, a set of brushes and
some kind of uniform would cost about 10s. each boy.
All four said they would give ten shillings each and
so start four Field Lane ragged boys.
Soon after when I went to Mac Gregor's chambers to pay my
money he said : ' Oh ! you're not going to get off in that way. We
must have a Society and form a Committee and you shall be the
Treasurer; look here, the thing has grown,' and as he said so he
tossed across the table a letter for me to read. It was very short,
and ran thus :
' Dear Mac Gregor, —
'Good idea, carry it out. I will give you £5.
' Yours sincerely,
' Ashley.'

80 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. iv.
He had evidently at once written to Lord Ashley who promptly
responded with this encouraging note.*
I tried to back out of the responsibility. I was quite a novice in
Christian work, whereas John Mac Gregor even then was on the
Committee of the Ragged School Union where he had an opportunity
of meeting Lord Ashley the President of the Union and Chairman of
the Committee.
Mac Gregor's strong will overbore my reluctance, and not long after
we held a public meeting at which he expounded the project of
selecting the boys from all the Ragged Schools of London on the
recommendation of their teachers, employing them during the day in
the streets at fixed stations, having them overlooked by a paid
superintendent, and in the evening required to attend the night
school from which they were recommended, and live with their
parents or relatives at their own homes. A resolution approving of
the plan was adopted, and a committee was appointed, of which John
MacGregor was Chairman, Robert James Snape was Honorary
Secretary, John R. Fowler, Treasurer, and Lord Ashley, President,
and the Shoeblack Society was launched. It was determined not to
venture into the streets until the spring of 185 1. Meanwhile the
time was employed in completing the organisation, obtaining the
goodwill of the police authorities, training the boys, and, by earnest
prayer, committing the whole matter to the guidance and care of our
Heavenly Father.
We will now take up the narrative from the notes
of John Mac Gregor and other sources. On the 19th
of January, 1851, the Ragged School Shoeblack
Society, being thoroughly organised, gave its first
"demonstration," when a boy with a shoeblack box
showed how the business was to be done. This first
* As a matter of fact, MacGregor rose at five o'clock on the morning after
the meeting, carefully prepared a circular letter, superintended its printing,
and sent out 500 copies by post. Lord Ashley's was the only response.

1831 A SHOEBLACK "DEMONSTRATION" 81
professor of the black art did his work well notwith
standing the fact that he had a bullet in his neck
which he got in a juvenile burglary. General ap
proval having been expressed at the first attempt, a
small army was gathered in an alley off John Street in
the Strand, where they were taught the arts and

mysteries of polishing boots, chiefly on the feet of
committeemen, "who ran out now and then to get a
splash of mud in the street puddles."
The first out-of-door demonstration was made on
3rd of March, 1851, when two boys under the escort
of John Mac Gregor and Mr. Fowler, marched out to
take up their places, one at the corner of the National

82 JOHN MACGREGOR • chap, i v.
Gallery and one in Leicester Square. Says John Mac
Gregor :
A crowd soon followed each of the red coats, and having planted
the first boy .... I placed my foot on the shoeblack's box, and
the people pressed round, and the boy began, and the police came
up, and then the whole arrangement was swept into space — a
complete fiasco !
Mr. Fowler continues :
We spent a great part of the day in standing by the boys and
encouraging them at their posts. It was amusing to watch the
passers by and listen to their remarks upon this new form of
industry. At times groups collected, but it was only a few at first
who had the courage to place their feet upon the box. I had my own
boots blacked many times during the day.
After this the police authorities were approached and gave a general
concurrence — that is to say, they promised not to interfere to send
away a boy from a stand unless valid objections were made by
occupiers of houses in the neighbourhood, or an obstruction was
made on the highway or a disturbance caused. In fact, as far as
they could, they gave their protection and approval to the employment
of the boys in this manner who were superintended and accredited
by the Ragged School Shoeblack Society officers.
By the time the Great Exhibition opened, May ist,
further satisfactory arrangements were made with the
police by whom the "station" of each boy was
assigned, and this amicable co-operation continued
until Sir G. Cornewall Lewis, then Chancellor of the
Exchequer, obtained the insertion of a clause in an
Act of Parliament whereby street shoeblacks were
henceforth to be regarded as functionaries to be
regulated and protected by the police.

1851 "BOBBY" OR "PEELER" 83
Few practical philanthropists ever worked harder
than did John Mac Gregor and his band of helpers on
that memorable 1st of May. The streets were
thronged ; everybody was gaping for novelty : crowds
collected round the boys in their brilliant red uni
forms, and some strong-minded people, who did not
mind being stared at or jeered, ventured to put their
feet on the boxes while a committeeman stood by and
explained the objects of the Society. Not on that
day, or for many succeeding days, was the life of a
shoeblack an enviable one. They were for the most
part boys who had been "picked up out of the gutter,"
used to the loafing habits of mudlarks or street
thieves, and totally unaccustomed to habits of in
dustry, cleanliness, or civility. Moreover, they were
not allowed to blush unseen during the period of their
reformation, but to be brought under the gaze of the
public generally and the police particularly, and there
was no love lost between the " Bobby" or " Peeler"*
and the street Arab. Yet even this was tolerable in
comparison with the jeers and tricks of their quondam
associates, who would throw flour on their black boxes
or otherwise torment them after the manner of their
species. From the first the scheme was a success. The
press referred to it as a notable feature of the day,
Punch made good-natured fun about it, and when one
* It may not be known by some that these names were almost invariably
given to the police in those days, names derived from the founder of their
order — Sir Robert Peel.

84 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. iv.
day MacGregor took thirty of the boys and marched
them in their blazing uniform through the Great
Exhibition, the boys not only had a treat but the
Society obtained a big advertisement.
During the time that the Exhibition was open,
between fifty and sixty boys were employed in this
industry, the old quarters occupied by them at the
start were abandoned, and new ones secured near
Temple Bar, on lease, while an "office" was opened
in a court off the Strand. By-and-by this was out
grown and branches were established in Southwark,
Paddington, Islington, Whitechapel, Westminster, and
elsewhere, and some hundreds of boys were per
manently employed.
The system upon which the organisation was
worked was a very admirable one. When the day's
work was done each boy made off for the " Home,"
deposited his box and uniform, and had a good wash
and brush-up. Then he had to hand in his earnings,
"checked by a system never divulged." To begin
the day he had sixpence down ; the earnings were
divided into three parts, one part went into the boy's
own pocket, one part to the Society's fund for work
ing expenses, and one part to the boy's bank. Fifty
pounds was not an unusual sum as the savings of one
boy, when, with the consent of the committee, he
wished to invest elsewhere.
After accounting for the cash, there was a hearty
meal of tea and coffee, eggs, sausages, bloaters, bread
and treacle — " all the luxuries of the season including,

l85i A GROWING SUCCESS 85
occasionally, periwinkles." Then, the inner man
refreshed, they addressed themselves to "pot-hooks
and hangers," and the other elements of a polite edu
cation, concluding with games, family prayers, and
bed. " In the early years of the Shoeblack movement," says Mr. J. R.
Fowler, "great individual interest in the boys was maintained by the
gentlemen of the committee who attended at the office by rotation
to regulate the details of the system and administer justice to the
boys in the way of rewards and punishments, mark their attendance
at night school,' and advance the steady and intelligent boys into
, higher and better situations. No member of the committee was
more assiduous or more sagacious than John Mac Gregor in attending
to and controlling the management of the Society, and to his genius
as the leader of the movement the success, under the blessing of
God, of the Ragged School Shoeblack Society is mainly attribut
able." Rarely has a happy idea borne better fruit than that
which led to the organisation of the Shoeblack Brigade.
Commenced in such quiet and humble circumstances,
the philanthropic enterprise now extends to the whole
kingdom. Thousands of boys have been trained
under its auspices, but at their own cost, who, but for
its instrumentality, would probably have ' drifted into
the criminal classes. The wise forethought which
prompted the founders of the Society to dispose of the
earnings of the boys into equal proportions has been
the rule to this day. Unlike many societies, which
flourish for a season and then begin gradually to
wither away, this has maintained its robust and
healthy growth, and every year the earnings have

86 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. iv.
steadily increased until in 1892 they reached, merely
for shoe-blacking, the sum of ,£75,800. The present
income of the Brigade in London alone is over ^1000
a month. Nor have the boys benefited only while
remaining members of the various brigades — the
Society has endeavoured to train each one in good
and useful habits, give him a fair amount of education,
and eventually plant him out in some fitting station in
life to make a living for himself. From the founda
tion of the Society to the close of his career Mac
Gregor was its life and soul. It was his hobby, his
pet idea ; he loved it and he loved every member of
the Brigade, rough, uncouth, and almost brutal, as
some of them were in their original state. Perhaps
there is nothing shows this more vividly than the fact
that for many years he left his chambers in the
Temple early in the morning in order to reach the
" Home " in Mac's place before 7 a.m. to conduct the
morning service of the hundred boys stationed there,
and to give them a word of cheery encouragement
before they started at 8 a.m. in their bright red
uniform, and with bright, well-polished faces, on their
day's honest labour. If Mac Gregor had done no
more than that, he would have deserved a place in the
permanent records of the history of philanthropy.
But, as we shall see, he did many other things with
equal zeal, yet for the Shoeblack Society he was
always willing to labour night and day, year in and
year out.
At hundreds of meetings he pleaded the cause, and

1851 BOYS AND BOYS 87
everybody used to delight in hearing him tell stories
of the boys, and more so perhaps to hear him tell
stories to them.
A few illustrations may not be out of place here.
He liked to tell stories of the trade; of the shabby
people who said, " I'll pay you another time," and did
not ; of the customer who gave a sovereign between
two halfpennies without noticing it, and, being
diligently searched for and found by the shoeblack,
simply said " Thank you ! " ; and of the old pensioner
on a wooden leg who gave a halfpenny as payment
for polishing his only boot ! He told of a boy who
was dismissed, but who took his revenge by sending a
letter for " which the postman charged 2d., the only
contents being these words inscribed on his money
card, ' I of the Cumytee sarved out.' " And of another
who used to wash his shirt at the hot-water pipe of a
brewery and carry it to a lime-kiln to dry! This
ragged boy became a shoeblack chiefly on the ground,
" That he couldn't abide dirt."
Mac Gregor was delighted to watch the progress of
each individual boy, and especially of those who were
marking out a higher career for themselves. On wet
evenings the boys read aloud at the Society's rooms.
Once, in order to excite interest, the 9th chapter of
Joshua was chosen for reading, in which it is told how
the men of Gibeon approached the Israelites with
stratagem, wearing "old shoes and clouted upon their
feet," When a boy, who was "doing well" came to
the verse where the Gibeonites say craftily, "We be

88 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. iv.
come from a far country," the shoeblack, with a lofty
air, gave this delightful bit of criticism, " I suppose
they said 'we be come,' to make believe they were
country folk."
Of course as the Society was successful it had many
imitators, apart from the "Freebooters," as those who
"worked on an independent footing" were called;
separate societies took up the venture, among them
the Society of St. Vincent de Paul for Roman Catholic
boys. Their official badge " S. V. P." was perplexing
to the elder order of shoeblacks, who interpreted it as
meaning " Shoes Veil Polished."
When complaints were made that the scarlet
uniform was too glaring and conspicuous insomuch
that bulls on their way to Smithfield madly made for
it, Mac Gregor replied : " The uniform has survived
the sneers of early objectors and will blush only
deeper as they smile upon its ruddy glare. What !
shall we abandon the very symbol that has given us
the golden surplus ? the coat that braved a thousand
boots, the bottle, and the brush ! "
Speaking in after-years of the scheme generally,
he was wont to say that "it had been the means of
polishing the understandings of a generation of
cockneys." He even saw a good moral in the act of
having one's boots cleaned, for he said : "Not one of
the customers who is not a better Christian as he
walks off, cooled and rested, and proudly self-
conscious of respectability and a right footing in the
world."

l85i STUDIES IN BOY-LIFE 89
From the first, a summer treat was given annually
to the shoeblacks, and when they went to Heme Bay
the simple rules which were to govern their conduct
on this great day of freedom, were : " (1) That no boy
may spend more than 2s. 6d. on donkey-riding, and
(2) that not more than four boys may be on the same
donkey at the same time."
Perhaps nothing shows more clearly the genius of
Mac Gregor as a student of boy-life, or exhibits his
hearty and manly sympathy with his protdgds — and at
the same time the privilege, rather than duty, it is for
every one to do his best to raise the fallen, to care for
the homeless, to see God's blessed image even in the
most outcast and forsaken, than in a brief " Parlia
mentary Bill," from which we make a few extracts
here in the hope that they may inspire those who read
to follow up his work as it inspired many who heard
"the Bill read for the first time."
At the annual session of the shoeblacks at St.
Martin's, the Hon. Member for the Slums, Rob Roy,
brought the Shoeblack's Reform Bill into "the
House." It ran somewhat on this wise ;
Whereas it is desirable that the shoeblacks and their societies and
the public be made a great deal better than they are ; Therefore be
it enacted, with the consent of the boys and the red, yellow, blue,
brown, purple, white, green and Union Jack societies, their teachers,
masters, matrons, superintendents and the public : —
I. The said public who care for their own sons, with clean collars
and watch chains, shall care also for the boys in dirty rags, with
hunger in their stomachs, tears in their eyqs and no homes.

90 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. iv.
And the said public shall try to help the societies that help these
boys. And the said public shall go to where the boys live and see how
poor and dark and crowded the houses are and try to get light and
air and water supplied.
And the public shall get good situations for the boys recommended
by the society and help some to emigrate.
And the very same public shall also care for the black in Africa
and the pig-tailed Chinaman and the bigoted Hindoo.
And the said public shall talk and think not only about balls,
parties, dinners, politics .... tittle-tattle or fiddle-faddle — but also
about the good of their fellow creatures.
And the public shall buy all their doormats at the Grotto Passage
School and their printing at the London Reformatory and their
baskets at the Cripples' Home.
II. And, regarding the Shoeblack Societies, be it enacted that
they shall get good active gentlemen on their committee, not idle
men, but those " perfectly overwhelmed with business '' who always
work the best. [And so on through several clauses.]
III. And with regard to the Shoeblacks themselves, be it enacted
that all of them shall be very good boys ; and if they are ever bad
boys, and get punished, suspended, fined, or degraded, they shall
not get into the sulks, pets, or doldrums 
And they shall be steady at their stations, and not run away to
look at the clock, or to see Punch, or the wise dogs, or white mice,
or the hare that fires a pistol ; nor shall any boy when at his station
stand on his head for more than ten minutes at a time.
And they shall not spend much money in cakes, toffy, brandy-
balls or any lollipops ; and if they do spend they shall faithfully tell
how much when they pay in at night. And for this they shall come
home at the fixed time 
And that each boy may sleep sound at night he shall be honest
with his pennies during the day, lest they trouble his conscience or
make it hard to trouble 

l85* WAIFS AND STRAYS

91

And lastly be it enacted, that the charge shall be one penny to
every customer with two legs except the three following, whose boots
are to be always polished gratis, namely, Mr. Judge Payne * who
gives poetry, Mr. Alderman Finnis who gives plum pudding, and the
Earl of Shaftesbury who has always given patronage.
Success to the Shoeblacks. God save the Queen !
Printed by order of the Wellington Statue,t Royal Exchange.
February 8th, 1859.
In this rapid sketch, although we have dealt
mainly with the earlier history of the Shoeblack
Society, we wish in this place to include the chief
part of what we have to say with regard to Mac
Gregor 's activities on behalf of the Ragged Schools,
of which the Shoeblack Brigade was an off-shoot.
His ambition was to obtain honest, legitimate employ
ment for all the waifs and strays of London, and we
will take a glance at some of his schemes, noting, by
the way, that in most of them he was much indebted
to his old and well-tried friend, Mr. Martin Ware, for
many years secretary of the Central Shoeblack Brigade,
and one of Mac Gregor's staunchest co-workers.
A drizzling rain till noon, and brilliant sunshine till
dark — that is the weather that turns mud into gold
for the shoeblack. In November 1851, when bad
weather set in and lowered the receipts — as on
thoroughly wet days in London people put up with

* Judge Payne was a high-souled philanthropic curiosity and a delightful
man, who in his day delivered thousands of humorous speeches at Ragged
School and kindred meetings, and who always concluded with what he called
a " tail-piece " — an impromptu set of verses more or less poetical.
t Wellington Statue was the chief station of the shoeblacks.

92 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. iv.
the inconvenience of bespattered boots — the boys
were drafted into Regent Street and Bond Street to
act as "broomers," or sweepers, tradesmen subscrib
ing 6d. a week for the advantage of having the flags
in front of their shops kept perfectly clean. But it
was soon found that this employment was not any
thing like so remunerative as shoeblacking, and the
experiment was not again tried.
Then a staff of boys was employed as "messengers,''
each being required to have at least £3 to his credit
in the "bank" — the amount to which the Society was
responsible in the event of the loss of a letter or
parcel. But even this was not found to be so re
munerative as "Clean your boots, sir?" and was dis
continued. Nevertheless it was the precursor of the
admirable corps of Commissionaires, and to the still
more recent experiment of "call-boys," and "Express
Messengers." It stands to the credit of John Mac
Gregor that, forty years before the present movement,
he had placed placards in prominent localities bearing
this notice :
A messenger here to carry parcels and messages at 2d. for the
first, and id. for every additional half-mile. The Ragged School
Shoeblack Society is responsible for any booked parcel to the amount
of £z. 1 Off-Alley, Strand.
When his hands were as full of work as they well
could be, his mind was constantly on the stretch for
developing new modes of employing the poor in work
that should not make dishonesty a necessity. Perhaps

1851 NEW SCHEMES

93

the Salvation Army may like to take up an idea
thrown out by Mac Gregor in 1852.
Steppers. A little girl in a neat frock and a straw bonnet could
carry a pail of water to the doorstep of a gentleman's house, and
having washed the flagstone, she might whiten it with pipeclay. A
penny would repay her, and she could earn at least sixpence in this
employment every morning before breakfast.
Who will start her?
He had in his mind at this time a knife and window
brigade, a brigade of newspaper boys to be stationed
at the railway stations, and many other philanthropic
designs which have since been developed into success
ful commercial transactions, but without the inner
meaning which he would have incorporated into them
if time and opportunity had allowed.
All these schemes were in connection with Ragged
School work, to which he remained devotedly attached
although the department occupied by the shoeblacks
claimed his special attention. Every Sunday he was
in his place among the ragged boys to whom he
seemed to have the special "knack'' of speaking so
that their attention was arrested, and their behaviour,
as a rule, was good.
One very important part in Mac Gregor's work was
the introduction of visitors to see the schools. Among
them was that strange, meteoric, mysterious being
whose after-life puts into the shade the stories of
Munchausen and the brothers Grimm — Laurence
Oliphant. He was taken first to Field Lane Ragged

94 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. iv.
School where Mac Gregor held his usual class,' and
subsequently to a school in Westminster for ragged
adults. Oliphant gives an animated description of his expe
riences when he made an expedition to this school in
company with Lady Troubridge and a missionary, and
we give the following extract as it shows graphically
the class of people the teachers of that day had to deal
with, the difficulties by which they were surrounded,
and, in addition, a curious phase in the life and
character of Laurence Oliphant who remained, despite
his eccentricities and his divergence from all the
recognised lines of religious thought and action, a
friend of John Mac Gregor.
"Not altogether pleasant, addressing a group of
thieves in old Pye Street," says Laurence Oliphant.
" Lady Troubridge seemed to think it quite natural, so
I could not help myself, and insinuated to the least
brutal-looking of them that a meeting was going to be
held in the next street which they might find interest
ing, upon which he laughed and asked ' Jim ' if he
heard that ; upon which Jim said that he did, and that
he had other meetings to attend rather more to his
taste than that, he'd be sworn to, ' not reflecting no
ways on you, sir.' Whereupon, after a little chaffing
among themselves, they decided it wasn't the sort of
thing that would suit them, ' No offence to you, ye
know, sir ; ' and one man did me the honour to say
that he'd no doubt I meant well. So I went un
successfully to the meeting, where I found congregated

'851 LAURENCE OLIPHANT

95

fifty or sixty fellows who had come in from curiosity,
none of whom, to all appearance, had ever been in a
church in their lives, and who either stared vacantly
or chaffed and made jokes, while here and there a
little sparring-match went on." On another occasion,
when in the company of Mac Gregor, he says :
" Some boys began to fight and had to be lugged out
by their legs and arms, creating a great sensation.
Some of the men seemed attentive, however, while
others made jokes, and the boys who had been turned
out, began throwing stones against the windows, so
that by the time we got to the next hymn there was a
considerable row, which increased as we began it, as
everybody began to sing at the top of their voices a
variety of airs, amid occasional bursts of laughter.
When service was over, some promised to come back,
while others went away amused ; but all through there
was no absolute incivility shown, which, considering
the men, was a great deal to say."
When Oliphant came periodically to London to
"eat his terms," and later, when he was shaping his
destiny, he always associated himself with Mac
Gregor's work and with "the black-guards" his
protege's in Westminister, and in his letters such
passages as the following are of frequent occurrence ;
" On Monday I have to deliver a lecture, to what is
anticipated to be a crowded audience, upon reformatory
institutions ; on Tuesday to make a speech at a public
meeting for the Belgravian Ragged Schools ; on
Wednesday to a large soiree to meet the swells who

96 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. iv.
take an interest in these things. Last Sunday I gave
an address to my black-guards at Westminster."
Years afterwards, when engaged in diplomatic
service in America, his mind went back to the old
days, never to return, and he wrote : "In my present
capacity I am not engaged in any work of benevolence
or charity by which I could, as it were, support myself,
and though, no doubt, by my example I might glorify
God, it is a much more difficult matter to do so in a
ball-room at the French Ambassador's, surrounded by
as unthinking a throng as ever tripped the light
fantastic, than down in Westminster surrounded by
"MacGregor, Fowler & Co."
We shall come in contact again with Laurence
Oliphant in the course of this work and find him, in
his fantastic flights, often crossing the path of his
friend Mac Gregor.

CHAPTER V
1851 — 1853
IN FULL CRY
A few notes from the diary of John Mac Gregor
will help us to follow his movements in other paths
than those we have already indicated. He returned
to London, after his long tour in the East, in the
spring of 1850. In the summer of that year he
wrote :
June 29. — To Cambridge.
June 30. — Went to Carus's church and to the school. One boy
only remembered me there.
July 1. — Incepted as M.A.
July 2. — Created Master of Arts.
1851. Jan. 31. — Called to the Bar.
March 1. — Got my first brief.
March 8. — Another law case, No. 2, from Jones.
March 18. — Slept first time in my new rooms.
These entries look like business, but interspersed
among them are others which show that his mind was
occupied with many things foreign to a life of study
and legal work. Thus :
July 27. — To Banningham, to see Bickersteth. Visited several
G

98 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. v.
families and sick and dying. Taught in his Sunday School. He
preaches well — is very happy.
July 28. — Sunday. His son Edward* was baptised, and I
was one godfather to him. Miss C. Bickersteth being godmother.
Oct. 11.— Dined with Nolan, Dr. McNeile and Dr. Cumming.
Dr. M. apprehended secret Bulls of Rome, advising conspiracies
&c, and Dr. C. thinks we are in the seventh vial of Revelation !
Nov. 15. — Subject for Norrisian essay, 'The traces discernible
in Holy Scripture of the influence exerted on the character of
the Hebrews by their residence in Egypt,' to be sent to Whewell
before the tenth day preceding the Sunday in Passion Week of '
1851. Nov. 23. — Called on Mr. Hamilton and was appointed Honorary
Secretary of the Protestant Defence Committee.
This last brief entry stands for a great deal. In the
previous month a Papal Bull had been published
abolishing the Administration of Roman Catholics in
England by vicars apostolic and appointing instead
two archbishops and twelve bishops with territorial
districts. Dr. Wiseman was raised to the dignity of
a cardinal and was appointed the first Archbishop of
Westminster. He forthwith issued a pastoral, dating
it, " From out of the Flaminian Gate at Rome," and
this notorious letter, full of arrogant assumption,
ignored the Church of England, and spoke as though
England had been restored to the Roman Communion
and would henceforth be ecclesiastically governed by
the new hierarchy.
The Maynooth grant of 1845, tne rise and spread of
Puseyism and the Oxford movement, the secession of
* The present Bishop of Japan.

!85i "NO POPERY!"

99

notable men to the Church of Rome, had all tended to
stir up very strong feelings in the breasts of true Pro
testants, but the Papal Bull and the cardinal's letter
created a sensation and an activity such as had never
been known before and certainly will never be known
again. The story of the Papal Aggression, as it was
called, and the " No Popery" agitation, are matters of
history and need not be even summarised here. But
the attitude of Mac Gregor to the question and the
important part he took in the controversy demand
our careful attention, Many names stand out more
prominently in the history of that controversy than
his, but it is questionable whether any one exercised a
more practical or abiding influence.
He was just the man for the work. As the reader
will have guessed long ago, he was a very low
Churchman — in fact, he would not have blushed had
any one even called him a Nonconformist — he was a
man of brilliant education, of ready if not fluent speech,
of considerable social distinction, and he could wield
his facile pen with marvellous energy and rapidity.
He had watched with keen eyes every phase of the
Oxford movement and he wrote :
The Greeks after ten years unsuccessful war with the Trojans
pretended to raise the siege in despair, but in fact only retired to a
near island and left a concealed garrison in the house within the
walls. Thus the Tractarians are left in the church to work and
prepare for the open attack of the enemy.
When that open attack came in the form of the

ioo JOHN MACGREGOR chap. v.
notorious Papal Bull, Mac Gregor accepted the duties
of Honorary Secretary of the Protestant Defence
Committee, which at once placed him at the very
heart of the controversy. From this date the daily
entries in the diary are : "Attended committee meet
ing, P. D. C," until December 5th is reached when
he adds: "From this day to December 14th the
committee business was almost my sole occupation."
But the Protestant Defence Committee concerned
itself mainly with the political aspect of the con
troversy and eagerly promoted the issue of protests,
the suppression of Romish innovations in the Church
of England and especially the advancement of the
Ecclesiastical Titles Bill. Mac Gregor's heartiest
sympathies were on the spiritual side of the question,
how it affected the faith of the people rather than how
it affected the State, and it seemed to him that what
was wanted was, not so much to fight Roman Catholic
ism as to stir up in the hearts of the people of
England the spirit of true Protestantism.
We are not surprised to find therefore that when, in
June 1 85 1, a great meeting was held to form an
association which should combine all classes of Protes
tants, whose object should be not merely to oppose
the recent aggression of the Pope, but to maintain and
defend, against all the encroachments of Popery, the
scriptural doctrines of the Reformation and the prin
ciples of religious liberty as the best security for
the temporal and spiritual welfare and prosperity
of the kingdom, Mac Gregor was not only present

1851 THE PROTESTANT ALLIANCE 101
but he accepted the arduous office of Honorary
Secretary of the new society, to be called the
Protestant Alliance. The record in his diary of
this great event which was to occupy an enor
mous amount of his time for the next twenty years
is simply this :
June 25. — Protestant Alliance — great meeting.
To his sister, to whom he opened his heart perhaps
more than to any other being at this time, he wrote :
A great meeting has been called at Manchester at which I must
make my appearance, for it is solely on my account, and of course
a speech is inevitable. You see we have yesterday finally established
the new society to be called (I think) the Protestant Alliance. The
last member whose name was put down was Goode (who wrote that
excellent book ' The Better Covenant '). We shall have 3000
members to start with, of all denominations.
It was stated to have been discovered that there
was an enormous conspiracy, ramified over the whole
of Europe, to rob the English people of their* Bible,
their liberty, and all that was dear to them as Chris
tians. The principal objects of the Alliance were to
establish union among Evangelical Protestants, and
to direct their combined efforts yigorously against
Popery — to arouse, enlighten, and organise the Pro
testants of Great Britain "to resist the machinations
of Rome in this country and to act with influence in
securing religious liberty abroad," and this was to be
done by sermons, lectures, public meetings, and abun
dance of literature. In the first year or two of their

102 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. v.
history the Alliance took up such matters as the
repeal of the Maynooth endowment, the inspection
of nunneries, the appointment of "Popish" chaplains
to prisons, the proposed alteration of oaths for
Members of Parliament, the erection of a martyr's
memorial at Smithfield, and a host of other questions
at home; while abroad they determined to stand by
and succour persecuted Protestants everywhere and
anywhere. :One particular instance, known as the case of the
Madiai, occurred at the outset of the existence of the
Protestant Alliance and caused a sensation in religious
circles to which we in these colder and less enthusi
astic days are strangers. Two Tuscan shopkeepers,
Francesco and Rosa Madiai, were brought under the
influence of Protestant teachers and, as a consequence,
renounced the errors of Rome. For the " offence " of
reading the Scriptures and repeating to their neigh
bours what they had heard and seen, the Grand Duke
of Tuscany condemned them to five years imprison
ment with hard labour in the galleys. All Protestant
Europe was up in arms — petitions were sent to Queen
and Parliament ; the Prince Consort sent a personal
appeal to the Grand Duke, a deputation headed by
Lord Roden was sent to Italy to remonstrate with the
Grand Duke ; eventually the British Government
interfered and the Grand Duke, unable to withstand
the storm his tyranny had provoked, set the prisoners
free. Referring to the agitation in a letter to his sister

l853 CASE OF THE MADIAI 103
Mac Gregor says : " It is a glorious symptom of the
unity of the Church of Christ to see that when the
humblest members suffer —all others feel in sympathy.
.... I feel indeed as if a country must be blest in
which such communion exists, even though it be mixed
with much that is worldly."
From the same source we find that within a short
time after the establishment of the Protestant
Alliance he was so immersed in its work that from
morning to night he was engaged exclusively in
promoting its interests. He says :
Within the last few days these events have occurred : First, we,
have appointed a first-rate man as travelling secretary at ,£300 per
annum and travelling expenses to go over all the alliances and
lecture, and put in the poker. Secondly, Miss Portal sent us £100
additional donation this morning. Thirdly, Our Monthly Letter, of
which I send a copy, has a circulation of 1500 a month. Fourthly,
I saw Chambers the other day who is arming himself for another
campaign against convents. The Maynooth inquiry is proceeding,
and in to-day's Times I see that it is a very searching one. Hope
fully may it end ! Fifthly, I finished last night a memorial to Lord
Palmerston about the appointment of Popish chaplains to gaols.
Sixthly, I am to breakfast on Monday with twenty-five Protestant
secretaries and to concert measures. Seventhly, On the same day we
are to go to Lord Clarendon to bother him concerning the liberties
of English Protestants resident abroad This will be a rarity in my
work, for as I only run across the court to Hindmarsh's, and do not
leave him until nearly six o'clock I am never now in the streets
unless in the dark.
On the first General Committee of the Alliance
there was enrolled almost every Evangelical of note in

104

JOHN MACGREGOR

CHAP. V.

town and country, and Mac Gregor, to his great delight,
was brought in contact with them all. Within a year
or two branch alliances were established throughout
the length and breadth of the land.
So rapidly did the idea take hold that in 1853 it

tf J'i^Z£^<^<^/ J9i~<-, ¥&esf J-£eZfc

Z3<?.£. fa 9«^v £%/¦ f,
REDUCED FACSIMILE OF PART OF THE MONTHLY LETTER

was found necessary to establish monthly communica
tion, not only with every branch, but with every
individual member of each branch, and the first
Monthly Letter dated January ist, 1853, lithographed
from the handwriting of Mac Gregor, is in the

1853 AN EIGHT MONTH'S DISCUSSION 105
possession of the present writer. It is a full, yet crisp
and terse account of the doings and purposes of the
Alliance, and it was so well received, and so vastly
aided the spread of the work, that the letters were
continued not only so long as he was secretary of
the Alliance, but to the present day. The first
twenty-five Monthly Letters were lithographed from
the handwriting of Mac Gregor — many of them being
ornamented by him with excellent pen-and-ink draw
ings. No. 26, issued on February the 1st, 1855, was
the first Monthly Letter sent out in print.
No better man could have been found for the
arduous and responsible post of secretary to the
Alliance. His early life and training in Ireland, and
his travels, to be extended as the years went on,
brought him in contact with the Romish system and
added to his experience. When he spoke, he spoke
with authority, for when the Madiai excitement was at
its height he went over to Tuscany to make personal
inquiries. He was in Spain when the feeling against
Protestantism was so strong that travellers were not
allowed to carry Spanish Testaments with them. He
held a public discussion at King's Cross every
Sunday afternoon for eight months on Roman
Catholic Bibles, when he went thoroughly into
the differences among Roman Catholics as to the
various English editions of the Testaments and Bibles.
He made the assertion that " There is no English
edition of the Bible or Testament which the Roman
Catholics approve as a Church, but they allow some

106 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. v.
seven or eight to be largely circulated and about
twelve others, each of them greatly differing from
one another." He was wont to produce many of
these, some printed in Dublin, England, and America,
certified by bishops, archbishops, and great authorities
of the Roman Church, yet all differing materially.
It would be impossible to reproduce here even a
tithe of what he wrote and said about Popery, but one
or two specimens of his style may be briefly indicated.
" Popery in a.d. 1900" was the title of a pamphlet
written by him in the interests of the Protestant
Alliance. It had a large circulation and was much
appreciated at the time, but it is now out of date. It
is a supposed " Looking Back," from the Romanist
standpoint on the progress of Romanism from the
year 1870 to the close of the century. It reviewed
the Oxford movement, the Maynooth question, the
appointment of bishops "to rule over all baptised
persons in this rebellious land," and the Papal Aggres
sion — " which greatly alarmed the heretics of England
although nothing more came of all the bluster but a
paltry Act, long since repealed and hardly worth
mentioning " — followed by the rise of " that vile con
glomeration of our enemies, the Protestant Alliance, a
mixture of all kinds and shades of bigotry, a sort of
' Evangelical Haggis,' as the Scotch would call it,
with peers and M.P.'s to give it substance, as the
standing paste of the Anglican Church, with the
forced meat of Wesley, and spiced for raciness with
Baptists and Independents."

1853 "POPERY IN A.D. 1900" 107
Then the progress of Popery is traced in imagina
tion until the Tablet becomes the organ of England
instead of the Times; the " rampant braying " of the
Record is suppressed by Act of Parliament ; Ragged
Schools and the lay teaching of religion are put
down ; fasting is made a part of professional discipline
in the army and navy ; the Bible is only issued in
Latin ; Sunday files for the people are organised ; and
the pamphlet concludes thus : " O Bowyer, Lucas,
and Wiseman, would that your righteous shades could
see our triumph — the flowering of your hopes, and the
fruit of your toils ! England no longer a comet
plunging in darkness, but nearer to the sun than
Mercury, and revolving in its orbit round the see
of Rome."
In all his writings and utterances on Roman
Catholicism it was with the system, not with indi
viduals, that Mac Gregor' s contentions lay. After
a visit to the East, where he had been brought into
contact with the "scandalous impostures" in the holy
places of Palestine, he wrote a word of warning to
his countrymen in these terms :
Do we really know what Popery has been of old, and will be
here and soon, and always — if dominant ? To the future England —
the England that as yet is free — could you or I be true Papists, and
yet be loyal ? Never ! It may be called ' indiscretion ' to speak
thus ; but I have seen too much abroad to be ignorant, and I fear
too little and too much to be silent. For money, free trade, rail
ways, anything you please that is earthly, you may hold meetings,
write books, fight battles, make any din you like, and be ' earnest '
and speak plain. But for the free Bible — the right to tell what

108 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. v.
Popery was, is, and wants to be — you must hush to a whisper any
voice you have. We must be 'charitable' — yea, and for whom
our charity? Not for our women, our children, our herds of
ignorant and weak, who are beguiled — but for the army of foreign
priests who stream over the land and raise an alien name above our
Queen. To any individual finding difficulty as to what
his relations to the Church of Rome should be, the
style of Mac Gregor was altogether different, as the
following letter written to one who was thinking of
joining that communion will show : —
Our friend Ussher tells me you would not object to receive a letter
from me and I venture to hope its frankness will not offend you. I
think that when we believe Our Lord came to seek and to save
lost sinners, His words spoken to sinners like ourselves will be found
the very best and only certain truth on this subject. What he said to
multitudes of common men and women, and what His Apostles
wrote to multitudes by His command are no doubt for the whole
world to hear. All Christian Churches agree to this, I think, and
when we examine Christ's words we find them directed chiefly to
bring each sinner as an individual to the Saviour, each being
responsible for himself. Though men are not to be saved in
'bundles,' but individually, we find them encouraged to band
together for mutual edification and comfort, and before the Apostles
died, there were many groups of this sort, each of which was called a
' church.' Antioch and Jerusalem were the first of these Churches,
in point of time ; Ephesus, Corinth, Rome, and other cities had
their churches too. Soon one church claimed to be chief among
these, and another opposed this claim and has always done so.
Now the question is, Has any one church a right to such a
claim, and, if so, Has the Roman Church that right ? and, if so, To
what does this right extend? Though many churches existed in the
Apostles' time, and many hard questions were debated among them,

1853 THE ROMAN CHURCH 109
I find only one occasion when one church was appealed to in
settling a point of controversy. (Acts xv.) This was not the church
at Rome, but at Jerusalem.
Precedent then is quite against the Romish Church being a judge
of controversy for the world. However, as that church sets up this
claim we must examine it again. Of course we are not to yield such
a claim without being convinced. No Romanist ought to try to get
our consent unless our judgment is persuaded by true arguments ;
else his adhesion and that of all his fellow churchmen may be
pronounced unreal, and against their own convictions, and only
because of force or fear, or that they were taught one way, or born
among Romanists. Well then, I find no one word in the Bible to
sa)- that the church at Rome is supreme — none by the earliest
Christians, but protests from the first against this claim, and millions
in the Greek church (older than the Roman), and all Protestant
churches, who never allowed such a claim at all. The claim therefore
isjjot scriptural, or of early Christian times, or generally allowed, far
less is it self-evident.
It must therefore be rigidly proved.
Now I look at the doctrine of the Romish church and find it
has changed from age to age, and is different in every country and
almost in every diocese. St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans tells
what was the true doctrine then. The Pope's last letter to his
church is as different from this as possible. No wonder that the
Romish church sees this difference, and while it publishes the
Pope's letter, as if it could be plainly understood by all, refuses to
publish Paul's letters, or Peter's letters, and forces meanings on
them when it cannot prevent them from being read.
In Paul's, and Peter's and John's letters, I find that the churches
of early times were often stated to be utterly wrong, to be much
disunited, and often needed change. The Pope says his church is
always right, always one and always the same — better than Christ's.
In the Apostles' letters I find not one word about the Virgin Mary.
The Pope's letters are crammed with talk about her. The Ency
clical just issued in its last twenty lines implores her intercession as
'our Mediatrix,' and the prayers of Apostles and Saints, but

no JOHN MACGREGOR chap. v.
entirely omits all mention whatever of Jesus Christ. The Bible
says that there is only ' one mediator between God and man ' — the
Pope calls a woman ' our Mediatrix.'
In the creed of the Church of Rome, which is only just 300
years old, I find first the Nicene creed, which once the church of
Rome had as enough, and which for 1500 years has been enough
for other Christians. But added to this (only three centuries ago)
she inserts twelve more articles necessary to salvation not one of
which can I see in the Bible or in the early church — not one of
these clears up a difficulty or gives new light or comfort, but all go
to build up a vast scheme by which priests get power over men
here, and claim to have power over them in another world. Where
did Christ or Peter or Paul tell us to reverence images, or obey the
Roman Church, or get indulgences, or pray to saints, or fear purgatory,
or pray in a foreign tongue ?
How then do so many join this Roman Church ? Some because
she promises salvation — some because she asserts antiquity — some
because she assumes grandeur — some because she gives music to the
ear and colour to please the eye and mystery to dazzle the brain.
But chiefly men join Rome because she is a visible body seen by
eyes, and heard by ears, and touched by hands ; whereas Christ
is not so seen or heard or handled, except by the eye, ear, and hand
of faith given by God. So it is the want of faith and the wish to
walk by sight, which makes the visible guide of Rome more welcome
than the unseen but real and true guide, the Son of God. My dear
friend, there are men who, to advance their church, will first puzzle
you with questions and then terrify you with fears and so get you
not to listen to Jesus who died for you and me, sinners, and who
says to each sinner, ' Come unto me.'
Before yielding to such teachers ask them to put down in writing,
or distinctly refer to some book, for the true reasons why you should
hear a Church and not a Saviour and I undertake, God helping me,
to give such an answer to every reason as will, if candidly read and
considered, be thoroughly satisfactory in preventing you from being
misled. May God by His Holy Spirit guide you into truth and
keep you firm in the faith of the Lord Jesus.

1852 LAWYERS' PRAYER UNION in
We have seen that almost immediately after John
Mac Gregor was called to the Bar, he was called to
this work of Protestantism, which so largely occupied
his time that he had little opportunity of making pro
gress in his profession. He had a great regard for
that profession, however, and he was revolving in his
mind many schemes by which he hoped to make his
mark in it, but it invariably happened that just at the
moment when he fancied the right time had come,
other, and as he thought better, things came in
his way. Among his most intimate friends were
many young barristers, and being like-minded to
himself he enlisted their services in various kinds of
religious and philanthropic work. He also sought to
do some good to the profession at large and to this
end on the 9th of February, 1852, he gathered
together a number of friends, and started the
Lawyers' Prayer Union, an association of those mem
bers of the legal profession who desired to unite their
private prayers for the Divine Blessing upon all
connected with the profession, and upon themselves
individually, and who would agree to do this at
stated times.
Similar prayer unions had already been established
among members of the army, the navy, and each of
the universities, and in all cases it had been found of
spiritual benefit to concentrate prayer on the circum
stances of each calling, and " men of prayer, otherwise
unknown to one another, had derived mutual benefit
from association for such objects, and had thus been

112 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. v.
led to combine together for other holy purposes."
The subjects for special prayer suggested to the
members of the Lawyers' Prayer Union, were : The
Queen and "all that are in authority," the Chancellor,
Legislature and Government, and all persons in
judicial authority. For "right judgments and true
laws, good statutes and commandments."
Everything was done quietly and privately. There
was no flourish of trumpets. A few like-minded men
joined together and determined to ask only those who
they knew would sympathise with the object they had
in view, and not bring it into ridicule or contempt.
These again asked their friends, and thus from all
parts of the country there came requests to be enrolled
as members. All commnuications were marked
" private," so that no cause of offence should be given
to those into whose hands the circulars and papers
might inadvertently fall. That the institution answered
the end for which it was established ; that it brought
men into contact giving strength to the weak and
courage to the timid, there is ample known evidence,
that it supplied what was felt by many to be a
spiritual need is shown in the circumstance that the
Lawyers' Prayer Union exists to-day and is worked
on the identical lines laid down by John Mac Gregor
in 1852.
As this chapter is dealing mainly with religious
subjects, it may be well in this place to refer to a
common popular sneer often levelled at men engaged

l853 PERSONAL RELIGION 113
in public religious work, namely, that it is, as a
rule, at the expense of any such aid to their own
household or kindred. In the case of John Mac
Gregor, a more libellous statement could not have
been made. His own spiritual life was intense, and in
his earnestness he never left a stone unturned to help
any one struggling after the higher life. About the
time of which we now write his beloved sister
Elizabeth — who in 1 863 married Major Robert Wilmot
Brooke,* of the 60th Rifles, and died in 1883— was in
much perplexity of mind as to her spiritual state, and
she found in him a wonderful counsellor and minister.
Many letters passed between them, and some of those
written by Mac Gregor lie before us. Several are too
sacred to set before the public eye ; some are couched
in language so dogmatic and theological that they
would puzzle the general reader ; others are so old and
wise that it seems almost impossible they could come
from a young man full of life and energy, rising higher
and higher on the tide of popular favour ; but all are so
brimful of hearty affection, of burning desire that the
happiness and rest of soul he himself enjoyed should
be shared by one very dear to him, that we venture to
give a few extracts :
It is not at all uncommon to feel the surprise you express at man's
refusing salvation when it is simply the result of believing that
salvation is already accomplished. You ask why then do not all
.accept it ? Surely the Bible gives a plain answer : our corrupt
* Now Lt.-Colonel Wilmot Brooke.

1 14 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. v.
hearts, the devil, and our sinful desires all conspire against believing
this simple truth. But especially ask yourself why should you be
astonished at few receiving this free gift if you have long refused it,
or have resisted the conclusion that it is and has been within your
grasp for twelve or fourteen years  Remember then that
simple faith is all that is necessary to salvation, everything after
it is only an evidence of its presence and its growth.
I hope you feel what an extremely interesting thing it is to watch
a heart ; quickly discerning the first assaults of Satan and summing
up at night all the thoughts and actions of the day  It is a
good plan to put down a list of things to pray for every day besides
casual necessities. If you can get a walk by yourself, no time is
better for such prayer ; but remember that the real spiritual struggling
is to be on the knees in the quiet of your room  Such
petitions as the following are useful for daily meditation : — greater
earnestness in prayer, and faith that it will be answered in good time
— remembrance of God all day, even when suddenly tempted — to be
made somehow useful that day — spirituality, and cheerful holy joy
and peace — energy in worldly occupations and duties. Then be
sure every day to pray for papa in this crisis — mamma so bound up
in love to us all — for me and Duncan, Douglas and Harry by name.
Now dearest Elizabeth, try to do all this to-day and then feel how
enlarged you will be to pray for yourself after entreaty for others.
*****
If you walk in the morning at seven o'clock, and are praying for
me, think that I am then also praying for you and that some happy
thoughts are sent to each of us from the prayers of the other.
*****
How universal the same difficulty appears concerning faith. I
should recommend you to ask yourself some leading conscience
questions : Are you not waiting to be converted whilst you ought at
once to receive the mercy God is offering ? Are you not slightly
relying on your repentance, prayers, or amount of faith as likely to
bring about the state you desire rather than feeling it is already yours

1853 LETTERS TO HIS SISTER 115
if you will but stretch out your hand ? You mourn over sin and yet
do not seem to really believe this truth that it is already washed
away simply if you believe that it is so. It is not faith which saves.
It is Christ through faith. There is ever a lurking dislike to be
indebted to another for such a great boon. This keeps many a
sinner from accepting what is freely given. Whose fault is it if you
are not on the rock ? Why should you not be firmly there to-night ?
*****
The fear of being thought to set up for holier than you really are
is a favourite snare of the tempter. By this the Devil keeps you
from speaking for God, reproving sin, combating wrong opinions,
showing your colours and fighting boldly. He says, ' you should not
speak for you are just as bad yourself.' Now are we to wait until
we don't sin before we try to spread God's Kingdom? If so we
should not reprove a single man on earth.

The last letter in this special correspondence runs as
follows :
My dearest Elizabeth, —
I can't be disappointed when I come back. I'll tell you
what I expect to find. A sister who has felt the sand shaking on
which we all naturally build our hopes for eternity, God's mercy,
our works, all our prayers, all our faith — and has fled to the Rock.
I can only expect to find a help to me in our common preparation
for Heaven. I am really longing to get home and more than half
the anticipation is for you. What nice rides we may have together
and walks and talks ! Often when I have walked with you I have
yearned to hear some faint whispers of spiritual life and have
abstained, too much perhaps, from speaking on godly subjects from
the fear of appearing to force them, or of engendering hypocrisy.
But I confess I am myself much changed since I came here. I see
more than ever that all our business here is to get to Heaven and
bring others there, and nothing bearing on these things should be left
undone if possible. With greater grace I have far greater peace and

116 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. v.
happiness. I hope that you still pray for me j I do for you by name
twice a day. Expect to find me far more zealous for God and more
openly his servant. If this be boasting perhaps I shall be humbled
before you, but let us both prepare for a joyful meeting.
John.
Here we drop the curtain on a brotherly and sisterly
love which was faithful unto death. We have only
drawn that curtain aside to show the nature of the
religion, and the interpretation Mac Gregor placed
upon it, by which he was to carry on his spiritual life-
work and gather together the forces which should
ensure success to many noble enterprises. Whatever
views may be held with regard to the dogmatic teach
ing of the school to which he belonged, it is a notable
fact that almost every great religious, philanthropic,
sanitary, and social movement of the earlier half of the
present century was the work of men holding identical
views. " By their fruits ye shall know them," and if,
as some say, these views are narrow, nevertheless if
they produce these fruits, who would not wish for a
continuation of that narrowness, and that all were of
the same mind ?
A few years before his death, Mac Gregor, looking
back upon his past life, wrote in pencil on a few sheets
of note-paper a list of the "special events" that had
marked his career. The first two pages run as
follows :
Dec. 1848. — Went with Blackmore to a Ragged School. Sent to
it £5 which Punch sent me for picture of Guy Fawkes.

1849-52 SPECIAL EVENTS 117
1849. March.— Attended Committee Ragged School Union.
April. — To Paris with 250 excursionists.
July.— Carlyle came to us at Drumcondra, Dublin.
July 17.— To Boulogne. Paris.
July 29.— Malta. Gozo.
Aug.— Piraeus. Marathon.
Aug. 29. — Fought with water-buckets in ship — beginning of
illness. Sep. 30. — Smyrna.
Sep. 31. — Gallipoli.
Oct. — Beyrout, Damascus, Palestine.
Dec. 25. — On a camel by myself rode into Cairo.
1850. Jan. 1. — Started up the Nile.
Feb. 5. — Shot my first crocodile in Nile.
March 15. — Started for home with hippopotamus for Zoological
Gardens. April. — Made Master of Arts, Cambridge.
April 28. — Godfather to Bickersteth's son.
Nov. 23. — Appointed hon. sec. to Protestant Defence Com
mittee. 1851. Jan. 1. — Called to the Bar. Temple.
July 7. — My first brief as a barrister.
Oct. — Manchester meeting of 85,000 Sunday School children
and 10,000 teachers, when Queen came.
Dec. — Conference, Birmingham, which organised Reformatory
and Refuge Union. Lord Lyttelton presiding.
1852. Enlisted in Temple Volunteers.
Feb. 9. — Started Lawyers' Prayer Union.
July. — First proof of ' Popery in a.d. 1900.' With Ware and
Oliphant to Ireland, visiting Achill and all west.
Nov. 6. — Slavery Committee. Duchess of Sutherland's.

118 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. v.
To most of these events we have referred in the
foregoing pages. One, however, to which he attached
great importance remains to be touched upon — the
" Birmingham Conference " — resulting in the Refor
matories Act, the Industrial Schools Acts, and the
Reformatory and Refuge Union. At the Conference,
Mac Gregor acted as Honorary Secretary in conjunc
tion with the Rev. Sydney Turner, afterwards Her
Majesty's Inspector of Reformatories.
The main points discussed at the Conference and
upon which all seemed agreed, were, that no agency
at that time in existence was adequate to check the
startling increase of juvenile crime ; that voluntary
agency was not equal to cope with it ; that compul
sory education and reformatory schools were needed
rather than prisons ; that legislative enactments were
required in order to establish correctional and reform
atory schools for those children who had been con
victed of felony or such misdemeanours as involve
dishonesty, and that magistrates should have power
conferred upon them to commit juvenile offenders to
such schools instead of to prison.
A committee, consisting of John Mac Gregor,
D. Power, W. Locke, and Rev. S. Turner, was
appointed to undertake the necessary preliminary
steps in London.
The diary shows the progress of events.
Dec. 17, 185 1. — First meeting of Preventive and Reformatory
School Committee in my rooms.

*852 JUVENILE OFFENDERS 119
Jan. 21. — Power came to settle Draft Bill. [This was after
wards the Industrial Schools Act.]
Feb. 6. — Preventive and Reformatory School Committee. House
of Commons Committee appointed, went with deputations to Lord
Granville. Took notes and published them in Morning Herald
and Times.
May 11. — House of Commons Select Committee on Juvenile
Crime. May 15. — Conference with Sir John Pakington about Criminal
Select Committee.
June 8. — Summoned by Baines to attend House of Commons
Committee on Crime.
June 18. — Examined before House of Commons Committee
from twelve to three o'clock about the Shoeblacks.
The result of the labours of the Parliamentary
Committee was a " Bill for the Better Care and
Reformation of Juvenile Offenders," brought in by
Mr. Adderley. But it hung fire, and in 1853 another
conference was held at Birmingham, when Joseph
Sturge, the well-known Quaker philanthropist, in
vited Mac Gregor to be his guest.
Joseph Sturge to John Mac Gregor.
Wheely Lane, Edgbaston, Birmingham,
December 17, 1853.
Esteemed Friend,
I hope thou wilt favour me with thy company to lodge at my
house on Monday and Tuesday night, as I understand thou art
going to attend the conference, respecting juvenile delinquents, in this
town on Tuesday. As a perfect stranger I have no apology for
taking this freedom except a sympathy of feeling for these poor
outcasts. It is right that I should say that I am such an ultra
Teetotaler that I have for many years expelled all alcoholic beverages

120 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. v.
from my house, and that thy entertainment will be very simple in
other respects. I rather hope that David Power, the Recorder of
Ipswich, will also be our guest. Very sincerely and respectfully, J. Sturge.
For some years an agitation was carried on with
regard to juvenile mendicity ; a " Youthful Offenders
Bill" received the Royal Assent in 1854, and as a
result there was a marked decline in juvenile delin
quency. In all these affairs Mac Gregor took a very
active part and especially in assisting to inaugurate
boys' refuges.
Perhaps the most valuable and laborious service he
rendered was in attending committees to discuss the
whole question of legislation with regard to further
developments in relation to industrial schools and
reformatories, and the powers that might be given to '
magistrates and managers. One entry from the diary
will show the spirit in which he went to work.
May 3, 1856. — National Reformatory Association, Lord Brougham
in chair. Adderley, R. Cecil, Northcote, &c. After their discussion
of his Bill I proposed a clause which they all assented to, and it was
inserted. I regard this as a remarkable answer to earnest prayer.
In morning could not see how Bill improvable, and yet it had fatal
objections. Prayed as I went along and at the rooms, but the idea
was not suggested to me until after they had exhausted their plans,
and therefore were less ready to cavil with mine. Such moments of
success are to be hailed with joy and gratitude, and it is not easy to
keep down pride and vanity.
Another important labour, which proved of in
valuable assistance to legislators and others engaged

1856 LAW OF REFORMATORIES 121
in forwarding the movement, was the preparation of
an elaborate work on the "Law of Reformatories."*
It is now out of date but it was a task of much diffi
culty executed with great skill and for many years
was the principal authority on the subject.
Mac Gregor's labours on behalf of reformatories and
industrial schools continued throughout his life, and
we shall return to the subject again.
* "The Law of Reformatories; containing — (1) A Compendium of the Law
relating to Juvenile Criminals and to Reformatories and similar Institutions ;
the General Statutes at length . . . and the Whole or Chief Parts of Special
Acts for Particular Institutes ; (2) Lists of Certified Reformatories ; Informa
tion as to the Assistance given by the Privy Council to Industrial Institutes,
&c. Intended for the use of Magistrates, Managers of Reformatories, and
others interested in such Institutions." By John MacGregor, Esq., M.A., of
the Inner Temple, barrister-at-law. London: Benning & Co., law publishers,
43 Fleet Street. 1856.

CHAPTER VI
1852—1855
TRAVELS: STORIES AND ADVENTURES
MacGregor liked London — its life, activity, noise
and bustle. In a letter to a friend, he says : "There
is no place in the world like good old smoky towny
London." He liked to see all that was going on, and,
if possible, to take some part in it. Here, from the
same source, is a record of a passing event : —
When I came home at eleven I saw the gleam of a great fire and
put on some old clothes and set off to it. The blaze came from
a hay store in Hungerford Market. I took a long spell at the
engines and got the beer they served round to each. It is very
cheering to see the earnest way in which Englishmen help to ex
tinguish a fire wherever it may be. The sight was a curious one.
Oceans of water flowing over our shoes. Children running naked in
the stream, the firemen, with their helmets, on the roofs, women
shrieking, and babies squalling, and the greatest noise and bustle.
Then all the stout fellows at the engines — about forty to each,
singing in chorus to keep time, and the smoke and flames waving
about. We got it down about one o'clock, and this morning I went
to see the ruins.
He greatly enjoyed the public position he occupied,
and was gratified at the estimation in which he was

!853 RATIONAL AMUSEMENTS , 123
held. It was quite pardonable pride that made him
feel a little exultation when a letter from abroad
addressed Mr. Mac Gregor,
Philanthropist, London,
came direct to him without any delay in the post.
' I never can be sufficiently thankful for the society which I am
thrown into in London,' he wrote, 'so Christian, so warm-hearted,
so very kind to me. Only the drawback of its uplifting me with
vanity is on the other side, and I believe no position whatever is
without that evil. I feel sure that if I had been worshipping the
world and were only ambitious of high position in it, my ideas are far
too lofty ever to have been satisfied ; perhaps I should be amongst
the most discontented of men. But to be allowed to labour in such
work as Protestantism and Ragged Schools is, I can truly say in my
calm moments, far more honourable than any Government appoint
ment — even the most exalted — and to be, if it be but for a year or
two, thrust forward into the thickest of "the fight in both regiments at
once — what is it? surely it is a post rather to tremble in than in
which to stand.'
He delighted in every kind of rational amusement
and he " went at it " with vigour. The theatre, how
ever, he tabooed all his life long. He said on one
occasion in after years :
I was never in all my life so dull as to want to be made to laugh,
and I always was near enough to real sorrow and sin and suffering to
be made to cry if I were in that humour.
He took with him to every entertainment the

124 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. vi.
brightness, wonder, and vivacity of a boy, and all the
energy of a man.
On visiting the Great Exhibition of 1851, he went
characteristically to work. Writing to his sister, he
says :
Every time I go to that place I am more amazed. After my
second visit, when I had pored over its wonders for sixteen hours, I
thought, well I certainly have a good general notion of the whole.
Now I find that there were actually ten miles of counter which I had
not touched.
A few extracts from the diary will show the kind of
amusements in which he took delight.
1851. Jan. 9. — To the Noels where about a hundred people were at a
children's party. Dressed oriental and drummed. G. with a sham
baby, and E. as Zuleika. G. acted the dwarf with A. Kinnaird.
Everything went off capitally.
June 21. — My musical party with sixteen ladies and gentle
men. July i.^To Hampton Court with the Maudes. Then to Storey's
Electro-Biology, where my character was delineated by phrenology
by a man in a mesmeric state.
Dec. 3. — Sunday. Mr. MacGrath preached a fine sermon.
Walked fifteen miles afterwards.
1852. Jan. 1. — Went with Mr. Bunting's party to Mrs. Bealey's party
at Radcliffe where about fifty young people came. Eastern dress,
music, charades, blindman's buff. Returned at 1 a.m.
Nov. 18. — Duke of Wellington's funeral. Went at 5.30 a.m. to
Waterloo Place where I saw capitally. Was on my legs for six
hours without any bad effects. Read Shakespeare at night.

l853 LONDON LIFE 125
May 17. — Dined Buxton's. Tried the table-turning experiment,
but unsuccessfully. Tried to turn a hat and succeeded.*
May 23.— Visited Albert Smith's Mont Blanc Entertainment.
MacGregor could read character and understand
the men he had to deal with. They were of all sorts
and conditions, and it was an endless source of
amusement and interest to study them. Writing to
his sister he says: "A man called Hogg came this
morning, an old soldier who was in the 23rd at
Salamanca with Major Mac Gregor — nine clasps to his
medal, and a Waterloo wound. My divination of
features only permitted my purse to drop one shilling
for him to go to Musselburgh (all begging people are
always going somewhere /)."
One day he met a youth who had once been a
member of the Ragged School. Mac Gregor accosted
him with, " I'm very glad to find that you have left off
going to church ! " The youth looked at his quondam
teacher in pious horror, while Mac Gregor gazed
steadily into the boy's face until it blanched, and then
the young fellow took to his heels. Mac Gregor
knew that the young hypocrite's last conviction by the
magistrates was for stealing the purses of old ladies in
church, and the boy was shrewd enough to guess that
his secret was out !
Much as MacGregor loved London, its work, its
amusements, and its social life, he never lost an
opportunity of getting away from it, and it was his
* It was old Mr. Gurney's hat, and probably had a good broad brim.

126 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. vi.
habit at least once or twice a year to break loose and
wander away wherever fancy led him. We propose in
this chapter to follow him in some of his home and
foreign tours.
On the ioth of August, 1852, he set off to Liverpool
for a run through Ireland with his friends, Martin
Ware, Oliphant, and N. Bridges. Their route was
Dublin, Malahide, Ballina, Ballindine, Belmullet,
and thence by sailing-boat to Achill.
Aug. 17. — To Duagh school, met a priest, Father Henry, who
entered into a warm discussion with me. He began about the
crops — destitution — 'soup schools' — the Bible; and then we dis
puted for about an hour — nearly 100 people gathered round. The
priest was on a horse and became more curt as he was hard-
pressed. He allowed that the Bible ought to be circulated, but
with notes, and said the proper edition cost two guineas. He had
spent forty-two hours on one text. His remedy for the evils of the
poor was the workhouse and the old Catholic system of begging.
He did not use the Bible in his own school, and appealed to a boy
standing near as to his motives for attending the Protestant School,
but the lad's answers did little service.
Aug. 18. — Visited the Orphan Refuge, the Infant School, and
Girls' School. Bathed this morning and saw a shoal of mullet come
into the little bay. About 60 people rushed into the water, some
with baskets, pails, rods, sticks, and baled the fish into their hands.
One put his fish into his mouth and another into his pocket. One
girl caught fish in her apron. After all, not 50 out of thousands
were caught. It was a sight quite new.
Of course he was not always well received. One
Sunday the "boys became impudent and called us
names. Some took the Band of Hope and tore it up,
running after us and shouting." A very characteristic

l852 IN IRELAND 127
entry is made on September 21st: "Went to model
farm attached to the Orphan Refuge. A new Scotch
manager there; pious but not agreeable. There is
good honest work doing there." This is excellent.
Who has not met that man or his representative ?
Sep. 22.— Bridges and I went to Cong by Maam. Slept in the
postmaster's house. A man whose bed I occupied came in at
night, drunk, to dispossess me.
Sep. 23. — Saw the abbey and the pigeon-holes — a well-worth-
seeing cavern through which the water rushes about 40 feet
deep. Thence by boat, taking about three hours, to Oughterard.
Met a convert who had been brought to the truth by seeing the
heartlessness of the priest. On the chapel was posted a great placard
against proselytism. By car to Galway (24th). Saw the old Spanish
houses, the Queen's College, Bay, &c. On to Athlone, and thence
to Malahide, where the tour ended.
This tour, taken mainly in the interests of Pro
testantism, gave Mac Gregor some good material
for his Monthly Letter and other anti-popery litera
ture, if the following diary notes may be taken as a
specimen :
"Where was the Protestant religion before Luther ?
Answer : Where was your face this morning before
you washed it ? " The Bishop of London examined a
National School and asked a child, " And who is your
ghostly enemy ? " She answered, "The bishop, sir."
A priest asked a girl why she did not pray to Mary to
keep her safe. She said : " Mary could not find her
own Son when He was lost, and how could she take
care of me ? "

128 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. vi.
In 1853 MacGregor, again in company with
Oliphant-Ferguson, made a grand tour on the Con
tinent. The route was in its early stages, Strass-
burg, Mannheim, Frankfort, Homburg, Freiburg.
From the last-named place he wrote to his sister
the following : Freiburg in Breslad, August 26, 1853.
I looked over the town this morning before dinner. The cathedral,
higher than St. Paul's, appears an ordinary good height. Then the
cooking ! When shall we learn to cook so neatly, nicely, cheaply, as
these foreigners? As I sat in the door of the hotel, smok
ing a cigar, listening to the bugles of Prussian soldiers with their
pretty uniform and intelligent faces, and one eye on the kitchen, the
other on countless vineyards and the distant Alps, I found that this
was the first day I had been on the Continent among strangers quite
alone, alone, alone ! One thing it profits — the speaking. You must,
in such cases, speak, and with no English friend, must jabber
German or murder French. I left Oliphant at Homburg. He goes
to the Tyrol. Mamma's letter came all safe, which is the more
wondrous because it was addressed to Hamburg instead of Homburg.
The latter is the great gambling place, and in such a place to have a
reunion of Protestants ! We dined first with Sir C. Eardley, next day
with Lord Shaftesbury, and yesterday we seventeen gave them a
dinner at the Kursaal. I had some confab with Lord S. and he
told me that my name is so well known in Italy that all my letters
will be opened, and I must use no religious expressions in them
or in any way give an opportunity for their ejecting me. He
cautioned me a great deal, for a policeman will be specially charged
with my supervision as a suspicious character.
How very different this place is from England ! To go with the
two Monods, the best preachers in France, and four others to take
coffee at 1 p.m. in the open air, when all the reverend gentlemen
light their cigars.
Although there are many notes of interest in the

l853 ON THE GALENSTOCK 129
diary on such well-known places as Basle, Baden,
Zurich, and Schaffhausen, we content ourselves with
one extract.
Aug. 30.— Constance. Sketched Council Hall where John Huss
was tried. Saw door and window of his cell, and chair of
Emperor Segismlind and bricks marked by J. H. in prison. In
cathedral saw flag in middle where he stood to be sentenced.
Also thigh-bone of St. Sebastian, flesh, and arrow he was killed
by. Pillar with " To Mary, Queen of Angels, Terror of Devils,
Refuge of Sinners."
Some of MacGregor's walks at this time were
excellent training for feats he was to accomplish later
on :
From Horgen to Zug in a thunderstorm. Up and down the Rigi.
From Fliielen to Hospenthal. A walk of eight hours by the
Ozpuzzia, looking over Italy and up Fibbia, snow and chamois track.
Sep. 5. — To Furka. At 1 started up Galenstock, 11,200 feet
high, with guide. Soon got mist, ascended first and second top,
guide refused to go on, crossed a glacier for half an hour, leaping
crevasses. Began to rain, got to last peak. Darkness began, guide
lay down in the snow and would not proceed, went on without
him. He came, and we mounted to within a few feet of summit
where a great crevasse made it utterly impracticable for man to go.
Retraced steps, crossed two glaciers, but only one crevasse required
alpenstock. Lost ourselves on last mountain in sleet and rain. Men
with lanterns found us about 9 p.m. Had been out fourteen hours
this day with two hours' rest. Got only one good view.
Sep. 6, — Furka, a foot and a half of snow and snowing fast.
Started with three Germans at 1. Came slowly to Rhone Glacier,
raining fiercely. Left Germans there, and started all wet up hill for
Grimsel alone. Got on snow again, found tracks of one man who
had come other way, snowing fast, marched quick as possible and
got to Grimsel in less than one hour from Rhone Glacier. 1

1 30 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. vi.
Sep. 17. — To Chamounix, when I desired to go up Mont Blanc.
Finest weather possible.
Sep. 19. — Albert Smith's party arrived. Went to the Fldgere
with Fanshawe, and settled to go up Mont Blanc next day.
Sep. 20. — Started for the Grands Mulets with Albert Smith,
Captain De Bathe, Lord Killeen, W. H. Russell, P. Burrowes,
Fanshawe, and Shuldham, and thirty-six guides. Slept in the
little hut there, or rather nobody slept.
Sep. 21. — At 1 this morning aroused to go up to the summit.
Lord Killeen and Fanshawe came part of the way with Shuld
ham and me, but one stopped after an hour's, and the other
after three hours' walking. Shuldham was ill and sleepy. I got
up to the top at about 10 a.m., and drank a bottle of champagne
and ate breakfast. After staying about an hour set off down again,
slid down the glissers with great rapidity. The view magnificent.
Arrived at the Grands Mulets about 1, and stopped half an hour for
Shuldham, then off again and arrived at Chamounix at 20 minutes
past 4. Dined at table-d'hote quite fresh, and stayed up till 11 p.m.
Woke next day at 6 a.m.
Sep. 22. — Not fatigued, nor scorched, nor at all injured, thank
God. In the evening a dinner to the guides and ourselves with
toasts and punch, cannons, tar-barrels, &c. [Tissay was chief
guide.] Sep. 23. — Met Hindmarsh. In the six days including Mont
Blanc spent ,£21. To the Tite Noir with A. Smith's party. The
pass is the best I have seen.
Before leaving Chamounix Mac Gregor wrote to the
Times the following account of his ascent of Mont
Blanc :
The day before yesterday the ascent of Mont Blanc was
accomplished by another Englishman and myself, under unusually
favourable circumstances and without any accident, although nearly
fifty persons were engaged in the work. On the evening of September
20th, I found that some gentlemen intended to go to the Grands

i85-

ASCENT OF MONT BLANC

131

Mulets and to sleep in the hut lately erected there by the guides.
The party consisted of Mr. Albert Smith, Lord Killeen, Captain de
Bathe, Mr. W. Russell, and Mr. Burrowes. Another gentleman,
Mr. Shuldham, had also arranged to commence the ascent to the
summit on the same day, and, through the kindness of Mr. Albert
Smith, I was permitted, with Mr. Fanshawe, a fellow-traveller, to
accompany them. Mr. Albert Smith, whose popularity in Switzer-

THE ASCENT OF MONT BLANC

land is almost romantic, gave a breakfast on the opening to thirty-
•four guides who were engaged for the occasion, and at nine o'clock
a.m. of September 21st, the long cavalcade left Chamounix. The
weather was magnificent, not a cloud being visible, and after seven
hours' walking we all reached the Grands Mulets — a place already
familiarised to all who have seen Mr. Albert Smith's panorama in
London. We dined on cold meat and punch made with melted
snow; and then, when the setting sun left the last peak of the
mountain, we made a hard struggle to find room for about fifty

132 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. vi.
people in a hut constructed to hold twenty at the most. Gentlemen
and guides, lying head and foot together, completely covered the
floor, and one traveller occupied a board nine inches wide, which
had served for a table. Presently some forty pipes and cigars were
lighted, and the atmosphere of the little cabin became rapidly
' tobacconised.' It was, of course, impossible for any one to sleep,
but the novelty of the situation and the incessant flow of good
humour made the night pass tolerably well. On the preceding night
I was unable to sleep from the excitement which the prospect of such
an undertaking produces, and it is remarkable that several of the
guides were prevented from sleeping from the same cause. How
ever, after two sleepless nights, we who were to go on to the summit
arose at one o'clock to continue the ascent. Mr. Shuldham suffered
from toothache and was otherwise unwell, yet the indomitable
perseverance of an Englishman enabled him to proceed and to finish
the undertaking successfully. For myself, I felt perfectly well, and
had, therefore, much less difficulty in accomplishing the work. As
our party left the others, who were to return next morning to
Chamounix, the solitudes of the snowy range were made to ring
with three hearty British cheers ; and, by the light of the moon,
which at that altitude shines almost like the sun itself, our long
string of twenty-three guides and travellers slowly marched over the
snow. The cold had not been of sufficient intensity to freeze the snow
into the proper consistency for supporting the feet. At each
measured step, therefore, we sank nearly to the knees, and after
about three hours of this tiring process we attained the Grand
Plateau, where the effects of a rarefied atmosphere begin to be felt by
the traveller. Two of the gentlemen, who had kindly accompanied
us during part of the night, now returned to their companions, still
jovially packed in the little hut, and Mr. Shuldham and myself with
our guides continued the march. The night was so perfectly clear
and the moonlight so bright as to make the aid of lanterns super
fluous. A large number of stars became visible which could not be
seen under other circumstances, and, when about four o'clock the
east became rosy with the rays of a rising sun, the whole scene was
at once awful and beautiful. The passage of the Mer de la Cote was

J853 THE TOP OF MONT BLANC 133
somewhat tedious as nearly every step had to be cut by the axe in
the ice. Here even the guides became overpowered by the sleepy
air of the great dome above us. Out of thirteen persons only two
did not succumb to this potent influence. At ten o'clock I sat
down on the very summit, and soon afterwards Mr. Shuldham,
whose unconquerable pluck had sustained him through all the
difficulties, attained the same height, though compelled by indispo-

THE SUMMIT OF MONT BLANC

sition immediately to return. The Queen's health, and that of the
King of Sardinia, were duly pledged in champagne, drunk out of a
leathern drinking cup. We ate chocolate and prunes, the provisions
most acceptable in those lofty places, but sleep rather than hunger
seemed to prevail. The view was magnificent beyond description.
From Lyons to Constance and Genoa all was clear. Beyond that a
faint horizon could be distinguished, bounded by unknown moun
tains, but wholly obscured by clouds, or even fog. After spending
nearly an hour on the summit, eating the icicles which, in the form
of large cuttle-fish shells, constitute the great dome of Mont Blanc,

134 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. vi.
the descent commenced. In five minutes, by sliding on the
soft snow, we attained the spot which from below was an hour
from the top, and thus passing rapidly over the ground, with the
aid of our alpenstocks, we reached the Grands Mulets, and,
finally, the valley below. The bells rung a merry peal — we were
Nos. 33 and 34 of those who had ascended Mont Blanc — then
the cannon boomed, and the damsels of Chamounix presented
bouquets. Seldom had there been so propitious an ascent, and with Mr.
Albert Smith as chairman, the whole party sat down next day to
an excellent dinner in the open air, with all the travellers then
in Chamounix as admiring spectators of the very characteristic
scene. The bridge was illuminated, the guns were fired at intervals, the
Englishmen made speeches and the guides sang lugubrious songs.
The moon looked on too, brightly, but with a calm radiance, and an
immense soup-tureen full of capital punch was distributed among
the guests with an enlivening effect.
Thus ended the last ascent of the highest mountain in Europe,
and I cannot conclude this account of the proceeding without the
observation, that a repetition of the enjoyment is within the reach of
every one who has good weather, good guides, a good head, and
uffic ie nt energy for a walk of twenty-four hours chiefly over deep
snow, and without sleep. Yours &c,
Chamounix, September 24. John Mac Gregor.
Various other parts of Switzerland were visited;
a night was spent with the monks of St. Bernard, and
the traveller then proceeded to Italy, halting at Milan,
Venice, and Ferrara.
Oct. 10. — Started at eight from Ferrara to Bologna and walked
twenty-nine miles in seven hours. It rained heavily all the way
Could not go out to see Bologna.

1853 VESUVIUS AND ETNA 135
When at Naples it is needless to say that Mac
Gregor ascended Vesuvius. Here is his account from
the diary :
Nov. 4. — Went up Vesuvius. It takes about three hours. The
last half-hour up the crater is tiring, but the view is magnificent.
Two craters — that further inland more active ; ground hot, and
different coloured lavas. Brimstone and sulphur in plenty, and
smoke suffocating. Saw Pompeii well from the top. Went round
the crater and boiled eggs at small blast holes. Wrote home from
the top and burned edge of the letter to show the heat. Descended
to the old crater and made sketches. Then our party, Macdonald,
two Americans, one Canadian, two Scotchmen, one Frenchman, and
one Irishman, took off our coats and had a trial at putting the stone.
This day was one of the most interesting in my life.
The letter written in pencil on the top of Vesuvius
ran as follows : Top of Vesuvius, November 4, 1853.

Dearest E 
I am sitting on the edge of the crater, the smoke pouring forth,
our eggs cooking at a hot blast, the awful chasm reeking with sulphur
and three Americans and an Englishman eating pears. I have the
shoes on which are now on the hottest, and were last month on the
coldest. ground in Europe. The clouds now and then open and the'
most glorious views are seen. A loud peal of thunder has just roared
and my friends have started up quite frightened. Looking down,
the smoke has cleared a little. Now I have nearly seen the bottom ;
I have burned this paper at the fire as a curiosity, and send you three
pieces of lava and sulphur.
John.
After visiting Palermo, Mac Gregor made his way
by diligence through Sicily to Catania : " Road dull,
hills brown, people stolid and ugly ; no eatables

136 JOHN MACGREGOR chap, vi
to be had. Two nights in diligence." The diary
continues :
Nov. 10. — Catania. Although without sleep for two nights I set
off alone to Nicolosi in the evening ; three hours' walk— rain stopped
me for two hours.
Nov. ii. — Rose at five, and started with guide, two mules and
muleteer for Etna. Rode for six hours, walked part; first dreary

€&.* »~t &n-«*'\
U T
¦ *::**
f i - ** ¦
-,-.
• .
.W v/mfc, ¦ ffijJSk
'¦
.
THE CRATER OF ETNA
as if all the walls in Galway had been heaped on side of hill. Mont
Rosa pretty, Casa Inglesi well built, good cottage. Day very fine.
Wood of oak-vineyards, then black lava dust for an hour. Stopped
at stone called Bosca for rest, halfway to Casa Inglesi. From Casa
Inglesi, mounted crater in an hour. Very steep, and sulphur extremely
strong. Only difficulty the mud on summit. Crater two English miles
1853 WITH ALBERT SMITH

137

round. See deep hole at bottom. Edge two feet broad, regular all
round. Stayed half hour at top, walked with great difficulty to second
summit. Snow in crevasses. Stones on crater covered with icicles on
one side and on other smoking. My moustache frozen hard. Men
digging snow near Bosca thirty feet deep, and carry by mules all over
Sicily to make ices. Descended, after seeing all Sicily at our feet,
and banks of clouds far below. Visited three other craters ; one very
old, like a well. Threw down stones which took perhaps a minute
before they stopped. Walked nearly whole way to Nicolosi ; dined
on two eggs, and off at night to Catania alone.
Mac Gregor continued his tour by Syracuse,
Messina, Reggio, Paolo, Naples, Toulon, Nice, Genoa,
Turin, over Mont Cenis to Lyons, by diligence in
three days and two nights, Paris and home — the tour
lasting from the 18th of August to the 2nd of
December. During this tour he took many sketches, and soon
after returning a series of his Mont Blanc views were
published by Baxter with descriptive notes.
Mac Gregor kept up an acquaintance with Albert
Smith for many years — the bond between them being
Mont Blanc — and some of Smith's letters are curious.
Thus :
My dear Mac Gregor, —
Look here. If you will come any day and dine
quietly with me at the Garrick at 5.30 you shall be treated delicately
en vrai malade, put near the fire and made comfortable, and I will
catch Billy to meet you.* We can't give way to the pleasures of
the table too much as I must be at the Egyptian Hall by 7.30,
* Dr. William Russell, of the Times, who was one of the Mont Blanc party
when MacGregor ascended

138 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. vi.
On other occasions the invitation would come on a
lithographed form after the manner of a passport :
We, Albert Smith, one of Her Britannic Majesty's Representatives
on the top of Mont Blanc, Knight of the Grand Crossing from
Burlington Arcade to the Egyptian Hall, Secretary for his Own
Affairs, &c. &c.
Request and require all those whom it may concern, and especially
the police, to allow Mr. John Mac Gregor to pass freely in — to the
Egyptian Hall — and to afford him every assistance in the way of
oysters, stout, champagne, &c.
Given at the Box Office. Albert Smith.
Some of Albert Smith's quaint sayings greatly
amused Mac Gregor, who duly noted them. We give
one as a specimen.
Some one proposed to open oysters by smashing the shells by
force. Albert Smith said, ' Yes, and they would have a taste some
thing between a periwinkle and a gravel walk.'
Albert Smith's Egyptian Hall entertainment, " Mont
Blanc," was not entirely of the kind that Mac Gregor
most enjoyed, but there were points in it which he
wished to adopt for a popular lecture to his ragged and
other friends, and Smith obligingly replied to his
request to pirate these by saying, " Any notion of mine
is very heartily at your service."
Immediately on his return from this long tour Mac
Gregor plunged into work with great vigour, and in
our next chapter we shall unfold some of his new
schemes. All his co-workers gathered about him, and
one of the first was Lord Shaftesbury, who wrote :

l853 LECTURING 139
- , December 5, i8s^.
My dear Mac Gregor,—
We must have a thanksgiving that you are neither
buried under the snows of the Grand Plateau, nor engulfed in the
crater of Etna — though I take it that, if there, you would not be in
greater darkness than we all are in London just now. To-morrow
I cannot attend the Protestant Alliance; I have two chairs at
Richmond for the Bible Society. My discourse at Freemason's Hall
has brought on me such a swarm, that I shall well-nigh be stung to
death. The ministers of Portugal and Spain are, I am told, quite in
a state of Grand Inquisitors. An "auto da fe " would be a secondary
punishment for me. Yours truly, Shaftesbury.
While the incidents of the Swiss and Italian tour
were still fresh in memory, Mac Gregor prepared a
popular lecture, or rather a series of lectures, on Mont
Blanc, Vesuvius, and Etna, for which he drew a set
of huge diagrams from the rough sketches he had
taken abroad. It was characteristic of him that the
first time he delivered his lecture on Mont Blanc it
was to an assembly of shoeblacks and ragged children
at the Field Lane Ragged School. Not long after,
we find him in the full swing of lecturing and a note
in the diary runs :
Lecture on Mont Blanc at Servants' Home School for Mr. Kin-
naird. Have now lectured at Harrow, St. George's, Pimlico, West-
bourne Schools, Redhill, Barnet, Hinton Martel, St. John's Wood
Schools, Brampton, Home and Colonial, Barnet (second lecture),
North-West Branch of Y.M.C.A., Fitzroy Square, Field Lane,
Claydon, Brompton, Southwark, Gurneys, Villiers, Copestake and
Moore's.

140 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. vi.
After the long tour in 1853 there came a pause in
holiday making. A trip to Scotland, another to
Ireland, and occasional runs to the sea-side, being all
that was accomplished in 1854. It was a year of
some change in the home relations of Mac Gregor,
and it was a year of national trouble. He wrote early
in the year :
As for a general war, I do not believe it will begin just yet, and
for this reason, we are not in earnest about it. The Times is all_^z^
on belligerency, and that means the Government's. A new Govern
ment may perhaps begin treaties anew, but the good sense of
Englishmen will require more cause for war than the protection of
a false religion and a broken-down despotism in Turkey. Meanwhile
things are horribly dear. My twopenny loaf is so small that I finish
it every day — and could do more — whereas it used to beat me by a
good crust.
The storm broke sooner than Mac Gregor antici
pated, and the following brief entries in the diary
indicate the changes that were coming over the home
circle. May 10. — Called on Hedley Vicars — a fine fellow.
May 12. — Ragged church and chapel meeting — Vicars was there.
May 13. — Douglas came up.*
May 19. — To Windsor, where prayed with darling Douglas previous-
to his departure with his regiment.
May 20. — Saw the regiment leave in two trains. Never was so
moved. Douglas greatly affected. Wrote home. Returned to town.
Brief, characteristic entries. MacGregor never
wore his heart upon his sleeve, and none save those
* Douglas was his younger brother, under orders for the seat of war.

1854 DEATH OF DOUGLAS MACGREGOR 141
who knew him very intimately ever guessed the storm
of passionate feeling that the departure of his brilliant
young brother — the companion of his youth and early
manhood — to the war and all the uncertainties of
military action, caused him. He felt as only the
strong and robust in mind and body can feel, and in
that parting the "bitterness of death was overpast."
Another incident of this year marked an epoch in
Mac Gregor's life.
Sep. 30. — This the last entry I make in Belvedere House, Drum
condra, Dublin, where we have stayed sixteen years — since 1838.
In August of the following year, when Mac Gregor
was on a tour in Norway with two very intimate
friends, Mr. Martin Ware and Mr. Wilbraham
Taylor, under date August 1 8th, he wrote :
Beautiful drive to Rodnaes, where we spelled out a Norway paper
about Sebastopol, but I little thought what sad news was to come.
Aug. 22. — At 5 a.m. to Christiania by boat and rail. Arrived
at 9, and then I read my darling brother's name among the killed
in the attack on the Redan at Sebastopol. I did not realise this for
two or three hours — God was present, and kindly broke this awful
intelligence gradually to me.
Those who are familiar with Miss Marsh's bio
graphy of " Hedley Vicars," will remember reading
of the splendid heroism, the Christian zeal, and the
glowing example, of young Douglas Mac Gregor.
But nothing can exceed in tenderness and beauty
the letters of his father, Sir Duncan Mac Gregor.
Writing to his old friend, Mr. James Evans — to

142 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. vi.
whom he wrote the letter which forms the material
for the published volume "The Loss of the Kent" —
immediately after the news had come from the seat of
war, we have a glimpse of the character both of father
and son. He says :
I forget whether you ever saw my darling, fair-headed, sunshiny
boy Douglas ; never was there naturally a more joyous spirit. He
was the pet of his brothers and sister, and the light of our dwelling.
On the day before he was to join in the assault of
the formidable Redan, Douglas wrote to his mother,
and in concluding a touching letter, full of beautiful
and simple religious faith, he said : "She would not
be absent from his thought in the coming strife and
were he to fall he felt certain they should be re-united
in glory everlasting."
Sir Duncan in continuing his letter to his friend,
says :
The gallant boy accompanied the 160 volunteers who carried
the ladders iri front of the storming party, and were necessarily the
very first to enter the Redan  He had penetrated to the
centre of the Redan and was seen, with his cap on the point of his
sword, cheering on his men, when he was killed by a minie ball.
The sorrowing father concluded his letter thus :
Ample has been the testimony, borne from various quarters, not
only to dearest Douglas's heroism, but to his consistency and boldness
as a young follower of our blessed Lord.
Some years afterwards when writing to the same
friend Sir Duncan said :

l854 A FATHER'S PRAYER

U3

On receiving the fearful telegram announcing the fall of my darling
boy, Douglas, at the storming of Sebastopol I became suddenly
unable to sign my name,, and for many years experienced the greatest
difficulty in writing legibly— it may have been from a slight attack of
paralysis. As a matter of fact from that period the style and
character of his handwriting totally changed. In that
changed but firm handwriting there lies before us a
" Morning Prayer " composed by the " Grand Old
Patriarch " — as Lord Shaftesbury was wont to call
him. One passage is so exquisitely tender that we
venture to transcribe it here :
May it please Thee to make our beloved boy the means of drawing
our souls closer to the Cross. I adore Thee for having called him
in early life to the knowledge and the love of Jesus; for having
granted him grace to run — amidst much temptation — a consistent
course, and given him to die in a manner honourable to his Christian
profession, and translated him without pain from a world of sin
and sorrow to the glory of the Upper Sanctuary. Though dead may
he yet speak to us by his child-like faith and bright example, and
may we more constantly dwell on his unspeakable gain than on our
sad loss. I bless Thee for the lively hope that two of our beloved
ones are already safely housed in heaven,* and the remaining four,
through Thy grace, are on the road to it  Guide and encourage
my dear John, direct him in all his ways, increase his faith, prudence,
and humility, and continue to make him a blessing to us and to Thy
people. A tour in Norway in 1855 was, of course, a very
different thing to one in that tourist-hunted country
now.
* William died at the age of 13, and John Mac Gregor always spoke of this
as his first sorrow.

I44 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap, vi-
Unfortunately for MacGregor, the one startling
adventure of the journey fell to the share of Mr.
Wilbraham Taylor, whose lot it was — the travellers
having run short of money — to return alone from
Lillehammer to Christiania to obtain some. On the
way he was attacked by a pack of wolves and his
escape was almost miraculous. It is on record that
when John Mac Gregor heard of this adventure his
countenance fell — he was distressed and mortified. If
there was one thing more than another in Norway that
he had sighed for, it was a ravenous pack of wolves,
and he could not conceal his chagrin when he found
that the yelping brutes had flashed their glittering
eyes and breathed their hot breath in the face of
Wilbraham Taylor and not in the face of John Mac
Gregor. But the tour was full of novelty and interest, and
we append a few of his rough notes.
Soldiers, percussion breech-loading guns. Bad glass in windows
at Christiansand. German came with ' two dead docks ' in a parcel
for cabin. We thought it ' dogs ' and I ripped up the parcel. Found
it was ' ducks.' King, Queen, and Maids of Honour at concert of
Swedish music at Christiania. Women wear tartan. Boys at school
don't play. Have not seen angry person, or drunk, or swearing.
Hay and corn are made up on posts and rails, out of the wet. Spades
used like axes for cutting tree roots. Barristers wear swords and
walk about before the bench. Logs of all people float down river,
and, being marked, are caught as they pass. Floors sprinkled with
pine twigs. Bakers' shops have signs. Paid for a night for three
of us i/-. Angel hangs from roof in Church with font. Saw wedding.
Prsester blesses, laying hands on head. Travelling schoolmaster ;

1855 IN NORWAY 145
stays three weeks in a village and proceeds to another. Sunday
begins on Saturday evening. Circus open on Sunday evening. Glissd
on snow at Nystuen. Lapland colony near Nystuen. Aurora
Borealis on the Sogne Ford, &c. &c.
This tour in Norway may be regarded as the last
that J ohn Mac Gregor ever took for pleasure pure and
simple. In all the subsequent ones he had a fixed and
definite purpose, and it is a point for travellers to
decide whether a tour with an object is not really
preferable to one without. One thing is certain,
Mac Gregor's capacity for enjoyment grew as the
years went on, and some of his later journeys were
among the curiosities of travelling in the nineteenth
century.

CHAPTER VII
1853— AND ONWARDS
IN THE OPEN AIR
We must go back a few years in our narrative in order
to trace Mac Gregor's connection with a work which
he was apt to regard as the chief mission of his life.
Although some may not agree with him in this
estimate we must at least let him express his views,
and then draw our own conclusions.
On the 17th of April, 1853, he was trudging to the
East End to visit ragged schools and especially to
have a friendly chat with the boys in Pultney's Home
in Whitechapel. "On the way," he writes in his
diary, " I found some groups listening to the Open-air
Missionaries and one where a popish argument was
going on. I joined the last and argued for an hour
with some good."
This was the beginning of his interest in open air
work — a work to which he remained true and faithful
to the end of his days.
To "take an interest in a thing" was nothing
in his estimation unless it were followed up by prac
tical help and sympathy, and the following extracts

1853 THE OPEN-AIR MISSION H7
point the current of his thought and action in this
matter :
May 15. — Dined with Oliphant. Read at night Haldane's Life.
This greatly enlivens one's thoughts and humbles pride to see so
great a man with so little of self. In the end seeking God is seen
to reward even with approval more than self-seeking which gives
only temporary content.
May 27. — Corrected last sheet of Madiai pamphlet. Read
" Girondists," by Lamartine. Mr. Jones called about the Open Air
Mission. My attention has been directed to this by seeing the
missionaries in Whitechapel and by reading Haldane's Life. I joined
the committee and subscribed to the funds. Among the objects
now claiming my best attention are, The Protestant Alliance, The
Protestant Defence Society, The Ragged School Union, the Shoe
blacks, the Ragged School Shop, The Band of Hope Review, The
True Briton, the Town Mission, the Open-air Mission, the Slavery
Question, the Preventive and Reformatory School Society, the
Lawyers' Prayer Union and the Mansfield Society.
June 3. — In the evening went to first committee meeting of the
Open-air Mission. Only Jones and Joyce were present. Both men
of God and with three we commenced. I see in this a small
beginning of what may, yea will be, a great, a noble, a blessed
undertaking. May the Lord give us wisdom, zeal and love to work
unitedly, discreetly, vigorously.
From this time Mac Gregor was zealously em
ployed in the technical details of organising the
Society whose objects were to encourage, regu
late, and improve open-air preaching, to create a
bond of brotherhood between open-air preachers, to
select those who should engage in the work, to assist
them in their studies by lectures, conferences, meet
ings, and the circulation of suitable books, and to

i48

JOHN MACGREGOR

CHAP. vii.

issue tracts and other publications relating to the
Mission. It was not, therefore, until nearly a year afterwards
that we find this entry :
May 14, 1854.— Open-air preaching at New Cut, .good service-
after Church to James Street where found Cozens. Men pelted us
with dirt and cabbage-stalks— after Cozens had done I preached my
first regular open-air sermon.

Qp^WMIasio,.. a£rW^^4i

DIAGRAM of mission stations

Once launched out in the actual work of open-air
preaching it became a passion with him, and for many
years there are entries innumerable of his hopes, fears,
prayers, struggles, and escapades. Let one extract
suffice for our present purpose :
June 24, 1855. — This was one of the most remarkable Sundays I
have ever had. Visited school, Bloomsbury, found boy beaten by
H. Villiers. Spoke to him, comforting, and after good sermon by
Price spoke to H. Villiers about his beating the boy. Walked with

1855 STREET PREACHING 149
Maunsell. He came at half-past two. Prayed, went to James Street
where found city missionaries preaching, with pulpit. Few listened —
many at windows. Found Oliphant and his sister. With Maunsell
to Edward Street where I spoke to twenty men and women and they
thanked us. Then to James Street ; found Shaw and Cozens and
Fowell; Shaw spoke on 'the wages of sin' but not in simple
language. I spoke to them afterwards on the Good Shepherd when
fifty attended well. With the others to Colonel Gray's yard school
where found good rooms and few teachers and scholars, none of
ragged class. Went out to top of Edward Street and spoke to one
hundred on Sodom and Gomorrah. Oliphant and Maunsell engaged
groups. Some at distance threw mud, cabbage-stalks, stones and
oyster-shells. Hit my hat several times, my cheek and coat and
waistcoat covered. Still many heard well and thanked us. Miss
Oliphant went into a house. Many told us to leave as a disturbance
was threatened. To Hyde Park where open-air meeting about
Sunday Question had been announced. Found Cozens preaching,
standing on seat under a tree. Two hundred heard. Several
interrupted, mostly Papists. One said ' without money and without
price ' was nonsense as all preached for money, and nobody could
get into church but with money. One answered, 'I'll give you
,£100 if you tell me any church where the Gospel is preached where
you can go without money.' Another little man talked much, and
after Cozens had given an excellent sermon I began with this man,
and we had an hour's most interesting discussion. He said God
punished in this world and therefore would not in the next. I said,
' If a thief said I have had so much trouble about my theft there
will be no other punishment, he would find the law was not altered
by that.' He said, ' Is it just for God to punish children for father's
sins ? ' I told him, ' If a man was traitor, his goods were all forfeited
and his children would be the sufferers.' He said he could not love
a man he never saw. I told him he could love a good landlord and
write to him and he to us if we got good from him, whether we had
seen him or not. Another said, ' How could fishermen write books
as they could not read nor write — was it not the Roman monks who
wrote the Bible ? ' He said prayer must be fervent to be heard, and it

150 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. vii.
was impossible for working men who had been all the week strained
with work to be fervent, he must think of other things while
speaking to God. I told him a man thus pressed could still ask,
like a child asking a father for bread, and as fathers would not give
stones so God would give only good things. All the people thanked
me. Went further down in the Park, heard a teetotaler, and
another afterwards speaking to the groups. Thus I attended eight
open-air services to-day and thank God much was said and heard to
make men wise unto salvation.
Soon after this Mac Gregor entered upon a new
phase in his street-preaching career. Instead of con
fining himself, as at first, to the simple proclamation of
the Gospel, he undertook the difficult and dangerous
work of a street controversialist. He had found in all
quarters that incipient infidelity was abounding, and
that just in proportion as men became " unsettled " in
their religious views, in that same proportion came
their zeal to expound the things they did not know.
Roman Catholics, elated by the strides their Church
had taken since the appointment of a Cardinal Arch
bishop of Westminster, had grown aggressive and
promulgated their doctrines through the agency of
street preachers ; spiritualists, Mormons, " rabid "
teetotalers, anarchists, socialists and sceptics followed
in the same course and had taken to the streets for
the ventilation of their views.
Mac Gregor placed himself in the midst of the
haunts of all these, listened to their arguments, and
came away with a great pain at his heart that hundreds
of discourses, based on what he believed to be false
doctrine, should be delivered, and not a word uttered

l853 SO-CALLED "SCEPTICS" 151
on behalf of the "good old Gospel." He deter
mined, therefore, in future to devote himself mainly to
the work of counteracting the effect of this erroneous
teaching and to study every argument that could be
employed to checkmate sceptics and Roman Catholic
propagandists. It used to be the fashion to dub any one who would
not accept without cavil or remonstrance not only
every statement of the Bible, but every interpretation
put upon such statement, a " sceptic." Doubts were
regarded as proofs of scepticism ; inquiry, except
under impracticable conditions for thoughtful men to
accept, was called " a sceptical state of mind," dis
crepancies in the Bible narrative — and all honest-
minded and well-read men are now agreed that they
are numerous and in some instances irreconcilable at
present — were not to be investigated ; even the
chronology at the headings of the chapters and the
contents of each chapter, published in those days in
nearly all Bibles, were regarded as " almost " inspired,
and there is on record in the biography of a most
excellent man, a story to the effect that when in read
ing the Psalms the word " Selah " occurred, he would
bow his head reverently much as some Christians do
now when the name of our Lord is mentioned. In no
period of the world's history has the hackneyed saying
been more fully realised than within the past half-
century that " the heterodoxy of one generation is the
orthodoxy of another."
John Mac Gregor was brought up in the old school

152 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. vii.
of Evangelicalism and he never altered his religious
standpoint, although he took a much more liberal view
of the opinions of others than many of his contem
poraries. And here, be it said, that without the grand old-
fashioned fervour that characterised the Evangelicals
of that day, Mac Gregor could not have accomplished
a tithe of the good that he was permitted to bring to
the ignorant and the unbelieving.
Of these and their tactics he had as good a know
ledge as any man in London, and he knew how to
manage them.
A mere babbler who jerks in an impudent remark to break the
¦calm attention of a group listening to trijth out of doors may usually
be quieted by a solemn appeal, or an apt repartee, or a close fitting
answer, but the well-tutored agents of Rome, Joe Smith, Tom Paine,
or Teetotalism are fond of argument in stated places and at fixed
hours. He classified the opponents to his mission thus :
Romanists, Mormonites, Communists, Sceptics, Infi
dels, Secularists, and Teetotalers. The Mormonites
indulged in the most furious denunciation, and gave
the most violent, but happily the shortest, resistance
of any opposers of the truth. The Communists
always had some new cure for every evil under the
sun. The Free-thinkers generally showed a marvel
lous lack of originality in their attacks, always fasten
ing upon such subjects as the "laziness of the clergy,"
"the paid agents of Christianity," or the stock objec
tions about Jonah and the whale; David, "the man

l853 JEWS, TURKS AND INFIDELS 153
after God's own heart " ; the Trinity ; eternal punish
ment ; God hardening Pharaoh's heart, and so on. Of
such arguments Mac Gregor says :
Two people may discuss these for ever without any good until
they settle common ground of debate. They may tilt for ever over
such barriers without once coming really face to face. You must
dig underneath these outworks, march past these detached forts,
heeding not their fire, and you will find in nine cases out of ten that
the citadel is before you, and the devil reigning; then you know
what to do and with whom to deal.
When Mac Gregor speaks, as he often does, of tee
totalers as ' ' opposers, " his remarks do not of course
apply to those who uphold abstinence as a virtue, but
to those who preach abstinence as the virtue, exalt it
to a grace, and build salvation on this ground — a class
that has largely increased since his day.
These are usually advocates of some other panacea in politics
to accompany their physical dogma for morals, and are seldom
met with except as very positive, irascible, and ignorant people,
whose audience speedily leaves them for a more smiling preacher,
if he holds out the whole truth clearly.
In course of time Mac Gregor and his colleagues
in the Open-air Mission became so efficient in their
work that they could judge of the season of the year,
of the day of the week, and the hour of the day most
suitable in each locality for preaching the Gospel out of
doors. They knew what sort of people might be
expected, what they would listen to, or laugh at, what
they would comprehend or cavil at, and how ; the

154 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. vii.
questions likely to be put regarding particular doc
trines ; the arguments of Mormons, Infidels and
Romanists ; the manner in which each class would
behave — the policeman, gentleman, tradesman, and
cabman — what each would be likely to say and do,
and what they the preachers, should do and say if
they desired to make good use of their time.
In a little pamphlet, entitled " Go Out Quickly," of
which within thirty years of its publication 111,000
were sold, Mac Gregor gave some wholesome counsel
to his less experienced fellow preachers. Thus :
The whole operation (of street preaching) resolves itself into this
as the essence : — In a crowded alley, or thoroughfare, converse with
some idle men or careless children or gossiping loungers. Read the
Word and begin open-air speaking. Don't call it ' preaching ' ; and
if asked ' by what authority ' say ' By no authority ! ' To use the
Parish fire-engine indeed you must have the keys but any one
seeing flames in the street may surely cry out ' Fire.'
The pamphlet concluded with a description of the
work and a call to participate in it.
No other duty or privilege need be neglected for this. It is a
variety and therefore little fatiguing. It is out of doors and thus
easily associated with healthy exercise. It calls forth the whole
power of the mind, and gives room for every talent and all kinds of
learning ; therefore nobody can be above it. It may be effectually
done by simple words and simple knowledge of the Scriptures, and
therefore nobody need be below it. It is social for it is found well
that friends should join. It sends men to church, to school, to read,
to feel, to think and to pray, so it helps every other means of good.
Let those who will take part in such a blessed work burst through
the false shame which Satan ties up many hands with, cast aside the

1853 LECTURES BY "ICONOCLAST" 155
slothful habit with which the flesh paralyses even active spirits, and
brave the sneer of a world, which must sneer if both it and they are
consistent. Once having begun they will not soon stop, for they are
in a track well trodden by saints and martyrs, and sprinkled with the
blood even of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
For himself Mac Gregor marked out a plain and un
mistakable course. He would stand by the command
ment, " Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in
vain," and he would, single-handed if need be, take
his stand in the camp of the enemy. He collected
and retained a number of circulars relating to the meet
ings of Secularists. One announced the acquisition
of a room "where the lovers of anti-humbug may
freely expatiate upon theology with a view to changing
its baneful tendency upon society. The Clergy of all
denominations and those in embryo, are invited to
attend. Admission id." At another place a " Lecture
by Iconoclast. Subject : The Bible, not a revelation ;
not reliable ; neither true nor useful." Another by
Iconoclast at a little later date ; " Jesus Christ : his
history fabulous ; his teachings not calculated to pro
mote the happiness of the human family." Later ;
" The Bible : immoral and degrading in its teachings
and cruel and useless in its legislative enactments."
At meetings such as these Mac Gregor was in his
element, and when the time for "discussion" came
his ringing voice echoed through the hall the message
of the Gospel. Consider the pluck, the manliness,
the thorough fearlessness of it. Just as an honest
schoolboy would plant his fist between the eyes of any

156 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. vii.
bully in his school who said a treacherous word
against father or mother, so the blood of Mac Gregor
boiled when he heard the name and the love of his
Heavenly Father blasphemed and he "went at them"
with the schoolboy's honesty and the man's fidelity.
By-and-by we shall see him alone on his strange
journeys in strange lands, surrounded by barbaric
tribes, but we shall not find any stronger instances of
magnificent courage than in his bold, heroic, single-
handed encounters with his angry disputants in this
field of controversy.
Year by year the Open-air Mission grew ; com
petent laymen enrolled themselves under its banner ;
all London was marked out into districts and localities
assigned to preachers ; clergymen advocated the
claims of the society, and Lord Shaftesbury gave it
his sanction and assistance. He wrote :
May 15, 1854.
My dear Mac Gregor.
I have no doubt of the value, nay necessity, of ' open-
air preaching.' We must, and by God's blessing, we shall come to
it. My June labours are not much less than my May labours, but I
will do my best for you. I am for striking right and left, by day and
by night, before and behind, wherever I can find the Devil ; and that
is at all times and everywhere. Yours truly, Shaftesbury.
Bishop Villiers approved the mission and remarked,
" No one does good who does not now and then tread
on the devil's tail!" And this was regarded as no
doubt an explanation of the rebuffs and trials, the

l855 LORD SHAFTESBURY 157
rotten eggs of an unruly mob, and the " Move on ! " of
the policeman, experienced by the preachers.
Even the Archbishop of Canterbury (Tait) went in
his robes with Mac Gregor and preached in the open
air at Covent Garden.
In 1855 Mac Gregor wrote :
Truly this is a good and blessed work. The shame of it is
passed away. The few short-sighted ones who were shocked at
people baring their arms to save drowning souls are now silent.
They are so ashamed that they are ashamed to be ashamed 
God never gave greater blessings to any man on earth than to allow
him to labour for sinners. How can I weigh my blessings of this
kind? Many years afterwards Lord Shaftesbury, speaking
on behalf of the mission at the Mansion House, Lord
Mayor Fowler presiding, said : "I think that it is
singularly worthy of remark that we meet in the
palace of the Chief Magistrate of London for the
purpose of furthering the work of an institution which
a few years ago was discredited to the widest possible
extent. Let me say, however, that I look upon these
open-air services as perfectly normal, as they are
certainly primitive ; the very earliest preaching of the
Gospel was in the open air, on the shores of the Lake
of Galilee, by our blessed Lord Himself. And they
are unquestionably ecclesiastical. In the days of the
Reformation there was open-air preaching at Paul's
Cross. All the worthiest of the bishops preached
there ; there, too, the bishop of glorious memory,
Bishop Latimer, preached the Gospel of the Kingdom

I58 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. vii.
of God, and hundreds heard these words of truth and
brought forth fruit in after days. Thank God we
have a noble band of true and faithful men who are
still proclaiming the Gospel under the open canopy of
heaven, and will continue to preach, in boldness and
joy, the unsearchable riches of Christ."
We have before us a packet of twenty-five letters
written by John MacGregor to his sister in 1858,
giving details of his open-air mission work, chiefly at
King's Cross and Rag Fair. Even if we had space
to transcribe them — and they are full of interest
to those concerned in this particular class of Christian
work — they would not be cared for by the general
reader. But we should fail in drawing a true portrait
of Mac Gregor unless we availed ourselves of every
possible sidelight on his character and a few brief
extracts are therefore appended.
The first, written soon after a great bereavement, is
dated March 28th, 1858.
Work of the Christian kind is a great soother. That is God's
medicine for the heart-pains He sends us  So many good
people warmly welcomed me back  I would not be taken
away from this work for anything. It is one of the few things really
worth living for, and it gives to London a great focus of interest in
my eyes. May 16, 1858.
With (Lord) Radstock, Oliphant, and Ogilvie to Rag Fair at half-
past nine. It is in the Jews' quarter in Houndsditch, and one of
the most amazing sights in the world. Many acres covered with low
stalls or open-air booths, crowded with thousands buying old
garments on Sunday mornings. Men and women selling, shouting,

1858 AMONG THE SCEPTICS 159
haggling, disputing ; policemen guarding the public-houses, men and
boys trying on clothes, huge bundles staggering up narrow alleys;
mothers, wives, and sweethearts fitting out their friends.
We took about 500 tracts and got every one thankfully accepted
except two — one, torn up by a drunken woman, the other cast on
the ground by a Jew, but that was taken up for the sake of the
picture by a little girl whose education for future womanhood is
begun in this horrid sink of humanity. Very many thanked me ;
' How good of you,' ' Glad to see people cares for us,' ' Our souls
are cared for by somebody,' ' Many of us would give up this if we
could,' ' Give us another, sir.'
I resolved to send twenty of our O.A.M. with 5000 tracts 
Found a crowd at King's Cross  Called on an infidel, Dr.
 , to learn about poor Redburn. The wife took to gin when her
girl died. This is the wretched solace for bereavement. He said
Redburn was honest and true, nervous and melancholy, affectionate
and miserable. My heart yearns over the poor infidels. I hope far
far more for them than for some so-called Christians. They are so
misunderstood, repulsed and bullied by men whose religion is the
result only of the example of their parents and cannot stand either
the test of argument or of experience.
Christ spoke most to the infidels. May 30, 1858.
In reply to a man (not there to-day) who had some weeks ago
demanded some contemporaneous writings of history, mentioning
Christ, I have brought to-day several passages copied from Tacitus,
Pliny, Suetonius, Trajan, Martial, Juvenal, Horace, Epictetus, and
Josephus, and the Infidels seemed amazed at this, but no one would
comply with my request for them to come and examine the very
books with me. July n, 1858.
A large crowd, especially of infidels and well-known sceptics, heard
my farewell address on the ' Rock and the Sand,' at King's Cross.
Many shook hands most cordially  Blackwood (the handsome
fellow) spent an hour with me giving cards and tracts.*
* Afterwards Sir Arthur Blackwood, K.C.B.

160 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. vii.
July 13, 1858.
At two o'clock I did a bold thing, which I had screwed up my
fortitude to attempt. Without anything to say to him, I called with
Oliphant upon Holyoake, the clever editor of the Reasoner, the
centre of the Anti-Christ of the world. We soon got into earnest
talk and parted excellent friends though my name is unknown to
him. He gave me two books to take to Horace Greeley, editor of
the New York Tribune. I let Holyoake go on till he spoke of a
certain thing as 'right,' and said I: 'I don't know what you can
mean by "right." You give up the Bible standard, and what enables
you then to divide into right and wrong ? ' He said : ' Universal
conscience.' 'Then if you listen to that you cannot put it aside
when it says everywhere, "there is Spirit," "there is God."' From
this capital point we led off with a deeply interesting talk.
November 21, 1858.
At King's Cross found Mr. C. (Calnon) the Popish opponent.
We had the most pleasant, orderly, and useful controversy I ever
recollect. Three turns each, that is an hour and a half. I was to
prove that 'the Old Testament was a rule of faith in the early
Christian church,' and certainly it is a good thing to have to get up
these points, and to pick out the weak parts and strengthen them,
knowing that the other side will batter at these.
I found that Christ appealed only to it with Pagans, Sadducees,
His followers, and the devil — that each Apostle used it, and then the
people, as Bereans, &c. Calnon tried to show tradition was parallel. I
answered, ' Christ never mentions any good tradition, only bad ones,
and then denounces them.' Paul mentions only traditions from
Apostles, and if Calnon could put any such before me I should
accept them. This forced him to undertake to give a list next
Sunday of what Rome actually counts as good traditions. November 28, 1858.
We had four hours of very useful controversy at King's Cross.
.... Many of the Romanists seemed much astonished by my
offer to prove 'that out of sixty words said to be wrong in our

l858 A CHALLENGE 161
English New Testament, the later editions of the English Roman
Testaments have adopted more than thirty, and thus their trans
lation? are getting nearer to ours every year.' No one would accept
my offer to prove this in the British Museum and I think I shall buy
the books and prove it out of doors. December 5, 1858.
A very useful time at King's Cross. During the week Calnon has
evidently been urged not to refuse the challenge about English trans
lations, so he accepted it, and we are to go regularly through with
the proper books. I am to prove that whereas we have an English
translation 200 years old, they have issued several and all differing in
hundreds of passages from one another ; that the Popish Church has
not decided upon any one of them ; that the changes in their later
translations adopt many important words from our version, which
very words their authorities had condemned when used by us. I
never knew before what a tremendous battery is here, and I have
deemed it so important that I have written a tract upon it to-night
giving twenty-four principal passages.
That was a good day's work ; several hours of
exciting discussion and then the composition of a
scholarly tract or pamphlet to finish up the day.
Mac Gregor, true to his word, never flinched from
the arduous task he had undertaken, and single-handed
against a host of Roman Catholic controversialists he
continued the discussion for many months.
Perhaps the greatest reward of this laborious effort
was in the fact that through all weathers the same
audience came night after night to listen to the discus
sion. Of these "arrows shot into the air, which fell to
earth he knew not where," it may be reasonably
supposed that some pierced through the harness of
his opponents, but whatever benefit may have been

i6z JOHN MACGREGOR chap. vii.
derived by his hearers, it is certain that this pro
longed public controversy, often alluded to in the
public press of the day, placed MacGregor in the
forefront of religious controversialists.
December 12, 1858.
My opponent to-night would not shake hands at the end till I
compelled him by good humour, and then he squeezed my hand
warmly. I believe that man is convinced in his very heart. This
is worth living for. Nothing can be more interesting than the
intimate study of the Bible. How tremendous is the evidence
when you come to weigh it ton by ton !
Mac Gregor certainly had the exact gifts which
make a street preacher and a controversialist success
ful. He had a good strong voice which could at
times tone down to great tenderness, a fund of anecdote
and a knowledge of how to use it at the right time and
place ; a perfect command of himself so that no
interruption or insult ever made him lose his head
or the thread of his argument, and what was an
invaluable adjunct — a strong sense of humour. He
enjoyed the saying of a youth at King's Cross, one of
the ringleaders in trying to create a disturbance,
" Don't he keep his temper beautiful with all that
impudence from those fellows." Nor did he fail to see
the joke when a youth asked one day, " Which is
MacGregor?" and his companion answered, "There
he is ! " and pointed to an old woman in spectacles
who was speaking to a small group of people !
Sometimes he would indulge in quiet sarcasm. Here
is a specimen :

l853 QUIET SARCASM 163
Those who are not convinced of the Truth of the Gospel must
at any rate admit that Christianity exists. But (except as the Bible
tells) how it came here, and how it works, more than all otiier
energies, are questions that no man has solved without assuming far
more unlikely things than the existence of a Christ such as the
Scripture describes.
The phenomenon appeared, they must allow, some eighteen
centuries ago, and among a few fishermen upon Bethsaida beach.
These simple folk carved out the only God-like image ever seen.
These crafty conspirators arrayed it with a glory that eclipsed first of
all themselves hopelessly and for ever. They devised the most novel
and successful scheme of moral conduct, and kept on preaching
doctrines that convicted every day their own falsehood and deception.
They invented the very best plan for benefiting other people, but
they utterly failed to get anything out of it for themselves but weeping
and loss. These simpletons that could not see through the flimsy
veil of fable, saw deeper into human hearts than any other men, and
they gave voice to yearnings that were felt everywhere, but were never
understood before. These dupes exposed all other deceptions that
had deceived the wisest of philosophers. These dullards conceived
a system that outreached the loftiest fancies of the cleverest thinkers.
We, who are of course so much wiser, and cooler, and better
altogether — we are the only fair and shrewd judges to try this case.
A whirlwind of clashing thoughts is sweeping in thunder through the
darkness above us, and an earthquake rends the rocks, but we are
placid, and can sit unmoved, while we rake among the chaos and sift
out grains of truth. We have not taken sides — we are only standing
aloof from everything. It does not tell upon our verdict at all that,
if these prisoners at the bar are in the right, then we are utterly in
the wrong, and must lay our mouths in the dust and confess that we
are miserable sinners, and give up our dearest idol — self, and change
our whole course of life and labour, and suffer and die for the truths
we are now judging. 'Tis true that we have ourselves no rival
system that will bear five minutes comparison with theirs — that our
advance towards any better truth from the beginning of mankind,

1 64 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. vii.
say fifty thousand years ago, is rather minute ; but the day after
to-morrow we shall have explained all mysteries by our sun-like inner
light, without that dim candle of revelation — our existence iri flesh
and spirit, right and wrong, happy and wretched, poverty, sickness,
death, and the illimitable past and future of it all. Oh ! it is a delight
ful thing to live in an age so modest, impartial and serene, and to
trace back my pedigree with honest pride to the ancestral oyster in
a metamorphic rock, to feel a patronising regret that no light from
heaven could ever penetrate his thick shell, but that all truth is
revealed to my soul by me, and that my law of life is what I feel
right, and (for I am charitable as well as infallible) your law of life is
what you think right, and that nobody can say anything is more
right than anybody else, and yet we are all right together — and that's
the way to make things pleasant all round !
One who knew Mac Gregor intimately, the Rev.
John P. Hobson, writes :
With one sick man whom he visited on several occasions he was
able to hold a good deal of conversation as to the grounds of his
unbelief. At last John Mac Gregor said one day : ' Now, tell me,
what is your real objection to the Bible ? ' ' Oh,' said the other,
' I can hardly tell you, as I have so many.' 'Well, but tell me one,'
said John Mac Gregor. ' One thing I object to is this, the Bible speaks
of the sun rising and setting, when we know it does not.' Our friend
admitted that this was an objection — ' but,' he continued, ' let me ask
you if you know a book called " White's Ephemeris " ? ' ' No, I don't.'
' Well will you take my word as to what kind of book it is ? ' Mr.
Mac Gregor then told him that it was an almanac of acknowledged
authority, giving the places of the old and new planets, the eclipses,
occultations, and other celestial phenomena, also the times of the
lunations, the rising and setting of the sun, moon, and planets,
adapted to the meridian and latitude of Greenwich ; tables requisite
for the use of nautical men, astronomers and others, and was often
found bound with the ' Nautical Almanack.' ' In that volume it is
stated again and again,' proceeded Mr. Mac Gregor, ' that the sun

1858 CONFLICTS WITH INFIDELS 165
rises and sets,* and yet we know it does not. As this statement is
no valid objection to the accuracy of "White's Ephemeris'' so the
same statement is no real objection to the truth of the Bible. This
has, I think, disposed of your difficulty. But will you think over the
matter, and when I come again tell me any words which, describing
the phenomena of the sun appearing and disappearing, would have
been understood when the Old Testament was written and would be
equally well understood to-day ?'
On the occasion of his next visit Mr. Mac Gregor asked the infidel
if he would have any objection to prayer being offered in his room.
' Oh,' said the other, ' I don't believe in prayer.' ' Well, you won't
have any objection to my praying here, will you ? ' ' No, you can
do as you like,' was the reply. ' But you will not interrupt me will
you, because I am going to talk to a personal Friend.' ' No, I
won't.' So by the infidel's bedside he knelt down and offered up
aloud, on behalf of his still unbelieving friend, a prayer to Him unto
whom all hearts are open, and Who can, by His blessed Spirit, touch
infidels as well as other men. And that prayer was not in vain.
Of many stories that could be told of Mac Gregors
conflicts with infidels in open-air discussion, of his
visits to their own places of meeting as well as to their
own homes, we select one which has been variously
told and generally with much incorrectness.
In the present instance we can place the outlines of
the narrative before the reader almost entirely in the
words of the chief actors.
Mac Gregor wrote in his diary :
April 1, 1858. — With Snape to call on Mr. Redburn, 70 Great
Titchfield Street, Oxford Street, once a great infidel and for whom
subscriptions are asked in the Reasoner. Found him weak, sleepless,
* In the edition which Mr. Hobson has in his possession, " 'ArXas Oipavios,
White's Coelestial Atlas ; or, an improved Ephemeris, 1845," it is stated on
every page of the calendar, " Sun Ri. Se."

1 66 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. vii.
full of thoughts, nervous, with a care-worn but kind wife, in great
poverty but respectable. He said he had no fear of the future, God
would do right with him and he could implicitly trust that all would
be right. Philosophy he found was quite useless in hours of trial.
Had tried his best to believe in Christ and wished to do so but could
not help if the evidence did not convince him. Put faith as a
believing things against reason, and seemed to think we, by faith,
could believe in Bible, things contrary to reason. . . . We concealed
our names and brought him some jelly and sponge-cakes.
This was the first of a series of visits broken by
his absence in America. Before leaving he wrote
an earnest impassioned letter to Redburn, and the
following is his reply, written when he was in great
agony of mind and body, and everything had gone
wrong, in home, in business, and in health :
26 Queen's Road, Bayswater,
July 17, 1858.
.... I agree with you, sir, that in all probability we may never
meet again — also, that it is a solemn thought. I thought so when
we parted and when I said to myself, ' May the great First Cause
bless and protect you across the mighty Atlantic,' and although you
have not succeeded at present in bringing me to your way of thinking
(and I am exceedingly anxious to be convinced) still I hope to be
able to reflect with pleasure when my last hour comes of the many
kindnesses you have shown for my temporal and spiritual welfare.
My own mind in regard to the future is perfectly calm and I feel a
confidence in the immutable laws which govern this, and it may be
for aught I know, myriads of other worlds, and in the justice and
love of the great First Cause who knows I have made the best use I
could of the powers with which He has endowed me .... Wishing
you every happiness that you can wish yourself,
I remain, Your grateful and obedient servant,
R. Redburn.

l8S8 A STRANGE STORY 167
A delightfully illogical letter ! But is not all denial
of God equally so, even though deduced by the most
learned arguments ? While Mac Gregor was away
his ever faithful friend and colleague, Mr. Snape,
looked after Redburn who, deserted by his wife, in
pain and poverty, and removed to a cheaper dwelling,
wrote : 34 New North Street, Red Lion Square,
July 29, 1858.
.... I most sincerely thank you for the kind supply you sent for
my spiritual and physical wants .... I have not been able to read
the book through, but I shall do so with care and with a sincere
desire to understand it. I trust our dear friend begins to smell the
Western Hemisphere and that he is in the enjoyment of every
blessing which a gracious God can give him. If it is the Lord's will
I do not know of anything (except the recovery of my dear wife) that
will give me greater pleasure than that I may have my health restored
to welcome him back to these shores and to thank him and you for
your great kindness to a helpless stranger .... My heart bleeds
for my poor dear wife whom I have neither seen nor heard of since I
wrote you last, and although my struggles and sufferings by myself
are great I shall not seek her but my prayers are that she may come
to her senses and that we may be able to live together again in those
pure and holy affections which first brought us together ....
Your grateful and obedient servant,
Richard Redburn.
The reader will have observed that Redburn has
advanced from appealing to a "Great First Cause" to
" a gracious God " — a Lord who wills and a Being to
whom he prays. Now let us advance to a further
stage in the narrative. The following is from a letter
written by Mac Gregor to his sister :

168 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. vii.
December 19, 1858.
Each Sunday seems the most interesting until the next arrives. It
will be a long time before I forget to-day.
Yesterday I read in the Reasoner another notice of Redburn.
How little they know he has a Bible and has read my ' Three Days
in the East ' and knelt last Sunday to pray.
I went to hear the Rev. W. Brock, and a noble sermon we had
upon ' Father, I will that they whom Thou hast given me be with
me where I am.' Who could believe it, I saw Redburn at that ser
mon ! He read, he prayed, he sang, he listened. All the cases of con
version one reads in books are feeble to encourage compared with
one actual case seen like this.
I lost a great deal of the sermon in seeing this sermon preached to
me on the living text before me, a scoffer on his knees, an infidel
believing, a despiser of the Word hearing, and a rebel praising God.
I sought him after service, and, poor fellow, he seemed to have new
strength to grasp my hand but little power to let it go. There
will be some hands like this to be grasped for the first time in
Heaven. Entries similar in some respects to the following
appear in the Diary from time to time :
Aug. 7, 1859. — To Redburn with whom a long conversation. He
read xv. of 1st Corinthians with me and prayed. This remark
able after reading the Reasoner of this week. Poor fellow he was
very much affected and so was I. These visits to Redburn are truly
useful and do me very great good.
Towards the autumn the illness of Redburn in
creased, and as he needed some one to see after him
constantly, Mac Gregor arranged with a Mr. W 
for this to be done.

*85& A STRANGE STORY 169
From Mr. W  to John MacGregor.
20/11/59.
Sir, — Agreeably to instructions it is my duty to inform you that
Mr. Redburn departed this life at half-past eight this morning, com
pletely worn out by protracted suffering. He desired me to convey his
grateful feelings for your kindness continued so very long, and to say,
were it not inconvenient, it was his wish you should see him to his
final rest. It is not intended to make any formal procession through
the streets, but to meet the hearse at ' Tower Hamlets ' and ' Bow
Cemetery ' at 2 p.m. on Thursday next. One of the greatest horrors
of our poor friend's life was the probability of a pauper grave. He
wished to lie with that daughter whose memory he ever cherished.
A few friends therefore are trying to raise the necessary funds to carry
out his wishes. Yours respectfully, W  .
Notes from the diary :
1859. Nov. 20. — Redburn died this morning at eight. When I called
at 2.30 saw his body. On Sunday last I had read to him Psalm
xxiii. and Revelation last chapter and prayed, when he was full of
feeling and gratitude. Next day sent him arrowroot and jelly. I
had taken him jelly the first day I met him (April 2, 1858) just
nineteen months ago, and now he is dead, and it is a wonderful
case of a true conversion of a thorough sceptic.
Nov. 24. — Buried Redburn. Only Mr. W  with me. Put
the coffin in a wrong grave and had to change it. No service of
any kind was used. Walked home with W  from the Tower
Hamlets Cemetery. He had been an atheist with Redburn for
twenty-five years and had been converted to a belief in spirits by
spirit-rapping. He is a tailor, an Owenite, a clever man.
Took him over the Boys' Refuge and explained the Shoeblack
Society.

170 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. vii.
What better thing could he have done ? what better
text could he have taken for a sermon ? When John
Baptist, alone, in prison, waiting his sentence in doubt
and perplexity, sent to the Lord his despairing ques
tion, "Art Thou He that should come or look we for
another?" — the answer came: " Go and show John
again those things which ye do hear and see ; the
blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are
healed, and the poor have the Gospel preached to
them." This is the answer of Christianity to every form of
doctrine opposed to the Gospel, " See what it has
done ! " and Mac Gregor did well not at that time to
argue on Atheism or Spiritualism, but to take his
companion from the grave of Redburn and show him
the Boys' Refuge and the Shoeblack Brigade.

CHAPTER VIII
1853—1858
PERSONAL
It has always been a puzzle to people engaged in the
ordinary routine work of life, to know how a popular
philanthropist, who is here, there, and everywhere,
can get through the enormous amount of work that
falls to his lot and at the same time attend to his own
profession, if he has one, and give proper heed to the
claims of home, friends, and society. The solution of
the puzzle is easy : the business of a philanthropist
can only be performed satisfactorily when it is set about
in a businesslike fashion ; and it cannot be done at all
unless the individual possesses distinctive characteristics
and qualifications for his special work.
On the last day of each year Mac Gregor was in the
habit of recording in his diary some of the principal
things that had occupied his attention during the
year :
1855- Dec. 31. — The time finds me at work on the Protestant Alliance,
Church of England Young Men's Society, Open-air Mission, Lawyers'
Prayer Union, C.T. Mission, Scripture Readers' Society, Ragged

172 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. viii.
School Union, Shoeblack Society, Pure Literature Society, Boys'
Refuge, Reformatory Committees, Protestant Defence Society, Field
Lane School, Scripture Museum, &c.
In the above extract the " et cetera " stands for a
very important and substantial amount of work, for it
is a trite but true saying, "If you want anything
done, always go to the man who has most to do,"
and the calls upon Mac Gregor's time, labour and
influence, were merciless and incessant. But he was
a man of marvellous energy, and the more he had
to do the happier he always seemed. He thought
quickly, wrote quickly, decided quickly, walked quickly
— every muscle of the body and every faculty of the
mind were always on the alert, and so soon as an idea
was conceived it was forthwith brought into action.
Many a weary secretary of a society knew this, and
would come with the plea, " I have my annual report
to write, and I really don't know what to say or how
to say it. May I beg your help ? It will not take
you an hour — it will take me a week." Others wanted
some special subject ventilated in the public press, and
almost at random we find in his diaries entries such as
these, specimens of innumerable others :
1851. Nov. 14. — Sent off my first article for the Bulwark. Appointed
to accompany Mr. Locke as deputation to Manchester to Con
ference on Ragged School system. Finished and made up article
for next month's number about shoeblacks and broomers. One
boy had bought a hoop to make him run to his work in the
morning.

l858 HABITS

i73

1852. Feb. 26. — Visited Maynooth College and wrote an account of it
to the London papers.
Sep. 18. — Sent off article for Sunday at Home.
i853- June 13. — Wrote first part of a new story for M. Adv.
July 10. — Prepared appeal of Boys' Refuge, which has the name
I gave it.
Aug. 1. — My letter on 'Impostures' in the Record.
1854. April 26. — Finished report of Protestant Alliance. Wrote articles
in Record and Morning Advertiser.
i8S5- April 4. — Wrote preface to Y. M. Lectures.
April 24. — Wrote article, Sunday at Home, 'Bread and Water,'
&c. &c.
These extracts will suffice, but it must be borne
in mind that they do not represent a period when a
fit of writing was upon him, but the steady, persistent
habit of his whole lifetime in addition to more im
portant and elaborate literary work.
Another characteristic of Mac Gregor was that he
was a man of method. For everything there was a
time and season, and to everything he endeavoured
to give due place and proportion. He rose early
every morning, summer and winter, and every morn
ing for many years at a little before seven he might
be seen in the Temple Gardens on his way to the
Shoeblacks' Home to conduct "Family worship";
generally pausing to "pass the time of day" to his
friend Faudell Phillips (afterwards Sir Faudell Phillips),
who was equally punctual in his attendance at early

174 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. viii.
morning service in the Temple Church. Mac Gregor
found, as all men pressed with work must find
sooner or later, that nothing can be successfully done
without method. This included punctuality, and it
was notorious that although in his lifetime he attended
innumerable committee and other meetings, and
every day was booked deep for engagements, he was
never known to be five minutes late, unless from
some cause over which he had no control, such as the
breakdown of a locomotive. We have it on the
authority of one who knew him well for twenty-seven
years and worked with him constantly for a considerable
part of that time : *
His punctuality was a marked feature of his habits ; he seemed
never to be in a hurry and yet never late — punctual himself, he could
not bear unpunctuality in others. A Ragged School teacher who
had been placed under his superintendence was given a trial, but a
week or ten days later Mac Gregor said : ' This won't do. He has
been late ' — only a few minutes we found — ' three times. I can't bear
waiting.' Another phase of his method was the manner in
which he made careful preparation for what he had
undertaken to do. If it were to speak at a meeting
he invariably jotted down on a card or half-sheet of
note-paper the exact things he wished to say, never
trusting to that broken reed the " spur of the moment,"
or contenting himself with "saying a few words" —
which generally means the imbecile utterances of idle
* Mr. John Kirk, secretary of the Ragged School Union,

l858 ATHLETICS

i7S

or incompetent men. And he took just as much pains
upon his subject whether it were to speak before the
Archbishop of Canterbury or to a few shoeblacks or
ragged waifs and strays. It was not that his memory
was bad — few men had better — but because he had a
strong sense of honour, duty, and obligation, and " he
would not offer to the Lord that which cost him
nothing." Although philanthropy was the great business of
his life, he did not allow it to stand in the way of
other just claims upon him. Thus we find him in
constant correspondence with his family, interested in
everything that interested those he loved ; frequently
seizing opportunities to run over to Ireland to see his
father, mother and sister ; and fulfilling faithfully his
duties as son and brother. Nor did he in any way
neglect his private friends, either those allied to him
by spiritual ties or otherwise. His chambers in Mitre
Court, Temple, were the rendezvous of all sorts and
conditions of men, who always found a welcome and a
companion "at leisure from himself" ; as ready for a
joke with its accompaniment of loud ringing laughter,
as he was for prayer if his visitor came with a sorrow
ful and burdened soul. Further, he did not neglect
himself. He was a man of a robust type, strong,
muscular, athletic, and wise enough to know that
without fitting recreation the secret of his strength
would vanish. The first day the ice bore, he would
be out with his skates and would scud along with such
surprising vigour that the wondering bystanders would

176 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. viii.
ask who he was, and generally get the reply, " That's
John Mac Gregor, the Ragged and Shoeblack man ! "
He was from his youth up an expert swimmer— in the
gymnasium he could hold his own against all comers ;
he understood the " noble art of self-defence," and
was a formidable boxer,* and on the river he could
pull a pair of sculls with greater skill and strength
than when he rowed in the Trinity eight.
The Young Men's Christian Associations of all
lands are greatly indebted to him for teaching in. a
practical way that the highest kinds of sport are not
incompatible with holy living but, on the contrary, may
be made to further it, and his whole life was a pro
test against those who at one time were pleased to
speak of men as " crawling worms," and as "crushed
before the moth," and a vindication of the statement
of the Preacher, "the glory of a young man is his
strength." Mac Gregor was a man of amazing industry. He
not only did what he felt morally bound to do, but he
made time to compass things that should fit him for
doing more in the future. Here is an example :
185 1.
Oct. 3. — Dined at Colonel Brown's to meet Abbott Lawrence,
the American Minister. Have inserted in commonplace book
the ideas concerning Protestantism I heard from him.
* The following extract from the diary is amusing evidence of his muscular
Christianity: — " May 22, 1852. — To-morrow we expect a regular row in the
new thieves' school a young Scotchman and I are starting. Last Sunday I
had a stick. One of the men gave me a great blow in the breast in anger, but
we became the best friends afterwards when he saw how it was returned."

*IAimiH2I0Y2. 479 Phiuppiahs n. 26.
F^opoAoyr/o-rjTOi on Kvptoe'lr/r/mis Xpi- should confess, that JesusChrist
error els 86£av SeoC * ita.Tp6s." js Lord, to tbe glory of God the .
12 "OoTf, ayamfroi jum, KaOus iriv- ' n Wherefore, my beloved, <£~" L^01 C^/La'PLJ'
Tore VTnjKOvorare, un as iv tb napova-ia ve naTe always obeyed, not as P , , yv //'/ / j
P_ot,p6W, aXXavvvroWZ pSXXo, iv » ZTfn ty' iT f *^ 7x ^-"
Ti; finovaia fiov, pera <popav WH rpopov work out your own salvation "/ *^Z^-£e^~£~f-- &** <^* , .
rhv tavrav a-arnpiav KaTtmatiaBe- wi'h fear, and trembling, u For J&vtx X«. //^(^jas-^V
Hi,. « , « . 'S , ,"' * -, it is God which worketh in you, / , ^— > , j /
o Beos yap tarui o tvepyav ev both to will, and to do, of hit \ enS- /ZZZ c^t-y 6& r ^t*****-" -~ j
vp.1v mi to 6VX«v /cat TO cvrpyciv fmip 8".°* Pleasure. " Do all things *&?,>-. frx^^*.*!^. tfn. <S I
_£„ ,'* ' 14 ' - . without murmurings, and dis- / i^xj^-^c-^-^. jm t
yoyyvtTfiav Kat OlaKoyitrpav, " o/a blameless and » harmless, the £&£&*, /Jv^^A
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tis kcvAv eKimiaua. ,, ?_ "S , f /Ll/r,/ .v,y/i//s t*w\
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KalXHrovpyiarns^sip^xaip? ^-^-^£. ~..* ''j/ '"'/J^ \
Km tnyxatpa iramv vpiv " to ff au- with you all. ¦» For the same '• ' '¦'">' • '• 7 ^ *ss**s-r f** 1
to nit 4/i«f xatpere- icai ovyxa'P*™ ST "i™ ?s°7n j.°vfnlrfio.iJe /^/ ^-^ //#//£<¦«/ fo ' |
in V '> fe' » v ' ^t - with me. 19' But I trust in the </ > - ^-/ 1
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<yrvxSl, yvois ra mpi i^V - oiSeW &^^SS7K 7/CfA'CJ^ X«
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. r. r . r r r / . ' ^ Jl For aU seek then- own, not /, • , ,A„^y /%*-J*lJ4*Z4'
TO cavrcol' fr/rouo-w, oo "ra Ir/o-ou Xpt- the things which are Jesus"^' > t'trx'T'CSy ™"'™^ /
otoC-" a rr)!/ 8e SoKtpi/v airoi ywm- Christ's. "But ye know J proof ^/^.^ /J AZ^ A<*-V*^ y
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pix oix Am?* jrepiat, dis & ^,'80. ' hoI"! ,to ¦??d prf e"-,7' 5 . -, 'f'-rfW ^
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to. mp\ cpt, c£avrj)S- -1 Trerrotda 8e g0 with me. «But I trust in ¦ ^-"' >^"*/. «/»^?W ^ Jk
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8^ To7a8^o,Tai pfpyo^ai r^^asssss f^i^'T^li^
(TVtrrpariutTT}v pov,vpatv oe aTTooroAov, but your messenger, and he that / -^ i ^y7s /~ /lP~l
Kat XctrovpTov Tns ypelas uov, ircudrai ministered to my wants. * Forvfefzr^ /t46C- &S /t6££^fewcJ
* < - rV, . ' Bv-r, %„ ^ / he longed after you all, and / / , ~\ * s
7rpoy v/xay *u evrccOl; nrtfro&uv ipt nap- was fun of heaviness, becausevfe/ Jt-tfCt£.f /?- ?Pl?f. /ft?
rat i/pus, kiu ddijpovajVj 8iotl TjKOVtraTe that ye had hoard that he had J^g^^f /^'sz,6~t? JfcS ' j-£c-*-a) '
M.*.nin. b-jB,^, ^i.f.». d ll«. TO tov > ,.<r„... !,,«„ l- B». aJd *pDr D^.f. a Or, .lu^^.^^^^g^^t^ /€2?/L ^M^^^^^-- i
FAC-SIMILE PAGE OF MAC GREGOR'S ANNOTATED GREEK TESTAMENT.

l858 A LITERARY CURIOSITY 177
This was a habit ; to fix in writing the thoughts
that influenced him ; to make live again in useful
form, words that would have been but "idle words"
had they floated upon the air and been lost. Again :
Nov. 9.— Mr. Dallas preached a very remarkable sermon for the
Irish Church Missions and I have noted it on the text Acts
xvii. 1-5.
We have lying before us the " Bagster's Critical
New Testament, Greek and English," in which the
notes referred to in the above extract are made. It is
a literary curiosity, a marvel of patience. On nearly
every page the wide margin is covered with " notes,"
critical, philological, illustrative, devotional, valuable
for all future time for reference when preaching or
teaching, and written with great clearness, terseness
and painstaking. The secret of all this industry
was a continuous enthusiasm. He threw his whole
soul into everything he undertook. It was said of
Lord Shaftesbury that he spoke on each of the
hundred subjects in which he was interested with so
much vigour and earnestness as to give the impression
that the matter occupying his thought at the moment
was the one hobby of his life. This was equally true
of Mac Gregor. To see him engaged upon any
apparently trivial work the observer would suppose it
was the one thing for which he lived. An hour after
wards an equal zeal would be displayed on a totally
different object — one day or one year would be
devoted to herculean tasks which an on-looker would
M

178 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. viii.
prophesy must soon wear out the worker — but the
next day or the next year would find him with the
same enthusiasm not one whit abated. Heart never
failed, and flesh but rarely. He wrote once in his
diary :
i855- Nov. 24. — Kept in by cold and neuralgia. Gave up. I was
going too fast and recklessly at meetings. Here I am chequered
to breathe. Stop doing and let me suffer. Worked at book.
But six days later the following entry occurs :
Nov. 30. — Never was harder worked than just now, but never
felt in better spirits.
It may be well to glance at some of the many
schemes and enterprises that engaged his attention
about this time by giving a few extracts from the diary
and from letters to his sister :
1851. Dec. 8.- — Liverpool Assizes. Met Liverpool deputation to estab
lish Shoeblack Society there.
1852. I have formed a Sunday morning class of shoeblacks from 9.30 to
10.30. It will be nice and quiet to take it myself.
Feb. 23. — Formed Irish Protestant Alliance.
Feb. 24. — Formed Dublin Shoeblack Society.
March 7. — Enlisted in Temple Volunteers.
March 8. — Sunday. Met Mr. Villiers. Became one of his con
gregation. Visited his Sunday School. Took leave of St. John's
Chapel Sunday School. Visited Field Lane at night with Snape,
Cane, Osburn, Day. Addressed the 170 persons in the Night-
Refuge.

!8S3 CROSSING-SWEEPERS 179
1853. April 17. — Went to Lord Palmerston in the morning with a
deputation. April 21. — Slave Committee. First since Lord Shaftesbury's return.
May 9. — Meeting at Lord Harrowby's about the True Briton.
Among other labours Mac Gregor took infinite
pains to devise means to benefit the crossing-sweepers
of London, but innumerable difficulties stood in the
way of organising them into a body as in the case
of the shoeblacks. To do this on the plan of im
portuning passers-by, would be to encourage men
dicity ; to disturb the vested rights of old sweepers
would be to bring a prejudice against the scheme ; a
large number who were old, lame, or otherwise inca
pacitated for active work, paid so much per diem to a
robust hand for sweeping the crossing once or twice
a day, while they simply posed as sweepers for the
remainder. He thought he might establish a kind of
Labour Bureau, and send forth an army of men,
women, and children at so much a day guaranteed ;
funds for their wages to be supplied by the public or
out of the rates ; or to organise a staff in uniform
with secured boxes into which coppers might be
dropped, the contents of such boxes to go to a
general fund, and the sweepers to be paid 3s. a day
and have the advantage of night schools.
Out of these suggestions grew up many more, but
as the shoeblack movement was then all-absorbing,
the matter was practically allowed to drop, as few
men came forward to take up the new work.

180 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. viii.
Another suggestion, which shared a similar fate,
was thrown out in a letter to the editor of the Ragged
School Magazine :
Will any one assist in organising a corps of newspaper boys ? Seven
years ago a request like this was made through your magazine, in
regard to the Shoeblack Movement and the results of united efforts
have been largely blessed by God.
One good idea of Mac Gregor's which worked very
successfully, was to open various shops for the sale of
the products of the Industrial Classes connected with
the ragged schools, and it was, in its way, a proud
moment for him when he was able to announce that
"Firewood at twenty- four bundles for one shilling
may be had at the Ragged School Shop, No. 5
Crown Court, Chancery Lane."
Writing to his sister, he said : July 27, 1853.
I have taken a splendid shop for the Ragged School Shop. Only
two doors off the Strand. It is a great move and I trust will be use
ful. My colporteur sells away famously and I have just got him
appointed at ' fifteen shillings a week under the British and Foreign
Bible Society. We are to have the Shoeblack's fete, God willing, on
Saturday week, the last day I shall be in town. I am making them
the present (out of the wonderful ^50) of a banner, scarlet and blue,
with silk tassels, and blue and gold stick. On the top two blacking
brushes crossed and a blacking bottle, with a nosegay of fresh
flowers. The same fund will enable me to give a tea and strawberries and
cream to the open-air preachers, and some clergymen at my rooms
will come to talk over our remarkably cheering prospects. I got
£bo for it this morning. We have already more than ^320 — indeed

l854 IMMORAL LITERATURE 181
more than we can spend, but it weighs heavily on me to see how
people trust me with money thus readily.
My class of clerks is now fourteen in number, highly interesting.
What a wondrous announcement, the Empire of China is divided in
twain. Here is removed the last great barrier to the spread of the
Gospel. When these things happen, what manner of persons ought
we to be ? John.
Not at any period of his life did MacGregor
confine his reading to one class of literature, and
certainly not to "good" books. As a matter of fact
he read some of the very worst he could find — but he
did so either to refute their errors or to procure their
suppression. About this time the reign of "penny
dreadfuls " was supreme. Dick Turpin, Claude Duval
and Jack Shepherd, were the heroes of the boy world,
and the effect of such and other pernicious reading
was only too patent. Judges on the Bench, and
ministers in the pulpit, launched their thunderbolts
against the demoralising influence of such books, but
no one seemed to be able to prescribe an antidote.
Mac Gregor was always of a practical turn of mind
and when once he had investigated the matter and
had found that the pernicious literature of the day was
ruining thousands of young lives, it was not in his
nature merely to sit still and lament the evil.
We find in the diary therefore the following entries :
1854. Jan. 21. — Committee Purity of Press Society.
Jan. 27. — Formed Society for Pure Literature.

1 82 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. viii.
The efforts of the Pure Literature Society, in
which he took the deepest interest throughout his
life, were from the first in a positive direction. Its
object was not to publish either books or periodicals,
but to stimulate the circulation of the best reading
among the people. To this end a catalogue of
approved works was issued, libraries were supplied
at half price, selections of books were made for
schools and institutions at home and abroad, managers
of publications were corresponded with, either in
praise or blame, and at the society's offices thousands
of books might be inspected by those who were
seriously anxious to improve the reading of their house
holds. An indefatigable committee of ladies and
gentlemen carefully read and criticised every book
->J that was to find a place in the catalogue. Referring
to the class of works it was the object of the com
mittee to eliminate, Lord Shaftesbury said :
Look at the immense efforts that are being made in various
quarters and by various parties for the dissemination of literature the
most insidious, the most attractive, the most foul in principle and
design and yet the most deceptive that ever was composed by the
hand of man, or that ever issued from man's foul heart. They are
written with so much astutenesss, so much care, that I defy any
lawyer that was, and I defy, moreover, any lawyer that ever shall be,
to be able to draw up a clause in an Act of Parliament which should
put down such literature as that.
By the means of magazine associations and other
effective operations, the committee of the Pure Litera
ture Society succeeded in bringing healthy periodicals

1854 LORD SHAFTESBURY 183
to the homes of people of all classes, and over a
hundred ladies and gentlemen in one district alone,
were, in the early days of the society, acting gratui
tously as canvassers.*
Although we have hitherto regarded MacGregor
mainly in connection with religious and philanthropic
work, it must not be supposed that there was not
another side to his life. He was a man who
thoroughly enjoyed society, mingled in it freely and
was brought into contact with almost every notable
person of his time. Moreover he was a man of many
intimate friends.
Soon after coming to London he became ac
quainted with Lord Shaftesbury, first in connection
with Ragged School work, afterwards with Reforma
tory and Refuge legislature, then in the crusade
against the Papal aggression, and subsequently in
almost every form of labour in which the " Good Earl "
was engaged. Platform and committee acquaintance
ship soon ripened into friendship, and that friendship
was continued almost without interruption till death
severed it. Although in the course of years a vast
number of letters passed between them, they were
chiefly brief and businesslike, as they were in the
habit of seeing one another so frequently. Each
admired the work of the other ; in cases of difficulty

* The Pure Literature Society not only exists, but continues in a flourishing
condition. The offices are No. n Buckingham Street, Strand, and the valuable
and energetic secretary is Mr. Richard Turner, who has held the office for
thirty-eight years. The Society owes much to his zeal and energy.

1 84 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. viii.
or doubt they almost invariably consulted together,
and in each there was the consuming desire to better
the world, to raise the fallen, and to fight against
ignorance, poverty, and crime among the lowest of
the people. In Mac Gregors diary the name and
deeds of Lord Shaftesbury are recorded with great
frequency, and a few extracts here may not be
uninteresting. 1851. July 23. — Lord Shaftesbury, Chevalier Bunsen, Hon. William
Cowper visited the shoeblacks with me.
Oct. 28. — Wrote to propose myself for the National Club * asking
Mr. Napier to propose and Mr. Colquhoun to second.
1853- May 11. — Evening at Lord Shaftesbury's. Met Mrs. Beecher
Stowe and asked her to go to the Ragged Schools t — also the
Archbishop of Canterbury, &c.
1855- Dec. 24. — By Southampton to visit Lord Shaftesbury at St. Giles.
Found there Lord Ashley and his three brothers and four sisters,
Marquess D'Azeglio, Mr. and Mrs. W. Ashley, and A. Kinnaird.
A very pleasant time.
Dec. 26. — Long walk with Lord S. and his sons in the rain
conversing on very deeply interesting subjects and again after
dinner. Dec. 27. — Shooting hares, rabbits and pheasants with his three
sons, drew caricatures and played billiards. Lord A. most enter
taining and interesting.
When Lord Shaftesbury safely brought through the
House of Lords his "Common Lodging House"
* In March 1856 MacGregor was elected a member of the Athenseum Club.
¦(• Mrs. Stowe refers to MacGregor in her " Sunny Memories."

r8s6 LORD KINNAIRD 185
Bills — " the first successful efforts that had been
made to reach the very dregs of society — the first to
penetrate to the deepest dens of vice, filth, and
misery — " Mac Gregor, who knew the slums of
London and the manners and customs of the denizens
so well, was able to render him most important
services. The personal interest that he took in the
matter may be gathered from, the following :
1856. Jan. 13. — Morrison with me to seven lodging-houses at night with
Jackson and Joyce. In one fifty people were waiting for us. Went
into the Pie House on Holborn Hill and found thirty boys and gave
them reading. A crowd collected.
Feb. 24. — Spoke in two lodging houses. This is a heavenly work.
It brings the best news to the lowest people.
Another life-long friend was one whose name can
never be forgotten in the philanthropic history of this
country, the Hon. Arthur Kinnaird (afterwards Lord
Kinnaird), a genial, generous, and delightful com
panion — one of the best-hearted and most right-minded
men of his generation, whose name, like that of Lord
Shaftesbury, will frequently be mentioned in the
course of this narrative.
A third friend, with whom at the time of which we
write Mac Gregor was intimate, was Mr. Alexander
Haldane, a barrister-at-law of the Inner Temple — one
of the proprietors of the Record newspaper — and the
friend and confidante of Lord Shaftesbury. Mr.
Haldane has been described as "an active, energetic
man, strong in body and mind, of great intellectual

1 86 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. viii.
force and tenacity of purpose, full of keen and warm
hearted sympathies, lively in temperament, with a
strong sense of humour and an inexhaustible fund of
anecdote." In this case "like sought like," for the
description of Mr. Haldane might have been applied
in identical terms to John Mac Gregor.
But Mac Gregor's friends were legion and we only
refer to these three typical ones in passing. It was
his nature to be staunch and true — one friend never
thrust aside another — and though as the years went
on new names were almost daily added to his list of
friends, the old ones, Snape, Fowler, Martin Ware,
Wilbraham Taylor, Nathaniel Bridges, and a host of
others were constantly recurring and were always
mentioned with generous affection. In the same way
that the names of friends stood in his memory as
landmarks of his personal history, so did certain
events, and it is interesting to note that almost every
year on the ist of March he makes a special entry in
his journal in grateful remembrance of the fact that
on that day he was rescued from the burning ship,
the Kent. Thus :
March i, 1856. — Remarkable day for me. For, thirty-one years
ago, the Lord saved me on the ist of March from the flames and
waves, in the Kent.
In that same year he wrote :
Sep. 25.— Saw Lanark Mills with Mr. Miller, and Falls of Clyde,
and went to the annual races and preached to eleven groups of
people. Met the sweep, thimble-rigger, hard-headed cosmopolite,
old elder, and Jack Collins of the Kent. All this sent to Record.

l8S6 ON THE RACE-COURSE 187
The man, Jack Collins, was selling a broadsheet
with doggerel verses giving harrowing details and a
glaring picture of the " Burning of the Kent." Mac
Gregor bought some copies, and one he had framed.
It is still in Mrs. Mac Gregor's possession, and bears
this note :
In returning from the race-course at Lanark, in September 1856,
when I had spoken to several groups of people upon 'better things,'
I overtook J. Collins, a fine-looking sailor, whose feet having been
burned he had t© push himself in a go-cart. He is one of six
who were on the maintop of the Kent and were burned. He sold
this paper to a crowd of persons, listening to the conversation be
tween two men who thus met thirty-one years after they had been
both so wonderfully saved from fire and water. J.M., 1856.
It is impossible to paint a faithful biographical por
trait of a man and not draw aside the curtains which
conceal his inner thoughts and spiritual life. Mac
Gregor was not guilty of the bad habit of morbid
introspection ; and he rarely wrote in his diary, still
less to his dearest and most intimate friends, the
hopes, fears, aspirations, and regrets that all must ex
perience and that some express so freely as to destroy
the fineness and purity of the feelings. Neverthe
less, here and there in his diary — which, be it remem
bered, was mainly a note-book containing memoranda
of things done — there are a few charming passages of
self-revelation, and we make no apology for quoting
some of them.
1855- May j, — Read part of Bradford's life and felt that the highest

188 JOHN MACGREGOR chap.viii.
grace of humility is that which feels deeply and shows much, but
speaks little. Even the world knows that professions of humility,
when with any show of truth, do in fact raise instead of lowering, and
it is possible to be proudly humble.
May 6. — We are between two dangers always — exultation and
vanity at being instruments in God's hands, and disgust leading to
despair at being such feeble and sinful instruments. Lord preserve
me from both dangers.
March 16, Sunday. — I had a most pleasant dream this morn
ing early. The vivid impression of music beyond idea beautiful and
yet only a few notes, made me awake suddenly. The only other
recollection was that at the moment of hearing these tones I thought
they never could be surpassed or heard again. Strangely enough I
read afterwards of some cases of ecstatic glimpses. Gradually it
becomes a truly pleasant habit to awake with thoughts of God. The
first few movements of the mind are more connected than at first
we see, with the line of thought throughout the day.
After entering many details of places visited and
engagements fulfilled on a certain Sunday, he adds :
I never had a more delightful Sunday, yet here I go writing all
I have done. So full is self of self.
At another time :
If one were perfect for an hour what a misery would the next
minute be, crammed with sin as before. The continual intercession
is needed like the perfect redemption.
Dec. 28. — Last Sunday of 1856. Not conscious of one single
act not covered with selfishness. Cannot even imagine the feel
ing of labour for God purely. It must be half heaven to get rid
wholly of self.
Surely much importance is to be attached to expres
sions such as these and others that follow. Do they

l85<5 INTROSPECTION 189
not explain much of ordinary philanthropic life, of
conscious and unconscious motive, and of religious
routine? Accept the confession as true — and if it
were not true it would be miserable cant — it is repeated
year after year— and what does it show? That he
was a real man, true to himself and therefore, in the
main, true to God. There is no shadow of mock
humility in the expressions but honest manliness and
godliness. He could not be a humbug and he could
not ignore, what so many do, that politics are not
wholly for the good of the people, that scientific dis
covery is not wholly for the assistance of the world's
progress, and that so-called Christian activity is not
always for the glory of Christ.
The entry in the diary continues :
Valuable lesson this, to reflect on difference between means of
grace and end of religion ; machinery and products. Hardest work,
sanctification of one's own soul. Often must be silent to hear God
speak to one's self. Hundreds of times we add to labour when we
ought to redirect it. Put on more wheels and noise when the spring
of motive ought to be purified and intensified. Never in more
honour with man or more mean to myself than now. Sin not that
grace may abound, is a very needful maxim after we feel grace.
Security begets forwardness.
Feb. 22, 1857. — A veiy happy useful Sunday. Noble sermon
from Bayley, ' Except your righteousness exceed the righteous
ness, &c.' He rightly says it means our inherent righteousness,
not imputed. When I think that their righteousness was to be seen
of men in their good deeds, and that unless mine exceeds that I
shall in no wise enter the Kingdom of Heaven, full and unconquer
able despair would close on me. I am not sensible of ever doing a
thing of good except in some way or other to be glad of it to myself

190 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. viii.
or others. I cannot imagine the grandeur of Paul's or John's work
ing good, unless alloyed with miserable human motives. Still I wish
the best motive and strive after it and really love and trust, and hope
and pray.
In reviewing some of the main features in the char
acter of John Mac Gregor we must not omit to mention
one with which all who knew him well are familiar.
He was a man who never hesitated to express his
opinion. As a rule he did so modestly but firmly as
became a man who had made up his mind ; at other
times he was brusque and dogmatic, in which case he
did not give a fair representation of himself. In
illustration of our point we cannot perhaps do better
than let him speak for himself by giving in his own
words an account of an interview he had with Bishop
Wilberforce. It will assist the reader to understand
the " notes " more fully if we recall to his mind that
Convocation which had been extinguished in the last
century (17 17) was revived in 1852, and that the
revival, taking place concurrently with the introduction
of the confessional into the high churches, was the
occasion of considerable public controversy in which
Lord Shaftesbury took a leading part. The occasion
of the interview was that Mac Gregor had sent to
Bishop Wilberforce a copy of his tract on the Open-
air Mission entitled "Go out Quickly," which was
acknowledged as follows : February 6, 1855.
My Dear Sir, —
I thank you greatly for your deeply interesting
publication. I regret in it your sneer at Convocation which I

l8S5 WITH BISHOP WILBERFORCE 191
believe I could show was actively engaged in your own work. I
should be very glad if on some occasion within the next ten days
I can have a conversation with you on the subject. I am, ever yours,
S. Oxon.
An appointment was made, and, on the day before
his visit, Mac Gregor wrote to his sister : —
How very funny it will be to' go to see the Bishop of Oxford
to-morrow. You know he is a very great gun.
We give the notes exactly as they were written.
Notes of Interview with Bishop Wilberforce,
at 26 Pall Mall, February 13, 1855.
Bishop Wilberforce. Writing letter went on and directed it.
Mac Gregor. Silent.
W. Praised tract ' Go out quickly,' would gladly do what he could
to help anything to bring people to Christ, ought to be a missionary
wdrk, but, to bring to fold of church.
M. People ask if we are ' touting for the Rector ' and any
visible connection with a system or congregation would be a barrier.
On this people most sensitive, would not cross a chalk line. Will
not come on 'kerbstone,' tents at Chobham not frequented, but
services outside crowded.
W. Should Bishop of London preach himself out of doors ?
M. No, but if he went to ten others preaching, and standing by
each for five minutes were to say, ' I rejoice to hear the truth
preached here, you will hear the same in that church,' he would in
fact preach ten open-air services in fifty minutes, and without
exhaustion. W. Who ought the preachers to be ?
M. Not the clergy who work hard in their pulpits, for they have

192 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. viii.
enough to do ; not those who are lazy in their pulpits, for they will
not do enough.
W. Ah, you would have laymen. Ought the Bishop of Winchester
to get clergy and laymen together and organise ?
M. He should speak to ten of his best clergy and each of them
choose two laymen and say, ' Go to the worst places in my parish and
do your best with the Bible, out of doors, and tell me this day three
months how you get on ; they are doing the same in ten other
parishes, we are not singular, we shall interchange and compare our
accounts of success.'
W. But clergy have preached in the open air.
M. Yes.
W. How are they received ?
M. Very well ; they go in clerical dress and this mostly ' draws.'
It would soon cease to do so. The groups must not be too large for
any one to be otherwise than personally near the speakers.
W. You don't make a difference between appointed ministers and
all laymen ?
M. A great difference. The clergy ought to be exalted. I would
put them on the pedestal God has made for them. You would
place them on man's pedestal. Yet mine would be higher and on
firmer basis. Where lay-agency is most honoured by the minister,
clerical influence is most cherished by the people.
W. In Convocation we want to get lay agents.
M. Nominally.
W. How do you mean ? What do you think I want Convocation
for? Surely it is unfair to charge these motives. Why sneer at
Convocation ? What do I want it for ?
M. It is more unfair for you to ask me to divine your motives.
W. I daresay you would rejoice to see me burned in Smithfield ;
people malign and abuse and threaten me. Don't those who look
from your side of the heavens imagine all evil against us ?
M. First ' pure, then peaceable.'
W. Yes, but peaceable then pure, and pure then peaceable. Why
can't we agree to work together? In ninety-nine points out of a
hundred we are united.

!855 WITH BISHOP WILBERFORCE 193
M. But the hundredth may be the point, and if distinct opposition
is felt upon that, it indicates the agreement in the others to be only
skin-deep. W. If we had Convocation there would be more union.
M. Convocation, even last week, more effectively than before,
ranged the two parties of the Church in opposition.
W. Why do you call themparties 1 There are no parties mentioned
in the Bible. We ought to get on together and not speak of parties.
M. That might be a wise saying in a.d. 2, or a.d. 3. I question
if in a.d. 4, it was not proved doubtful, but in 1855 it is utterly
absurd. We differ in essentials, men died, three hundred years ago,
for these differences.
W. No ! but for the absurdities, the bestialities of Romanism.
You don't think there is any danger of our falling into these ?
M. Men believe in the ' real presence,' — as ghastly a doctrine as
any Popery ever had.
W. Well but don't make it a ' Shibboleth ; ' we need not all hiss
together. M. No, but it is known as a mark of far more serious errors, and
scarcely ever found without them. It is known on one side, and
acknowledged on the other, to be a badge, just as the cross in a
church is itself nothing, but may yet become the very ' mark of the
beast.' W. But you don't define ' the real presence.'
M. In this way. Do you believe that when you eat the bread
after consecration and all the rest is rightly performed, the bread is
at that moment mere flour and water ?
W. Yes ; but do you believe that Christ is not specially present in
certain means ?
M. He is, but that is jumping from the bread to the Saviour. The
heresy about the 'real presence' has got to do with the 'bread,'
and Denison does not say as' you have done about that. His party
would not, and he has many in it.
W., Oh, no ! not many supporters.
M. Not many friends, but many supporters.
W. Your party does not run down this doctrine for its own sake,
N

194 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. viii.
but making it a pretext for opposing those who advocate other modes
of teaching than yours.
M. I have more knowledge by correspondence and communication
with the Evangelical party than it is possible for your lordship to have,
and I do believe we oppose for a far different reason.
W. Why malign, and abuse, and oppose ? The sleeping Church,
long in a trance, awakes. The man becomes conscious. He sneezes
and coughs, and you say, 'No, he may not rise.' He gives signs
of life, and you oppose those who would quicken him to live and
move and vivify all things — why do you smother his first returning
breathings ?
M. Because his first sign of life is to stretch his hand along the
ground to reach his cudgel, and in olden times with that he sadly
belaboured those who have now laid him low. If he wants to live it
must be as a brother, not as a master.
W. Why do you impute such motives ? Do I want Convocation
to live for this ? How can you judge of the aim of Convocation ?
Those who are most anxious for it are the same who most eagerly
desire that the Church should reach the people.
M. The Bishop of Exeter is one of two Bishops who will not
subscribe to the Scripture Readers' Association, yet he is anxious for
Convocation. W. Don't judge men by any Society.
M. No ; but if a man does not support even that mode of reaching
the masses which the whole bench, but himself and another, support,
and if he does not allow any other means, how is it possible that
he wishes for Convocation so as to make the Church reach the
people ?
W. He is an old man now, and was bred in other views than those
we have.
M. Men older than he have been burned rather than allow clerical
supremacy. But there is the other Bishop.
(I did not know this was Bishop W. himself. He rose, stood by
the fire as if he wanted me to leave, but I stuck on !)
W. He may have other reasons.
M. Yes ; but to speak plainly — if Convocation had to vote

r855 WITH BISHOP WILBERFORCE 195
to-morrow about lay-agents, even the Scripture Readers' Association
being as the type, these two prelates would be in the minority.
W. I like speaking plainly — I never like mystical words. I like
exactly to see a man's meaning and to make mine known.
M. I fear I have been only too plain-spoken.
W. Not a bit.
M. Well I will be plainer still, shall I ?
W. (Sitting down.) Do pray.
(I began to suspect that Bishop W. was the other of the two
prelates who reject the Scripture Readers' Association, for he got very
bitter.) M. What should you say to this? We — a few laymen — keep a
layman in a clergyman's parish against his will and protest, because
while he gives Popish books with his name to his people, our layman
is afraid to get more than nineteen people together to hear the Word
of Life.* W. That's your parable, and here is mine. A worthy minister
works with his curates and agents in his parish, and teaches them all
he can and ought, and one of your Societies sends a man to him
who creates dissension and comes without any need of him, and for
no purpose but to quarrel. This is the other side.
M. And put both sides together, what do they show we want ? A
body large enough to settle when, where, how, by whom, additional
teaching may be sent to a parish. Convocation cannot do this unless
the full body of the laity is its major part.
W. That's your view. You want Convocation to have the laity as
part ?
* The reference is to an enactment then in force prohibiting the teaching of
the Gospel and the worship of God in private houses where more than twenty
persons besides the family were assembled. Although the law was practically
a dead letter, Lord Shaftesbury thought it would be wise to have it repealed,
and brought in a Bill accordingly. This was strenuously and bitterly opposed
by the Bishop of Oxford, Earl Derby, and others, but after a sharp struggle
Lord Shaftesbury carried the day. It is a, curious phase of ecclesiastical
history that not until August 1855 were religious meetings in private houses
"lawful assemblies." — (See " LifeJ and Work of the Seventh Earl of Shaftes
bury," vol. ii. pp. 511-521.)

196 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. viii.
M. Yes ; as Jewel says, ' Where there are three laymen there is
a church.' W. Yet to get the laity is my object in Convocation, and we cannot
have them unless a united voice is heard asking for them.
M. The voice of Convocation never was less united than last week.
The Upper and Lower Houses are quite disagreed.
W. I believe the opposite.
M. I know persons in both Houses, and being only a spectator I
can see the quarrel more easily.
W. That goes back to our former subject. How do you know our
object in bringing Convocation together ? Why do you think it is not
for the very purpose of organising lay-agency ?
M. We judge in two ways. First, by reading the reports in the
papers of the words used and resolutions passed. Second, by looking
to the dioceses and parishes of those who constitute the House of
Convocation, and seeing there what they do in the matter to
encourage it.
W. That's hardly fair. The church has established such rules.
We ought to be like the leaves of a tree of every form and colour
and turned every way, but all giving health and receiving nourish
ment from the same root, not being all of the same tree.
M. We ought to bear one fruit too.
W. But the tree is nailed to a wall, and when one tree or another
sprouts or looks alive the gardener prunes it off at once  How
can we help you in Convocation ?
M. If that now sitting only plays, it will show that no Convocation
is needed ; if it works it will infallibly cause a real Convocation to be
asked for. Our laity were represented by Parliament until that was
un-Protestantised — then some assembly without Romanists became
necessary. W. We are powerless at present.
M. If we repeal the Acts of Uniformity we shall be at least free, if
not strong, and this can be done without Convocation.
W. There are two great extremes. On one side Individualism,
man's soul communicating with God's Spirit, and not by sacraments

l855 WITH BISHOP WILBERFORCE 197
or ordinances or appointed means ; the other, making Romish ritual
the only means. Surely truth lies in the centre.
M. It is the oldest and most dangerous of all fallacies to set two
opposing errors as extremes, and to say ' truth lies equally distant
from both ' in the point of indifference or neutrality.
W. I did not say 'equally distant from both.'
M. Yes, the centre.
W. It may be like the foci of an ellipse.
M. It lies between.
W. Yes.
M. Truth may lie much nearer one extreme than the other, and
here I believe it does so. Man's spirit communes with God directly
and without ordinances, but also with ordinances. The ordinances
are only helps to facilitate the direct personal communication, and
that the main object is so overwhelmingly more noble and important
than any other, or than the means for it, that the means are quite
subordinate. W. We differ in words, perhaps, but maybe we have the same
object in view.
M. If that be the conversion of every living man and his sanctifi
cation by the Spirit our object is one.
W. I shall be delighted to aid you in any way I can.
(I left him a list of our stations, report of services, &c, and
talked a good deal about the committee directing the Open-air
Mission.) In the " Life of Bishop Wilberforce," the following
reference to the interview with Mac Gregor is made
in an extract from the Bishop's diary : —
Feb. 13, 1855.— Met  6 a curious specimen of earnest,
evangelical, Protestant men, very narrow and earnest, ready to burn
a Tractarian or spend himself in preaching the Gospel to the
6 A clergyman.

198 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. viii.
poor. A lawyer in the Temple, a bishop of Exeter on that side.
Thought ill of Convocation because the Bishop of Exeter sup
ported it.
In 1883 there is a note in Mac Gregor's diary : —
"Feb. 20, 1883. 'Bishop Wilberforce's Life'
contains a reference under Feb. 13th, 1855, to my
private meeting with the Bishop by appointment.
But the editor put in a note that it was ' a clergyman '
who is referred to. I wrote to the editor to correct
this important error and to offer him the perusal of
my notes of it as written by myself."

'5**.
f

CHAPTER IX
1857—1859
IN SPAIN, AMERICA, RUSSIA, AND ELSEWHERE
From his youth up John MacGregor had a strong
predilection for science. His early ambition was to
excel as a civil engineer, and his first contributions to
periodical literature consisted, as we have seen, in a
series of articles to the Mechanics' Magazine on scien
tific subjects. Cambridge, however, gave him a taste
for the Bar, and he had not long entered upon the
duties of his profession before he cast about in his
mind how he could combine them with his scientific
proclivities. There was one man, Hindmarsh, who
practically monopolised patent law, and it was into
this department of investigation that Mac Gregor
made up his mind to enter.
It would not interest the general reader to follow
him through all the stages of one or two gigantic
tasks he set himself to perform. It will be enough
to say that he threw himself into this apparently dry
and hard work with all the vigorous energy he had
shown in other spheres, with the result that he
produced several valuable books — ¦ " Specifications

200 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. ix.
for Patents," a "Digest of Patent Laws," and an
exhaustive work on " Marine Propulsion." He was
also engaged by the Government to prepare the
official Blue Book for the Patent Office.
Had he been a man of worldly ambition, had the
pursuit of "filthy lucre" been the object of his life-
quest, there can be no doubt that he would have
taken a very high place, if not the highest, in this
important department of law. As it was he made
a very definite mark and his works were received with
the warm appreciation of all the best authorities on
the subjects he dealt with. A few notes from the
diary will speak for themselves as to the force he
threw into his work and the spirit in which it was
undertaken, but the reader must bear in mind that
concurrently with these labours he had the care of all
the philanthropic enterprises described in the previous
chapters of this narrative.
1852. April 15. — Began to read with Hindmarsh. Read Patent Law.
April 15. —Worked well at Patents.
Feb. 14, 1853. — Thought of writing a book on 'Specifications
for Patents.'
1854. Jan. 19. — Began to collect cases for my work on 'Infringement
of Patents.'
Oct. 30. — Began to write my book on ' Language of Specifications.'
Oct. 28, 1855. — My book on Specifications came out to-day.
1857- Nov. 2 7.: — Conceived the idea of writing a supplement to
Webster's ' Digest of Patent Cases.'

l859 PATENT LAW

201

l858. Jan. 9. — Yesterday began my Digest of Patent Laws in the
Library, hoping that God would give me strength to finish it for
good. June 7.— Finished my ' Patent Law,' book and index.
1859. Feb. 6. — Woodcraft finally arranged with me as to beginning
to write for him the two volumes on ' Marine Propulsion.'
Feb. 7. — Got columns of specifications from Patent Office and
asked strength from above for this large work.
July 4. — Finished my book (' Marine Propulsion '*) begun
February 6th with much satisfaction.
The compilation of this work was a most laborious
task. Part I. was an exhaustive summary, with elabo
rate historical notes, of the principal British and early
foreign inventions relating to the propulsion of vessels
arranged chronologically with Abridgments of the
Specifications of British Patents; in Part II. Abridg
ments of the Specifications of all the British Patents
on the subject were given from 1831 to 1847, with
notices of unpatented inventions and of experiments,
and in Part III. the Abridgments to the end of
1857. The name of Mac Gregor does not appear in
connection with the publication, the preface bearing
the signature of " B. Woodcroft " (of the Great Seal
Patent Office), and the date, June 1858.
It was no little gratification to Mac Gregor to
* "Abridgments of the Specifications relating to Marine Propulsion (ex
cluding sail)." In three parts. With indices of names and subject-matter.
Printed by order of the Commissioners of Patents. London : Published at the
Great Seal Patent Office. 1858. Price 45.

202 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. ix.
receive from such men as Sir Joseph Napier and J.
Scott Russell, warm encomiums on the "marvellous
research" and "conspicuous ability" he had shown in
the preparation of the work.
Two passages from " Marine Propulsion " we must
quote here.
In a.d. 1543, Blasco de Garay, a Spaniard, is related to have
propelled the vessel Trinidad at Barcelona, by an engine which
'consisted of a large cauldron or vessel of boiling water and a
movable wheel attached to each side of the ship,' that is to say,
propelled by steam and paddle wheels.
Although Mac Gregor quoted eight authorities giving
credence to this tradition his own opinion was that it
was not trustworthy and he determined to test the
matter. The other passage relates to Denys Papin, natural
philosopher. There are drawings still in the King's Library at Hanover, left by
Papin and Leibnitz, but not examined.
Soon after completing "Marine Propulsion" Mac
Gregor commenced collecting materials for a new
work on the steam-engine, projected by Mr. Scott
Russell, and in prosecuting his researches he visited
the Royal Library at Hanover and at great sacrifice
of time and labour succeeded in establishing the
claims of Papin to be the first who used a steam
boat. To investigate the Spanish claims he determined to

]857 A TOUR /IN SPAIN 203
visit Spain. His first step was to enlist the sympathy
and practical aid of Loftus C. Otway who wrote in
reply to his application : Madrid, July 25, 1857.
.... On receipt of your favour of 20th inst., I called on the Under
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and fully explained to him your
wishes and enlisted his good offices and interest in your behalf. He
is shortly to send me a letter from the Minister of Instruction and
public works with whom it rests to give the authorisation to visit the
Archives of Simanchas. Senor Cueto (the Under Secretary) thought
there would be no difficulty or objection whatever in giving you this
permission, and said that Blasco de Garay's first experiment of a
steamboat took place at Barcelona before the Emperor Charles V.,
and that an account of it has been published in some official Madrid
Gazette, and thought if you made Barcelona your road to Simanchas,
or returned home by it, you might probably fish up some valuable
information in the archives of that city. . . .
L. C. Otway.
In due course a "copy of the Royal Order sent to
the Archives of Simanchas to authorise John Mac
Gregor to examine the books and papers on the
subject in question" was received, and on the 10th of
September 1857 he left for Spain.
Shortly before doing so he noted in his diary :
Dublin : Read my paper at the Section G of the British Associa
tion on ' Early modes of propelling ships.' Livingstone dined and
stopped with us. Russell, Napier, Woodcroft, Moffat, Larcom
and many others in the evening.
The tour in Spain was one of great interest to
MacGregor. Paris, Tours, Bordeaux, Biarritz, and
Burgos were visited. At the latter place he wrote :

204

JOHN MACGREGOR

CHAP. IX.

Sep. 20. — Read Lucille with delight. In quiet walk saw from
the hill the bull-fight with thousands shrieking delighted as the
horses were gored and their bowels trailed on the ground.
Thence to Valladolid and Segovia, the Escurial,
Madrid, Valencia, and on the 7th he arrived at
Palma, Majorca, where he wrote to his sister as
follows : Palma, Majorca, October 7.
. . The steamer to Algeria sailed on Sunday and thus after a good
struggle to secure it I was baffled in my attempt again to mount the

IN THE MARKET PLACE, PALMA

delightful old camel and to rush, as I meant to do, to the Bedouins
over the French Kabyles to inspect their enemies. Then I betook
me to the Balearic Isles .... I like men and manners rather than
the thing of the place to see. After stopping at Iviza, one of the
Islands, and inspecting the Roman remains I came here to a capital
hotel, far the best I have seen in Spain. At Iviza came on board two
Spaniards who I saw at once were clever men. They turned out to
be engineers searching for coal and when I mentioned my mission to
Simanchas and my search about Blasco de Garay, one said : ' That

i857

MAJORCA AND MOSQUITOES

205

is very curious indeed, I have just finished a volume of collections
for the Engineer School of Spain on the same subject.' So we
agreed to meet at Barcelona on Saturday week that I may inspect his
productions and thus add a superlative gratuitous postscript to my
present valuable information . . .
The streets are clean here. The women wear white lace on their
heads instead of that universal mourning, black mantillas worn by
the Spanish women — the ugliest dress on the ugliest women. Dear
me, how a real English lady rivets the table d'hote and peers above
these shrivelled, mincing, yellow-tanned Spanish women !
I am in rude health with a violent attack of moustache far more
vigorous after one month here than it was after nine months on my
Syrian Tour. J.
Palma, October 12.
The mosquitoes are the only drawback to Majorca. They were
indeed most cruel to me. Though I tied my handkerchief double in

MOSQUITO PRECAUTIONS

a bag round my face and put the sheet over my head and panted
inside, yet these extraordinary plaguers found their way in — dived
their probosces into my cheeks through double silk. Sleep was
impossible. In the morning, however, with healthy stomach and
fresh mountain breeze one forgets such trifles and in a pour of rain I
shouldered my knapsack for a ten miles' walk before breakfast.

206 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. ix.
I like all this a thousand times more than the beaten track. Best
of all I like after breakfast in a new town to smoke a cigar in the
market and just stand and look on. What a tide of new life one
sees. Then meander down the street. Here a man tinkers a pot in
quite a new fashion, there a woman with peacock feathers in her hat
sells forty-eight large plants for a penny, or 100 figs for the same and
the jabber and the talk, the guitar man singing the while and the
rosaries cried for a halfpenny and the priest with fat face eyeing me
askance. Then I eat six peaches, twenty figs and five bunches of
grapes a day, and sketch a funny car with two poles and eight oxen
passing the chocolate man, with whom I chat and stare into the
barber's where fifteen men are talking their highest political themes
about how Spain will be ruled right well — some day.
All this will clear the cobwebs away for a right good hard working
winter, please God.
I find only one Englishman has been here for five years. Dear
me ! how that child is screaming. I never heard such squalling
babies as in Palma . . . . In an hour I am off to Barcelona. John.
In continuation of his tour Mac Gregor visited
Barcelona, Perpignan, Cette, Nimes, Lyons, and
Paris, arriving in London in October. He sums up
the journey in the diary by a page or two headed,
" Spanish Notes " :
Boys play and whistle much more than the Italians. Streets of
small towns more lively and noisy. Basques speak much to horses,
saying, ' Arriva ! Macho ! ' and all say ' Ida ' for go on. They whistle
to moderate the pace and say 'Wo-o.' Very many dishes in no
precise order. Music with very delicate turns. Spanish ladies
accent with a drawl and persuasive lisp. Servants proud and quarrel
with each other. Great interest in knowing English terms. Beat
the mules, though they show they understand words. Lancer's
uniform red. Officers great airs. A bugle call turns out guard at

i857 BLASCO DE GARAY 207
even and the officers stand with hats off for part of it — perhaps a
National anthem. Priests chant and sing with bassoon and trombone
to a lively air. Old and young men in church confess and are
extremely devout. Space nailed down aisle for priests to go from
altar to altar. Mules larger as you go south. Women with yellow
petticoats over head, or red, like Galway peasants. Forty-four priests
and acolytes servicing in Segovia and fourteen persons to hear them.
Sep. 23. — Walked from Valladolid to Simanchas with Mr. J.
Ussher, presented Royal letter, but principal keeper absent. After
five hours got admission, and with much persuasion allowed to
inspect the two letters signed Blasco de Garay which Don Manuel
Garcia, the gentleman in charge, said were the only ones he knew of.
He said that there was no mention of steam or steam-engine, and
that it was un mensonge historique to say Blasco de Garay invented
steamboat. The "notes" then proceed to give an exhaustive
account of his further researches not only at Siman
chas, but also at Barcelona and Paris, and how he
ascertained beyond doubt that the Spanish claims to
the invention of the first steamboat were without any
foundation. Soon after his return from Spain (April 14, 1858)
Mac Gregor read a paper at the Society of Arts on
" The Paddle and the Screw from the Earliest Times,"
illustrated by fifty-eight elaborate diagrams drawn and
mounted by himself, as well as by numerous models lent
from the museum of the Commissioners of Patents.
In thanking him, Mr. Scott Russell, the chairman,
said his admirable paper was calculated to promote
the advancement of manufactures and mechanical
inventions, and that his laborious researches on this
subject and his judicious elucidation of the relation of

208 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. ix.
these inventions to one another had conferred a lasting
benefit upon mechanics in general.
An incident on the return journey from Spain was a
visit to La Salette, a celebrated place of pilgrimage at
that day, where it was alleged a notable miracle had
been performed. Mac Gregor fully satisfied himself
that the whole affair was a clumsy and silly fraud, and
on his return prepared a lecture on La Salette which
he delivered frequently for many years in the interests
of the Protestant Alliance. It was a matter of great
gratification to him when in 1879 a clerical organ at
Toulouse announced that the Pope had pronounced
against the alleged miracle of La Salette, and all
representations therefore of the appearance of the
Virgin in peasant costume to two children were no
longer to be objects of adoration but were to be re
moved and destroyed. It transpired that Melanie
Giraud, one of the heroines of the affair, had lived for
some years on the coast near Naples and had professed
to receive revelations and visions, which found many
believers. The Pope eventually summoned her to
Rome, subjected her to a severe cross-examination,
and at last extracted an admission that she and her
brother had played a concocted role. The latter was
at one time a Papal Zouave and addicted to drunken
ness ; but as even in that condition he always told the
same story as to the " apparition," this was considered
an additional proof of its genuineness. As a resort for
pilgrims La Salette has long been thrown into the
shade by Lourdes.

l8S8 DAVID LIVINGSTONE 209
A few days before going on his Spanish tour, Mac
Gregor, it will be remembered,* met at the house of
his father in Dublin, the world-famous explorer, Dr.
David Livingstone. Livingstone had at that time
travelled over no fewer than 11,000 miles of African
territory, having, in his latest expedition, traversed
South Africa from the Cape of Good Hope by Lake
Ngami to Linganti, and thence to the Western Coast
in ten degrees south latitude. Then, retracing his
steps eastward as far as Linganti, he had followed the
Zambesi down to its mouths upon the shore of the
Indian Ocean, thus completing the entire journey
across South Africa. He returned to England in
1856 to propound his views on the question of African
civilisation by recommending the growth of cotton
upon an extensive scale in the interior of the continent,
and the opening up of commercial relations between
this country and the South African tribes as a means
of abolishing the slave trade and advancing the
interests of European civilisation.
It could not be otherwise than that the heart of
John Mac Gregor should go out towards the great
heroic pioneer of Christianity in Africa, but it is not
generally known that he was able to render him
important services. Not the least of these was that
Mac Gregor placed his pencil at the disposal of Dr.
Livingstone and illustrated for him his celebrated
book, "Travels and Researches in South Africa," and
* See p. 203.

2 to JOHN MACGREGOR chap. ix.
also arranged a reception for him at Cambridge which
led to such important ulterior results.
We give a few extracts from the diary and from
letters relating to these circumstances : —
1857- June 4. — Conversed with Dr. Livingstone.
Dined at W. Taylor's and met Dr. Livingstone and made some
sketches for his new book.
Nov. 18. — Wrote Whewell suggesting he should ask Livingstone to
Cambridge. Yesterday, planted seeds in flower-pot from Crimean
grave of darling Douglas, kindly brought by William Russell.
To his sister :
13,800 of Livingstone's book sold on Saturday, and so large a
sale is only the beginning. When people hear of it they will ask for
three times that number.
I am amused at your 'substantial and permanent gift ' of- ^50,
but hammer away, my lass. He is here still but soon starts for
Portugal, and he will come back, please God, before he goes away
with all his machinery. I hope to see the good man in a day or
two. I went to Barnet on Saturday and found Wilbraham Taylor
had a magnificent portrait of the Doctor, with his stick and cap, and
Taylor sitting by him on a table. It is the very life-look of both of
these excellent fellows, I went because Dr. Faa (queer name), a
pope man, was actually to preach there out of doors. We found 200
people in the misty evening on the grass, and I got up in the chair
and gave a quarter of an hour on La Salette which opened the eyes
and mouths of the faces staring up at the lamp over my head. It
was my first speech for nearly three months, and the bottled-up
Protestantism was uncorked !
In March 1858 Livingstone returned to Africa to
follow up the Zambesi expedition. Before doing so
he wrote to Mac Gregor :—

1858 LETTER FROM DR. LIVINGSTONE 211
18 Mart Street, Bloomsbury Square,
February 5, 1858.
In following out my plans for opening Africa to Christian civilisa
tion, I intend to try and make the Zambesi a path of lawful commerce
by stimulating the tribes inhabiting its banks to engage in collecting
and cultivating the raw materials of English manufactures. Success
in this will demand that the first efforts the natives may make should
be encouraged even at. a pecuniary loss as, if a man cultivates half
a pound of cotton, unless he gets something like a shilling for it he
will not feel inclined to proceed with what may seem so unprofitable
a speculation. Mr. Clegg gave as much as half a crown a pound at
first for cotton which brought him only sixpence at home, but now
he gets hundreds of bales at about twopence or threepence. The
loss which must be incurred I have resolved to bear until the sale is
profitable, then retire for ever from anything like trade, for this
employment I abominate. Now it did not occur to me till after you
left, that Christian men might wish to bear a part in this which to
worldly men may appear only Quixotic want of regard for the main
chance. If the idea appears feasible to you, would it be well to ask
your friends to raise a sum which might at your discretion be
applied to sustaining a part of the loss I contemplate. I don't like
to appear greedy and after all my countrymen have done I am sure
my heart overflows with gratitude to them and to Him who put it
into their hearts. This plan would assist me indirectly and at the
same time aid the cause we all hold dear. The development of the
African trade is not the whole object in view. We have our own
population crowding on us in misery, and it seems absolutely
necessary that free-labour-loving Englishmen should form a counter
poise to the slave-holding across the Atlantic. If we can have a
healthy stand-up point, our enterprise and our Christianity may push
its way thence to the unhealthy cotton districts beyond. To this my
first efforts will be directed and it is of great importance that the
interest which has been excited should be sustained and that is often
done by people feeling themselves actually engaged in the work.
This they will feel if they give of their substance for its promotion.

212 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. ix.
I say this though I really have a strong aversion to appearing greedy.
My views reach a little farther than appears on the face of the
exploration ; the members of the expedition have each a practical
object in view, and are expected to give a full report of the vegetable
and mineral resources of the country. I mention these things in
confidence and am, Affectionately yours,
David Livingstone.
In 1858 one of the saddest events in the history of
MacGregor occurred. His brave and heroic mother,
who had shielded him in the burning Kent, who had
made so much of the brightness and beauty of his
home, and had watched every phase of his career with
tender solicitude, passed away from earth.
1858. March 8. — Got a delightful letter from home. One end began
from dearest E., and the other from beloved mother, with their
blessed words meeting in the middle. This was the only letter
I ever got of this kind though often both wrote on the same paper,
one ending, the other beginning. Sorry I burned this letter.
March 9. — Day of eternal remembrance. Got telegraphic mes
sage to come home. ' Mother unconscious ! ' Left by train
through Oxford and overtook Henry at Chester, and with him by
Holyhead arriving at home at seven on the next day, when I found
our dear one died on the 9th. On the 8th she was writing to
Duncan, and at four God stopped her hand when in the middle
of a word of love, so that she left the earth in the midst of her
maternal duties. She was insensible all next day, and then peace
fully left us.
March 16. — My father is 71 years old. My mother was 10
years younger.
The loss of his mother was a great blow to Mac
Gregor and it was not for many a year that he could

l858 OUR COUSINS AND BROTHERS 213
venture to breathe her hallowed name without a tear
in his eye.
In July of that year Mac Gregor, whose fame as a
philanthropist had gone forth to the ends of the world,
made a visit to the United States and Canada, and
even before he set out he was booked deep in engage
ments to preach and lecture. He was faithful to his
diary throughout the tour, sent home a number of
letters to his family, wrote a series of articles for the
weekly issue of the Record, and in 1859, soon after his
return, wrote " Our Brothers and Cousins : a Summer
Tour in Canada and the States," which was published
by Seeley, Jackson, and Halliday. The idea in the
title is that "the American citizen is our cousin by
nationality, but the American Christian is our brother
at once and for ever." From these sources we cull a
few particulars of his journey.
His remarks on men and things in the America of
that day are graphic and amusing. At Halifax for
example :
Five sedate judges are sitting out a five days' cause in the Court
house and the eloquence of the Attorney-General and five other
counsel is listened to with profound attention by the audience, con
sisting of one man. The good people of Halifax are too sensible to
waste time in hearing arguments ; and :no doubt they will be content
when the Chief Justice pronounces the decision next November.
Referring to the restless activity and constant hurry
of the Americans, he says :
A quiet half-hour after every meal would be a specific for much

214

JOHN MACGREGOR

CHAP. IX.

of that restlessness which every American seems born to, and hence,
perhaps, the thin-limbed men and pale women of the great Republic.
One of these voracious citizens said : ' I tell you what it is, sir, I
guess I have a good appetite and can finish my dinner any day in

INDIAN TENT

seven minutes.' ' Oh, that's nothing,' answered a sarcastic Briton ;
' I have a hound that can bolt his dinner in three ! ' In another
place two Yankees tried a race at dinner ; but one pushed the pepper
castor under the other's nose. He gave one cough and lost the
race.

•l858 LAYING THE ATLANTIC CABLE 215
Mac Gregor's visit to America was before the
glorious days when slavery was abolished. He
speaks of the "darkies" on the American side of
Niagara who would be free for ever if they could
cross the river.
And they do cross it constantly. Only a few days ago two run
away slaves made good their liberty ; and, as they left the other side,
no doubt they hummed the tune of ' the land of the brave and the
free,' as it is foolishly called by our good friends, whose flag has
' stars ' for the white and ' stripes ' for the black.
It happened to be Mac Gregor's luck to visit
America at the time of "cable-joy" or "telegraph
ecstasy," that is to say, just after the laying of the
Atlantic cable. He made a few extracts from news
paper articles thereon :
A Chicago paper says, 'The world is finished, its spinal cord is
laid, and now it begins to think ! ' Another : ' A cable it is indeed !
To it is attached the best bower anchor let down deep in the hearts
of two great nations, and its flukes are embedded among their living
fibres.' A Philadelphia paper announces : ' Unless we have a
national Jubilee, the pressure (of excitement) will burst the boiler of
the American Republic and lay out the American Eagle dead as a
wedge ! '
He describes the wonderful illuminations and deco
rations in New York in honour of the occasion. One
that seems to have arrested his attention more than
any other, was a device over Niblo's Theatre bearing
a single text of Scripture : "When the multitudes saw
it they marvelled, and gave glory to God which had
given so great power unto men."

2I6 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. ix.
As an expert "shimmer" he kept his eyes open
to observe the characteristics of the poor and he
says :
I am once more forced to remark that the true type of London
ragged boyism is never to be seen but in London.
In Washington he of course saw the monument to
George Washington, and remarks : "If ever it is
completed it will be like a great milestone to show
how far the designers are from taste."
In the slave States it afforded Mac Gregor a great
pleasure to take part in the worship of the negro con
gregations and to hear the darkie preachers.
Jim Hamly gave a sermon that was far better than any of the
three white sermons I heard next Sunday. After my evening
address the negro hymns and prayers went on for two hours. They
sing and pray with a hearty vigour, that rouses in a sober mind the
question, Does not our propriety often suppress our earnestness?
Jim Hamly commenced his sermon by reading the verse ' Comfort
ye,' and shutting the book he said, ' Perhaps you will wonder why I
don't tell where the text is to be found ; but I'm not yet arrived at
the proper standing in the ministry for that.' Imagine the little
blackie in light-coloured shooting coat ending his discourse thus, ' I
may not have been just as eloquent as Volteer, or learned, like
Cicero, or Cato or the other scientific theologians ! ' He often
alluded to ' Calvary's rugged rock,' and one of his expressions was
' God will blow out the king of day that gilds the eastery horizings
with his magnificent meridion ray ! ' but there were small and few
grammatical blemishes compared with the insufferable ignorance and
stilted pretentiousness that some of the illiterate white preachers
begin their service by, and painfully continue till they warm up to
naturalness.

l858 AMERICA AND AMERICANS 217
In visiting schools and churches in the American
cities, he says :
I was introduced as a 'friend of Captain Vicars' and no more
was needed to ensure a most cordial Christian welcome ; for the lives
and deaths of Vicars, Hammond and Green have been read as much
here as in England. How little did those brave heroes think that
their names would illuminate both hemispheres of the earth when
their souls were shining in Heaven !
He found much pleasure in talking to the negroes
whether in church, street, or hotel.
After a long talk with a negro in my bedroom he suddenly said,
'Sir, how far is your station from Ayshy?' meaning, how far is
England from Asia, and he was sure we went always by railway.
He added, ' Is England anywheres near Liberia ? for there's a very
pertickler friend of mine there ! '
He did not always relish the company he had to
mingle with on the river steamers, especially at meal
time. He seems to have met with some exceptionally
bad specimens, and says :
I do not object to ' roughing ' it. Few people like more than I
do to consort with all classes ; but I do object to forcing those
people to an apparent equality whose habits and tastes are different,
and who clearly indicate that they are not at ease, by preserving a
dead silence, and then rushing away as soon as possible from one
another. It must never be forgotten that there are some people who
do use salt-spoons and butter-knives, nail-brushes and pocket-
handkerchiefs. At Chicago he listened "with very great delight to
a black preacher, in a ' coloured man's church ' where

218 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. ix.
almost all the congregation were fugitive slaves," and
he adds "it was with the heartiest good will that I
partook of the Lord's supper with the poor fugitives."
Writing to his sister he says :
Boston, October 16, 1858.
.... I wrote last to you from the middle of the Mississippi
and nailed it on a bit of wood and threw it on board a steamer that
had got stuck on the same bank with us and quite near. I got
2100 miles up the river. Well, haven't I had a wondrous tour?
Only four hours unwell and that a slight chill, nothing lost but the
handle of an Indian pipe and a penny pencil !
Every minute of my three days here is all laid out for me by my
friend Greenough and I must cram tight to do half of it.
To-morrow I shall hear Theodore Parker and go to a Quakers'
meeting and a school at night.
I shall send one more letter to the Record to-night telling of my
falling in for a Convention of Ministers on the Mississippi, 400 of
them, and meeting Lady Head and Lord Radstock at Magasa.
At Chatham visited the nigger free settlement. How I do pitch
it into the slave men ! ' I find quite as many gentlemanly minded
negroes as whites,' and sincerely I really do. There will one day be
a Civil War here about these slaves. This hotel is almost like dear
dear old England. It has the first open fireplace I have seen for
three months. J.
Of course he went the "round of the churches," and
some of his criticisms are smart and incisive, others
somewhat caustic.
I tried to hear the Rev. Theodore Parker, so as at least to make
one effort to ascertain his views (if, indeed, he knows them himself)
and thus be prepared the better to combat his followers in England !
A Mr. Higginson of Worcester preached in his place to a congregation
of about 1500. The preacher prayed in a strange mysterious

l859 EMIGRATION

219

manner as if he approached the Almighty with his hand over his
face, and complained he could not see Him even dimly. His text
was, They laded us with such things as were necessary' (Acts xxviii.
10), and putting the Bible carefully aside, forthwith left it and the
text as a starting-post to run away from.
Mac Gregor made good use of the whole of the
time he was with his "cousins and brothers" and
tried to see every detail in the great picture that
unrolls, as a panorama, before the traveller every day.
But he left the vast continent with this question con
stantly in his mind : "Is this progress or is it only
movement ? Is it going ahead, or is it only spinning
round?" The final entry in the diary relating to his journey
is : " Never had a more useful or happy tour, which
for health and gladness could not be surpassed."
On his return from Canada his interest in emigra
tion revived. While there he had met with several
boys and girls who had been sent out under Ragged
School auspices and he made exhaustive inquiries
concerning them. He found that only one had failed
and one was going on indifferently. Thus encouraged
he put himself into communication with the gentlemen
officially employed by Government to assist and direct
emigrants from England, and was able from his recent
experiences to give many useful hints, and above all
to tell of the success of those who had gone out and to
furnish the gratifying news that there was room for
thousands upon thousands more.
In the summer of 1859 MacGregor set forth on

220 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. ix.
another long tour, joining at Antwerp the flood of
English travellers that spreads over Europe every
year and leaves its golden track behind. Passing
through Hanover, Hamburg, and Lubeck, he took
ship to Cronstadt, and arrived in St. Petersburg in
time for the fete of the assumption of the Virgin Mary.
The ceremonies of the Greek church did not shock
him as did those of the Roman Church, while the
music fairly captivated him.
The music from well-tuned voices subdued into a blandishing
minor key fills the dome from an invisible source, so unlike the
Pope's plan that enables you to see the grimaces of the flute player
and the wagging of twenty fiddlesticks. All this is so much better
managed by the Greek that I cannot but wonder how it is our High
Church friends in England do not follow the Czar rather than the
Pope when they seek for new or old crotchets on religion under the
name of proprieties.
A short stay in Russia, however, brought out all his
strong Protestant feelings, and he tars with the same
brush both Greek and Latin churches : —
The Papist exalts one woman above all mankind and debases ten
thousand in the forced celibacy of the Convent. The Greek
worship forbids our sisters to stand near the place where God is
supposed to reside, though His Son, when on earth in veritable
presence, suffered a Magdalene to bathe his sacred feet with tears.
From St. Petersburg he struck off for a journey of
a thousand miles to visit the Great Fair of Nijni
Novgorod, where Chinese and Tartars and all nations
meet on the Volga. Quitting the railway about five

*859 RUSSIAN TEA-DRINKERS 221
hours short of Moscow, he determined to push his
way on by boat, and persuaded an Englishman, a
fellow traveller, to accompany him. It was a new
excitement to get out of a railway carriage at a town
where inquiries were to be made about steamboats,
to find them, and to take berths without the knowledge
of a. word of Russ, and without any courier or in
terpreter. Once on board the river, navigable for 3000 miles
or more, he found plenty of work for pen and pencil ;
shoals, rocks, and sands abounding on all sides ;
entangled trees, rafts, and countless barges and boats
clogging up the widest channels. He describes
graphically the national tea-drinking habits of the
Russians : —
At all times, and in all parts of this mighty empire he can get it
good, and drinks it without stint. A little tray is brought in with a
glass tumbler and saucer, and a tea-pot of very small size, and a large
one full of hot water. No milk is to be used. The tea is poured
into the saucer of glass, and the Russian, taking a lump of sugar
between his teeth, holds the saucer in both hands, with the elbows
resting on the table, as he sucks the genial beverage through the
sugar, and thus glass after glass disappears between his beard and
moustache, while the little tea-pot is drenched over and over again
from the large water vessel, and the oftener the water is renewed the
Russian seems more decidedly to think the tea is better than before.
The boats on the Volga greatly interested him.
There is a train of them ascending with 10,000 good tons of
goods, several of the largest being 400 feet long, and bearing 1500
tons on one keel. They are pulled up by a huge vessel carrying 150

222 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. ix.
horse, which work, by fifty at a time, a great wheel that winds up an
enormous cable attached to an anchor carried out in advance from
time to time.
He was much struck with the punctilious courtesy
of the Russians, exceeding any cpde of manners with
which he was acquainted, even the lowest carter
taking off his hat to his equal friend; but " when two

•:

FAIR OF NIJNI NOVGOROD

great hairy fellows," he says, " set to work energetic
ally kissing each other, it becomes ridiculous, and one
is almost reminded of the hugging of two bears."
The great Fair of Nijni Novgorod, held in a large
tongue of land formed by the confluence of the Oka
river with the mighty Volga, he describes as "one of
the grandest sights in the world for modern travellers
to see." Probably no Englishman ever saw more of the

l8S9 NIJNI NOVGOROD 223
Fair in the same space of time than Mac Gregor. He
was here, there and everywhere, simply revelling in
the enjoyment of the scene ; now driving amongst a
hundred Kalmucks, bargaining for apples at the
women's stalls, tasting the milk in little jars of bark,
jumping from stage to stage over the mass of
floating houses, rafts, boats, and barges; mingling

?¦»",.:.

FAIR OF NIJNI NOVGOROD

with the dense mass of human beings eating, drinking,
laughing, sleeping, shouting, and doing everything
except business ; or joining the money changers
with their scales and weights, and scores of silver
pieces lying under glass cases.
He visited the Chinese Quarter, and drank tea
inordinately. He went into eating houses for curious
fare, into the dreary wooden buildings where the scant
amusements were offered, into clothing bazaars, and

224 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. ix.
into the Iron Quarter, where whole miles of streets
were filled with iron in every shape and stage of
manufacture ; and throughout his stay he had the
pleasure of knowing that he was the gazing-stock of
every one he passed, that his Glengarry cap was the
novelty of that season's Fair, and that he was the only
Englishman then at Nijni for the sole purpose of
seeing the Fair.

TARANTAS TO MOSCOW

Nijni was the farthest point in his journey, and he
summed up his experience of the Great Fair thus : —
It is a wondrous sight to see — a crowd without the usual con
comitants we Englishmen expect in all crowds — a multitude without
confusion — an intensity of traffic without a deadlock — an improvised
city without the evils of a town — a Babel of languages which nobody
but the English stranger has a difficulty in understanding.
To reach Moscow Mac Gregor had to travel night
after night by tedious stages, "without any excitement

l859 MOSCOW

225

except that of fifty bumps a minute ;" and getting tired
01 this mode of travelling, he and a young officer of
engineers straight from the war with Schamyl, started
off in a country cart with a bundle of hay, a string of
biscuits, and a bushel of apples, under a contract with
the driver to take them a hundred miles in twelve
hours ; and how the journey ended he tells in the
following letter to his sister : —
Moscow, September 17, 1859.
Charming, and well, and browned to any mahogany. I've had
rather hard work, too, and last night, arriving here, got between the
sheets again the first time for very nearly three weeks. The descrip
tion of the Fair I will send to the Record, and my three days of
additional waiting, because I would not start on Sunday, enabled me
to get some additional walks there, to see the thing very thoroughly,
to make a careful sketch, and to write a careful description. So, as
usual, one does not lose at all by keeping the fourth commandment.
It was a curious feeling to be left alone in the middle of Russia.
We had three days, villainous days, on a most uninteresting road,
and at last a fine young Russian engineer officer from the Caucasus
and myself took a common cart and set off at a tremendous pace to
finish the last hundred miles, and save a night's wretched half-sleep.
Our last three horses did forty miles in five and a half hours with
much horrible bumping. However, it's all over, and one forgets it.
Moscow, utterly different to any other town, a fairy
scene that can never be described or forgotten, with
its domes and minarets of brilliant colours, its green-
roofed houses embedded in trees beside the winding
river, and above all the solemn tones of a thousand
bells blended into one mighty swelling ceaseless sound,
made the soul of MacGregor rejoice; and again we

226 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. ix.
find him speaking a good but guarded word for the
Greek church : —
The constant bowing, and crossing, and kneeling till the fore
head touches the ground, or, with a step aside, till the lips kiss the
frame of some sacred picture — these constant and various physical
acts, repeated on all sides of you, and seemingly at the will of the
worshipper, without any order— give to the Greek form of worship a
peculiar interest, not altogether unpleasing, for there is, apparently
at least, much of devout adoration mingled with the ignorant
idolatry. It was almost always Mac Gregor's good fortune
to visit particularly interesting places at particularly
interesting periods, and while he was in Russia he
had the advantage of witnessing the great imperial
displays in St. Petersburg in honour of the heir of
the Czars who had come of age to reign, and of being
present at the entry of the conquered Schamyl, who
was said to have cost the Russians 20,000 men
annually for many years.*
The former event nearly cost him his life. At one
particular corner he posted himself among a seething
crowd to witness the passing by of the Emperor and
his suite, and perhaps for the first time in his life he
felt frightened.
The shrieks of women were loud and piercing, and, finding I
was being carried towards a canal, I made a desperate effort, and
was only just able to rescue myself, when the iron rail gave way,

* MacGregor says, " Few that went down to the Caucasus ever came back.
We met one soldier who had been nine months walking back from this distant
seat of war."

1859 A NARROW ESCAPE 227
and, amid fearful screams and shouts in a hoarse key, more than
thirty people fell over into the water, deep down below. A scene
of much sorrow and little bravery then occurred, and several
people were killed in my sight, and large numbers wounded.
In a letter to his sister written from St. Peters
burg, he sketches the outline of his return journey to
London : Petersburg, September 20.
Think how delicious to find your letter and one from Hany
my worthy dragoman in Palestine — sent home by Mr. Taylor, to
whom I had recommended Hany in Toronto. What odd events.
Glorious weather, and all the place astir, to prepare for the
evening's grand event, the coming of age of the future Emperor
— and a letter from my clerk showing (so far) no need to rush
back for the American business, but I expect his and your next
letters at Stockholm, and as I may never be in this place again,
I hope to take a look at one or two towns in Finland— Sweaborg,
Helsingfors, and Abo, so as to start from this next Friday (this is
Tuesday), and come back across Sweden.
Nice sermon on Sunday, and Sacrament. I have caught up my
friend W. here, having stopped my two Sundays, and yet have seen
more than he has.
How many mercies to be enjoyed ; perfect health, good news from
you, delicious travel and fine weather, and no call to business for at
least a fortnight, by which time I may be nearer you.
And now farewell for a little. J.
We shall only refer to one more incident of this
tour — an incident which causes him to chronicle a new
experience :
With my French friend I set off to Dannemora where we
inspected the oldest iron mine in Sweden, and the richest iron ore
in the world. Our horses did not complain after eighty-four English

228

JOHN MACGREGOR

CHAP. IX

miles in one day, but it is a sight that is better divided when you
have so much walking, at least
four hours of it besides. The
sight, however, is worth all the
trouble. Conceive an enormous
chasm, 500 feet deep, with an area
of several acres, and perpendicular,
black, rocky sides, not unlike the
crater of Mount Etna, especially
when the blastings of the rock
beneath fill the bottom with a
languid floating whitish smoke.
Here and there, far, far below
you, are the miners labouring
away and looking like specks of
brown dust. At twelve o'clock
their preparations are complete
and they move towards the various
buckets, lowered to the bottom
from engines at the top worked
by oxen turning great wheels that
wind up the thin wire rope, not
at all larger than a bell-rope for a
bedroom. A long-drawn musical
shout from the dark gulf below
tells that the men are ready, and
the oxen soon begin their slow-
paced, weary rounds. The explo
sions that follow are among the
grandest sounds that one can
ever hear. Nothing but this ever
seemed to me more awful than
thunder, even when the voice of
the skies is heard over the caul
dron of Niagara, or deep down in
DESCENT OF THE DANNEMORA MINE *Qe Cen"e OI VeSUVlUS.

1 859 THE DANNEMORA MINE 229.
We determined to make a descent into this wonderful place, and
a large bucket was attached to the rope. It was an exciting thing
enough to be one instant safe on terra firma, and a moment after
wards to be launched out over the brink, three of us standing
together clinging to each other, and suspended over a yawning
cavern of which we could not see the bottom, but where St. Paul's,
if it stood there, would be far, far below us. The sensation was
certainly more powerful because of the ample width of the sides,
the complete dependence upon your holding on, and the very thin
rope that kept ever slowly unwinding from above. The descent
into a coal-mine is far less impressive because the shaft is so narrow
that you retain at least the impression of being near the sides and
cannot realise the depth below. As we swung round and round the
grandeur of the scene was displayed to perfection. Here was a
mighty rock projecting some hundred feet into the smoky nothing
ness, and there a magnificent arch, under which the Monument could
stand with ease. Some of these arches opened into other mines and
were tinted with the light of day, while others led to endless
galleries, all cut out by human hands. The smoke at the bottom
was as white as milk, and the water was frozen as we 'landed.'
The scene beheld in looking upward I cannot even attempt to
describe. It was very interesting to compare the feelings experienced
here with those I had last summer in the cave of Kentucky, said to
be the largest in the world. The iron mine at Dannemora is far the
better sight of the two. Next there was a deep, dark hole to descend,
about 400 feet of iron ladders, but this is more like what one can see
in England, and I need not, therefore, describe the place.
The experiences of Mac Gregor in the deep places
of the earth formed the subject of one of his most
interesting lectures, which he entitled " Rob Roy
Underground."

CHAPTER X
1859—1868
THE LONDON SCOTTISH
There was never a more peace-loving man than John
Mac Gregor, and yet few ever believed more firmly
than he in the doctrine that the "best way to ensure
peace is to be prepared for war." He would not for
the world harm a fellow creature if he could help it ;
but if he could not help it he knew exactly where to
plant his fist with the greatest advantage.
He felt that the safety of the individual depended in
large measure upon being able to defend himself, and
that the safety of the nation depended upon the
strength and courage of trained men who, in the event
of the "regulars" being called away into active
service, should be able and willing to take their place
in protecting the country.
In May 1856 the great National Thanksgiving for
the restoration of peace, after the horrors and terrors
of the Crimean War, was celebrated in London and
throughout the country. Within a year a feeling of
insecurity began to manifest itself in consequence of
persistent allegations that the national defences were

1 859 NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION 231
insufficient and, in consequence, the Victoria Rifles,
and one or two other corps, were formed.
In May 1859 notice was issued from the War Office
sanctioning the formation of Volunteer Rifle Corps,
as well as of Artillery Corps in towns where there
were forts or batteries. The movement spread with
great rapidity throughout England and Scotland, and
within a year or two, many thousands of volunteer
riflemen were enrolled.
On the 4th of July 1859, a great public meeting
of Scotsmen was held in London, the outcome
of which was the "crack" regiment, the London
Scottish. It would be out of place to give anything like a
history of the Volunteer movement in general, and the
London Scottish in particular, in these pages, but a
few brief notes may perhaps assist some readers to
get a clearer understanding of the matter now under
treatment. In i860 the whole volunteer force of the country
numbered 133,342 men, and in that year the
National Rifle Association was formed, which inau
gurated those great yearly meetings held till 1889
at Wimbledon (and since removed to Bisley near
Woking), where many thousands annually competed
for prizes.
In January i860, the London' Scottish was accepted
by the military authorities as a battalion of six com
panies of 100 men each. The kilt was worn at first
by only one company, later by four companies until

232 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. x.
in 1866 the whole of the regiment was put into that
dress. Field-Marshal Lord Clyde, G.C.B., was honorary
Colonel from 1861 to 1863, Lieutenant-General Sir J.
Hope Grant, G.C.B., from 1864 to 1875, the Earl of
Wemyss, A.D.C. (formerly Lord Elcho) now holds the
appointment. Lord Elcho was the first acting-Colonel
of the corps, and he was succeeded by Major (after
wards Colonel) Lumsden.
The writer of a series of well-written papers on
" Our Battalions " says : —
"The London Scottish Rifle Volunteers enjoy the
distinction of being the only corps on this side of the
Tweed clothed in the kilt, and perhaps more interest
is taken in their welfare on this account. To the
metropolitan mind the skirl of the pipes, the swing of
the kilt, and the light jaunty step which appears to be
begotten of the pipes, on all occasions and in all climes,
have many attractions. Other corps may come and
go, and the British tradesman observes them not, but
let the 7th Middlesex (London Scottish) march down
Piccadilly and he is at his door in a trice. Everybody
seems to take more interest in them than in either of
the thirty odd soberly clad battalions to be found
within a very few miles of Bow Bells." .... "The
members of the corps are as fine a set of fellows
physically, socially, and from a strictly military point
of view, as it would be possible to band together
anywhere in the civilised world for any purpose.
... I do not say that there is not as good a body

1859 APPOINTED CAPTAIN 233
in the volunteer service but I do say that there is no
better. JVulli secundus might truthfully be adopted
by them as their motto." *
Although it does not appear that Mac Gregor was
present at the great meeting in London which led to
the formation of the London Scottish (he was, as a
matter of fact, absorbed in clearing up a mass of work
prior to his tour in Russia), nevertheless we know
that from the first his full sympathies were with the
volunteer* movement ; he was a firm believer in its
motto " Defence not Defiance," and, naturally enough,
his sympathies were deepest with the London Scot
tish. Almost immediately after his return therefore we
find these entries in his diary :
1859. Oct. 31. — Joined London Scottish Volunteers.
Nov. 1. — First drill, with Snape and Girdlestone.
i860. Jan. 18. — Rifle general meeting when I was nominated bugler.
Jan. 21. — First bugle blown. Westminster Hall.
Feb. 4. — Rifle general meeting. Certainly my popularity in the
corps is very dangerous to my modesty.
Feb. 17. — With E. and A. to Westminster Hall where I acted as
officer of No. 2 and at night Mac Kenzie actually said they were
thinking of me for Major.
Feb. 19, Sunday. — King's Cross, good sermon and then a dis
cussion ; 100 at class at night. Could scarce keep out of my thought
all day the idea of being a Major.
Feb. 25. — Appointed Captain of East Company.
* Volunteer Service Review, May 1892.

234 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap, x,
Feb. 29. — Assembled my Company for the first time, 29 present,
44 names.
March 1. — To Millbank to form the East Company and met the
Committee. March 2. — Got name of company changed to 'Central Company'
by Lord Elcho and Committee.
March 3. — First drill of my Company at Westminster Hall.
At the heading of the page in the .diary in which
the last of the above entries appears there is a note in
Mac Gregor's handwriting, evidently written many
years afterwards but with the same honest pride that
characterised the days of his vigour, " My Company,
L.S.R.V.!" Whatever he took up after mature deliberation he
carried on with enthusiasm and henceforth for some
years there is scarcely a page in his diary that has not
some reference to volunteering :—
March 16. — My Company which was twelve in number on Feb. 25
has increased until on this day, three weeks afterwards, it is eighty ;
of these seventy were present to-night. I feel this to be a very great
honour. July 27. — Went to Wimbledon to fire, supped with Carlisle and
told him of the kilt. [This was the first idea of a kilted company.]
Nov. 19. — Lord Elcho spoke to me at drill to-night asking me to
act as Adjutant. This high honour is certainly appreciated.
Nov. 20. — With Company at Sterlings. First broached to them
my kilt Company.
Dec. 4. — To Hythe and at mess. Here Phillips whom I met in
the train proposed me as chairman for a night and next night I was
proposed as permanent chairman.
Dec. 19. — Finished shooting at Hythe, got fifteen in ist class and
went straight off to London where serenaded Lady Elcho.

CAPTAIN JOHN MACGREGOR, LONDON SCOTTISH RIFLE VOLUNTEERS.

1861 IN THE KILT 235
Dec. 20. — Back to Hythe to be congratulated as winner of a prize.
My hits 28, Hoare 27, Saunders 26, Frost 25.
1 861. Jan. 15. — Began musketry class.
Feb. 20. — First meeting of the new kilt company No. 10 at the
Westminster Hall.
April 24. — The Central Company presented me with a sword. Lord
Elcho spoke.
June 4. — Wimbledon ; where I won the first prize of the Regiment,
making 24 points at 200, 500, 600 in 15 rounds.
Aug. 14-17. — To Paris. In the kilt to Vincennes to visit the Tir
Nationale for the National Rifle Association.
Up to this time nothing had ever taken the fancy of
Mac Gregor so much as volunteering and in nothing
else had he won so much popularity. He was master
of every detail connected with drill, firing, and the
hundred and one matters that are of interest in the
career of a volunteer ; he threw his whole heart and
soul into what he did, and his enthusiasm grew con
tagious. It is a fact within the knowledge of many
that not undistinguished men * sought to join his
company, many having for their main object, inter
course and perhaps friendship with him. And it is
also a fact that wherever he went, he came in for
applause, and that in whatever he proposed he had a
following. "Comrades of his in those times have told us," says
Dr. Macaulay, "that often after a long and fatiguing
day at Wimbledon, when many preferred returning to
London on foot, John Mac Gregor was in the front,
f The Marquis of Lome was in his Company.

238 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. x.
i Mitre Buildings, Temple, London,
May 6, 1862,
Dear Sir,
At the request of the National Association for the Promotion of
Social Science, I have agreed to read a paper at their meeting in
London this summer on the ' Moral, Social and Hygienic Effects of
the Volunteer Movement.'
The testimony of volunteers qualified to judge will be of the
greatest value for this purpose. I venture therefore to request you
to have the kindness to give me information from your experience
under the following heads as soon as is convenient,
(1) Names of various corps to which your experience relates.
(2) Are the men improved in manner, character, or conduct by
becoming volunteers ?
(3) What are the results in general as to idleness, dissipation and
vice? (4) How is the movement regarded by the families, relations, and
friends of Volunteers, with respect to Social life ?
(5) What effects has the movement upon health and strength,
activity, diligence and fitness for business, and as a manly exercise
and recreation ?
(6) Pray state probable reasons for exceptions to general con
clusions under the previous heads.
Yours faithfully,
J. Mac Gregor,
Captain, London Scottish Volunteers.
The result of this appeal was a mass of correspon
dence involving the most patient care to tabulate and
arrange so as to make it of practical value, but he
succeeded, and the London and provincial press bore
unequivocal testimony to its abiding worth. We
cannot give even a precis of the paper here, but a few
notes on Mac Gregor's opinion of volunteering, taken
from it and from other sources, may be useful to

1862 MORAL EFFECTS OF VOLUNTEERING 239
present and prospective volunteers. He held that the
mere fact of wearing a uniform has as good a moral
effect on a soldier as the academic costume of the
universities has on a man of letters, and that habits of
control formed in uniform are sure to affect the same
man in plain clothes. He considered that it is a good
thing for a man to be drilled, to keep silence when he
wishes to talk, to give a loud and prompt command in
public when shyness would keep him silent, to be
ordered this way when he would like to go that way,
to have in fact another's will as his rule ; and to
engage in all this, not as a pastime, but for a serious
purpose and under the law. Moreover the volunteer
makes new acquaintances, especially with his superiors,
and at a time when he is observant and when they
also are on their good behaviour. He is exercised in
temper, patience, promptitude, obedience, punctuality
and smartness, and he finds that success is attained on
the old principles of right and wrong and these are
thereby strengthened within him. Again, the volunteer
learns to consort with other men, to persuade or agree
to differ ; to manage, or take part in, public business ;
to read with attention the directions of others ; to
speak with accuracy in giving his own orders ; to
write with clearness, and to rely with confidence on
his memory. He becomes more patriotic, loves
Queen and country better than he ever did before,
and his respect for the regular army warms to
admiration, for now he is half a soldier and can
appreciate those who are soldiers indeed. He is rich,

240 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. x.
perhaps ; but he finds a tradesman beats him at the
target. He is poor, it may be ; but he finds that true
gentlemen are most courteous to him. He is a deep
scholar ; but he may be the dunce of a squad in the
new school. He blamed law and the constitution for
all his ills ; but he soon finds that all large bodies
must have heads and must have defects. He was,
perhaps, a Chartist before ; but his charter now is
order, love and liberty. The moral effect of all this
upon a man's character soon becomes apparent, and
one aspect of it is well summed up in a note by an
experienced officer : "The check is in the mixture of
classes, producing (i) a dislike, which gradually
becomes habitual, to do that which conscience or
the decencies of society forbid in the presence of a
superior ; (2) the reflection that what is evidently
objectionable, if committed by inferiors under our
eyes, must be unbecoming and 'low' in ourselves."
The opinion of Mac Gregor, from which he never
wavered, was that the minds and habits of young men
were greatly improved by volunteering, and that the
movement was the deadly enemy to idleness, dissipa
tion and vice.
Although, of course, there was then, and is now,
considerable difference of opinion as to the moral
effects of the volunteer movement, there was and is
much less as to its hygienic effects. The health of a
young man is almost always improved when he is a
volunteer. He learns to stand erect ; he is taller
when he is drilled ; he becomes more supple as he

i862 HYGIENIC EFFECTS OF VOLUNTEERING 241
learns to wield a sword, to handle a rifle, to box, to
fence, to sing, to walk, to leap, to run. He goes out
on breezy hills to shoot, and he never had so many
country walks before. He cannot make " bull's eyes "
at the target if he takes much beer or tobacco, or any
spirits ; nor will he win a prize in shooting if he sits
long nights in music-halls or enervates his heart and
brain by dissipation. There is, no doubt, another and
a dangerous side to the question, but this has to do
more with the physical constitution of the men them
selves. There have been deaths innumerable and
chronic invalidism produced by exposure to heat and
cold, to night air, to over-fatigue, and such like, but
the blame for this rests more with the individual than
with the system.
With regard to the social aspect of the question
there is also, and always has been, considerable diver
sity of opinion. Complaints were made on the one
hand that it broke up home life, and on the other that
it made every home a barrack, as so many volunteers
brought home other volunteers. But the social aspect
has changed at different periods in the history of the
movement. Mac Gregor in his paper to which we
have referred, sums up his remarks on this phase of
the subject thus :
The volunteers never can repay the debt they owe to the ladies,
to the mothers who permit, and the sisters who encourage, and the
fair friends who smile on the very system which abstracts those they
love from many hours of home society. It is true that ' the Ledger
must support the Volunteer's rifle,' but the rifle would fall to the
Q

242 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. x.
ground if the women of England were to frown on it. They will not
frown on such a movement  They will still follow in this the
noble example of the highest lady in the land and she will still
befriend the volunteer. The Government will approve them ; parlia
ment will help them ; the army will teach them ; the press will
encourage them ; the clergy will sanction ; employers will assist ; the
rich will give gold ; the great will give influence : the wise will give
counsel ; and, above all, God will give His blessing upon this great
work, a pledge of peace, a living bulwark to keep Britain safe.
It must not be supposed that because Mac Gregor
threw himself with such consuming vigour into the
volunteer movement, he was less earnest in his philan
thropic and religious work in consequence. On the
contrary he took that work with him and opened
up a new sphere of Christian activity. He was
willing to share in all the manly exercise, the joy-
ousness, the hilarity, of a volunteer's life, but he
would only do so within proper bounds. Here is an
absolutely true story sent to me by one who knew
him intimately :
" Many years ago a captain of volunteers, whom I
knew very well, was one day in the office, when Mr.
Mac Gregor entered. After a little conversation
together, and Mr. MacGregor had left, Captain W.
said to me: 'What a fine fellow he is.' He then
said : ' I will tell you something that occurred down
at Wimbledon. We were a number of officers
assembled together, Mr. MacGregor joined us.
Some of the men were indulging in very loose con
versation. At once Mr. MacGregor said: 'Gentle
men, we are met here to serve our Queen ; let us not

1869 INFLUENCE ON VOLUNTEERS 243
dishonour our King of Kings.' He then left the
group. One officer asked afterwards, ' Who is he ? '
and the reply given by some one was : ' John Mac
Gregor ; one of the finest men that treads God's
earth ! ' Captain W. then added : ' I can tell you
that no one dared after that to indulge in loose
language in his presence. The cry went forth,
'Here's John MacGregor,' and all unseemly lan
guage immediately ceased.' "
Such was his influence among the volunteers.
In an old book, printed in 1579, and called "Stra-
tioticos," the author, in describing the qualities of a
general of volunteers,* says: "Above all things let
him love and feare God, and cause true Christian
religion in his armie to be had in due reverence, in
such sorte that his soldiers may perceive he is indeede
religious." And such a man was John Mac Gregor. In May
i860, almost immediately after he had joined the
London Scottish, he formed the Volunteers' Prayer
Union, on lines almost identical with the Lawyers'
Prayer Union, to which we have referred elsewhere ;
on long marches he never lost the opportunity of
speaking on topics which he held to be not only more
important but more interesting than any others ; and
in his rooms there was always a welcome and an over
ture of brotherly confidence to any who came to him
to speak on higher things.
* Volunteering is not the modern movement some suppose. The Honour
able Artillery Company — the oldest volunteer force in Great Britain — received
its charter of incorporation from Henry VIII. in 1537.

244 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. x.
Among many testimonies to his usefulness found
among his papers, I select the following :
July i860.
My Dear Sir,
I hope you will not think me intrusive as a stranger addressing a
few lines to you, but as the mother of three sons in the Scottish
Corps, I cannot but express my deep thankfulness that it has
pleased God to set over our own dear sons a captain whom they
so respect and esteem as they do yourself. I earnestly desire the in
fluence He has given you over them may lead on to a far higher,
holier blessing than they thought of when they were led to join that
corps. But when I heard there was to be a meeting for prayer on the ist
of every month, especially for the volunteers, I felt so thankful, and
though perhaps my own sons may not yet personally join in it, I
trust their mother, in spirit at any rate, may unite her fervent desires
for the outpouring of the Spirit upon all those who have so nobly
and energetically come forward to fit themselves, if need be, to help
in the defence of their country.
I am the mother of five sons, one is in Heaven, and my earnest
desire and effort has ever been to train our dear children up in the
fear of the Lord 
I have much, very much, I know, to be thankful for in God's
restraining grace over all our dear boys, keeping them from the
immoralities and follies which many young men indulge in, but a
Christian mother's heart can never be at rest till she sees the fulfil
ment in those so dear to her of that blessed promise, ' I will pour
my Spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine offspring.' I
cannot tell you how thankful I have felt for all our dear boys have
told me of the influence you had gained over them. Beside the
privilege of being a 'living epistle known and read of all men,'
God has given you wisdom to understand young men thoroughly. I
feel so thankful, for all can appreciate if they do not seek to imitate
such an example  I should like personally to thank you for '
all your kindness, which I trust I well know as a mother how to
appreciate. May you be blessed, and a blessing in all your under-

1862 IN A PONDERING STATE 245
takings. I can wish you in return for all the kindness our boys have
received from you no higher blessing. Believe me to be, yours gratefully,

If we have failed hitherto in making the reader
understand the character and motives of the man
who could win such gratitude as this, or if we have
incurred the suspicion that our portrait has been too
highly coloured, it will be well to let Mac Gregor tell
us himself what he was in his own eyes at this period
of his life. We repeat that he was not guilty of a
habit of introspection. It was rarely that he wrote
about his most private thoughts and feelings ; he was
too honest, too upright, too manly to pose in a diary
as a sentimentalist, but he knew his capabilities, the
estimation in which he was held, the snares that lay
around his path, the failings in his own character ; and
so one Sunday night in August 1862, he fell a-musing
and wrote down one of the most remarkable pieces
of self-analysis that it has ever been our lot to read.
In a pondering state. How is it I have so few trials if I be a
child of God ? In the very prime of life now with every possible
thing I can enjoy, and enjoying everything. No anxiety whatever,
no care, no wantj no pain. It is dangerous but useful to catalogue
my good things. A high part in Protestant work, in preaching, in
Ragged School work, in literature for the people, among the
Christian barristers and among volunteers. I don't care for money,
but ambition has made me wish for things that mere money could
not purchase. To be a traveller ; and I have seen nearly all I
wished and have enjoyed twelve foreign tours. To be a good shot ;
and I have won a first prize in i860, 1861, and 1862. To have health

246 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. x.
and strength; and God has given me both. I suppose that by
working harder at law I could be rich, by working harder in societies
I could be important, by working harder at books I could be a more
learned man, certainly by praying more I could be more holy. I
have less worry and anxiety -about any earthly object than I ever had,
and I really think this is not caused by any failure in reaching points
I have started for. Humility would perhaps keep me from feeling
all this, and mock humility would certainly keep me from saying it
or writing it. But I have neither enough of real or mock humility
to affect me. A very great yoke has been cast off that bound me
now and then for the past three years when I always craved for
distinction among my friends. The most careful, thoughtful, and
deliberate conviction about this is that quiet, unobtrusive, gentle,
humble piety — never once speaking of oneself — is the true way to be
admired. I am perfectly well aware of this, and I know if I wished
most of all to be thus prominent I should rigidly guard myself
against what I am very, very remarkable for ; boastfulness, rude
pride with vain self-praise, and a yielding to the quick impulse of
exercising authority, telling of every success and omitting no chance
of promoting myself before my friends, not to say before the public.
The rapid and frequent pleasure of doing this is more enjoyed than
the deep calm sensation of being great, which a humble self-negation
in these things would entail. Like other fields, this is one in which
we distinctly go against the road that leads to happiness and belie
our best convictions of the best way of attaining the most of it. I
have gained vastly by coming to the conclusion that my present
position in various circles — shooting, travelling, learning, profession,
religion — is more pleasant than the attainment of higher posts if the
strength for each, with all its anxiety, trouble, and failure, is taken
into account. This is a very curious position to be in. With respect
to religion it is a wrong one. There seems to be a level in all these
points I have got to ;

*862 SHOOTING SCORES 247
At this point A, and the supposition that there may be some great
fall for me in one or all lines, makes it worth while to write down
now and here this off-hand account of myself.
We do not propose to follow step by step the
career of Mac Gregor as a volunteer, but his diary
marks its progressive stages :
1862. July 1. — Wimbledon shooting meeting. Fired for Queen's Prize.
Started off with a bull's-eye, made 8 + 5 in 15 marks.
July 24. — Lady Elcho's cup and Regiment prizes.
July 25. — Won the cup. Score at 200 yards, 32. Score at 500
yards, 31. Ten shots at each.
July 30. — Found I had won the honour of being' highest score, at
200, 500, 600 yards in the competition for Lord Elcho's challenge cup
on the 26th, viz., 38 marks, which entitles me to have my name
engraved on the shield.
1863. Jan. 28. — To the range where I made
At 200 yards (10 rounds) 19 points
At 300 „ ( „ ) 15 „
At 500 „ ( 5 „ ) . . .18 marks
At 500 „ ( „ ) . 20 „
In this last I made five bull's-eyes in succession, Hythe position,
which I never did before ; yet this is the first practice of the season
after five months of cessation.
Feb. 18. — With Lord and Lady Elcho to Mrs. Barnes's table-turn
ing physical exhibition.
Oct. 7. — Wimbledon, where put up frame for cardboard target and
walked back to London.
1864. June 29. — London Scottish prizes. Fired for Lady Elcho's cup and
won it.
1865. Feb. .27. — The row about the targets began.

248 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. x.
July 21. — International small bore match. Helped Ross and his
men. In afternoon intelligence came of Cooper shot.
July 23. — Saw Cooper and wife again. It seems an age since they
first knew me. Review. Had no heart to go and receive our
shield. Nov. 26. — With Inns of Court to see them inspected, which was
useful and good. First meeting for the year of London Scottish in
Westminster Hall when Lady Elcho gave our prizes and I took away
her cup for the second time.
1866. Feb. 2. — My company supper was most successful. The plate
and music and dancing and speeches all much above ordinary
times. March 25. — Dublin. Boy to Highlander soldier. " Souldier you're
cold with the kilt. And I am kilt with the cold ! "
A few months later and there comes an entry
which touches upon a matter to which we shall refer
at length later on. From the day Mac Gregor wrote
it, some of the old ardour for volunteering began to
die away. It was a case of "off with the old love and
on with the new."
July 21. — Wimbledon Review. Returned fully persuaded that the
Canoe Club, of which prospectus is out to-day, is far better for fun,
exercise and real amusement.
1867. Nov. 22. — Mentioned to Lord Elcho about my retirement from
L.S.R.V. Dec. 17. — Meeting of my Company when I addressed them
explaining reasons for retiring from command. All most kind.
1868. Feb. 14. — Dined with my Company at Freemasons' Hall. This is
the end of a useful, pleasant and intimate connection with volunteer
ing as an officer.

!868 LORD ELCHO

249

Of John Mac Gregor as a volunteer, no one is
more competent to speak than the Earl of Wemyss
and March who, as Lord Elcho, was associated with
the London Scottish from its formation, and did not
retire from active connection with the corps till 1880
on which occasion he was presented with a fac-simile
of the celebrated Elcho Shield in oxydised silver
picked out in gold, the presentation being made by
Mac Gregor on behalf of the corps.
The following extract from a letter from the Earl
of Wemyss to the present writer will be read with
interest, especially by volunteers :
" Of himself I can only say that he was a very
dear and valued friend, a most able man, and one of
our most zealous and efficient officers — none more so
in the regiment."

CHAPTER XI.
1858—1866
CONCERNING MEN, PLACES AND THINGS
It is somewhat difficult in recording a career so
meteoric as that of John Mac Gregor's to give in
anything like proper sequence and due proportion the
full story of his many-sided activities — to see him at
one and the same time as lawyer, philanthropist,
athlete, preacher, traveller, author, volunteer, con
troversialist. In this chapter, therefore, we propose
to gather up some of our dropped threads and so
make our narrative as consecutive as we can.
The year 1859, the same year in which he joined
the London Scottish, found him in the heat of
controversy with many leading men connected with
the Reasoner and similar publications. This was no
child's-play with such opponents as the late Mr.
Charles Bradlaugh and Mr. George Jacob Holyoake.
A little episode relating to the latter will be read
with interest. Mac Gregor wrote in his diary in
1858, " Called on Holyoake and had a most wonderful
conversation with him, which I shall remember not
only to my dying day, but for Ever and Ever and

l8S8 GEORGE JACOB HOLYOAKE 251
Ever;" and at the end of the following year, in
summing up what he considered its most important
occurrences, he includes " Interviews with Holyoake,'
of whom, as a man and a controversialist, it may
be said here he always spoke in the warmest terms.
In reply to a letter from the present writer, Mr.
Holyoake says : — Eastern Lodge, Brighton, December 16, 1893.
I remember Mr. Mac Gregor very well. He was in the habit of
coming to my house in Fleet Street and next to Mr. Logan (a Town
missionary of Bradford and afterwards of Glasgow, for whom I had
much regard) I thought Mr. MacGregor the pleasantest-minded
Christian controversalist who, in those days, gave us the advantage of
explaining his views to us.
Mr. Mac Gregor had a frank, gentlemanly vivacity, always enga
ging to me. Indeed he had a love of controversy which only those
manifest who believe they have the truth, and that it is strong
enough to bear any ordeal of fair- examination. He was at once
inquirer and advocate — in my experience a rare combination. He
wished to know and was not afraid to know. He had a dash of that
boldness in disputation which we associate with Rob Roy — whose
name he adopted. Though he had the full persistence of his
countrymen in argument, he had little, if any, of that imputation in
which Scotch controversialists often excel. I am pleased to hear he
made friendly records of intercourse with me, but I think he must
sometimes have confused as mine what I may have said to him of
my mother, by supposing that I said it of myself.
To my mother the belief in a personal providence was an indis
pensable consolation.*
* This has reference to some notes of a conversation recorded by Mac Gregor,
in which he states that " Holyoake when he was ill said to me that he felt the
want of a person for his soul's sympathy, just as his wife was a personal
comfort to his social life. ' '

252 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xi.
It was probably his fame as a controversialist more
than any expression of his political opinions — for in
this respect he was singularly reticent — that marked
Mac Gregor out in the estimation of his friends as a
suitable man for Parliament. Although on many
occasions he was urged to stand, he invariably declined.
Here is his comment upon one such invitation :
1859. April 16. — Waldegrave came to me at the club and said he had
sent my name to Birmingham as a fit candidate to stand against
Bright. Strange honour !
Honours of other kinds, and more to his taste,
came to him year after year, and in 1859 he re
cords with satisfaction his election on the Council
of the Society of Arts, and his appointment as Lay
Consulter of Sion College.
While each year added to his toilsome engagements
— and apparently to his strange capacity to deal with
them — there was nevertheless a certain hunger and
thirst after adventurous travel which increased as the
years advanced, and no schoolboy ever flung his cap
higher in the air at the sound of " Dulce Domum," than
did Mac Gregor when opportunity enabled him to "pack
up his traps " and rush off to some foreign land.
In August 1 86 1 he broke away from drills and
firings, controversies and committees, and started off
for the Danube, sending home from time to time, as
had now become his habit, a weekly letter to the
Record, giving an account of his travels, besides his

1861 THE GROTTO AT ADELSBERG 253
usual interesting and chatty letters home. The voyage
down the Danube "in a splendid steamer," past "fine
old hills crowned by proud castles," greatly pleased
him, and scarcely less so the towns of Pesth and Buda,
centres of civilisation in striking contrast to the wild
wastes beside the mighty river.
In the early stage of his tour nothing gratified him
more than a visit to the cave at Adelsberg — the finest
cavern in Europe. He says : —
It is never easy to describe a mountain, or a cave, or a waterfall,
and the grotto at Adelsberg is not to be painted in words. The
entrance is a mere hole in a rock, but almost at once you dive into a
cluster of chambers pillared, domed and walled with magnificent
stalactites. An excellent path, made by the Emperor Ferdinand,
conducts us down, down and still down, into colder air until the river
is found at the bottom quiet and clear. This is crossed by a bridge
which the guides had lighted up before we came with candles, lamps
and torches, so that the water glistens as if a starry sky were above it.
I have seen the river in the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky, and the
winding passages of the cavern of Montserrat, and the clustered
crystals of the Cave of Arta in Majorca, but none of them are so fine
as this of Adelsberg. The Cave of Adullam surpasses it in interest
because there once dwelt ' in a hold ' the Psalmist of Israel. But
Adelsberg may rightly be called the finest cave to be seen anywhere.
From hall to hall you advance for about four miles, and an unknown
distance beyond is open if you choose to tire your feet and eyes.
For it is no easy thing to keep looking at an endless variety of
shapes and figures for three hours at a stretch. Here the pillars
form as it were an organ ; there we find a throne ; next a cemetery
with a hundred mocking monuments, all moulded grotesquely by the
mere dropping of water. Many pieces are like most beautiful thin
drapery with varied patterns of red, blue and white. Others sound,
when struck, like bells, gongs or organs. The candles are placed by

254 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xi.
hundreds in one part to lighten up a noble chamber 160 feet high,
called Calvary, and lamps, cleverly introduced in little alcoves,
recesses, or hidden galleries, surprise the amazed traveller with new
effects where everything is new.
Proceeding on his journey, Mac Gregor next visited
the Isles of Greece. " The beautiful harbour of
Patras," he notes, "is studded with English vessels,
all filling up with currants."
I visited the gardens where these grew. They are in huge bunches
like small grapes and the women carry them in baskets to flat floors
where the sun dries them into the small black specks that we buy in
London. Carried in sacks on donkeys' backs you find them next in
piles in the cool dark warehouses and then they are stamped tight
down into casks by men treading upon them with naked feet.
As a volunteer he kept his eyes open to observe the
soldiering of the lands he passed through. He says :
The soldiers of Greece are a strange set. Here (Patras) there are
far more officers than soldiers and they never move without sword
and spurs. As for parade there is absolutely none and their drill
consists in individual strutting about, which sort of independent
manoeuvre they certainly execute to perfection.
He describes the mingling of the bustle of Western
commerce and the quiet, easy, dreamy life of an
Eastern clime shown in the Greek ports, and con
cludes a long letter with this charming word-picture :
The evening sun gives a rosy hue to the bare mountains and
warms the top of old Parnassus reared behind above them all.
From the calm sky a most magnificent meteor suddenly shoots
brightly towards the water and leaves a smoky tail that rests for

1861 A SUDDEN SQUALL 255
some minutes visible in the heavens. The soft music of Greek
singing is overcome by a louder and more solemn strain as a band
plays the ' Dead March in Saul ' at an English sailor's funeral. On
the coffin is the clasp-knife of the dead man — a simple token. How
his mother and sisters in England will weep when they hear he has
been buried so far away ! As the procession slowly wends by the
calm water, you see the other sailors looking on, and even that boy,
going to plunge from the mainyard into the water for a swim, waits
motionless for his dead comrade to be carried past. The waves
wash quietly on the shore, the moon silvering them. The red light of
the pharos shines over the water, while a soft cooing of doves seems
to win rest for a busy world, weary on a summer eve.
After re-visiting Malta, Mac Gregor managed to
catch a little screw-steamer belonging to a Greek
Company — "a steamer that bobbed up and down in
the blue waves like a cork, so light was she " — bound
for Tunis with a hundred passengers huddled on
deck. The weather changes far more rapidly in the
Mediterranean than in other seas, and no one who is
not a good sailor should risk a voyage upon a small
steamer or a native vessel. Mac Gregor was, for
tunately, a capital sailor, and this was his experience
of the voyage :
A cloud passes over the sun and then a whiff from the breezy north
and the captain reefs the sails and down comes a regular gale at once
upon us. The sea-birds scream so soon, one wonders where they were
an hour ago. With loosened sheet the little white-sailed vessels scud
past us that we noticed fishing for coral, picturesquely quiet, but a
few minutes since. The wind is dead in our teeth, and the angry sea
washing that cape ahead, shows plainly what must be expected when
we labour up to that point. Still we held on, and splash came the

256 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xi.
rising wave over and over, wetting the sails and drenching the hotch
potch of human life that encumbered the deck. We kept on till
dark — more dark because the white sea could be seen in it — but at
last our captain turned the ship's head back again and ran before the
storm. [Thus I was just a week passing from Malta to Bona in
Algeria which could easily have been done in two days by a well-
found steamer.]
We anchored for the night under a high headland, and the forked
lightning played around it for many hours, but I could not hear the
thunder for the wind. As suddenly as the gale rose the sea calmed,
the air stilled, the stars gleamed forth, the clouds disappeared, and
then the splendid moon came brightly into the heavens.
The "fiery, hot, and filthy town" of Tunis did not
please Mac Gregor, but its surroundings did. The
sandlarks twittering on the beach, long rows of Turks
groping for shell-fish some miles out in the shallows
of the lake that divides Tunis from old Carthage,
lines of camels winding through the olive groves and
under the grand aqueduct that carried glittering water,
in days gone by, to slake the thirst of Hannibal.
He was charmed with Algeria, the climate, the
scenery, the people, and the mode of travelling, and
prophesied that it would soon become a common part
of the holiday rambles of the wandering cockney.
In one important respect he found the country
unique. You can breakfast in the hotel, furnished with all the luxuries of
France, and you can dine the same day on a dreary mountain on the
Kus-Kus served by an Arab in a wooden bowl, and sleep, if you have
a leathern skin, under his black tent at night. Now this is a mariner
of colonising thoroughly French ; to push their cook to the front and
let trade follow.

IN ALGERIA

257

Of course MacGregor made himself at home
wherever he went. At Quelma, the old Roman Calma,
he says :
It was a great fact for the little front shop, called an hotel, to have
an English traveller, and I had to talk for hours to the neat little
French madame, explaining British manners while I helped to unravel
her worsted !
At Quelma he made up his mind "to plunge right
into the heart of the country and go straight to the

MY SLEEPING PLACE WITH THE ARAB CHIEF
hills of the lions." With one Achmet for a guide, a
horse without saddle or bridle to ride, and a mule
with a cornsack to carry the luggage, he set off
towards Constantine, over the mountains and down
by the hills, threading the myrtle groves, climbing the
rocks and steering right across the weary arid plains.
After sunset he came to an Arab encampment where

258 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xi.
he found accommodation in a hut of bamboo and straw
just six feet long, eight feet wide, and two feet in
height. The furniture " consisted of a sack and a
wooden pitchfork, and he tried to find comfort in
the reflection, " What a gala day it must be for the
commonwealth of fleas when a well-fed Englishman
suddenly becomes their prey ! "
But the hope of a lion encounter was not to be
gratified. The panthers here are numerous, and the hyenas come even to the
farmers' doors ; as for the lions, I did everything I could to see one,
but I only heard the roar, and that is indeed worth hearing  I
passed through the centre of the lion country, and felt all the time
that there was a grand and new feature, albeit invisible, added to the
scene. He visited the remarkable springs at a place called
Muskuteen ("Waters Bewitched") where —
In a deep valley, luscious with figs and melons, you find a mass of
tumbled rocks all crusted with salt and sulphur and exactly resem
bling the interior of the crater of Mount Etna. A hundred little cones
rise from the hollow-sounding ground to the height of ten or twenty
feet, and water, bubbling, boiling hot, gushes from every one. The
steam rises like the mist about Niagara, and the little rivulets of pure,
clear, but scalding water rush together, circle round in eddies, burst
here and there into pools, and then fall in cascades over a mass of
lime, white as snow and ever increasing in size and changing in form,
pillared, domed, crystallised, or as stalactites — the whole forming
one of the most curious, interesting, and mysterious places in the
world. At the close of his description, he adds : —
Much as I like the snow-peaked mountains and the crags of the

1864 LONDON THIRTY YEARS AGO 259
desert, I always find a deeper thrill in visiting caves • and volcanoes
and everything that takes one's thoughts down to that unknown
centre of the earth where darkness reigns, or fire abounds, or the
roaring waters boil with fierce heat, reserved for the future purifying
of the crust we live upon.
That he "worked well" at his travels in Algeria
there is abundant evidence. One extract, in illustra
tion, from his notes will suffice : " My wretched horse
was so tired, it was plain I could not finish the fifty-
four miles still remaining for the day's work — this, be
it remembered, after a few hours' riding already in the
morning." On his return journey he travelled from Marseilles
to Lyons with Lord Frederick Cavendish and Sir
Henry Holland, and with the latter from Lyons to
Paris and London, and this was the beginning of an
important friendship. He noted in his diary on the
way home :
P. of Wales very strongly likes smoking, which the Queen dis
approves. Used to ask Sir H. H. if he smoked. Once P., speaking
to another, Sir H., speaking to D. of N., mentioned smoking with
the President. P. turned ; ' I've caught you, Sir Henry ! ' P. likes
'ten pins' very much and played with coat and waistcoat off at
nights, glad to get away from the fuss and ceremony. Bishop of
Ohio delighted with P. and came to several places to meet him again.
Once P. heard Bp. of O. was one of the best players at ' ten pins,'
so said, ' Oh, let us get him to have a game.' Sent to Bp., who was
in bed, but at once got up and came and played. Delighted !
London thirty years ago was in a thousand parti
culars in a worse case than it is in to-day in relation

2.6o JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xi.
to its criminal classes. Then, crime was striding
rampant through the land, and the mind of every
philanthropist was on the stretch to know how to
grapple with it. At last, in 1862 or thereabouts,
when garotting had come into fashion, people aroused
themselves to consider the British criminal generally,
and Mac Gregor circulated pamphlets widely, asking
why violent criminals like garotters, most of whom
were returned convicts who had been transported or
imprisoned long ago, should again prowl the streets, a
terror to every one ? How was it that crime, instead
of diminishing, seemed ever on the increase ? This
was his answer, and in it he looked forward to what
was needed, and we can look back to see what has
been accomplished :
All the people in England are bound to consider the criminal.
Over and over they have been told, and they know it well, that with
out prevention criminals will multiply beyond bounds ; that preven
tion is better than cure; that refuges are cheaper than prisons; that
thieves cost less in reformatories than at large ; that the hand you
refuse work for in an industrial class may next year rob your economy
of a threefold amount; that the homes and houses of the people
must be bettered if your own house and home is to be safe ; that the
children must be taught good or they will learn evil ; that sober
recreation must be provided or men and women will be driven to
drunken crime ; that the destitute must be relieved with discriminate
care, and the depraved reclaimed, and crime be punished with cer
tainty and promptitude, as well as in justice and mercy ; and that sin
in its guilt and power can only be dealt with in the heart by following
the Way God has revealed, believing the Truth of Christ, and living
the Life born again of the Spirit.
Is that all you can say while we are being robbed and strangled ?

1864 THE CASE OF THE CRIMINAL 261
Have you no new general principle to provide for all cases, no
special method to stop all crime, no particular body to undertake the
whole subject and rid us of its care ? We reply, We have no new
principle for dealing with evil, but we are daily improving the appli
cation and concentrating the action of the old principles. Crime is
the result of a moral disease, which we cannot expel by a specific,
though precaution can narrow its contagious spread, and treatment
can mitigate its violent spasms.
Crime is the blaze of a moral fire. We can try to get houses more
fire-proof, give the soonest alarm, bring fire-engines to assuage the
flames, and fire-escapes to save, and the insurance company to con
sole the loser ; but fires there will be, and crime there will be always.
In devising, improving, and applying means, however, we may
vastly progress. Indeed, we cannot sit still. The criminal himself
in his own rough way, has fully awakened us to his case. The study
of it is new, not fifty years old, but it is a hard study, and much has
yet to be learned.
It was a peculiarity of Mac Gregor's work among
the poor, as well as among the criminal classes, that
he would never take his information at second hand
but would himself personally investigate matters so
that of his own knowledge he might speak with
authority. And in these investigations he was rarely
alone. So many men were interested in him that
they became interested in his work, and thus his
influence spread. The following long but typical
extract from his diary will show the thoroughness of
his inquiries :
Jan. 16, 1864. — With Drummond, Leslie,* Gibbs,f and Inspectors
Rean and Power to East of London to inspect the low haunts of vice
* The Hon. Mr. Waldegrave Leslie, who married the Countess of Rothes.
f Mr. Gibbs -was the Prince of Wales's tutor.

262 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xi.
there, (i) Largest theatre, i/- best, 3d. worst seats. Great stage.
Jew proprietor. Crowded by men and boys. Dark in distance, and
many evils there perpetrated. (2) Boys' penny gaff— all lads, 10 to
16. Wretched dresses and acting; nuts and oranges ate. Actor
openly denounced boy for throwing nut at him, and pointed out
offender saying he threatened him outside. Pantomime and comedy.
(3) Music and acting saloon. Loft, with tables and forms, men and
women drinking and smoking, and loud talking. Man dressed as
Punch. Three German musicians, Punch, with hammer on seats for
order, too-i-too-i. Boy sang of 'Gingham umbrella, name was
Isabella, father kept barber shop at Islington ! ' (4) Great dancing
saloon, hot, stuffy. Twelve women dressed jewels, red hats, short
dresses. Sea captains smoking. (5) Another lower style of place.
Comic Irish song and dance. Of six boys asked, only one went to
school. Sole music here a harp. (6) Another great hall, with
galleries. 600 people. Girl, badly dressed, sang stupid song.
Nearly all audience sea captains. (7) Drinking saloon. Girls
dressed in kilts moved among customers. Drunken man had a
fight with the proprietor in our presence. (8) Common lodging
house. Twenty present in common room. Beds and upper rooms
miserable, but clean and orderly. (9) A house of ill-fame. (10) A
lower kind of ditto, where negroes and the veriest beggars come.
Wretched Hindoo lived there two years. Came from Singapore.
(11) Another, same sort, where a murder was lately committed.
(12) Music saloon, where man fought lately with spectator in pit
who abused him before public. (13) Thieves' lodging-house. 99 in
house. (14) New pork-shop being opened. A brass band in front
with lights and windows open, and playing loudly to attract a crowd.
(15) Public house, Old English jig danced to a fiddle. All through
streets music of every kind. The missionaries from West End come
here at night. (16, 17) Lodging-houses, in good order. (18) Sailors'
lodging-house, most comfortable and clean. Sixteen beds, all
separate. Good light, air, water, linen, and diet. Master once a
sailor. In parlour, pictures of Great Eastern and Yankee clipper,
a parrot, a dog, coral shells, &c. (19) Another somewhat like it,

l864 HAUNTS OF VICE 263
and equally good. Man from Ely once dismissed from police now
a Christian. Swede there and open Swedish Bible. On Sundays
has hymns and piano, and prefers Swedes to Englishmen. In yard
a little alcove for laboratory, clean and lighted. (20) Fighting saloon.
Two lads had a spar. Squared raised platform with ropes round,
in room holding about 100 people. Master proclaimed, 'Young
Jones and a friend,' and they shook hands and pummelled away.
(21) Rat-pit, the largest in London. In a room holding about
fifty people, a square 10 feet each side and 4 feet high. The rats
in cages. Several dogs in the house, others brought for matches,
sometimes twenty dozen of rats killed at once. The best dog would
kill twelve in a minute. One little dog, two and a half pounds weight,
kills five in a minute. The dogs bred in the potteries. The master,
from Norwich, a fine, hearty, good-looking man. The rats are got
from ships or sewers. At first they are so shy they will not eat in
public, but soon get better. The man pitched the dead rats on a fire
so that no smell is produced.
The last place we were to go to was the opium-eaters' saloon, but
this had to be given up as one of our party had to start soon after
one o'clock. As we came to each district, the police sergeant of the
place was in attendance by private arrangement, and walked on the
other side of the street to see ' all right.' In the dark alleys a bull's-
eye lamp had to be used, and in one case a boy warned his thief
companions of an approach. But deference and civility were
universal except from some of the unfortunate women in the thieves'
lanes. In one of these there were 200, all thieves.
To the theatres and saloons access was had by private doors lead
ing behind the scenes, whence we could see the audience, and the
strange hobgoblins, sprites, and fairies clothed with masks and wings
or huge heads and beasts' bodies, all mingled in a crowd in the
¦ dressing-room, eating sausages and drinking porter through their
masks. Lord Shaftesbury's Act now appreciated even by the thieves'
who find their rooms made more comfortable.
It will be remembered that early in Mac Gregor's

264 JOHN' MACGREGOR chap. xi.
philanthropic career he had laboured hard to procure
proper legislation for dealing with the neglected
children who congregated in arches and dark alleys or
ran wild and uncontrolled in the large thoroughfares.
It was a source of great satisfaction to him therefore
when the Industrial Schools Act of 1866 (29 and 30
Vic. cap. 1 18) came into force.
That Act related, however, only to Industrial
schools certified by the Home Office and under its
control. It dealt with children under the age of 14,
found to be begging, wandering, destitute, orphan,
having parents in prison, in thieves' company, too bad
for parents, too bad for workhouse, charged with
offence (if under 1 2 years of age).
In itself it was an excellent measure, but it had one
serious defect — its chief power was left to be set in
action by anybody or everybody ; that is to say, by
nobody. A clause — the pivot on which the whole
scheme turned — enacted that "any person may bring
before two justices or a magistrate any child found
begging, &c." The power thus given to "all people"
was employed now and then by a few active men,
sometimes by an enthusiastic philanthropist, and for a
brief season by the police.
If, however, any busy man, such as the master of a
school, brought a homeless lad before the magistrate
under this Act, he had to brave the question, "Why
does this man capture a strange child?" He would
have to spend days in inquiries, attendance and
correspondence, to get the consent of some institution

l866 THE BOY'S BEADLE 265
to receive the child, and, after all, the case might be
dismissed and then the " any person " had the costs to
pay. The Act had provided for homes and teachers, and
had conferred authority on Courts, and there were
thousands of hapless ones in the streets who ought to
have been in the schools, but there was no one
appointed to put them in. It was, as MacGregor
said, "as if children were struggling in deep water,
and a receiving house was on the shore, and a boat,
but there was no sailor told off to work it."
When he was in Sweden he found that the com
pulsory education scheme there was made operative,
without being oppressive, by an agent in each district
called a " Persuader," whose business was precisely
what was wanted in England to make the Industrial
Schools Act effective, namely, to take up the case of
the neglected child, to lead with gentleness those who
would not go unasked to school, and to bring under
quiet authority those who must be compelled.
Mac Gregor determined to appoint a " Boy's
Beadle" to exercise similar functions, and his idea
received the ready approval of the Council of the
Reformatory and Refuge Union.
After much difficulty in finding an ideal beadle the
selection of a right man was at length made, and the
oversight of his work fell to the lot of Mac Gregor
and two other members of the Council. The beadle
had no more authority than "any person" to deal
with the neglected children ; he was neither constable

266 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xi.
nor parish officer, he wore no uniform, but was simply
a man acting under a self-constituted society which
employed him to do systematically what any other
person was at liberty to do if he had felt so dis
posed. The scheme worked admirably. Within a few
weeks the effect of the beadle's visits was appre
ciated by some, while they had a deterrent effect on
others. Magistrates welcomed him, and every institu
tion for the poor throughout the metropolis perceived
the advantage of having such an agent. On January
i, 1868, a similar agent was appointed by the "Bir
mingham Neglected Children's Aid Society," for the
same purpose as the boy's beadle in London.
When Mr. Forster's Elementary Education Bill
passed into law, School Boards were empowered to
contribute to Industrial Schools, and to employ and
pay officers to do part of the work of the boy's
beadle. With regard to the children amenable to the Indus
trial Schools Act, they divided themselves into two
classes — the visible and the invisible, the former being
the obtrusive sellers of newspapers, matches, and such
like; "freebooters," and all undisciplined street-sellers,
loafers, and crossing-sweepers. For this large class
Mac Gregor pleaded that a few earnest business-like
men with large hearts should organise employment
and at the same time secure some education for the
children ; in short, should do for them what he had
done for the shoeblacks. If no such men could be

l866 WAIFS AND STRAYS 267
found, he urged that at least they should refrain
from adding to the number of their classes by indis
criminate charity, falsely so-called. "I am glad to
think," he said, "that I never gave a beggar child in
London even a penny."
The children unseen, but who were amenable to the
Act, were those in courts and alleys who, after school
hours, were totally neglected — lively, wretched,
smiling, dirty children, who at night ran in every
body's way, while they themselves ran on the road
to ruin.
In dealing with these waifs and strays Mac Gregor
ventured to prophesy that in a few years' time the
School Board would become the most unpopular body
in London — a prophecy that was amply and literally
fulfilled. For a time Mac Gregor in prosecuting his inquiries
and carrying out his schemes became unpopular even
with the Ragged School Union, inasmuch as he urged
the committee to confer with the School Board so that
all the voluntary refuges in connection with the Union
might vigorously co-operate for the reception of chil
dren, and that the subscribers to Ragged Schools
might be re-assured who were withholding their con
tributions in the hope that rate-paid free schools
would at once do Ragged School work. But the
unpopularity was only for a time, and in the end
his judgment was fully vindicated.
In carrying out. his innumerable philanthropies it
could not be otherwise than that Mac Gregor should

268 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xi.
have to draw largely upon his private resources.
These were fortunately ample, although he could not
by any means be called a man of great wealth. But,
like Lord Shaftesbury, he was made the almoner of
others who could not themselves engage in active
work, and we find in his diary a great number of
entries such as this : "Miss Portal gave me ^200."
This was the same lady who, year after year, sent to
Lord Shaftesbury a cheque for ^"iooo "to be devoted
in whatever manner he pleased, to the welfare of the
poor." Such acts of generosity and sympathetic co
operation in good and useful work, deserve to be had
in remembrance.
If MacGregor expended his money freely he drew
as freely on his store of health by working late and
early. But the "cruse of oil was not impoverished."
He wrote once at a very busy time :
Feb. 24, [862. — Not quite well, consulted Dr. Ware. This, with
one visit to Dr. Chapman when I had quinsey, and one to Ferguson
on arm hurt by rifle, are the only occasions I have needed a doctor
during fourteen years in London.
Turning now from the laborious to the more playful
side of his life we may note that he always found time
to keep abreast with the literature and science of the
day. Even in the wilds of Algeria, we find him " lying
down under a rock while the sun scorches the other
side of it, and flies buzz, and lizards peep out, and a
tortoise creeps slowly by, and a jackal steathily prowls
from his hole," reading "Adam Bede."

l865 SIR JOHN BURNS 269
Of adventure, and of national sight-seeing, he came
in for his full share. He made a tour to the North,
almost solely for the purpose of exploring mines, and
one day he went to the Crystal Palace for the purpose
of going up in a balloon. He purchased his ticket,
and took his place in the car. But when the pre
liminary trial was made, it was found that the balloon
was too heavily weighted, and Mac Gregor, greatly to
his mortification, had to get out, he
having been the last to buy his ticket.
For a time of real jollity and merri
ment, a cruise in the Beagle, a yacht of
Mr. (now Sir) John Burns — will furnish
a good illustration.
John Burns, of Castle Wemyss on
the Clyde, chairman of the Cunard
Company, president of the Gaiter Club,
and one of the heartiest, most genial from the log of
• 1 1 r c* THE BEAGLE
and most hospitable of the Sons of
Scotia, delighted to get together a company of kindred
souls, and sail away with them in one of his magnificent
yachts. Castle Wemyss was, and is, the happy hunting-
ground of princes and peers, of men of business
and men of letters, of distinguished men in army
and navy, of bishops and deacons, philanthropists,
and good men and true, of all sorts and conditions,
who have the good of the world, or of any special
department of it, at heart. It was under this roof
that Lord Shaftesbury spent a long summer holiday

270 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xi.
for fourteen consecutive years, and always spoke of it
as "his home in the North," where "the place is
beautiful, the house supremely comfortable, and the
people of it kind, hospitable and pleasant beyond
description." It was here that John Mac Gregor loved to come,
for his friend "J. B." as it was the custom of intimate
friends to call Sir John Burns, was in full sympathy
with his philanthropic labours. Being himself a well-
known philanthropist and being also an open-hearted
man, Mac Gregor found in him a very special friend
to whom, as we shall see later on, he could confide in
the most critical and
important period of his
life. And besides were
they not both members
' ' ^ '¦' ' :  ' '' of the far-famed " Gaiter
FROM THE LOG OF THE BEAGLE _- ,,
Club r a club organised
for social purposes, such as walking tours in Scot
land, in gaiters, and an annual dinner at which
only humorous speeches were to be made, and
where the rule was enforced "that at a 'Gaiter'
there shall be no upright speaking ! " It was alone
worth a visit to Scotland to come in contact with
the Gaiter Club, among whose officers were John
Burns president, Cleland Burns secretary, Norman
Macleod chaplain ; while the membership was com
posed of such men as Sir Daniel Macnee, the
painter, Laurence Oliphant, Anthony Trollope, John

1 865 THE LOG OF THE BEAGLE 271
Mac Gregor, Hon. Evelyn Ashley, Admiral Sir James
Hope, Lord Kinnaird, Lord Kinnear, Sir William
Thomson (now Lord Kelvin) and a host of others
famous in literature, science, and art.
On the particular occasion to which we now refer,
Mac Gregor was invited to make one of a small party
for a cruise through the western isles of Scotland in
the screw-steam yacht, the Beagle, 500 tons. The
Beagles, as the shipmates were called, were John and
Cleland Burns, Hon. Evelyn Ashley, R. O. Cogan,
Captain Colquhoun, 15th Regt., Major Hay, Hon. C.
Hanbury Lennox, M.P., Col. Lockhart, C.B., 92nd
Regt., Col. Ross, C.B., 93rd Regt, R. Stewart Shaw
and John Mac Gregor. Eleven men in a boat, for
eleven days, "with good health and weather, good
appetite and fare, good temper, and good company."

WT
It fell to the lot of Mac Gregor 'to keep a log — not
the log — of the Beagle, and it was written with such
rollicking humour and in such a whimsical style, " taking
off" in pen-and-pencil caricatures every person and
incident on board, that the book was afterwards
published by Sir John Burns, "for private circulation
only," and some of the sketches were reproduced by
photography.

272 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xi.
The title was, THE
TAIL OF THE BEAGLE
SHIP AHOY!
WAGGED IN THE DOGWATCH
By ROB ROY
WITH SOL'S PICTURES OF THE PACK
CHUCKED TO THE KENNEL
BY THE WHIPPER-IN
MDCCCLXV
The book bristled with jokes that have now lost
their point, but we reproduce a page of the log, and a
few of the sketches.
Although when Mac Gregor had a special chance
of thorough enjoyment, he went into it with tremendous
gusto, he never forgot for a moment the true ends and
aims of life. More than a quarter of a century after
the Beagles had finished their cruise with all its
pleasant accompaniments of fun and nonsense, and
not long before Mac Gregor had passed away to his
final home, one of the Beagles wrote to Mrs. MaC
Gregor, a letter of condolence, and referring to his
long friendship with her husband, said : —
I often think of our happy days together, and never forget our first
really knowing each other. It was on board the good ship Beagle
in one of the sixties, and we cruised on the West Coast for some
eight or ten days — such a happy party. On getting to Stornoway,
Sir James Matheson hospitably rigged up a ball and invited all the
Beagles. Rob Roy and I elected to take a moonlight turn on the
island while the others danced, and that lovely long moonlight '
night's walk passed like a Midsummer Night's Dream ; the beauty of

r865

THE LOG OF THE BEAGLE

273
the scene and the charm of my companion's conversation left a
deep mark. I had not then realised the power I was wasting, and
his earnest, cheery talk gave me a new view of the Higher Life.
We close this chapter concerning men, places and
things, with a few selected passages from the diaries
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LOG OF THE BEAGLE

of Mac Gregor, which point the current of his thoughts,
give an insight into his manner of life, and introduce
us to some of the people he met.
1863. June 14. — To Westminster Abbey where Hoare, Dean of Waterford,
preached a plain thorough Gospel sermon in manly English, his fine
voice filling the crowded, vaulted and noble space. Middle class
congregation, with good church service and hymns sung by all.
s

274 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xi.
Verses of it printed in large type or sheets suspended on the dear
old pillars. The whole air and circumstance of this special service
most deeply impressive. Cathedrals thus used are not in vain.
Sermons like this, in places like that, are bonds of love between the
church and the middle class of old England. There was nothing
Popish in the service and nothing at all maudlin. Lord Dudley sat
next some common man, no pew, each man on plain chair and at
least 1500 listeners. A splendid sight.
Sept. — Wrote several articles for Punch about this time — one a
dictionary of ladies' dress.
1864. April 13. — To Duchess of Sutherland's splendid party where intro
duced to Garibaldi.
Dec. 22. — Dined Lord W. Russell to eat a swan. Walked with
Snape. 1865. Jan. 7. — Wrote to Mechanics' Magazine claiming invention of
electro-locomotive by current along the rails of railway.
March 13. — At the House of Commons looking at the buzzing of
business round the door, just like a beehive. On my return found a
letter from Mr. Baxter offering me Parliamentary business — which
offer will I hope be an episode in my life.
March 14. — Saw Baxter and accepted his offer.
March 15. — First retained for Parliament.
March 21. — First appearance in Committee of House of Commons.
April 30. — Met Vambery the Hungarian traveller, and had intensely
curious confab with him. For years he travelled as Dervish in
Central Asia. For three months in the sun as a beggar picking
vermin and without shoes. Found it hard to sleep without fez cap
and so cut a hole each night. Found MS. 1500 years old about tea.
May 15. — To shoot and in the wind, made 39 at Queen's ranges.
Charles being ill I hurried back by 5.10 train which at Nine Elms
ran violently into a goods train and wounded twenty persons and
some dangerously. The sudden sensation was, ' Death now  good
bye world — what shall I see first in Heaven ? ' then a tableau of my
past life spread at once before me. Thrown violently on my head

1866 NOTES FROM THE DIARY 275
protected by my hat and then got out and attended to the fainting
and bleeding and off to a cab and to the Agricultural Hall where
worked till late at the Exhibition.
May 16. — Thankfulness for yesterday's preservation. Could not
sleep with pain in head and heart. At the Exhibition again.
May 19. — A grand day indeed. The opening of our International
Reformatory Exhibition at the Agricultural Hall by the Prince of
Wales. Early there and got all finally in order. The whole passed
off splendidly. I was presented to the Prince by Lord Shaftesbury
with Hanbury and Cave.
May 22. — Wet day. Laurence Oliphant told me he was now a firm
believer, and his mother says he reads and prays. We had a useful
conversation. June 13. — First stone laid of our new Field Lane School after 23
years' work at the old.
Oct. 23. — Officer cf Sherman's called on him. 'Wal, general,
how are you? don't know me?' 'No.' 'Wal I was one of your
bummers ' (commissariat). ' And how did you get on ? ' ' Wal, I
guess you and me bummed away pretty considerable social.'
Dec. 18. — Temple Lending Library here, ist committee meeting.
These rooms have been the birthplace of Open-air Mission, Refuge
and Reformatory Union, Volunteers' Prayer Union, Lawyers'
Prayer Union, Pure Literature Society.
1866. Jan. 24. — Birthday, 41 years of age. I feel quite as buoyant as ten
years ago. Mercy and truth have followed me and the trial of
prosperity is still continued.
Feb. 3. — My father on his way to serve on the Royal Commission
in Dublin about Constabulary called to see me. Dear, dear man.
Feb. 20. — Dined Lord Ducies. Met Sir H. Havelock.
March 17. — Ware told me a good story. A friend examining
youths in spelling for Electric Telegraph Companyrejected one because
he often spelt is with an h. Next day the father wrote to say he was
much disappointed his son failed but he had since looked in the news
papers and found that the word is was spelled just as often with an h
as without it !

276 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xi.
April 3.— With Mr. Gladstone and daughter on board Lawton's
yacht Lenore and then Mrs. Warren asked me to meet them at
dinner. Here had most intensely interesting confab with Chancellor
of Exchequer on following subjects among others — shoeblacks ; cross
ing-sweepers ; Refuge Field Lane ; translation of Bible ; Syria and
Palestine Fund; Return of the Jews; Iron, brass and stone age;
Copper ore, Canada ; bridges in streets ; arching over whole
Thames ; ventilation of London ; Ecce Homo ; Gladstone's letter
to author and his reply in clerk's hand to keep unknown;
speculation as to his being a young man who wrote it ; Language of
Sound at Society of Arts ; Dr. Wolff's Travels ; Vambery and his
travels; poster with Reform resolutions at Norwich; use of the
word ' unscrupulously ; ' marginal notes on Scripture. Took leave
deeply impressed with the talent, courtesy, and boundless suppleness
of Gladstone's intellect and of his deep reverence for God and the
Bible and firm hold of Christ.
April 25. — Called on Gladstone.
April 29. — With Wood to Gladstone's refuge; service intoned by
man in white.
July 16. — Palestine Committee. They put me on sub-committee
for Exhibition.
July 18. — Paris Exhibition Committee at South Kensington. They
made me work the boat-builders.
Nov. 5. — Palestine Committee and launched the Biblical Museum.
The suggestion of this I made to Mr. Edwards several years ago. I
then brought it before the Palestine Exploration Fund Committee
where it was warmly seconded and now seems likely to be carried out.
Nov. 6. — Dined F. Pollock, met Tyndall, Froude, Merivale, Lord
Houghton. Nov. 8. — Duke of Edinburgh presided at meeting Paris Exhibition
Committee. Convinced that whole affair is a complete jumble of
grand names and cumbrous machinery, useless for action.
Nov. 12. — Dined Lord Elcho and met Delane, Editor of Times,
and Bob Lowe. The latter chiefly notable as a detractor of every
person mentioned in conversation.

CHAPTER XII
1865—1868
THE "ROB ROY" CANOE
In the early spring of 1865, while at the height of his
popularity in the London Scottish, and while diligent
in every thing that related to his Company, Mac Gregor
seems to have taken more kindly than ever before to
boating, and there are frequent references in his diary
to pleasant pulls on the river. One day towards the
end of May, he noted, " Idea about canoe voyage was
in germ to-day," and ten days later, " Canoe project
hatched." On June 21 he wrote, "Went to see my
canoe the Rob Roy" and on the 27th, "Saw the Rob
Roy completed." A month after that he started on
his first famous tour.
But the germ of the idea was really of much older
date, for in the last journal he ever wrote, when his
adventurous tours were over, and all his honours in
the world of sport had been won, he wrote :
Canoe. The idea of this occurred to me on May 22, 1848, when
Archibald Smith showed me an india-rubber cloak which could be
expanded by air, and I wrote ! ' perhaps I shall go to the Lakes next
year.' The first wooden canoe I designed and had built in 1865,

278 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xii.
after seeing the canoes in North America and the Kaimchatka with
double paddles.
On turning to his diary, the actual entry to which
he refers, stands thus :
May 22, 1848. — Met Archibald Smith and saw his india-rubber boat
which forms a cloak, tent, boat and bed — perhaps I shall go to the
Lakes next year.
The first Rob Roy canoe was fifteen feet long, two
feet six broad, built of oak, and weighed, with mast
and sails and a two-bladed Indian paddle, about ninety
pounds. The boat was covered fore and aft with
cedar, leaving an elliptic opening about four feet long
where the rower could sit facing the bow. A bag held
all necessary luggage, a silk Union Jack fluttered its
nationality and the name Rob Roy was painted in blue
letters on the stern.
Starting on the Thames to Sheerness on July g,
1865, and then by Dover to Ostend, Mac Gregor had
a few days on the Meuse and the Rhine. The boat
being taken by railway from Mainz to Aschaffenburg,
gave opportunity for two pleasant days down the
Main. Thence he went up the Rhine to Freiburg,
and carted the canoe to the Titisee, in the heart of the
Black Forest. He had a paddle on this lake, which is
about three miles long and 3000 feet above the sea,
notwithstanding that the people there protested against
the proceeding, and said that Pontius Pilate, who, it
seems, is at the bottom of the lake, would assuredly
drag the boat down.
Again carting the boat to Donaueschingen, he

ii
lis

;!«!!

?¦ '¦' i

mi

i865

ON THE DANUBE

281

reached the source of the Danube, and travelled down
through Sigmaringen, past the romantic monastery of
Beuron and amid splendid rocks, woods, and rapids
for a whole week.
The Germans were astonished to see a boat on this
untraversed part of the river where Mac Gregor only
saw three boats, and these only for short ferries.

SHOOTING THE RAPIDS IN FULL SAIL IN THE GALE NEAR EKENGEN
ON THE DANUBE, SEPT. 1865
Every morning, hundreds of people, and in one case
more than a thousand persons, assembled to see the
canoe start. In several places, guns were fired, and the
bells were rung for the event. At Ulm the navigation
of the Danube begins, and it becomes like any other
river, so he left it by railway for Lake Constance, the
canoe travelling as baggage.

282 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xii.
Paddling through this lake and the Zeller Zee he
descended the Rhine to Schaffhausen, and then went
to the Lakes of Zurich, Zug, and Lucerne, sailing and
rowing every day. From Lucerne he descended the
river Reuss, and passed the somewhat dangerous
rapids of Bremgarten without injury, and so got into
the Aar, and by it again into the Rhine, which he
followed to the falls of Laufenburg, round which the
boat was taken in a cart drawn at first by a milch cow.
Both rapids at Rheinfelden were also successfully
passed by the canoe (though many larger boats have
been lost there), and so he reached Bale, and by the
Mulhouse Canal got into the river 111 ; but it was so dry
and the scenery so dull, that he took the boat by cart
over the Vosges mountains to the source of the Moselle,
commencing the descent of that river as high up as
Reinoremont, following it to Epinal, Chalet and Char-
mes. He then left the Moselle and came down the river
Meurthe, but that being also rather uninteresting, he
went to the Marne which took him to Paris.
This journey of about a thousand miles was one of
surprising interest, and of great variety of scene and
character. Week by week, an account of his tour
appeared in the columns of the Record newspaper, and
extracts from these, with editorial notes and comments,
were transferred to the whole newspaper press, at
home and abroad.
When, therefore, on the 7th of October, on a flow
ing tide, he paddled the Rob Roy under West
minster Bridge, and deposited her again at Searle's,

1866 FIRST CANOE BOOK 283
the builders, he was the hero of the hour, and all the
world talked of him and his exploits.
In January 1866, his first canoe book made its
appearance under the title of " A Thousand Miles in
the Rob Roy Canoe on Twenty Rivers and Lakes of
Europe," * illustrated by twenty woodcuts from the
author's drawings, and accompanied by a note on the
title-page that all profits derived from the sale of the
work would be devoted to the Shipwrecked Mariners'
Society and the National Lifeboat Institution.
Some idea of the popularity of this book may be
gathered from the following notes : —
1866. Feb. 17. — Low told me new edition of canoe book was needed.
March 22. — Read paper on Rob Roy canoe before Institute of
Naval Architects. Sir John Hay in chair and full attendance.
Showed sails, paddle, &c, and put on dress.
April 5. — Review of my book in Times — a splendid z\ cols, of
unmixed praise.
April 16. — Second edition of my canoe book came out to-day.
April 18. — Went to Mrs. Gladstone's assembly.
April 20. — Found that 2000 of my second edition sold in five
days. Grove said the Emperor of the French had read the book and
decreed an exhibition of pleasure-boats in 1867.
April 21. — God has given me remarkable blessing and honour
lately — the election as a member of Athenseum Committee, success
of the canoe book and favour of society and of individuals.
May 12. — Sent copy of canoe book and photograph to Emperor
Napoleon (specially bound).
May 16. — Laid keel of Rob Roy the Second.
May 17. — Third edition of book came out to-day.
* Published by Sampson Low, Marston & Co.

284 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xii.
May 21. — Wrote to E. about my design to go round the world on
a missonary tour, an idea I may expect God to bless.
A new set of friends and circumstances now began
to environ the life of John Mac Gregor. Nothing is
ever really done well without enthusiasm, or, as an
Irish orator expressed it, " Nobody is really sane
unless he is a little bit mad on some subjects,' and
it must be confessed that MacGregor got a "little bit
mad " on every subject into which he threw his whole
heart. But surrounding circumstances never moved
his heart from its right place, or diverted him from the
real plans and purposes of his life. He fully recog
nised the danger of his new enterprise both to life
and character, but he never questioned his own right
motive in the least degree. In a note relating to his
first voyage he says :
It cannot be concealed that continuous physical enjoyment, such
as this tour presented, is dangerous luxury if it be not properly used.
When I thought of the hospitals of London, of the herds of squalid
poor in fetid alleys, of the palefaced ragged boys, and the vice, sad
ness, pain, and poverty we are sent to do battle with, if we be
true Christian soldiers, I could not help asking, ' Am I right in thus
enjoying such comfort, such scenery, and such health ? ' Certainly,
not right, unless to get vigour of thought and hand, and renewed
energy of mind, and larger thankfulness, and wider love, and sc,
with all the powers recruited, to enter the field again more eager and
able to be useful.
Canoes and canoeing having now become the
popular rage, we are not surprised to find that in the
summer of 1866, while rowing at Kew with his friend

i866

THE CANOE CLUB

285

Mr. J. Inwards, he "formed the idea of a Canoe
Club ; " nor is the inevitable sequel long delayed, for
within a week he adds, " Formed the Canoe Club at
the Star and Garter." The objects of the club were
to improve canoes, promote canoeing, and unite
canoeists, and the means for attaining these objects
were to hold meetings for business and bivouac, for

RAPIDS OF VRANG'S ELV

paddling and sailing, and for racing and chasing in
canoes over land and water. The idea took hold of
the popular taste, and the first list of members
included a number of distinguished oarsmen, travellers,
alpine climbers, and athletes. In less than a month
after the club was formed, Mac Gregor was off on his
second adventurous tour.

1866.

Aug. 2. — Started from Simmons' in the Rob Roy and paddled down

286

JOHN MACGREGOR

CHAP. XII.

river to steamer for Christiania below London Bridge. Got under
way with early tide next day and off.
Sep. 29. — Arrived at Thames Haven in steamer from Bremenhagen
after the most delightful tour of three weeks in Norway, Sweden,
Denmark to Baltic and North Sea. This being in my album and
described in my new book to come out at Christmas, I pass over
here. The second Rob Roy in which this tour was made was

^ '

-v. -*

/} 'M«M-'

— — _-^gb>— t^— ; ¦_- :. 

— rt^.l iJpC

SPYING OUT THE CHANNEL— LAKE VENERN

an improvement on the first. It was fourteen feet long,
twenty-six inches wide, was, like the former one, built
of oak, and decked with cedar and had a double-bladed
paddle and a lug and foresail. The boat weighed sixty
pounds, luggage nine pounds, cooking apparatus and
stores three pounds.
Beginning his tour at Kongsvinger on the beautiful
Glommen river in Norway, Mac Gregor proceeded to a
small lake whence the water overflows in winter both

1866 CANOEING IN NORWAY 287
westward into the North Sea and eastward, after a
long route, into the Baltic ; then, by the Vingen See
and the Okranger Lake and a chain of waters, he
entered the Vrang's Elv, "a river most varied in
character, fast and slow, deep and shallow, winding
under dense woods and through open lawns," until he
reached the Hugen See and by the Glava and a
variety of other lakes, entered lake Venern, an inland
sea about 100 miles in length. Traversing this for
some days, amid countless islands and in stiff gales,
when a compass was nearly useless and the navigation
at some places very intricate, he went up a branch of
the Great Klar River to the cholera-stricken Carlstadt
and steamed to Lake Vettern, nearly as long as the
other sea, but with brilliantly clear water, sudden
squalls and rocky shores. He then sailed down the
Motala River, and passing through the pretty lakes
Bosen and Roxen, came by the lake Glan to Nonkop-
ing, where he took steamer for ten miles to the Baltic,
and dropped the canoe in the open sea for a three
days' cruise. After a thorough exploration of the
lakes and seas near Stockholm, he proceeded west
through the many-isled Malar Lake to Hjelman,
some fifty miles long, and then on the Orebo River
and by rail back again to Vernern.
Such is a bald outline of a tour marked by many
exciting incidents and adventures. Sometimes he had
to wade, dragging the boat in the shallows, or, when
the rivers were choked with logs of timber, pulling the
boat through the forests, and carrying the luggage and

288' JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xii.
fittings separately to lighten the task. Once a horse
ran away with a cart in which was the canoe, and
dashed the cart to pieces, the wheels running one way
while the canoe was upset in the opposite direction,
and came down on a paling with a crash but without
injury except to the flagstaff and one rib of the boat.
Eight times he had to reach steamboats in open water
and haul the boat on board, and twice this happened
in the night. On one occasion, in a fierce gale, the
canoe was blown away, even off the ground, and had
to be held down by both hands for a long time on
shore. Crowds came to witness the Rob Roy pass
the whirlpool some miles below Trolhatta, a feat he
" should scarcely be induced to perform again."
Reaching Helsingborg, at the end of Sweden, by
steamer, he paddled across the Sound to Denmark,
coasted along to Copenhagen, and having crossed
Seeland to Korsor by rail, traversed some large
fjords, and then launched on the Great Belt and
inland lake. From this point the route was to
Sleswig and Austenburg, where Mac Gregor put his
boat on a little steamer, but during the voyage the
cylinder of the engine exploded, "and in a rough sea,
without mast, or sail, or food, or an oar, or a boat,
(except the canoe) we drifted to a reef of rocks, but
were rescued, after many hours, by another steamer,
itself disabled at the time."
At Hamburg the Rob Roy penetrated the inmost
canals even through the Jews' quarter and sometimes
by tunnels. Then she started for a four days' cruise

1866 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL 289
on the Elbe and next ascended the river Rhyn which
goes forty miles into Holstein. Villagers turned out,
en masse, to see the boat ; schools were dismissed with
shouts, and men at drill were disbanded. At one
place a lad ran off and returned to the sight with his
grandmother on his back, carrying the poor old lady
by her wrists like a sack. Mac Gregor had often to
take the canoe upstairs and lock it in a room for
safety, and once the people reported that he had
brought a large violoncello with him. In a letter to
the Times, he says :
I had now to attempt the hazardous feat of catching a steamer
near the bank of the Elbe, with a heavy sea on. After an hour's
work I landed for a rest at a bleak island with a pilot boat (chartered
by me to signal the steamer) and which had sailed alongside with
two reefs in. The natives who watched our approach were told I
was ' a wild Chinaman being chased,' and they came with bludgeons
and axes and pursued me for half an hour until the steamer was in
sight, and the Rob Roy was taken to Heligoland.
He circumnavigated the little island-rock and then
paddled to the island of Dune. From Bremen he
went up the Gesta River and then sailed along the
Weser to Nordenham, tossing about in the swell
among a fine shoal of porpoises. Thence by steamer
to Thames Haven, and then —
The Rob Roy paddled up the river until from the Temple Pier
she was carried upstairs into my chambers safe and sound, and with
all her crew in radiant health after travelling over a thousand miles,
of which about a third was done under sail. In addition to this
nearly a thousand miles of travelling was accomplished in twenty-five T

290 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xii.
steamers and five hundred miles on six railways. The time occupied
was from the 2nd of August to the 29th of September, and the total
cost of the trip was ^45.
Week by week, under the title of " Rovings of the
Rob Roy," an account again appeared in the Record
of his daily experiences, and immediately upon his
return he devoted every leisure moment to re-writing
these in literary form, with the result that on the 20th
of December there appeared the charming book "The
Rob Roy on the Baltic." *
A quite phenomenal success attended the publica
tion of this book, and revived the sale of the former one.
High and low, rich and poor, princes and peasants,
read and talked about canoes and canoeing in general,
and of John Mac Gregor and the Rob Roy in par
ticular. Every newspaper had its article ; those
devoted to the chronicle of sports, such as the Field,
had several, and from these there arose much amusing
criticism and controversy. By some exception was
taken to coasting trips in canoes, not so much on
account of the danger, but simply because le jeu ne
vaut pas la chandelle. "It is a mistake to paddle
where you can go in a steamboat," said some. "A
canoe is only meant for water impracticable for other
kinds of boats," said others.
Some in advocating the claims of ordinary kinds of
* " The Rob Roy on the Baltic. A Canoe Cruise through Norway, Sweden,
Denmark, Sleswig-Holstein, the North Sea, and the Baltic." By J. Mac
Gregor, M.A. Trinity College, Cambridge; author of "A Thousand Miles in
the Rob Roy Canoe." With numerous illustrations, maps and music. Sampson
Low, Son & Marston.

1866 ADVERSE CRITICISM 291
rowing boats felt it a duty "to utter a word of warn
ing or of protest against the claims of an upstart
phenomenon of our days to share in the unapproach
able merit really possessed by the gig as a boat of
pleasure. We denounce, abhor, scout, and scorn the
notion that the canoe is anything of the kind. That
article has its proper uses, and is highly commendable
in its own sphere — that is, where nothing else can
navigate. It is the invention of savages, dwellers on
savage waters whose shallowness and rapidity would
be destruction to regular craft. It is necessity, not
choice or pleasure, which justifies recourse to such an
imperfect, unscientific, uncomfortable imitation of the
true boat. We say it is a species of mockery of boat
ing to go on expeditions of length and cost in a craft
whose only method of propulsion is based on the most
wasteful expenditure of man's powers ever invented."
Another critic described the canoe as "a broad,
clumsy, flat-bottomed, 'funny,' with the outriggers
removed." The propeller is likened to the king com
memorated in the "Arabian Nights," who was turned
to stone from the waist downwards. Mac Gregor was
described as having gradually become a kind of
aquatic centaur, his lower part being a boat, and his
upper a wandering Englishman ! A suggestion was
made that "as the constrained position of the legs
produces continual cramps, it would be an improve
ment to have the legs amputated," and a fear was
expressed that "mortals of less buoyant spirits
might get tired of sitting in a damp tub, paddling in

292 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xii.
a confined attitude, and being confined to watercourses
as the only available routes."
One steady-going paper, in giving an account of
these "unique tours," considered that "they must
have given to the Continental peoples amongst whom
they lay, confirmation strong of the constitutional
eccentricity, not to say madness, of Britons. Imagine
a gentleman traversing rapid rivers, stormy firths, and
unknown lakes in a vessel that he could carry on his
shoulder. It seems impossible that a man could
venture his life in such a frail toy ; but the author did
it, and was utterly insensible to his peril."
Another enlightened organ felt that it dared not
recommend Mac Gregor's example to athletes gene
rally : "The traditional John Bull would have been
shot at, arrested, stoned, cut down by scythes, or
burnt as a wizard before he had accomplished the
smallest part of Mr. Mac Gregor's journey. He
would have quarrelled with the railway officials for
refusing to take his canoe in the luggage van. When
asked on a French canal to show his pass for the
locks he would have knocked down the querist. He
would certainly not have received the curiosity of
whole towns as a compliment, or have delayed his
start to accommodate a bedridden old man who
particularly wished to see it. He must have lost his
temper at having to paddle through a forest of grass
four feet high, and would probably have remained
there to this day. For a canoe voyage has its
drawbacks, and paddling through a jungle is one of

1868 BOAT VERSUS CANOE

293

them. When Mr. Mac Gregor gets soused in a rapid,
or tumbles sideways over a weir, he does not mind,
because it is all in the day's work."
Not from newspapers only, but from grave and
reverend seigniors at home and abroad, from Mrs.
Grundy and her relatives, and from many others who
should have known better, protests and objections
came. Among his fellow countrymen abroad, he met
with certain fine gentlemen who remonstrated with
him on his mode of travel. One, for example, said :
" Don't you think it would have been better to have
had an attendant with you to look after your luggage
and things ? " The most obvious answer to this was
probably that which Mac Gregor gave : "Not for me,
if he was to be in the boat : and not for him, if he had
to run on the bank." Another Englishman asked in
all seriousness about the canoe voyage : "Was it not
a great waste of time ? " And when Mac Gregor
inquired how he had spent his vacation, he said : " Oh,
I was all the time at Brighton ! " One English gentle
man, who smiled at "the extremely odd notion," was
found to have himself wandered over the Continent
upon a velocipede ; a second was travelling with a
four-in-hand and two spare horses ; and a third was
making a tour in a road locomotive, which had cost
him .£700 !
To all his objectors, and they were but an in
finitesimal fraction of the number of his applauders,
Mac Gregor had a ready answer. Asked by a
reviewer whether, in his heart, he did not think that

294 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xii.
rowing was really preferable to canoeing, Rob Roy
replied: "As the reformed convict told his master
who quoted the proverb about honesty being the best
policy, ' I have tried them both,' and infinitely prefer
the canoe. It is the spine on which fatigue tells — the
one bone that supports the whole fabric — and it is pre
cisely the spine which cannot be rested in rowing.
What is the restful attitude of an oarsman ? Cowering
over his oar — about as comfortless a kind of repose as
you can imagine.* In the canoe, on the contrary, one
is perfectly at ease all the while, and the low position
in the boat gives immense comfort and power."
To his armchair critics Mac Gregor appealed to
experience, and would reply : " Has he travelled in
other ways so as to know their several pleasures ?
Has he climbed glaciers and volcanoes, dived into
caves and catacombs, trotted in the Norway carriole,
ambled on an Arab donkey and galloped on the
Russian steppes ? Does he know the charm of a
Nile boat, or a Trinity eight, or a sail in the JEgean,
or a mule in Spain ? Has he swung upon a camel, or
glided in a sleigh, or trundled in a Rantoone ? " Mac
Gregor could answer that he had done all these things,
but the pleasure of canoeing was greater than them all.
Making all allowances for his rare and fine enthu
siasm, here is his deliberate opinion of the canoe :
The canoeist looks forward and not backward as he sits in his
* What would he have said to the " crumpled-up " cyclists of to-day who
ride safeties — falsely so called — with their chins not much higher than their
knees ?

1867 MERITS OF THE CANOE 295
little bark. He sees all his course and the scenery besides. With
one powerful sweep of his paddle he can instantly turn the canoe,
when only a foot distant from fatal destruction. He can steer within
an inch in a narrow place, or press through reeds and weeds, branches
and grass ; can hoist and lower his sail without changing his seat ;
can shove with his paddle when aground or jump out in good time
to prevent a decided smash. He can wade and haul the light craft
over shallows, or on dry ground, through fields and hedges, over
dykes, barriers, and walls ; can carry it by hand up ladders and
stairs, and can transport his boat over high mountains and broad
plains in a cart drawn by a horse, a bullock, or a cow. Nay, more
than this, the covered canoe is far stronger than an open boat, and
may be fearlessly dropped head foremost into a deep pool, or a lock,
or a millrace ; and yet when the breakers are high, in the open sea or
fresh water rapids, they can only wash over the covered deck, while
it is always dry within. Again a canoe is safer than a rowing-boat,
because you sit so low in it and never require to shift your place or
lose hold of the paddle ; while for comfort during long hours, for
days and weeks of hard work, it is evidently the best, because you
lean all the time against a back-board, and the moment you rest the
paddle on your lap you are as much at ease as in an armchair ; so
that while drifting along with the current or the wind you can gaze
around, and eat or read, or chat with the starers on the banks, and
yet, in a moment of sudden danger the hands are at once on the
faithful paddle ready for action. Finally, you can lie at full length
in the canoe, with the sail as an awning for the sun, or a shelter for
rain, and you can sleep in it thus at night, under cover, with an
opening for air to leeward and at least as much room for turning in
your bed as sufficed for the great Duke of Wellington ; or, if you are
tired of the water for a time, you can leave your boat at an inn — it
will not be ' eating its head off' like a horse ; or you can send it
home or sell it, and take to the road yourself, or sink into the dull
old cushions of the ' Premiere Classe ' and dream you are seeing
the world.
In 1867, the same year in which "Rob Roy on

296 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xii.
the Baltic " was under review, the Canoe Club, John
Mac Gregor captain, and James Inwards mate, was
attracting much attention, and adding daily to its
membership. Soon after it started a caustic evening
paper said, " This club, uniting as it does a maximum
of discomfort and danger, with a minimum of utility is
said to be fast obtaining a hold on the mind of the
muscular Christianity of the day."
Another journal, however, said that the captain of
the Canoe Club, deserved the gratitude of our athletic
youth for having found a new mode of enjoyment
tending to develop "that poetic perception, that
imaginative faculty which is crushed and stunted by
the stern monotony of our social life."
But perhaps the happy medium was struck by the
American who said : "I guess that darned Canoe
Club is a big fact."
At its first annual meeting rules were drawn up
requiring that each member should send his portrait,
full description of his canoe and a brief account of his
voyages and, if possible, a map with his routes marked
clearly on it. At that meeting, several voyages, canoe
wrecks, and adventures were detailed, including the
total loss of one canoe and one dog.
In the early days of the club, canoe-chasing was a
favourite pastime and we borrow from a sporting
paper, an account of the canoe-chase in 1867.
The great event of the day was the canoe-chase over land and
water. Four flags were arranged at the angles of a square, and the
starting-point was fixed midway between them. Mr. Inwards, the

1867 REGATTA ON THE SEINE 297
mate, was selected as chevy, and had two minutes law, after which
the remaining canoes rushed after him. The course was diagonally
across, round all the flags, and back to the starting-point. The
excitement was very great when Mr. Kinnaird and the purser (Col.
Wright) went for the same flag, and finally emerged from behind a
tree, ' heads and tails ' to the water side. The purser was in first
with the head of his boat in the right direction, so away he went to
the next flag. Kinnaird's boat, however, had its nose the wrong way,
so he bucketed across, jumped on land, and tore away to the next flag ;
here the purser rounded the flag together with the owner of the Rossie.
In the end Mr. Kinnaird won, the purser being 2nd, and the chevy 3rd.
More important work was however in store for the
club. The Emperor Napoleon III., whose fancy for
imitating everything English led him with alacrity to
patronise the introduction into France of English
sports in particular, having read of Rob Roy's exploits
as told in his books, was anxious to have an exhibition
of pleasure boats, including canoes, at the Exposition
Universelle, " and would be glad to encourage a taste
for the exploration of solitary streams and lonely
currents among the youth of France." The Boat
exhibition was decided upon, followed by a new thing
in the boating world : the announcement of a Regatta
on the Seine with the sanction of the Emperor of the
French, under the presidency of the Duke of Edinburgh,
and whipped in by John MacGregor — with prizes
amounting to .£11 00 in value, to be competed for by
rowing boats. Of course all this, while it entailed
much labour, brought with it much honour to Mac
Gregor who notes some of the events of this time in
his diary thus :

298 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xii.
1867. March 18. — Designed cooking canoe.
March 30. — Committee meeting Stafford House, where met P. of
Wales, D. of Sutherland, Rev. J. Rogers, Captain Donnelly, C.
Wylde, for two and a half hours. Prince most affable, shook hands
with me first and last. P. spoke to me of canoe — London Scottish
— Belgians — Sailing voyage. We settled programme of British
Regatta in Paris (originally drawn up by me, and agreed to in my
rooms, and then discussed by the Royal Commission). Felt quite
charmed by the Prince — business-like too in his committee work
and amusing in his criticisms. They call him ' Sir ' invariably.
April 9. — Wrote Gen. Knollys, asking P. of Wales to be commo
dore of the Canoe Club.
April 11. — Heard from Gen. Knollys, P. of Wales pleased to
become commodore C. C.
April 13. — The health, honour, joy, granted to me day after day year
after year. How shall I be enough thankful and workful for all this ?
May 10. — Paris regatta committee met Marlborough House, P. of
Wales in chair. I sat next to him and he was most kind.
May 17. — Last night and to-night found poor boys in streets and
helped them. Heard of Cambridge branch of Canoe Club. Saw Yawl.
May 26. — Sir F. Faudell Phillips died. My dear friend who
walked with me every day in Temple Gardens before breakfast, he
going to the Temple Church early service, and I to the Shoeblacks'
morning prayers.
May 29. — Presented at the levee held by the P. of Wales for the
Queen, by Lord Elcho : the Prince graciously shook hands, and
turned to the Duke of Cambridge and said, ' You know who that
was — the canoe man.'
June 7. — Started from Forrester's in my yawl Rob Roy, and on
Sep. 21 proudly brought her back after three months and a half.
Record of this in my book ' The Voyage Alone.' *
From this to Nov. 2 occupied in writing this book.
* "The Voyage Alone in the Yawl Rob Roy," by John MacGregor, M.A.
Sampson Low, Son & Marston.

1867

THE YAWL ROB ROY

299

The yawl Rob Roy was a little yacht of three tons,
twenty-one feet long between perpendiculars, seven
feet beam, and three feet deep. She was a life-boat,
with a cabin nine feet by three feet and a sliding hatch
four feet long which in harbour could be raised to
form a roof five feet high ; astern of this was a well,
three feet square, which could be covered with macin-

THE YAWL ROB ROY

tosh in bad weather. She was built of two skins of
plank — the inner of yellow pine, and the outer of
mahogany — varnished, and without paint. The rig
was a yawl with a bumpkin bowsprit of two feet giving
a jib of nine feet in the foot. The mizen carried a lug
and, for gales, a storm sail. A small "dingey" went
inside the yacht, and could speedily be hauled out and
launched. Mac Gregor's idea was "to have a tho
roughly good sailing-boat, the largest that could be

300 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xii.
well managed in rough weather by one strong man,
and with every bolt, cleat, sheave, and rope well con
sidered in relation to the questions : How will this
work in a squall ? on a rock ? in the dark ? or in a
rushing tide ? a crowded lock ; not to say in a storm ? "
It may be said here that the "cargo" consisted
chiefly of tracts, periodicals, books, Bibles, and Testa
ments for distribution among the sailors of all nations,
gathered in French and English waters, during the
time of the Paris Exhibition.
"The Voyage Alone" was a cruise of about a
thousand miles, across the Channel in its narrowest
part, along the dangerous French coast, up the Seine
to Paris — where he stayed on board a fortnight for the
Exhibition and the English Regatta — back again
across the Channel in its broadest part and in and
about the Medway and Thames. The book, which
we do not propose to describe more fully, met with as
warm a reception as its predecessors, and the profits
were given year by year in prizes to the boys of the
training-ships, the Chichester (on the Thames), the
Indefatigable (on the Mersey), and the Havannah (on
the Severn) — the best " Refuges " for destitute lads
ever known.
It was almost immediately after the publication of
"The Voyage Alone" that MacGregor retired from
the command of his Company in the London Scottish.
He had revolved in his mind how he could best employ
the time he allowed himself for "hobby work" and
recreation, and he came, as we think wisely, to the

l867 "THE VOYAGE ALONE" 301
conclusion that the canoe was better than the kilt for
purposes of practical philanthropy which included
popularity and influence, for, as Lord Shaftesbury once
said, " Applause is the daily bread of the philanthro-
pist. A few extracts from the diary will now bridge oyef^
the interval between "The Voyage Alone," and "Rob
Roy on the Jordan," the enterprise and the^book on
which his greatest fame as a traveller and an author
rests. 1867. Dec. 6.— Finished last correction of last revise of book 'The
Voyage Alone.'
Dec. 14. — My book came out.
Dec. 17. — Meeting of my Company when I addressed them explain
ing reasons for retiring from command. All most kind.
1868. Jan. 3. — Met Lifeboat inspectors about my improvements in
compass. Jan. 5, Sunday. — With D. of Sutherland, Kinnaird and D. Miller
(American) to Boys' Refuge and Field Lane. He came in a cab and
I would not go in it. He recognised the consistency.
Jan. 6. — Lunched at Marlborough House with Prince of Wales.
He took me into his private rooms and settled letter to Prince
Imperial. Jan. 8. — Lunch Holland's. With children to American Circus.
Feb. 9. — Dined at Moore s. A. K. (?Arthur Kinnaird), Spurgeon
Punshon, &c. Big parties are not good.
March 3. — First lecture on ' Voyage Alone ' at Whitechapel. Large
attendance. March 27. — To Cambridge. Lecture 'Voyage Alone' in Town
Hall. April 4. — University boat-race. With eight men in canoes.

302 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xii.
April 8.— O. A. M. Committee. Asked by Hamilton to stand 'for
Marylebone against T. Chambers.
May 9. — Second edition ' Voyage Alone ' came out.
June 4. — Launched Rob Roy Yawl and on 5th went down to
Erith with her.
June 6. — Sailing match of Canoe Club. Charming breeze. Great
fun. At night five canoes off by moon like ducks with wings, soon
like specks on flowing tide.
June 10. — In yawl Erith to Hungerford. London by night. 12.
• — To Putney. 16. — By Wey River. Adventures in Locks. 18. —
Entered Arun. 19. — Littlehampton. 20. — Bognor. 23. — -Ports
mouth. 27. — To London after broken bowsprit.
June 30. — Declined proposal of Constitutional Association of
Finsbury to stand at next election for the Borough.
July 8. — Presented Rob Roy prizes to boys on board Chichester.
Splendid sight, addressed them afterwards.
July n. — Finally resolved this week to take canoe to Palestine
and Egypt.
Sep. 2. — Inspected new Rob Roy.
Sep. 3. — My two letters in the Times about Marine Propulsion.
My paper on the compass published.
Sep. 12. — Sold the Norway Rob Roy canoe to Callaway for £12.
Sep. 13. — Read Angus's 'Handbook of the Bible' again. The
evidences look stronger and stronger every time one reads them.
My memory of their minute particulars is bad but the gush of
conviction comes afresh on every systematic perusal. Took leave of
many friends in a serious anticipation of difficult voyaging.
Sep. 15. — Macaulay about boys' newspaper.
Sep. 16. — Delightful letter from Lifeboat Institution approving
my new binnacle.
Sep. 29. — Brought the Rob Roy to London Bridge in heavy gale.
Crowd at Temple pier to cheer her start.
The start was for Egypt and Palestine.

CHAPTER XIII
1868—1869
ROB ROY ON THE JORDAN
The cruise of the Rob Roy in Egypt and Palestine,
comprehending the Nile, the- Red Sea, the Jordan, the
Lake of Gennesareth, and the Waters of Damascus,
was, without doubt, the greatest tour that John Mac
Gregor ever made, while his book on the subject,
" Rob Roy on the Jordan," * is equally, without doubt,
the best book he ever wrote. Hitherto in refer
ring to his tours, we have mainly quoted from his
correspondence to the public press and his diary. In
this chapter we propose to give a few extracts from
some of his charmingly fresh and natural letters sent
by every available means to friends at home, and
our selection will relate principally to the beginning
and the end of his really wonderful journey.
The canoe in which the cruise was made, was the
fifth Rob Roy and was specially built for the voyage.
She was 14 feet long, 26 inches wide, and one foot
deep outside ; built of oak below and covered with
cedar, with a waterproof apron for protection from
* Published by John Murray,

3o4 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xiii.
waves and rain. Her topmast was the second joint
of a fishing-rod ; the sails were dyed deep blue to
temper the glare of the sun, and her blue-bladed
paddle was the same that Mac Gregor used in Sweden
minus an inch of its edge, broken off when a runaway
horse upset the canoe in a Norwegian forest. She was
the smallest vessel ever launched for such a voyage,
and withal "strong and light, portable and safe, a
good sailer, and graceful to behold." Moreover she
carried material to form a little cabin less than 5 feet
high, more than 6 feet long, covered by a strong white
waterproof sheet, six feet square. As so much depended
upon the comfort of the sleeping accommodation,
the canoe was built round him reclining, as his first one
had been built round him sitting, "in each case recog
nising the one great principle, far too often forgotten,
that a comfortable boat, like a shoe or a coat, must be
built for the wearer and not worn down to his shape."
Mac Gregor and his canoe travelled from England
to Alexandria in the good ship Tanjore and after a
few days' run he was at Port Said at the mouth of
the Suez Canal, from which place he wrote, presum
ably, the first letter, from which we quote :
I have had such a good breakfast (N.B. — Forgive 'eaty' notices,
they mean health, and without that this Eastern life would be very
different). The accordion is playing sleepily over at the debit de Tabac.
Women with their thick veils carry a gourd in each hand and one on
their head. The face must be concealed ; as for other portions of their
humanity it is little matter. However, nothing can beat our chignon —
dead slaves' hair on ladies' necks.
Colonel Stanton presented to me the most beautiful little traveller's

1 868 FIRST PADDLE IN AFRICA 305,
lamp, the bijou of the Exposition at Paris, and I will certainly try it.
It needs oil, but is such a pretty thing and so completely in accord
with the canoe. All sorts of money pass here. I paid the Nubian
in rupees ! To-day I put Rob Roy to rights, and to-morrow hope to
sleep out the first time. The water here comes from the Nile by a
small canal ; it is filtered then and is healthy. Collars and razors
retire to-day into private life for ever so long. I bought a Times of
October 17, and will use it by bits up to Suez. Later I will tell
you to be good enough to buy them for me to send to Tiberias,
where they will be invaluable. I am making decided progress in
Arabic. Alone is the best way to travel. One sees, hears, and feels
more in a day thus than in a week with others. It is a strange, poetic,
pensive, and solemn feeling alone. Two Yankees were on the
steamer. They had heard of the Rob Roy in America. I got well
bored by mosquitoes the first night at Alexandria. Some ammonia
relieved the pain, but my hands are mottled. My grey flannel things
are invaluable. The very dress for this. I have my old Norfolk on
— its fourth tour — the new one is for ' swell times ! '
Port Said (Entrance of Suez Canal),
October 28.
Everything most capital, and all safe here. My first paddle in
Africa was truly amusing. The officers and sailors of the Tanjore
were, of course, interested. I launched the Rob Roy down the
ladder and hoisted the canoe flag, and then went the whole evening
skimming about. The Egyptians instead of being languid were most
excited, and all very kind. They rushed to the wharves, peered over
the vessel's decks, ran into the water, followed me in boats, and when
I hauled up the blue sail and ran out to the Crocodile it was a sight
of the largest and smallest vessels in Africa — both English. Next
day I visited the Crocodile and saw the admirable arrangements.
The officers, who had read of Rob Roy, expressed a wish to be
introduced, and the whole came up in a body to shake hands and
chat. We had a nice church service but no sermon — my little pocket
' St. John ' was the only resource. I am learning the Gospel by heart.
u

306 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xiii.
Colonel Staunton, the Consul-General, a most agreeable man,
asked me to dinner, where I met Capt. McKillop, R.N., who has
begun a naval college for the Egyptian government. Next day I
went over it with him at the Arsenal. Thirty youths received us,
playing ' God Save the Queen.' The Minister of Marine came up
and shook hands. He knew about the canoe. Certainly it is a
splendid introduction. The French ste'amer charged nil for it when
I showed the P. Imperial's name on our list, and so we landed here
at this wonderful place. A negro and a very tall Nubian carried
R. to a summer-house (cool and shady), and I am in the little
hotel. After one day of languor my best health came, and eating, drinking,
and sleeping well I never enjoyed anything more.
This place has been raised from the sand in two years. It is quite
like an American town, crowded with people of all nations and
numerous ships. My window looks on illimitable desert, and this
afternoon I will take a paddle for two hours. I have written to
Hany, the dragoman, to join me at Suez on November 10. The
pros and cons about Sinai by sea must be settled there. At any
rate I hope to go by camel. I had to bribe the douane by 4*. not
to search my boat or boxes — the most open corruption, the head man
looking on. It is in fact a tax. This 4^. is the only thing my luggage
has cost yet ! Port Said, October 29.
I fall upon my legs wonderfully and always.
Nothing could be better than my reception here. When I got a
Nubian to help me down with R. for her first paddle on the canal,
after two hours of work in overhauling her to perfection in a garden,
the whole populace was agog.
Turks, Greeks, and Egyptians, but all so very kind, and how they
did laugh to see me glide away. Then I went out to sea for a burst
in the salt waves, and hoisting blue 'lug' sailed splendidly back up
among the shipping, the wharves, the wondrous dredging machines,
the shores ol Lake Menzaleh, covered with red and white flamingoes
exactly like armies marching.

1868 IN THE DESERT

3°7

I visited the steamer that had brought me, and everybody cheered.
The captain, a nice fellow who had much talk the night before, and
his officers taking off their hats and ' bravo ! bravo ! ' Then I went
to the Transit company. They were enchanted : hauled my boat
on their ship for the night ; asked me to their ' cercle ' for the
evening, and we had fine fun by the full moon. To-day a Maltese
clerk who could speak English took me in a boat to see all the
machinery, which is on a gigantic scale.
The canal is ioo miles long, 300 feet broad; one half is finished.
The other half is passable on fresh water conducted from the Nile.
This town has 6000 people. Six years ago it was sand. They
' treated ' me at their club with excellent beer and billiards, but
could not comprehend my distinct refusal to go afterwards to the
casino. Lots of dogs here just as in Cairo. They made an atrocious
noise. Just now I looked Out and saw a man leading two little bears
over the sand. Every morning a screw launch starts down the canal
with the post. To-morrow I will send my luggage by it to Ismailia,
the healthiest and most beautiful town here, not far from Ramses the
first journey of the Israelites. In the evening I will sail off with fair
wind, and sleep in my boat half-way into the land of Goshen ! Next
day I go to Ismailia. From all I can gather it is likely I will not
canoe it to Sinai. You may be certain I will not if it is dangerous.
I am the most cautious man in the club ! Besides, it is not proper
canoeing 240 miles on sea, and already I love the R. too much to
risk her uselessly. In that case, if Hany comes I will go on a camel
to Sinai the right way. Every article I have got or made is just
right. This is the reward of good preparation. Kantara, November 2.
Here I am in a little wooden shed, very comfortable, but can't get
on because a furious storm rages over the desert and the sand whirls
across the canal like sleet. This is a station in the desert route from
Syria to Egypt, which I recollect coming to in 1849, but now
how changed ! From the tiny inn door one sees the illimitable sand
joined without any horizon to the sand-sky, and betimes a few camels
appear like phantoms in this yellow mist, or lie down with their backs

308 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xiii.
to the gale, groaning. But I never felt better in my life, and the food
is good and what I like. Water brought by pipes a hundred miles
from the Nile.
Huge dredges, cranes, elevators, and other immense engines ply by
steam day and night (all yesterday, too, though Sunday) scooping out
the sand and mud and piling it on either hand in mimic mountains.
Thousands of tons are whisked away by the wind, but still the work
goes on. Ten years have been consumed, but it is to be done next
October. On Friday I sent my heavy luggage by the mail boat (like
a big omnibus in a steam launch) on to this place, and with a crowd
to see, I hoisted my flag and with both sails filled, off went the R.
The day before I had a paddle on Lake Menzaleh which stretches
shoreless (to the eye) and resonant with ducks. It was at last so
shallow that a crowd of naked black boys came wading to me and at
last shoved the boat over mud and sand, but I had finally to get out
and drag her through. On the canal, however, the water is twenty
feet deep.
The sun set over the glorious desert, and I went on by the light of
the full moon still sailing. My big cloak was needful, for at sunset
the air chills unless I am paddling.
Stopped near a village Ras el Esch (' beginning of bread '), and
selected a fiat sandy beach for night quarters. The cabin plan did
admirably, but the mosquitoes were innumerable, and even the flies.
Next morning I found I had placed myself six feet from a heap of
dust, rubbish, and filth of all kind. Moonlight, however bright, gives
no colour to objects, and hence my grievous mistake. I cooked some
Liebig soup famously, with bread and wine to match. Oh ! the strange
thoughts ! they were better than any book, and more and more
assured me that alone is the way to enjoy nature. Lots of people
passed now and then and all were astonished at the white covered
boat. Some peered in. The jackals yelled, a wild dog stood on the
bank half an hour grumbling. I could see all these things through a
window two inches square. My loaded pistol, capped and cocked,
was put handy, but the worthy folks, except Greeks, won't harm
one. For these last, I am advised to fire at their boat, and they being
cowards will not come near.

1868 ON THE SUEZ CANAL

3°9

At 4 I rose and smoked, and at 6 had coffee in a tumbler brought
by a boy. O, when, when shall we English learn to make coffee !
The worst coffee here is as good (positively) as our best. An
engineers' boat gave me a tow for a few miles, and then I paddled
on. The canal here is perfectly straight for thirty miles, and it is
300 feet broad. Plenty of Egyptian boats are on it sailing, and
steamers of all sizes, for the works. The early morn showed hundreds
of wild geese were over head on the wing to the new-day feeding
place on the lake. At 1 1 I drew up, rigged my sail and awning for
a shade, cooked delicious tea, and put my mosquito net over my
head, and lay down for a charming doze after reading Punch and the
Times. I have enough to do for every instant of the day, and it is
extremely interesting and so novel. The canal examined thus
becomes well worth investigation. The hydraulic engines are
perfectly astounding! There are fifty of these, and each costs
;£ 40,000 ! They move on slowly and the expenses per month just
now axe five millions of francs — i.e., ^200,000. I shall never regret
seeing thus the grandest engineering work ever attempted. Whether
it will pay is another question.
I sailed again in the cool evening. The moon rose most lurid with
torn and shredded clouds hustling about aloft ; the wind in my teeth
so I furled all sail and paddled. One good thing is the wind contrary
gives coolness. Three men passed me, each leading a bear. One got
into the water. The fish are by millions. Two minutes after starting
the day before, a fish leaped right over my boat. Their splashing at
night was continuous.
I stopped ten minutes to observe a big spider, one of the
hundred on my window, manoeuvring with a very big fly. How
splendidly they hunt to be sure. My Levinge apparatus is perfect
and I sleep inside quite sound. Oh it is a comfort indeed !
This of course I cannot rear in my boat but if I choose a good
place to-night on the lee side of the canal so that the water is
between me and the bank whence wind blows, that will do. Well
it was strange enough sailing in the dark — no danger, I had the
sheet in my hand (and one sail only) and with so much luggage on
board, yet I skimmed along for the two lights far far ahead.

310 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xiii.
How difficult to realise that in an hour I should be there and my
luggage found and an hotel (!), the padrone a Milanese and Andrew
the waiter one of Garibaldi's men. He adores English (so do the
Arabs). I went last night to a fire in the desert (here it is real desert
— 1 50 yards from where I sit) and found three Arabs baking their
bread on the red ashes and they said, ' English and Arab ever good
friends.' Yesterday I visited the Arab camp. A little Greek church is
there and telegraph posts near it ; how curiously mingled science and
savagery. One may readily see how a fortnight of this sort of work would get
materials for a little book — what will it be if I am privileged to have
a winter of it ? However when Hany, the dragoman, meets me next
Saturday it will even be better (in one sense — less work about
luggage ; he will take that and get ready for me and I will merely
canoe it to him instead of riding alongside. N.B. — They charged
nothing yet for my R. since it left Southampton except three porters,
who would have to be paid even for one's canoe luggage). Have I
not invented a new mode of seeing old lands? The R. is in the
' Directors' ' garden shaded by big gourds ! The man is 6 feet 7J, a
tremendous fellow. I bought a French book to read — an abridged
account of Speke and Grant's journey, but as yet I have not had a
minute to spare to read it. On Saturday next (Nov. 7) I hope to be
in Suez. From Ismailia, where I expect to be to-morrow, there is a
railway to Suez so Hany may come by that. The gale is very high,
it is called the Khamsin and is from S.W. As this would be
impossible to stand in the Red Sea, I may now say that I give up
the idea of canoeing it to Sinai and at Suez will decide whether or
not to camel it there with Holland, &c. This will please you. It is
the only Quixotic part of my tour and formed no part of the original
scope and plan. Ismailia, November 4.
Such fun, and here I am half-way through the canal. The rest of
it I go on the freshwater canal. The gale at Kantara detained me
till yesterday. As it wouldn't stop I set off against it and hard work
it was. I had to tow the R. with a long string round my waist. She

1 868 AT RAMESES 311
tows wonderfully light but walking against the wind and on sand and
in sand was no joke. How you would laugh to see me with a
double gauze right over my pith helmet, and yet sand came in.
Glorious desert all round and in the hot midday I sketched beside R.
and ate my breakfast. Wind veered. Thunder came on and I got
in and skimmed along under sail. My hotel bill at Kantara for
three days with all accessories was £1. Wind again opposing I had
a hard paddle in the dark to El Guisr. There the banks are high
hills and the hyenas live in them. At last I asked how far to it
(Italian passes best — Greeks, Maltese and Italians are more numerous
than French here) and found I had passed it in the dark, so retra
cing the way I found two houses, the village being half a mile off on
the hills. A man who offered to get me a bed was so ill looking I
would not leave my boat ; so on again till in a quiet spot I pitched
my quarters. Rain came. I had most foolishly not brought a
second coat and only half a loaf of bread and no Liebig. I felt if ever
I am to get ill now's the time, but I turned in. The cabin kept out
the rain perfectly and my new lamp warmed it up and I wound my
second trousers round my waist ! putting off the wet coat at all
hazards — of course I had my big cloak (invaluable) and slept like a
top. This morning I bought a pennyworth of bread from a Greek
boat, and a nice man brought me two cups of coffee from his house
and so I paddled on here, perfectly well thank God. Here is an
excellent hotel and a most beautiful place. From my window I see
the real Arabs and their camels and tents 300 yards away. I mean
to stop here till Monday the 9th, and have written to Suez to tell
Hany to come. Here is lots to see. The first man who met me
here was a gentleman (French) who saw me leave Havre in the yawl,
and who now thanked me for a tract I then gave him.
Rameses, November 8.
Here am I in Hany's splendid tent. He lies outside and I have
just read to him Exodus xii., wherein this place is mentioned. So
funny to have an unseen congregation. I wrote last from Ismailia.
That night I spent on the lake Timsah (Crocodile lake) about two
miles each way. I paddled and sailed and fished till dark, then

312 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xiii.
dined, and, when the moon rose, fixed on a graceful bend of purest
.sand, and lit my lamp. It was very cold and I lost my fishing rod,
the one I had in Norway and used also for a topmast. So next day
at early sunrise I ran up a high sand-hill exactly like snow, and only
marked by cats and jackals of the past night some of which I traced
to their holes. Wonderful view with the mountain Attaka at the
place in the Red Sea where the Jews crossed, standing high and bold
on the horizon, and sand, gravel, shrubs, marshes full of ducks, and
game dotting the foreground. I revisited every spot I had fished in,
and at the very last, found it again, the rod and line and fly all safe,
floating on the water.
One wild walker of the night had evidently come within a few
yards of the R. by moonlight, and then his paws turned away 
At night I was fairly puzzled what to do with my luggage in prospect
of four days' more on the canal, for it is grinding work to look after
.all oneself and a canoe too. In my cogitations the waiter brought in
a card inscribed ' Michael Hany, Dragoman.' How truly delightful
it was to see this. When he came up he rushed into my arms and
kissed me over each shoulder in true Eastern fashion.
He has greatly prospered in dragoman work, and it must be real
attachment to me that makes him give up chances so much more
lucrative, to come with a single traveller  But there is no
disguising that Hany's scale of doing things has advanced in style,
and of course in price. It is however a charming relief to have
such a man seeing after everything, and his new servant Seliman, a
handsome youth who waits very quietly. The barking of dogs in
Ismailia was so terrific at night that I could not sleep, and I resolved
that this is my last night here, so we hired a boat with two Egyptians,
and put the tent and things in it, and sailed and towed four hours
out to the real good desert to stop the Sunday at this place only
lately settled to be Rameses. To-day, walked for three hours over
the grand old plain where the Israelites undoubtedly lived, and from
whence they made their first start 'from Ramses to Succoth.'
Suez, November 12.
Most curious, interesting, and amusing journey from Ismailia.

1868 SHALOUF 313
Seliman is always getting into scrapes or into the water and meekly
suffering while Hany abuses him terribly as a ' dog of a Jew,' and
then pats him on the back  Hany will break his heart if I
reduce his grandeur. He is proud of his traveller, and I am proud
of him. A capital, splendid fellow indeed, and both of us with nine
teen years of travel-experience since we went out before 
Camels on all sides, lovely-eyed b?by camels, with little black boy-
Arabs from Sinai clinging to the hump. Hundreds bathing, washing
clothes, and other things in the water, our drinking beverage, mind
you, but it subsides into a pale, thin, and nice soft, palatable fluid
after all this commotion. Universal delight at seeing the R 
As evening falls, and it is cold enough (three blankets at 10 p.m. and
panting for breath] at 10 a.m.) the murmuring of ' Aila-a-a-a-a-h ' and
the whole jabberation of the ritualistic churchmen of the desert who
will repeat things over and over a hundred and fifty times  The
villages are quite unique. The French begin, the Greeks and
Italians come next, the people from far-away Nubia are packed off to
work, ' forced work but good pay,' and all is in extreme bustle — the
heyday of a scheme which will have another day of sad prosaic
reckoning. As I swept into Shalouf yesterday with my topsail swelled by the
breeze, two persons called out that they had a letter for me, and just
as I took it, and was putting it into my breast-pocket, the most
beautiful little fish, two inches long, leaped out of the water into the
pocket ! Hany hurrahed loud and long as it is a sign of the
highest luck for an odd fish of this kind to come forward and give
his advice  Instead of going to Sinai I intend to spend four
or five days in the Red Sea with the tent ashore, and then while
luggage and tent go with Hany in a boat on the Nile, I canoe into
Damietta and Port Said, and then steam to Beyrout. Thence by a
cart I take the R. to Damascus, and launch upon the Abana and
Pharpar. This is perfectly new as an idea, H. says it is quite
feasible. It is far more interesting too than the lower Jordan which
has been done twice, and nobody knows what is in the lakes at
Damascus simply because there is no boat there. Then south to
Banias, the source of the Jordan— the lake Huleh (the main object

314 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xiii.
of the whole voyage) and so to Tiberias  Hany doats on
the canoe, and keeps steering into the bank or turning round so
often to look at it  Hany -was dragoman to the Prince of
Wales. To-day two eagles kept soaring about but scorned to come near
enough for a hit. I don't like firing at birds merely because they are
birds. I feel no scruple in fishing for' mere fish, but the poor bird is
so happy-looking, that, unless it would give some more benefit than
killing it, I will let it live. The Eastern says Englishmen, when they
have nothing to do, say, ' Come and let us kill something.' This is
a blunt way of putting it, but really it is too true.
Now began one of the most charming paddles I ever had in my
life along the edge of the Red Sea. Fresh morn with lively breeze
in my face, and the sun not yet too strong on my back. The
beauteous sand glancing with light under the clearest sparkling
water, red and blue rocks, varying the pretty painted floor I seemed
to skim over, and patches of coral and gaudy shells every here and
thre.e. Before me the grand red mountains of Attaka ; wild scream
ing sea-birds circling round my head, and ever and anon shoals of
darting flying-fish, little bigger than minnows, which sprang out
of the tiny waves, and, glancing through two or three wave-tops with
a flash of silver light, dropped again into the clear water, until
another and another bright, living cloud of the same kind rose, broke
and fell. The troopship and English, French, and Egyptian men-
of-war at anchor in Suez Roads seemed to rise and fall on the glassy
surface, but this was the mirage, and my eyes being close to the
water, very wonderful effects passed in half an hour, ' but so silently,
and with such solemn pomp of colour that there was a weird feeling
of life cast over the mind quite indescribable. Oh ! it was a curious,
poetic, enchanted feeling to see these bright visions as my canoe
steadily advanced with gentle ripples beating on her bow. I soon
felt this was the best of all modes of travelling for true enjoyment,
exercise and sight-seeing at the same time.
Moses' Wells, Red Sea,
November 17.
The place where the Israelites crossed the sea seems clearly to be

J868 IN THE RED SEA 315
north of Suez near a part now fordable at low water. Long ago the sea
must have been 20 feet deeper than now— i.e., the land has risen.
North of the end of the Red Sea there are dry beds of bitter lakes
which are to be filled with water for the purposes of the Suez Canal in
four months from now. Many many miles have thus to be covered,
so the water will pour in for months before it does that.
But anciently the sea extended some miles to the north. The
place often assigned for the passage is that opposite where my tent
now is. But the water, between this and the other shore, could be in
places about 70 feet deep even now, and a 100 feet long ago. The
Bible speaks of the water over and over as a wall on each hand. A
mountain would have been the word to describe it by if it was so
deep as 100 feet. It is curious how we avoid taking just the exact
description of the Bible but insist upon adding to it and making out
our own story.
A wall would truly describe water seven or eight feet high, and
this depth would be quite enough to cover all the Egyptians. The
bend of the mountains, the lay of the plain, and the distance of
only five or six miles instead of twelve miles across, are all in favour
of the idea that the children of Israel passed over very near to the
present ford where the camels cross at low water now, to get fresh
water on the other side.
My canoe has been the wonder of the town. 1 had to show her
off at the hotel. She was on the pier and a great crowd assembled.
The balcony was full of English ladies and children with their ayahs
from the Indian mail. Officers of the Malabar (like the Crocodile)
and the Fenze (here to take Lord Mayo lo India) and other ships in
the foreground. Numerous Hindoo servants of the hotel with their
silken locks, Greek and Egyptian sailors, Englishmen from the
P. & O., officers, Scotchmen from the railway, Arabs from the desert
(here to take a German to Sinai), and three Chinese sailors, all
jabbered at once as I set up my cabin, inflated my air bed, drew my
mosquito curtains, fixed my lamp and showed my cooking apparatus,
the 'compass, the chart, the pistol, waterbottle, fishing rod, landing
net. One of the Malabar officers had bought a Rob Roy after
reading my book— another officer here is going to order one. There

316 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xiii.
is no need to disguise the fact that the canoe is regarded as a very
great wonder indeed, and I have an amount of consideration as a
' distinguished traveller ' far beyond what belongs to me.
Hany put the tent and luggage into a large sailing boat preparing
to follow me, and I launched the R. and hoisting the blue lug soon
skimmed over the long waves out to sea. The wind was quite
favourable but I had about sixteen miles of sailing along the coast
and a most charming though rather adventurous trip. The water
was beautifully clear, brilliant coloured sand and patches of coral
whisked past me and the wind increased to a gale, so I put in a reef
but still sailed merrily. Hany by some mistake never hoisted the
large English ensign he had strict orders to put up, so that in vain,
hour after hour, I looked to see his boat coming.
The white goose-winged sails of many boats swelled up on the
horizon and glided past me at three or four miles distance, but I
never made out which was his. I went ashore to stretch my limbs —
oh how lonely that spot of yellow sand and clear crystal ripples and
no one to hear if you shouted ever so loud ! I could just discern
some Bedouins and camels like black pin-heads on the illimitable.
desert. I got in again and could now see the palm-trees near
Moses Wells. The air here is so excessively clear that you can see
easily fifty miles. The mountains in sight of my tent door are much
further off than that, but the rocks and crannies on them are quite
distinct. At last I thought I saw our boat hopelessly ashore some
five or six miles dead to leeward. It would never do to run down
there and find it not my boat for I could never get up against this
furious wind. Then I had only some water on board and no bread,
nor my bed, nor my tent sheet for the night. At length I resolved
to run ashore and chance it at Moses Wells (which are two miles
from the sea though they positively look 500 yards !) and just as I
did so Hany appeared over the bank. He had come unperceived by
me and was putting up the tent, so it was all right. We had a cold
night of it and I slept in my clothes but that doesn't make the very
least matter, of course.
A camel was got and we took the luggage out of the boat now left
nearly dry by the receding tide — a camel in the water looks very

l868 THE WELLS OF MOSES 317
funny. This morning I have been quiet after the exertion of
yesterday and I will go and see the Wells in the cool afternoon and
to-morrow hope to have less adverse wind to get back to Suez with.
This little trip, however, will amply justify the title of my book if I
live to write it : " The Rob Roy on the Red Sea."
It is an expensive mode of journeying — not the canoe but the
Eastern plan altogether, it will however be the leading journey of my
life and it would be a hundred pities to omit this or that particular
while I am so near each, and with a little exertion and outlay can add
them to my catalogue of sights.
My tent is now close by the sea. Hany has put a carpet over the
R. and is throwing water upon it now and then, which persists in
drying up five minutes after.
The R. is in perfect health and has given me infinite satisfaction.
She sails splendidly, and nothing has yielded, or cracked, or failed
yet in her gear. My plans are to start by rail for Cairo on the 18th
or 20th, and after three days there to descend the Nile ; this will be
easy work, and I see that there are a few antiquities and ruined
temples on the route I have chosen very rarely visited and very
grand to see. I will just keep on telling you my story and imagine how
delightful must be my picture — lying on a bed in a yellow tent,
with the canoe alongside, and the dragoman cooking in a ruined
limekiln ; the sea in front and the desert of Sinai behind ; a few
palms and trees by the fountain of Moses — but stay, I will go and
see them before writing any more.
I forgot to mention a Mr. Stanley at the Suez hotel, the special
correspondent of the New York Herald. He was for them in the
Prussian war and the Abyssinian campaign. Oddly enough, a week
before I left you I wrote a long letter to that very paper, strongly
urging the claims of the Palestine Fund upon the Americans.
I soon worked up Stanley to see the importance, and he got so
interested about the R. that I lent him a copy of the ' Voyage Alone.'
He sat up at night till he read the book right through ! He
said he would write a regular ' stunner ' to his paper about canoes
and my present voyage, and to give it point would telegraph about
my being here to the Associated Press, which would be in five

318 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xiii.
hundred American papers, and put people on tip-toe to hear more !
What a sensational set these Yankees are ! In return I gave him a
short letter of introduction to Dr. Livingstone, and he went off to
Aden to meet him and to get the first news for America from his own
lips — that is to hear if he went round Lake Tanganyika, and so solved
the problem of the Nile's source.
I went to see some negro dancers. Exactly like a book picture.
One had a harp hung about with ostrich feathers and skins, five others
sat about like monkeys, with drums little and big which they thumped
with the flat of one hand, and with a big stick in the other. Another
had a girdle with some dozen of goats' hoofs tied in bundles to it,
and as he danced he shook his loins to make music. The grave Arab
smiled — the Nubians and negroes laughed outright. Two of these
danced together with languishing looks, the perfection of humour.
Hany is quite in his element here. He adores me ; he says he will
travel with me in Egypt merely for expenses, but in Syria I shall have
to pay very high.
I see I cannot do without a horse for each of us when we go to
the east of the country as it might be necessary to get away quickly.
So I must make up my mind to do this tour well, and for health and
for safety a good many pounds must be cheerfully paid. My expedi
tion is regarded as a regular exploration and by no means a holiday
picnic and my name and fame may be gained or lost in it. If it adds
a line of help to the Bible student it will be money well laid out, and
the materials I am getting fast, ought to form the staple of a very
curious book.
I have been up to see the Wells of Moses. They are certainly
most curious. About a mile from the present beach but on the very
highest point of what must have once been the sea-shore, fresh water
bubbles up through the sand and runs about twenty yards and loses
itself in the sand. About fifty feet from it is one palm-tree, lonely
and tall, and at its foot a round basin, about three yards wide, of clear
fresh water. People have, a little way off, dug about a dozen pits, and
in all water bubbles up in a pond more or less dirty-looking. It is
then lifted by a rod and leather bucket to irrigate little patches of
ground where numerous palm-trees and vegetables grow.

1868 ON TRAVELLING ALONE 319
Port Said, December 4.
Port Said again, all well, charmed and safe. What wonderful
enjoyment I have had since I left this place. We are too apt to call
God ' gracious ' when His ways are pleasant to our natural tastes.
He is ever gracious. ' I love them that love me,' He says, and I
feel I can say with Peter, ' Lord Thou knowest all things, Thou
knowest that I love Thee.'
But it really is unusual to have so long, so varied, so unique a
voyage without one accident to the boat, or myself, or Hany, or
Seliman. Nothing broken, nothing lost, nothing failing, nothing
omitted of the programme I sketched out.
I suppose I am at the age when travel of this kind is most enjoy
able. Old enough to be sobered from the mere skin of outer sights
and to feel sentiment and inner joy, yet young enough to bear the
fatigue without the slightest trouble, to be buoyant all day and eager
for the next day's unknown toils.
How much better it is to be alone. How much more I hear, see,
feel, and think, of all that is around than if half one's time were mere
chat with a companion. I really have not a moment unoccupied all
day. I finish my reading at night at ten, only by forcing myself to go
early to bed. The others, Hany, Seliman, Regis (captain), two sailors,
boy (baby brother besides), have been long since snoring, and two
guards — must have them at every village — snoring the hardest. Poor
Hany has had to sleep in the cold fortuitous shelter of each place as we
have only one tent, and though it is meant for three, nothing would
persuade him to sleep with the master. But from this time forth we
shall be in different state. His larger tent (given by Robert Hanbury)
we left here and we shall put it up and have a tent-warming of a
dinner to which I have invited Mr. Chatelis, the Director of Works
here, who has been most kind, and has allowed us to pitch our tent
in the company's yard (with R. under our eaves and ten feet from
the sea) and Mr. Leduc, a nice young Englishman (the interpreter
here) and Dr. Jacob, the Vice-Consul. As I don't take wine with
me (and how little one misses it in this climate), I must get some
for them from the hotel. Hany quite relishes having a party, being a

320 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xiii.
truly good cook. The first duck I shot from the R. he served up
with ' preserved green • peas ' on Lake Menzaleh, rice pudding,
oranges, apples, nuts, raisins, and dates and Arab bread (which I
consider a luxury), and then coffee. I intend to stop here for the
French steamer leaving here for Beyrout on the 8th.
Strange sight to see us in the luggage-boat with a smiling sun and
a gladsome breeze. The crew aft. The captain kneeling on his
cloak saying his prayers with face to Mecca. Hany and I in the boat's
waist and when the Mahomedan is done I say to Hany, ' We are
going to read now if you like Hany.' I never ask him or force him
but I do believe, he has become deeply interested. Yesterday at
Zoan I read several chapters of all the plagues of Egypt. To-day I
read the last part of John I. — what a marvellous chapter it is ; it is
all kernel, meat, and drink, most wholesome for the soul.
The roar of the Mediterranean seems quite a new sound to hear.
We are just out of Egypt now. I shall always look back on that old
land with very great reverence, almost awe, and with most pleasant
associations of both my tours in it.
No wonder people come for climate here — ccol at night, but from
6 to 6 in the day the air just right and the sun only for two hours too
hot to be neglected, but not a languid heat — nay, I have worked
harder this week than on the Danube, and they say I am very brown.
N.B. — I don't even tabs out my mirror at all. I can (in a way !)
divide my hair without seeing it in the morning.
You see I am in quite a gossipy mood as I (eel so happy that the
first and most anxious part of my voyage has been so successfully
accomplished. But the three days' rest here will do us all good, and
I have lots of little perfectionments to my canoe which, having her
alongside and my tool box (sent with all our heavy luggage a month
ago here) I can do neatly at leisure to-morrow. I wrote yesterday
from Zoan to congratulate my friend W. H. Smith, now M.P.,
especially for his beating the philosopher Mill. I had five shots at
pelicans to-day with ball and missed all. It was agreat omission not
bringing my rifle with me. Six pelicans at once in a bunch is not infre
quent, and their beaks all so very ' Zoological Gardens.' But another
duck I shot is, I see, hanging in our larder — a tall peg in the ground.

1869

TENT-LIFE

321

Dec. 5.— Hey presto ! I am in another tent this morning. H. is
so proud of being able to show off both his tents on French ground,

ON THE ABANA

with his beautiful English ensign, red on the clean white. This is a
large double tent which gives an eave of shade all round. French,
Greeks, and Moslems, are all looking on. I meant to have sent you
my letter to the Record, but I have only half an hour to write as »the
x

322 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xiii.
steamer has just come in, so I must ask you to wait for my next letter
(next week) for all the curious history of this week's travel.
Port Said, Tuesday, December 8.
The steamer to take us to Beyrout is in port, and I start at 5, to
arrive, we hope, on the 10th.
My dinner last night went off splendidly — a lady came, too.
Really, H. is a capital cook. I shall ever look back on Egypt with
most happy thoughts. If my boat is smashed to-day, I have plenty
already for a curious book, and whatever happens is, of course, for
the best. Mouth of the Abana, Lake Ateibeh,
Christmas Day.
Happy Christmas to one and all ! I write this after the tent and
fire scene described within and which really is like a book. This is
the furthest point I propose to take the R. to. From this we turn
back, having fully accomplished all I desired, and with infinitely more
pleasure and satisfaction than I could have imagined. The men are
still talking with wonder and gratitude for the speech I made. I
spoke first of our journey and condoled with them for their mishaps.
They answered they felt none of these as they did when they saw me
start alone on this lake. Then I spoke of Christmas and told the
story of the world, the creation, prophecy, advent, and with the moon
over us and shepherds actually around keeping their flocks from
panthers and hyenas, the effect was powerful. This was indeed an
' open-air sermon ' and it will never be forgotten by me.
Hany interpreted admirably, and I feel that this Christmas day
has been perhaps the most useful I ever spent.
But fancy a stuffed turkey, to-day and here, too, and wine and a
huge plum-pudding exceedingly good and all flaming in brandy ! Hany
is a splendid fellow indeed.
I am now going to have a good glass of punch, saving your presence,
and here comes the hot water. Mouth of the Pharpar, Lake Hijaneh,
December 28.
Briefly let me sum up since my last — came down the Abana to

i86g

LAKE HIJANEH

323

Damascus — opened the new school there. Dined with Mr. Digby. On
Tuesday last started below Damascus in the R. on the Abana and thus
got down to the wonderful marsh, or Lake Ateibeh, in the dreary desert.
The consul sent two soldiers with me for ten days as my present path is
not safe without. Passed a wondrous day on the lake. Prepared for

THE ISLAND, LAKE HIJANEH

danger because there are panthers and hyenas, and worst of all wild
boars. Many natives are lost in the deep holes and the only boat that
ever came here was three years ago when the three men in it, missed
for five days, were all found drowned after twelve days' search. Then
I mounted R. on a frame of poles on a very good pony's back which
has so far answered admirably. After wonderful adventures brought
her safe to this lake Hijaneh and my tent looks out on Hermon
snowed above the clouds. The sheikh of the village has just been

324 JOHN MAC GREGQR chap. xiii.
sitting with me. To-day was my grand day — to go out on lake
Hijaneh nearly all covered with reeds ten feet high — the highest twelve
feet — and to steer through them by compass. Thus I got to the
other side and with breathless excitement landed alone in the
Hauran — that marvellous waste where are the ' giant cities ' of
Porter. I ran up the nearest hill, though the sun was fearfully hot,
and behold the bleak Argob — the hills of Bashan — the wide plains of
King Og ! No one can understand my feelings in looking over this
wilderness with five lakes and three rivers below me, and my canoe
(dearer than ever, and now my only way of getting back safely) quite
uninjured, dry, still, resting on that ancient shore !
Thence, and with delight, I spied the island in the lake where are
the ruins seen from the hill, but which the R. is the first to visit. I
carefully took all the compass bearings and dashed into the reeds.
Myriads of ducks, of course, and so stupidly impudent. They are
never bothered by guns. Of course once in the reeds you can see
nothing but them except in a few open pools, and by standing up in
the boat — which I can always do. She is so dry, I wear two pairs of
socks and keep my shoes off (for steadiness in standing, to ' punt '
with a pole I carry) with one foot on the deck which I find is quite
strong enough. At last I got near the black ruins, entered one of
the hundred boars' tracks all leading to it. I went cautiously round
before landing, for a wild boar, if he smashed my R., would leave me
helpless. At length with pole and cocked pistol I landed ! the first
traveller ever there ! I shall tell it all again through the Record for
next mail, so no more at present.
After four hours found Hany and the horses and all singing. With
success crossed the Pharpar and safe in my tent crowded by con
gratulatory My health still magnificent. If the R. now is broken I
have enough for my next book, but to-morrow I mean to paddle up
the Pharpar— quite easy— it is all in a level plain — to Neja whence
this letter is to be sent to Damascus to catch the mail. From Neja
I hope to go to Burak in the Hauran, the nearest of the 'giant
cities' (doors and windows all of stone — all deserted), which it would
be too bad not to see when only one day off. We shall leave our
tents and men and watchers and canoe, &c, at Neja, and only have

1869 A CROCODILE IN THE KISHON 325
three guards and nothing to be robbed of ! Then I hope to be at
Damascus on Friday, Jan 1, and to get your letter on 2nd or 3rd
there and start for Jordan on Jan. 4.
I have said so often how delicious this tour is that I fear to say it
too often as being wearisome to you — therefore once for all ! It has
been one unbroken delight — except the little fever day — and wonder
and surprise to me.
Never can I expect to write such things again as boating
antiquities, and sacred travel. Positively it is a new invention this
canoe which can be carried on a pony and opens up all the lakes
and rivers while you ride and walk the land. My anxiety has of
course been great as to her safety sometimes. Once in a marsh
mule after mule went down and at last a donkey went literally out of
sight over head in a hole — only its tail was caught by a muleteer !
In such cases we put the R. on the water and mount her again on
better land.
But I am over all that sort of work now. The glorious weather is
cold at night but Hanbury's double tent is pretty warm with five
blankets. Still this is the weather for J. In the day it is bright sun
and hot as fire. Beyrout, February 10.
.... Here ends my glorious and charming tour. I came in a
Russian steamer. Such crowds on this beautiful beach to see me
paddle in on a magnificent swell  After Tiberias I went to
Carmel and to the place of the sacrifice — a most interesting church.
Then I launched on the Kishon — a dull river, very hard to get to,
over a wide plain of soft mud, where Sisera and his host were en-
gulphed, and many odd things [happened. Once in it, I was away
from all, till I emerged in the sea ! After two hours I thought it so
lonely floating down, I would lunch, so I went easy and stopped,
and was taking water in a tin can (sitting in my boat), when I heard
a curious gurgling sound near me and looked round carelessly. Near
my paddle end what did I see but the nose and open mouth of a
crocodile! For an instant I was paralysed, but kept- cool and
dipped my paddle blade.
He was sniffing at me as they do in the Nile. The water was

326 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xiii.
too muddy to see more of him, and he was not big [Here an attempt
at a sketch]. I find I cannot draw it, but I never, never, can forget
it. Soon I noticed on several sand-banks many traces of crocs' feet
and tails, and going near to examine (for the thing is utterly unknown,
but then nobody has ever been down the river), when I stopped, a
thing came under my boat, and his head or nose went bump, bump,
bump, all along the keel. Then I confess I was a good deal fright
ened, and set off at a good pace. When the croc knows human
beings he is afraid and keeps away, but never having seen one he
might have snapped at my hands, so near the water. At any rate, I
kept on the move, and got safely to Caipha. What makes it quite
likely that crocs are in the Kishon is that Mr. Zillah showed me at
Nazareth a croc, killed three months ago in the Zerka, a river not
far off. However, I am the first to see one on the Kishon.
Next I went to the river Belus. Its name in Greek means ' glass '
and it was there that glass was discovered when men made a fire on
the sand. It may be what is alluded to in the Bible, where the
blessing is given to the tribe that possessed that district, 'and
treasures hid in the sand.'
Out of the Belus I paddled across the sea to Acre.
It was an anxious time for all Mac Gregor's
friends while he was in Palestine. The unsettled
state of the country, the ignorance and superstition of
the people amongst whom he passed ; the unknown
and unsuspected dangers that beset him on every
hand ; his propensity to explore alone wild and almost
inaccessible places ; the frailty of the tiny boat in
which his hazardous excursions were made ; his own
strong will which could not brook let or hindrance ;
each of these constituted a source of anxiety.
We can sympathise with his good old father, Sir
Duncan Mac Gregor, when he wrote to his friend, Mr.
Evans :

1869 WITH CAPTAIN WARREN 327
March 2, 1869.
My Rob Roy son was, thank God, quite well a few days ago,
after having, by the goodness of God, made several hair-breadth
escapes. He had, in reality, finished his expedition, and was, when
he wrote last, at Beyrout, whence he was going to Jerusalem to
assist Warren in his explorations there  I think John's next
book will be interesting, but I earnestly wish the fellow were at
home. MacGregor tarried for a month at Jerusalem,
rendering very important services to Captain Warren
in connection with the Palestine Exploration Fund in
which, to the end of his days, Mac Gregor took an
absorbing interest.
Writing to Mr. Gawin Kirkham, his coadjutor in
the Open-air Mission, Mac Gregor sums up the
spiritual aspects of his great tour thus :
.... Everything I have seen and probed to the bottom has
always turned out at last to be in complete accordance with the Bible.
.... It is not a cunningly devised fable that we are living by.
Christ's religion is a reality — a dreadful reality — dreadful to many,
but sweet and charming to some ....
I shall soon have finished this tour ; but I can never, never for
get its sacred delights. Nor is it other than pleasing to God that
we should be thankful for such sights as I have witnessed. When
the two disciples of John followed Jesus, He turned and asked,
' What seek ye ? ' They said, ' Where dwellest Thou ? ' He said,
' Come and see ! ' Gracious words these ! I, too, wished to know
where He dwelt, and He says to me, ' Come and see ! ' Yes, and
where He dwells now I shall also see ; nor can I suppose that even
in Heaven the redeemed followers of Jesus will cease to remember
or to speak of with interest, the very hills, and rivers, and plains, and
cities, which, during this very delightful journey, I have had the
great privilege to visit.

CHAPTER XIV
1865— 1869
ST. REMIGIUS—THE CANOEIST
In the palmy days of a certain satirical review, there
appeared an article entitled "St. Remigius." Com
mencing with the axiom, "To pretend to be better
than one's neighbours is a fault which may possibly be
pardoned in the next world, but which will certainly
never obtain forgiveness in this," the article proceeded :
"No people are generally more unpleasant than those
whose virtue and piety are on all occasions prominent.
To be full of good sayings, to preach in all societies, to
point every topic with a moral, to have our eye always
upon the immortal soul or the peccant nature of the
listener — rail this is, by universal consent, intolerable."
After hinting that "among persons who would be
likely to offend their fellow creatures in this way,
perhaps it would not be uncharitable to reckon the
various and zealous correspondents of our excellent
contemporary, the Record," the writer threw off all
disguise and boldly announced its "St. Remigius" as
" the very energetic philanthropist of Ragged School
and Shoeblack reputation — Mr. MacGregor."

1865-9 A POSSIBLE JOHN BUNYAN 329
The article continued :
We do not know how many people he has converted, but he lets
everybody know how many he has tried to convert. He represents
thus far the tourist of the most terrible and portentous species — the
tourist Evangelo-tractual. Nevertheless, it is acknowledged that
this distributor of tracts, this preacher of discourses, this awakener
of souls, is neither more nor less than a first-rate oarsman.
It is a curious freak no doubt for the correspondent of a religious
paper to have taken to. The soul of their Protestant '¦ Defence, the
champion of all their best movements, had taken to the| water like a
duckling brought up amongst the hens, and was splashing about over
the Continent in a manner which, for gaiety and freedom, left the
votaries of worldly pleasures an infinite distance behind. Curious as
it may seem, there lies the journal in black and white, and the writer
is as much at home in a boat as Lord Shaftesbury is on a platform.
Full as he is of the souls of men, he is keenly alive to his day's
enjoyment, and it comes as easy to him to mend a plank as to probe
a conscience. Down the rapids of the Danube, over the lakes of
Switzerland, along the canals of France, the Rhine, the Moselle, the
Seine, he floats and steers and preaches. He finds books in the
running brooks, sermons in stones, and a text in everything. From
the canoe to religion, and from religion to the canoe, he flashes
backwards and forwards with a genial relish which is so thorough that
it can hardly be affected. At one moment the reader is lost in
admiration of the devotee, and at the next he sees before him one
who is every inch a waterman. The whole thing is absolutely and
purely natural; there is no straining for effect, no extraordinary
unction in the language. It is hard to say exactly what it is that is
so bewildering in the mixture we have attempted to describe. Is it
really a half-humorous thing that a traveller should go over Europe
with a paddle in one hand and a bundle of tracts in the other ? or
is it merely that we look at the enterprise from a wrong point of view?
The real truth is that it is seldom that one is brought face to face
with a mind of such strange simplicity. The nearest approach to it
is in reading the Pilgrim's Progress. If John Bunyan were alive

330 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xiv.
now, he would beyond question be rowing down the Rhine, like Mr.
Mac Gregor, and saving souls, almost, so to speak, at every stroke.
There is nothing incongruous to such a character in a boyish eager
ness after the water, and an apostolic zeal for the world to come.
This is quite a different thing from the religion of the ordinary
muscular school ....
One might describe Tartuffe to the life, and not include a single
trait which can be reasonably ascribed to 'Rob Roy.' It is such a
character as one does not often meet, and such as is well worth
examining when one does meet it. Here we have a man who can
steer a canoe with a paddle over a dangerous rapid in the Danube,
and then give to a farmer's child ' that remarkable tract which
contains Napoleon's testimony to the proofs of Scripture inspiration
being sufficient for him at the least.' Strange then as the spectacle
is — strange in the midst of the educated, busy, reticent, critical society
of our time — it is one that must not be laughed at ; or, at all events,
must be smiled at good-humouredly. Is it worth thinking how the
matter appears from the other side? If we look with puzzled
curiosity at ' Rob Roy ' with what wonder must he return the look !
Of course we have no quarrel with the writer of this
article, published nearly thirty years ago. We gladly
adopt its title and reproduce a portion of the skit in
order to show that there was a diversity of opinion as
to the peculiarities of Rob Roy. It was his habit
to make room on every voyage for a plentiful supply
of tracts and leaflets with portions of Holy Scripture
thereon, and as many New Testaments as he could
carry. As to the general utility of tract distribution we have
no remarks to make. But Mac Gregor had many and
here are some of his utterances :
Let me say once for all, that on this voyage [the Baltic], as on

1865-9 THE SABBATH

33i

every other tour, I constantly gave tracts ; feeling, too, that if the
people around me were not available for this sort of communication,
or if I was not ready to use it on their behalf, there must be some
constraint on their side or on mine, which ought not to exist between
the sons and daughters of Adam, pilgrims in a world together, and
with great and deep and lofty things in common, which ought never
to be very distant from our thoughts, and which one day must be
near. He says of this northern voyage :
The Norwegians and Swedes are able to read. More of them are
so far educated than in the like number of any nation of Europe.
They eagerly accept papers (call them tracts or not), and they do
this more readily from Englishmen, and most readily when the man
who gives them is otherwise enlisting their attention by his manner of
life or travel.
Again :
Because many tracts are weak and badly written, and are given
imprudently, therefore some people decry all tracts. As to the
amount of good they may do, let those speak (yes, and only those)
who have carefully given them and patiently watched the results.
Another peculiarity of Mac Gregor as a traveller —
and it is a pity that it was a peculiarity — was that he
kept holy the Sabbath day. He never rode in cab or
train on Sunday except on two occasions, and he was
no believer in the doubtful morality of "When at
Rome do as Rome does." To his unsophisticated
mind the claims of the Sabbath were equally binding
everywhere, and he had no notion of observing it less
strictly abroad than at home. But some travellers re
garded it as a very eccentric thing that he should lose a
steamboat, or break the continuity of a journey, or mar

332 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xiv.
an expedition "just for the sake of a bit of Sunday
travelling which could not do a jot of harm to any
one." They forgot, however, that it would have done
harm to him ; that a weakened conscience would have
sapped the strength of his moral life, and that to whom
a custom appears to be sin, it is sin. So St. Remigius
snapped his fingers at all his critics and continued to
do what, in his opinion, was right.
The third peculiarity, according to the view of his
objectors was, that he would write and speak about
"religion." But they forgot that it is "out of the
fulness of the heart that the mouth speaketh," and
while they would commend a politician for ventilating
his politics, or a scientist his science, or a literary
man his bookishness, they censured a religious man
for talking about his religion. Of course these
objectors were in a miserable minority — for the heart
of the nation is Christian — but there were objectors,
and it would not be well to ignore the fact.
As to his "talking religion," Mac Gregor wrote :
It seems strange and unfriendly to live with men for days, and not
to impart one word to them about the great eternity in which they
and we shall meet again most surely.
But this kind of writing sometimes offended not
only the editors of the secular press, but also those of
the religious newspapers. Some very good people,
whose sole delight was in "other-worldliness," were
shocked because on the same page he recorded that
he read the Times newspaper containing an account

1865-9 AN ORIGINAL TRAVELLER 333
of the formation of a Cabinet, with John Bright as one
of its members, and at the same time had something
to say about John the Baptist; and again, when on
the Lake of Gennesareth, he moralised on the authen
ticity of Christian revelation, expatiated on the advan
tages a canoe had over a boat in stemming a high sea,
traced the course of the boat in which the disciples had
been rowing against a wind when Christ came walking
on the water, looked for subaqueous ruins close to the
shore, and dodged a swimming Arab !
But despite a few criticisms such as those to which
we have referred, the whole English and foreign press
were unanimous in this — that his writings were full of
interest, amusement, and information, and that Rob
Roy was a model traveller. Throughout the whole of
his canoeing days he won respect wherever he went
and it was a noteworthy fact that all the steamers in
the East carried the Rob Roy gratis. England had set
them the example when the "P. and O. Co." kindly
took her from Southampton to Alexandria and brought
her back again free of charge. The French, Russian,
and Austrian steamers did the same, showing not only
kind feeling to the voyager, but an intelligent approval
of his purpose.
He was an original traveller, striking out new
methods for himself, taking his own views of men,
progress, and things, and telling with boyish frankness
what he thought and felt.
The mission of the traveller is a very important one
and Mac Gregor sustained the honour of the national

334 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xiv.
character. If every one who travels would do the
same we should not be branded as we are — " a nation of
hypocrites." He did not think it was consistent
to do abroad what he would not do at home ; he
carried with him everywhere frankness and straight
forwardness, respected the prejudices of others while
maintaining his own, adapted himself to circumstances
and so won golden opinions from all men in every
land he visited. He says :
It is a traveller's duty to think of others who may follow his route,
and to remedy abuses, and to punish extortions, and to abstain from
doubtful actions, lest others may suffer, even if he is not injured.
No person can be more sensible of this duty than one who has been
so much benefited by the good conduct of other travellers as I have
been ; and it would not be from carelessness or a forgetful content
with my own good fortune, that I should by weakness, or lavish
giving, or by niggardly pay, or winking at wrong, do anything to
spoil a good road for future tourists.
In his rapidly written letters to the newspaper press,
as in his more studied writings, there are no distorted
caricatures or personalities in describing the people he
met. He might have read every line he had written
in the presence of the people he described without
feeling that he had wounded their self-respect or
affronted any of their national tastes. It is not all
travellers who could do this.
Unfailing good-humour was another characteristic
of Rob Roy as a traveller. Nothing ever seemed to
" put him out." On rivers or canals, when the bargees
hailed him with, "Any room for another?" or "Got

1865-9 THOUGHT FOR OTHERS 335
your life insured, Gov'nor ? " he smiled and nodded to
every one and every one on river and lake was
friendly to him. He wrote in one of his early works :
A man respectfully asked me to delay the start five minutes, as
his aged father, who was bed-ridden, wished exceedingly to see the
canoe. In all such cases it is a pleasure to give pleasure, and to
sympathise with the boundless delight of the boys, remembering how
as a boy a boat delighted me ; and then, again, these worthy mother
like wholesome-faced dames, how could one object to their prying
gaze, mingled as it was with friendly smile and genuine interest ?
Unselfishness is one of the ingredients that make up
a model traveller, and Mac Gregor possessed the
virtue :
It was not easy to enjoy my comfortable bed, piled up with
blankets, and sheltered above from the dew, while some of my
dependants were out the livelong night in a keen, cold, frosty winter
blast lying upon the bare ground.
Hearing one of his attendants cough in the night
gave rise to this reflection :
Thick walls in England separate us from the dark, wet, freezing
misery of the poor amongst us, and deaden to our ears their cries of
hunger and of pain. life would be impracticable if we could realise
one tithe of the wretchedness around us ; but his is a stony heart
that does not think of this often, and get nerved by the sad thought
to do his share in helping.
We may sum up Mac Gregor's remaining characteris
tics as a traveller as consisting of splendid courage, a
dash of audacity now and then, a touch of recklessness
here and there, admirable discretion, indomitable pluck,
readiness of resource, and persistent determination.

336 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xiv.
Canoeing forwarded the development of these
qualities. Skill, tact, and decision were needed at
every turn.
You must choose, and that promptly, too, between, say, five
channels opened suddenly before you. Three are probably safe, but
which of these three is the shortest, deepest, and most practicable?
In an instant if you hesitate, the boat is on a bank ; and it is remark
able how speedily the exercise of this resolution becomes experienced
into habit, but of course only after some severe lessons.
Especially was promptitude necessary in the explo
ration of the rivers of Palestine. Here is a striking
illustration :
It was true luxury to be whirled in the swift eddies of the Abana
and to speed at a river's gallop among rocks and forests, where the
midriff is tickled in the paddler's breast by the sensation often felt on
a high rope swing, and the mind expands into an exulting glee, always
begotten by rapids encountered alone.
Many birds and animals were roused from their uninvaded haunts,
and they splashed into the stream or scurried away rustling among
the dusky brakes. The canoeist soon finds that it is impossible to
note these pretty companions when he is in this sort of river, for the
stream carries you suddenly to where a dozen prostrate trees are
tangled in the water, while their straggling roots hold fast to the
bank  A heavy treacherous rock overhangs on the left and
the right shore is steep with soft mud. The whole picture of this is
presented in an instant as you round a point, and the decision as to
how you will deal with it must be instantly made or the current itself
will decide.
Strong to the left hand, seize that bough with the right, swing
round a greater circle, then duck the head for ten seconds under the
thorn, and shoot across below the second tree, drift under the third
and five strokes will free us surely ! After settling all this as the
course to be pursued, at the first paddle stroke out splashes a shriek-

1865-9 HAIR BREATH 'SCAPES 337
ing bird, rattling the close thicket of canes as he plunges into the
water. Now in such a place, if you look at him even for an instant, the
whole programme above is in confusion — the bough knocks your hat
off, the rock catches your paddle, and the third tree gets hooked in
your painter. This comes of mingling ornithology with canoe craft,
and yet it is in such a place that strange birds are most likely to be
flushed.* Of the many hair-breadth 'scapes of Rob Roy in his
canoeing expeditions we have no space to give an
adequate record here; but in his published works
many of these are detailed and we may see him
clenching his teeth and clutching his paddle as the
canoe dashes into the rapids of the Reuss ; or battling
in his frail craft in a fearful storm off Beachy Head,
when a white dazzling gleam of forked lightning
cleaves the darkness, disclosing close at hand a huge
vessel hitherto unseen, lofty, full-sailed, for a moment
black against the instant of light, then utterly lost
again ; or, in Syria and Palestine, amongst wolves
and wild boars — "tuskers which might charge the
Rob Roy, smash her to pieces, and leave me helpless
on the concealed island ; " or, worst of all, alone and at
the mercy of the Arab brigands of the Hauran.
One of the most exciting and best known of all Rob
Roy's adventures was when he found himself pursued
by a mob of furious Hooleh Arabs, who followed him,
running on the banks and waylaying him at various
turns of the river, until one, more reckless than the
* " Rob Roy on the Jordan,'' chap. viii.

338 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xiv..
rest, covered him with a gun and fired, but happily
missed. This was the signal for all the pursuers to
dash into the water, surround the canoe, and take Rob
Roy captive, amid the yells of a savage crowd ; the
canoe and its occupant being lifted bodily out of the
water, and carried into the presence of the sheikh.
The sentence in open court, held in the sheikh's hut,
was that Mac Gregor must forego his intention of
visiting the lake (Hooleh) but, the court having been
cleared, this punishment was bought off by a bribe of a
gold Napoleon. It was not so easy to know how to
" square " the rank and file, and unless Mac Gregor
could secure the active co-operation of the sheikh, his
position would still be a very serious one. So he
resorted to a stratagem — a masterpiece of ready
humour — which must be narrated in his own words :
No one had as yet offered me any food. This gross neglect
(never without meaning among the Arabs) I determined now to
expose, and so to test their real intentions. My cuisine was soon
rigged up for cooking, and I asked for cold water. In two minutes
afterwards the brave little lamp was steaming away at high pressure,.
with its merry hissing sound. Every one came to see this. I cut
thin slices of the preserved beef soup, and, while they were boiling, I
opened my salt-cellar. This is a snuff-box, and from it I offered a
pinch to the sheikh. He had never before seen salt so white (the
Arab salt is like our black pepper) and, therefore, thinking it was
sugar, he willingly took some from my hand and put it to his tongue.
Instantly I ate up the rest of the salt, and with a loud, laughing
shout, I administered to the astonished, outwitted sheikh a manifest
thump on the back.
' What is it ? ' all asked from him. ' Is it sukker? ' He answered
demurely : ' La ! melah ! ' (No, it's salt !) Even his Home Secretary

1865-9 ECCENTRIC TRAVELLING 341
laughed at his chief. We had now eaten salt together, and in his
own tent, and so he was bound by the strongest tie, and he knew
it.* There were two other aspects in which Mac Gregor
was often regarded as an eccentric traveller. The
first, his curious penchant for journeying alone ; the
second, his almost sentimental attachment to his
canoe. With the exception of his first tour, when he
was accompanied for some distance by Lord Aberdeen, t
all his canoe and yawl journeys were made alone. His
reasons have been given in many places but never
more clearly than in his latest book when, describing
his difficulties in making his way through an apparently
inaccessible marsh, he says :
The thing must be done somehow, and plans for new projects
of this kind cannot be hit off in a moment. Long consideration,
and a resolve to leave nothing haphazard, are the true secrets of
ensuring success, and here comes in one of the great advantages
of travelling alone. You have time and silence to consider maturely.
You do not mar your plans by feeble compromises. You see, hear,
and think a great deal more than if a 'pleasant companion' is
beside you all day, whose small talk (and your own) must be run
dry in a month, and neither of you is free. In these solitary
expeditions I have never a sensation of loneliness. Hard work,
healthy exercise, plain food, and plenty of it, early hours, reading at
night, and working, moving, noting, drawing, observing and consider
ing all day, one's plans are quietly perfected, and there is no more of
tedium or solitary dulness than is felt when you read or fish alone,
* " Rob Roy on the Jordan."
f Lord Aberdeen was drowned, and his brother, the Hon. James Gordon,
was killed by the accidental discharge of his gun. For both of these brave
and noble fellows Mac Gregor had a strong attachment. Both were associated
with him in the London Scottish.

342 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xiv.
or paint, or write in a town — the place one can feel most lonely in
after all.
It can scarcely be a matter of great wonder that the
canoe, in which he had spent so much of his time,
which had borne its part in all dangers and diffi
culties, pleasures and successes, should have been
regarded by him with a feeling almost amounting to
affection. And this is how he vindicated himself to
his critics :
Is it maudlin that one cannot help personifying a boat like this,
the companion of many happy hours, the sharer too of anxious
times? When we see even deal tables merrily turning round, and
can fancy a smile on the face of a clock, are we quite sure that there
is no feeling in the ' heart of oak,' no sentiment under bent birch
ribs ; that a canoe, in fact, has no character ? Let the landsman say
so, yet will not I. Like others of her sex, she has her fickle tempers.
One day pleasant, and the next out of humour ; led like a lamb
through this rapid, but cross and pouting under sail on that rough
lake. And, like her sex, she may be resisted, coerced, nay con
vinced, but, in the end, she will always somehow have her own
way! Many expressions somewhat similar to the follow
ing, appear from time to time in his books :
All the Bedouins of the desert could not catch us when afloat,
nor could they reach me with their rifles, for, in two minutes I should
be hidden in by the reeds.
At such a moment the Rob Roy seemed more than ever dear to
me, if such an expression is ever permissible respecting an inanimate
object. In all the works written by Mac Gregor, the
descriptions of scenery are graphic, and of men and

1865-9 THE KINGFISHER

343

manners photographic. A reflective mind gives its
reflections naturally without striving for effect. A
keen sense of humour runs throughout, often com
bined with deep and sympathetic feeling. But above
all there is a joyous holiday spirit. The reader feels
that the writer is about as happy as any mortal can
be, and the happiness becomes contagious.
From a literary point of view some of the most
valuable parts of his earlier works appear to us to be
those in which he brings his keen powers of observa
tion to bear, and in his quiet and unassuming way
" drops his good things as an ostrich lays her eggs."
Some of his descriptions of scenery, of the habits and
peculiarities of living creatures, of the passage of a
thunderstorm, or the varying aspects of sky and water,
are inimitable.
Let one example suffice :
When the scenery is tame, and the channel of the river is not made
interesting by dangers to be avoided, then we can always turn again
to the animals and birds, and in five minutes of watching will be sure
to see much that is curious.
Here, for instance, we have the little kingfisher again, who visits
us on the Danube and the Reuss, and whom we knew well in England
before ; but now we are on a visit to his domain, and we see him in
private character alone. There are several varieties of this bird, and
they differ in form and colour of plumage. This royal bird, the
Halcyon of antiquity, the Alcedo of classic tongue, is called in German
Eisvogel (Ice bird), perhaps because he fishes even in winter's frost,
or because his nest is like a bundle of icicles, being made of minnows'
bones most curiously wrought together. But now it is on a summer
day, and he is perched on a twig within two inches of the water, and
under the shade of a briar-leaf, his little parasol. He is looking for

344 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xiv.
fish, and is so steady that you may easily pass him without observing
that brilliant back of azure or the breast of blushing red. When I
desired to see these birds, I quietly rowed my boat till it grounded
on a bank, and after it was stationary thus for a few minutes, the
Halcyon fisher got quite unconcerned and plied his task as if
unobserved. He peers with knowing eye into the shallows below him, and now
and then he dips his head a bit, to make quite sure he has marked a
fish worth seizing ; then he suddenly darts down with a splash and
flies off with a little white minnow or a struggling stickleback nipped
in his beak.
If it is caught thus crosswise, the winged fisherman tosses his prey
into the air, so that it may be gulped down properly. Then he
quivers and shakes with satisfaction, and quickly speeds to another
perch, flitting by you with wonderful swiftness, as if a sapphire had
been flung athwart the sunbeam, flashing beauteous colours in its
flight. Or, if bed-time has come, or if he is fetching home the family
dinner, he flutters on, and then with a little sharp note of ' good
bye,' pops into a hole, the dark staircase to his tiny nest, and there
he finds Mrs. Halcyon sitting in state, and thirteen baby kingfishers
gaping for the dainty fish.*
Could White of Selborne, Wilson, McGillivray,
J. Bertram, J. G. Wood, Frank Buckland, or any of the
host of literary naturalists have brought the myste
rious, brilliant and active fisher-bird more vividly
before the mind's eye?
By universal consent, Mac Gregor's " Rob Roy on
the Jordan " was, both as regards style and matter, a
vast advance upon his former works.
He was no longer the dilettante wanderer but a
serious explorer into the vexed question of the Upper
* " A Thousand Miles in the Rob Roy," chap. xiii.

Jt 865-9 SERVICES TO SCIENCE

345

Waters of Jordan and other matters to elucidate Old
Testament history. No one was better fitted to the
task ; his intimate acquaintance with the history and
geography of Palestine ; his knowledge not only of
the Bible itself but also of the commentators, histo
rians and travellers who had written on the Holy Land
in all the ages ; and above all, his intense enthusiasm,
which made him insensible to time, trouble, expense,
or fatigue — all these fitted him for his important
work. Nor must the permanent value of his services as
an explorer be overlooked, for although Robinson,
Wilson, De Saulcy, Stanley, Porter, and a multitude
of others had written learned volumes ; although thou
sands of tourists had visited the Jordan at Jericho,
surveyed it from the heights of Tiberias, Kedesh and
Banias, yet John Mac Gregor was the first who really
discovered the course of the Jordan from Dan to the
sea of Tiberias — twenty miles of river as unknown as
the course of the Zambesi was at that time. In like
manner the devious courses of the famous streams
Abana and Pharpar were laid down in his chart with
an accuracy never before attained.
So much as to St. Remigius the canoeist. In our
next chapter we shall endeavour to detail the practical
uses to which he devoted the knowledge acquired,
the experience gained, and the intense enjoyment
realised in these feats of navigation.

CHAPTER XV.
1869—1873
ON THE CREST OF THE WAVE
John Mac Gregor returned from his Jordan tour in
April 1869, and the occasion was one of great rejoic
ing among the members of "The Open-air Mission,"
who had prepared for him a pleasant surprise-gift
consisting of a portrait of his father, Sir Duncan Mac
Gregor, the English Hexapla, exhibiting the six
important English translations of the New Testament
Scriptures, and an address. In acknowledging it he
said, "It is an assurance of what was often felt in
lonely times of danger that, though I was far away
and so long time gone, there were friends at home
who did not forget to plead at the throne of Him who
is the great Friend of us all."
In May he commenced the preparation of "Rob
Roy on the Jordan," and in November passed the
final sheets for press. It is only necessary to take up
the book and glance cursorily through it to be assured
that this was a surprising example of literary energy,
but the surprise is increased when it is found that
the work is one of critical research, giving the result

1869 YOUNG MEN 347
of the reading of a lifetime, and abounding in refer
ences to learned authorities.
Before the day of publication two thousand copies
were ordered, and within a fortnight nearly 5000
copies were sold. The book, published by John
Murray, was dedicated to "H.R.H. the Commodore
of the Royal Canoe Club."
In an early stage of his canoeing experiences, Mac
Gregor had seriously asked himself the question what
practical use he could make of them, and how could
they assist the great philanthropic work in which he
was engaged, and to which everything else, he felt,
should be subsidiary.
He had found that by the invigoration of his
strength he qualified himself for greater activities, and
we have seen how he had devoted the whole of the
proceeds of his literary labours to the betterment of
deserving institutions — a princely gift we may imagine
seeing how great was the success of his works.
His book on Palestine he rightly regarded as a part
of his life-work. It gave him the opportunity of
speaking directly to the hearts of tens of thousands
on religious matters, enlivening some, and deepening
the insight into holy things in others.
Like all his other books, it appealed straight to
young men and won their admiration. They were
accustomed to hear good men ridiculed, and some
times deservedly so, as poor weak creatures who were
so absorbed in their fears for the present and strivings
for the future as to be unable to take part in the

348 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xv.
practical work and rational enjoyment of life. Rob
Roy showed them that a religious profession and
marked activity in Christian work need not, and did
not in his case, diminish a love of manly sports or
quench the ardour of interest in all that concerns the
progress of true science and learning.
Grateful as he was that his books had a useful
influence among young men, he was anxious beyond
expression to come more immediately in contact with
his readers. It was not enough that he should be
read, he wished that he might be heard, so that he
might deepen by that means any impression he had
already made. Out of this wish there grew the
settled purpose to visit every city and town in the
kingdom and lecture on Palestine. But even this was
not enough for his ambition. He could not disguise
from himself that he was " the rage " ; he felt fairly
certain that his lectures would "draw" and that
multitudes would come to hear him, especially if he
lectured gratuitously. This, however, was not his
intention. If he felt justified in giving up so much
time as this proposed lecturing campaign would
involve, would it not fare ill with many of the institu
tions with which his name was associated and to
whose interests he was pledged ? It was true that
many new labourers had entered into the field, and
that institutions he had started were being successfully
carried on by others. What seemed to be the pres
sing need of that particular time was not so much
efficient labourers as sufficient funds to carry on the

1869 A GIGANTIC TASK 349
multitudinous philanthropies. The times were bad :
there was universal distress among the working
classes ; good old institutions were being pressed out
of the field by noisy and clamorous new ones ; there
were tens of thousands who could only be reached by
offering them the meat that perisheth, before present
ing them with that which endureth unto life ever
lasting ; and there were no funds for dealing with the
initial difficulty. Meanwhile invitations were pouring
in to MacGregor, begging him to lecture for this
institution and that, here, there, and everywhere.
He resolved, therefore, that he would undertake a
great lecturing campaign, but that he would not give
a single lecture under £20, £s°> or ^100 ; that he
would continue the enterprise — health and strength
permitting — until he had earned ten thousand pounds ;
that every farthing of this he would devote to
charities, philanthropies, deserving causes, and that
this should be net cash as he determined to pay all
his own expenses. It was a noble and daring idea
and he carried it out to the letter. Surely, when the
philanthropic history of this country is written, this fact
should stand out as a lasting memorial to Mac Gregor.
Many have written cheques for thousands of pounds to
be distributed among the poor ; few have given up
time, strength, and convenience and endured the
exhausting fatigue, the personal exposure and the
wear and tear of life to accomplish so earnest a
purpose. His plan of action was on this wise. The head of

350 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xv.
a struggling institution would write, beseeching him to
lecture on behalf of its funds. Mac Gregor would
thoroughly investigate the bona fides of the appeal and
if he were satisfied, he would promise to lecture on
condition that his fee, of say fifty pounds in a small
town or one hundred in a larger one, were raised by
sale of tickets or by special subscription. In due
course he would arrive with bag and baggage,
scenery, curiosities and paraphernalia ; deliver his
lecture to a crowded audience, and hand over his
cheque for the benefit of the institution,
A few notes from his diary may be given here :
1870. Jan. 9. — Excellent sermon, Vaughan, 'Whom shall I send?' Good
for me to feel a missionary spirit in the twenty-five lectures and other
engagements I am now bound by. Temptation to like life and health
too much. Second temptation, scarcely less insidious, to be too
much troubled that I do like life and health so much. Troubled
about many things instead of that ' good part.'
Jan. 12. — First lecture on the 'Rob Roy on the Jordan,' at
Edgware Road Working Men's Institute. Rev. H. Allon presided.
Crowded, and all went off well.
Henceforth for several years the diary is full of
records of constant Sittings from place to place with
perpetual and exciting work. The last entry for the
first year of the lecturing campaign is a record of
extraordinary success.
Dec. 31, 1870. — From Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 lectured or presided or
spoke at public meetings 128 times besides all minor occasions. Of
these I gave ' Rob Roy ' Lecture 56 times, earning sum of ^4160 and
have six more lectures engaged for, each at £ioo.

JOHN MAC GREGOR IN HIS LECTURING COSTUME

l87° COMEDY LECTURES ' 353
It will be readily surmised that a man who could
command such terms and audiences as Mac Gregor
did for some years, must have been no ordinary
lecturer. Nor was he. The lectures were always
delivered in a free, unaffected, and highly amusing
style, and were what Max O'Rell would call "comedy
lectures." On the platform were arrayed a full-sized
model of the Rob Roy, with the identical sails and
masts, together with the cooking apparatus, miniature
lamp, bed, and other fittings used during the voyage,
with diagrams and maps ad lib.
Soon after appearing before the audience and
making his introductory speech, he would retire for
a moment or two and re-appear in his canoeing dress,
including a red serge Norfolk jacket (to be changed
for a grey one when in an enemy's country) and light
helmet with flowing puggaree, to protect head and
neck from the heat.
In giving an amusing description of a long desert
ride on camel-back, he would assume a scarlet tunic
and turban, and mounting a chair which represented
the camel's back, and holding an umbrella of many
colours, would depict the movements of a camel rider
to the life, and at the same time imitate the noises
made by camels to express various emotions or
moods — such as anger at being loaded, or pleasure
when drinking water. Then, when describing the
remote parts of the Nile about the hour of sunset,
he would imitate the noises of lions and the general
chorus of animals of many different kinds. When

354 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xv.
discoursing on mummies, he would burn before the
audience a small portion of mummy dust, to
demonstrate how largely creosote entered into the
embalming material.
In giving an example of eastern music, he would
promise to fetch from behind the screen a petulant
Arab boy, and running to the back of the stage,
would in a moment or two re-appear — a tall slim
figure dressed in long flowing white Arab costume !
Then, sitting tailor-fashion, he would light a chibouk
and smoke a whiff or two ; or, seizing a musical
instrument not unlike a biscuit box, give forth the
Arab's guttural notes as from a bagpipe, or break into
a sweeter song, beating time upon a box ; at the same
time assuming the postures and gestures of a Bedouin
desert ranger.
He was wont to conclude his lecture on the Jordan
with the famous "crocodile story;" then tying his
bed on his back, putting on a Greek cap, and
arranging his mosquito screen and oil cloth, he would
light his lamp and lie down comfortably in the canoe,
reading a copy of the Times. Suddenly the howl of
a jackal would ring across the room, and Mac Gregor
would spring up, tell in an excited way of a dreadful
dream about an encounter with a crocodile, when
forthwith the animal would appear on canvas at
the back of the platform, with Mac Gregor riding
triumphantly on its back, and " God save the
Queen" and "Success to the  Institute" in
scribed above and below the head and tail !

1870 CORRESPONDENCE 355
These lectures added greatly to his popularity, and
the flattering things that were said of him were
enough to turn the head of any man with less ballast.
His buoyant spirits, his joyousness, his fund of
anecdote and experience, made him a welcome guest
wherever he went, and he went from the palace to the
hovel, passing through the various strata of society
that divide the one from the other, with equal serenity.
A glance at some correspondence about this time
will emphasise what we have written, and we select
three specimens representing society, literature, and
art. The {Late) Duchess of Sutherland to John Mac Gregor.
Stoke-upon-Trent, Thursday.
My Dear Mr. MacGregor,
Thank you so very much for your kind trouble in choosing
such a beautiful little canoe for me. I think it is the prettiest I ever
saw, and I am longing for to-morrow morning to try it. I daresay I
shall have a ducking the first time, but I will try implicitly to follow
your directions, for which I am much obliged. She is lying in the
water with two hundredweight on board as you desired. How I hope
I may learn to use her. I hope you will come to see me when I go
to London, and tell me of all your good works. That last you sent
me the pamphlet about is, I am sure, a very blessed one. The poor
little children ! I should be so glad sometimes to help you a little
when it is needed. Yours most sincerely,
A. Sutherland.
Next day Mac Gregor received another letter, which
began :
I have had my first lesson in the dear little canoe which is perfect.

356 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xv.
Charles Dickens to John Mac Gregor.
Gad's Hill Place, Higham by Rochester, Kent,
Tuesday, June 15, 1869.
.... By this post I write to my publishers, begging them to send
a set of my books to the Inns of Court Lending Library. I hope I
need not add that I most readily respond to your request and I shall
feel most obliged to you if you will give me the first opportunity the
Athenaeum affords of becoming personally known to you. I am so
very well acquainted with the Rob Roy canoe, and have taken passage
in her with so much pleasure, that I have a special interest in her
Captain 
This letter led to an interesting personal acquaint
ance, in the course of which Mac Gregor introduced
to the great novelist a splendid specimen of the
London street Arab, who became one of Dickens'
" characters." Sir John E. Millais to John Mac Gregor.
7 Cromwell Place,
November 25, 1871.
Dear Mac Gregor,
I have just returned from the North and hasten to tell you I
have read your book with great pleasure. I wish I could anchor a
raft at the spot which you give an illustration of, and paint a careful
picture of it, the lane of water coming into the lake, banks of papyrus
on either side, and two mountain peaks just breaking the line of
papyrus forest  Very truly yours, J. E. Millais.
Although the lecture season continued all the year
round so far as Mac Gregor was concerned, it had
its limitations, and the summer was much freer for
him than the winter.

1870 SOCIAL LIFE 357
But with his indomitable — or shall we say restless —
energy, he did not avail himself of any lengthened
period of rest. So we find that in the " off season "
of 1869 he was "much occupied about the Exhibition
of Palestine Exploration Fund at Dudley Gallery,"
and was canvassing, lecturing, and speaking on
behalf of the Martyrs' Memorial church at Smithfield,
entering on a new crusade against the current
literature for boys, going heart and soul into the
formation of new canoe clubs, superintending races,
yachting matches, and such like, keeping up at high
pressure his outdoor preaching, and at the same time
not indifferent to the claims of social life. But we
will let a few disjointed extracts from his private
diary speak for him again :
Nov. 23, 1869. — Lunch Vaughan. Met Jenny Lind.
1870. March 10. — This day I was elected a member of the Oxford and
Cambridge Club.
March 13, Sunday. — Noble sermon from Vaughan — but my life is
too happy to feel properly anxious to leave it.
Why should he have felt anxious to leave it ?
It is only morbid and unhealthy life that wishes to
die, despite hymns and sermons to the contrary.
March 20, Sunday. — Vaughan's sermon on 'jesting.' Bold and
useful, but too difficult to preach unless each hearer interprets for
himself the words ' not convenient.'
This is good, for no man loved a joke better
than he.

358 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xv.
April 10. — Fear I am quite proud of my book, lectures, speeches,
and self generally — health and happiness. To pore over the thought
that I have so few trials may be itself a temptation.
Here is a large Christian heart struggling against
a narrow creed. Why should not a man be as happy
as his capacity will admit ? Is not this presupposed
as one of the elements of Christianity, "in Christ
to have all things and abound ? "
May 2 2, Sunday. — Battersea Suspension Bridge. Found a man with
crowd to whom he read ' The Creed of a Fop ' in nineteen clauses
and half an hour in expounding it. Near him a teetotaler and beyond
a Mr. Kaspary preaching ' the religion of God,' a Buddhist-Deism
with transmigration of souls. He used a Tischendorf New Testa
ment. After some time I began and a great crowd came and I held
up Christ and discomfited the Jew present much to his confusion.
This was one of the most curious Sundays I ever had. Dined at the
Club with Tyndall, Laurence Oliphant, and Gibbs, and heard
Oliphant's faith. Walked with them afterwards.
May 27. — Dined Lord Lawrence. Lectured 'Rob Roy' forty-fifth
time ; Vestry Hall, Kensington, for Y.W.C.A.
May 29, Sunday. — Meant to preach at Battersea, but drawn to
converse with C. about Chunder Sen, the Hindoo Deist, Unitarian,
who had lectured. C. logical and calm in his religious views. He
has much 'altered. He is much nearer Christ than many Christians.
I look to answers to many prayers for him. Read Newman's
' Grammar of Assent.' Struck with plain good sense when he says
Assumption or Axioms are needed in all arguments for demonstration.
In mathematics this is so, and also in Revelation. He declines to
argue with those who do not grant a God, conscience, as founda
tions. In the summer of this year Mac Gregor spent much
of his time with the Canoe Club and not a little with

1870 AMONG THE FISHER FOLK

359

his own canoe. We find him at Cowes and Southsea,
at Plymouth, Falmouth, and the Scilly Isles. One
curious entry in the diary at this time shows a strange
development of the canoe idea.
Sep. 8. — Crossed from Tresco in Rob Roy. Rev. H. Mayo in
his canoe. He visits the sick in her and carries communion plate.
Good lines, very clumsy above. Squalls too heavy, he had to be
towed back. The evening chapel full, chiefly of men. Told them
about Jordan cruise with black board in pulpit, clergyman there also
and all much pleased.
The Rev. H. Mayo was not the only disciple of
Rob Roy who used a canoe for religious purposes.
In the far south the Rev. C. R. Fairey "paddled his
own canoe," the Evangelist, along the coasts and
rivers of Australia. His little craft (weighing with
sails and all fittings only eighty pounds, carried a
light mast and a lug sail which enabled him to make
seven or eight knots in a fair wind) was built in
London under Mac Gregor's direction. The cargo,
like that of the Rob Roy, consisted chiefly of tracts
and Testaments, and on her first voyage of 300 miles
round the iron-bound north and east coasts of Tas
mania, Mr. Fairey held services and distributed books
at many places where the sound of the Gospel was
rarely, if ever, heard.
The main object of Mac Gregor's coasting tours was
to visit sailors, the coastguards, lifeboat crews, light-
housemen, fishers and shrimpers, bargees and yachts
men, and all and sundry who live by the water and
can be approached by a boat.

360 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xv.
We cannot resist the temptation of giving one brief,
but very vividly descriptive, note from a letter headed
St. Mary's, Scilly Islands, September 10, 1870.
By our side are the pilchard boats, each lightly anchored and
with crew aboard ready at a moment to rush out upon ' a school of
fish' and to surround it with speedy snares and gather the rich
glittering harvest of the sea. Meanwhile they must watch for the
fish on the high cliff. Above is a ' Huer,' the man who scans the
wide sea, and by its roughened surface can discern the fish long
miles away. For hours, for days, for weeks the boats must be thus
instant in readiness, and the Huer gazing far. At last he sees the
well-known, welcome flutter on the waves, and, seizing a long horn,
blows the signal loud and hoarse when away go a score of boats
eagerly straining their oars. The Huer seizes two round light balls
of gorse in his hands and by motions like a telegraph he directs the
crews to their prey. He waves forward and they advance; he
swings left and they turn ; he circles and they bend round ; he lifts
both balls aloft and the boats stop ; and while his arms give the last
signal of ' cast the nets the fishers pour out the great seine and
compass the teeming millions of fish, then close them nearer and
gather them into their boats. The take may be long delayed, the
chance may come seldom ; but the prize of even one good shoal may
win a thousand pounds.
On his return, the formation of the first London
School Board was the all-absorbing topic of the day —
a topic in which he took an exceptional interest as it
was one that he foresaw must affect, for good or for
ill, many of the institutions in which he had taken a
lifelong interest.
His action in the matter and his own part as a
member of the Board will be told hereafter.
In the meantime he was prosecuting his labours as

T87i OPENING A MUMMY 361
a lecturer with unflagging zeal, and at the close of the
season of 1 870-1 he was able to write :
1871. May 1. — R. R. Lecture, No. 65, and last lecture of the season
realising in all ^5062. The first lecture was given Jan. 12, 1870.
Perfect health and happiness and all this gain to charities in fifteen
months and a half, being an average of just one lecture a week on the
canoe all that time.
May 17. — Royal Literary Fund. Spoke responding to toast of
Travellers. June 9. — At Stafford House with Dr. Birch and H. Wright and
opened mummy brought by Duke. Got some grains of corn and
resolved to plant them.
The wooden sarcophagus, and mummy encased, were
brought from the Khedive of Egypt by the Duke of
Sutherland. The lid of the mummy case seemed to
have been unopened before, as the clay luting was in
the joint nearly all round. From the hieroglyphics
outside, Dr. Birch pronounced the mummy to be that
of a priest sacred to Osiris, and about 2600 years old,
and he predicted there would be found inside several
articles, a blue glass net, images, &c, and such were
duly found. Among the loose debris inside the case
were four grains of corn, two of these Mac Gregor
planted a few days afterwards in a small flower-pot
filled with sifted mould from the Temple Gardens ;
the other two grains were sent to Mr. Sowerby at the
Royal Botanic Society, Regent's Park : the pot from
the Temple was also sent to Mr. Sowerby later on,
with one of the grains grown up about eight inches
high. This was returned in December 1871, as a

362 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xv.
stalk four feet long, with twelve grains of oats,
growing on it as represented in the photograph held
in Rob Roy's hand in the illustration facing page 350.
The other two grains grew up into several stalks, but
without fruit, as shown in the flower-pot beside the
sitting figure.
In August 1 87 1, MacGregor started on one of the
most interesting of all his many cruises — the coast and
canals of Holland and the Zuyder Zee. It is unfortu
nate it was not undertaken sooner ; it should have been
one of his first voyages and he would have gathered
the subject-matter of an exceptionally novel and enter
taining book. As it was it came after the Egypt
and Palestine cruise, and Mac Gregor, wisely, did not
care to lessen the fame he had acquired by his
magnum opus, by telling the minor story of this voyage
in book form.
In all the journeys in Europe, Asia, Africa and
America that he had made, never were so many and
such persistent starers found as in Holland. On his
first night afloat in Dutch waters, a crowd stood for
hours gazing and whispering until it was pitch dark.
Rain fell but the gazers stood in rain and darkness.
He put out his reading-lamp and the people gradually
dispersed; he re-lighted it and they came back to
stare. Burgomasters and aldermen, schoolmasters
and their schools, peaceful inhabitants and stolid
Dutch workmen turned out day by day to see the new
wonder and to comment thereon. Even the lowing
herds came to stare, to toss their heads and tails, and

1871

THE ZUYDER ZEE

363

then to gambol a mad dance round the field — "those
worthy kine which will come to London by thousands
alive in steamers, and we shall eat them, exclaiming :
' Oh, the roast beef of Old England.' "
At the island of Urk the whole population appeared
to turn out, hundreds of people wading round and

THE ROB ROY ARRIVING AT THE ISLE OF URK, ZUYDER ZEE
round and standing in thick groups on the piers, the
shore and the housetops.
Even on this Dutch cruise he had some stirring
adventures. One day the captain of a huge steamer
hailed him and he tacked for a "tow astern," while he
dined on the deck of the canoe. At the bend of the
canal the Rob Roy somehow got under the steamer's
"quarter," and so into the terrible suction wake of the
immense revolving screw-blades. The draught into

364 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xv.
this awkward current was sudden, strong, and irre
sistible, and only at the last moment when within an
inch of the plashing propeller was he saved. Another
moment and one stroke of the sharp-edged blade
would have crushed his frail craft to atoms and not
improbably have given him his quietus.
One curious experience was in sailing from Helder
to the Texel. Mac Gregor chose for his night
quarters a smooth bay near Eierland, the eastern
end of the Texel and the "land of eggs," where
sea-birds innumerable have their haunts, and no
man intrudes. All went well until the moon rose.
Then the sea-birds of a hundred kinds, and thousands
in number, quickly assembled, screaming, yelling like
jackals, twittering, darting swiftly hither and thither,
flashing white wings in the moonlight, splashing the
dreamy waves, and causing Mac Gregor's dog Rob
to dance with Highland rage at their impudence.
All sleep was dissipated for the night, and at
sunrise he sped away southward.
We must not linger over any more of Rob Roy's
tours. New and widening experiences in other
spheres were opening up before him, and we have
yet to see him in other lights than those in which
he has hitherto been introduced to us.
On returning from his Dutch tour, he found the
work of the London School Board and his lecturing
campaign all-absorbing. But he nevertheless made
time to visit and to keep up the brief daily notes
in his diary.

1871

MEN OF THE TIME

365

It is a thousand pities that he had not time to
record more fully his opinion of the distinguished
persons he met, and the good things they said; it
would have made a volume of unusual interest. We
can only give here, however, some bald indications
of his movements.

THE ROB ROY ON THE TEXEL AT MOONRISE
187I. Aug. 6. — Dined with Millais at Athenaeum.
Aug. 13. — Sold my yawl, dingy and stores for 100 guineas to a
man at Melbourne, Australia.
Sep. 30. — Visited Exhibition, last day. Dined Sir Harry Parkes.
W  told me the Queen had four hours downright good work
every day. His own box sometimes gave her two hours. She
sometimes altered the proposals for Parliament from Cabinet
Councils. Professor Owen lunched here and said skull from
Holland was fair average man and my camel's tooth from the
Temple is not a camel's but an ox's, and perhaps one sacrificed at
beginning of Temple.

366 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xv.
Oct. 2. — Huxley lunched with me and smoked and examined the
skull. Nov. 21. — Read paper Society of Arts on 'Street Folks.'
Tjea 20. — Dined B. Powell. Met Lady Franklin, Leslie Stephen,
Browning the poet.
Dec. 23. — To Farmer of Harrow about School Music. My letter
in Times about Refuges.
Dec. 31, Sunday.— Splendid sermon Vaughan. 'Set thy house in
order.' A year of health and happiness and hard work. The discip
linary sorrow and sickness, if yet in store, will come from the same
physician and be for the same life of the soul.
1872. Jan. 6. — Saw Liddell, Home Office, about the clause for Streets
Bill as to licensing sellers.
Jan. 7. — Lord A. Churchill told me the name of a friend of his
who had a loan from a crossing-sweeper of ^1000. A barrister
friend of mine told me that his own father had been asked to dinner
by a crossing-sweeper and went and dined well.
Jan. 24. — Birthday, 47 years old. Nobody has had a happier
life. Jan. 31. — Heard grand accounts of arrival of dear old yawl at
Melbourne. Feb. 13. — Wrote to Prince of Wales and Prince Imperial about
Canoe Club.
June 21. — Good sermon, Lawrence of St. Albans. He put duty
and pleasure in opposition and at night I felt two months' vacation
to the Crimea was no longer a duty because being quite well I did
not need it for health, so must give it up and take only one month
elsewhere. June 22. —Resolved as last night, and sent to countermand all and
gave up Russian steamer, &c.
So instead of a long looked-for visit to the Crimea
— full of interest to him in its glorious as well as
painful associations — he contented, himself with a

1873 A HAPPY KNACK 367
quiet cruise in the Shetland Isles. On his return
from many of his tours, Mac Gregor was in the habit
of sending an interesting general account of them
to the Times ; and after he had given a good
description of people and places, he had the happy
knack of inserting an appeal for aid to some good
work. Thus on his return from Shetland, after
telling of the progress of the people owing to better
postal arrangements and the introduction of the electric
telegraph, of the state of old and new industries, and
of the dangers of their coast, he contrived to weave
into his story an account of a projected Seamen's
Home and Institute at Lerwick ; but as the sum
it would cost "was quite beyond the resources of
this outer end of Britain," he called upon all inter
ested in sailors and fishermen to lend their aid,
and so gave a splendid advertisement which led to
good results.
We cull here a few extracts from the diary for
1873:1873- Feb. 2, Sunday. — Planted two grains of mummy corn from stalk
grown in my rooms. [On March 2 the corn stood two inches high
in the flower pot.]
March 16. — My dearest Father was 86 years old to-day and in full
possession of his faculties.
March 22. — Dinner to Tyndall and Hurst, Athenaeum; present
also Roupell, Sir W. Boxall, Spottiswoode, Busk, Rev. Pullen,
Herbert Spencer, J. Fergusson, A. C. Ramsay, Self, Huxley in the
chair. This was a success, but one felt 'in partibus infidelium.'
Played pool afterwards and killed four lives of balls.

368 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xv.
July 6. — What with splendid weather, perfect health, constant
useful work and frequent success and praise, the life on earth to
which one ought to set lightly gets undue claims of the heart and
these must be loosened or some description of illness or suffering or
even shame may be necessary in the wisdom of the great Physician.
1 record the thought because the thought itself was put into my mind
to warn in mercy.
July 18. — Stafford House. Music. Lord Lome introduced me to
Princess Louise, who chatted very amusingly and kindly.
The diary has now brought us up to what we may
perhaps regard as the most interesting episode in
the life of John Mac Gregor.
He had planned a trip to the Azores with his canoe,
but, at the last moment, on the eve of starting, he
decided not to take the canoe having been told that his
father was very anxious about him. He left London
on the 7 th of August promising himself a restful tour,
after the manner of the old days before the Rob Roy
was in existence, and sailed to Lisbon, thence to the
Azores, and on the 25 th reached Grazioza. While
walking the deck on the evening of that day, he
formed a resolution of such importance that he posted
back to England full speed to put it into execution.
In a letter to his very particular friend, the genial
Sir John Burns, of Castle Wemyss, he tells what
that resolution was : 1 Mitre Court Buildings, Temple,
September 15, 1873.
My dear J. B.
Annie Caffin to be my bride. I loved eight years in
silence. I did not like to entangle her unless I could give a suitable
home.

1873 ENGAGEMENT 369
At Terceira in the Azores some days ago, I resolved to come
home and propose, and after 1700 miles of steaming this came off
last Saturday (Sept. 13). Probably you have seen Annie .... still
I cannot be trusted to describe her.
Let me bring her to see Mrs. B., and judge if she is not a darling.
. . . My father and Elizabeth are quite delighted, as Annie was the
favourite of one and the ally of the other in all good works.
Yours,
J. Mac
The news was received by some of his intimate
friends with incredulity, by others with merriment.
Professor Tyndall wrote :
My dear Mac,
What have you been doing ? Stealing a march upon
me ! Oh you sly rascal ! Giving me to understand that marriage
had innumerable drawbacks, influencing thus my conduct, and going
in the teeth of your own maxims. I will never forgive you !
Yours inexorably,
J. Tyndall.
Not a few of Mac Gregor's special friends were
so taken aback when they heard the startling news
that he was engaged to be married, that they had
afterwards to apologise for the manner in which they
received it ; the Rev. J. W. Bardsley, to wit, the
present Bishop of Sodor and Man, who wrote :
My dear Mac Gregor,
You must have thought me slightly insane yesterday,
but the grotesque side of the fact stated (forgive the word) came
into view first, and it was not until after you had gone that' the good
and earnest side of the thing came into full view, and not without
many deep aspirations in my mind for your happiness. I use the
word 'grotesque' because I looked upon you as an inveterate
A A

37° JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xv.
bachelor and if I had enumerated the things in last week's Punch
'Not seen — An archbishop on a bicycle, &c.,' 'John MacGregor
in the act of being married,' should have been added.
I am truly glad that you have come to a right state of mind at
last. I congratulate you on your choice and heartily pray that you
may long be spared to each other.
You must look upon this letter as a sort of apology. I hope your
other friends met you more in the right spirit than I did apparently.
Sentences in your speeches about ' bachelor life,' and ' the ladies,'
naturally came to the front. I shall not be the only one who receives
the announcement with a grin ! Yours ever truly,
J. W. Bardsley.
Busy and happy days followed Mac Gregor's return
to town. He chose for his residence No. 7, Vanbrugh
Park Road East, Blackheath, close by the house of
the father of his bride, Admiral Sir Crawford
Caffin, K.C.B., on the one hand, and of his beloved
father, Sir Duncan Mac Gregor, on the other.
The diary which had been faithfully kept since
1848 dwindled away to a mere word or two, until
at length the following amusing entries are reached :
1873- Dec. 1. — Preparing for execution.
Dec. 2. — Do. do.
Dec. 3. — Do. do.
Dec. 4. — Wedding Day !
The marriage was celebrated at St. John's Church,
Blackheath, by the Rev. G. B. Caffin (uncle of the
bride), the Rev. Canon Miller, D.D., Vicar of Green
wich, and the Rev. Ernest Cowan, Vicar of St. John's

1873 MARRIAGE 371
Blackheath. A thousand people were in the church
and a crowd outside. Fifty boys of the Chichester
training ship formed a guard of honour, flanked by a
detachment from the Shoeblack Brigade, who came
to testify their love and gratitude. Sir Crawford
Caffin was there and his family ; Sir Duncan Mac
Gregor and his family, besides hosts of old friends and
fellow workers. The School Board, the Royal Canoe
Club, the Argonaut Rowing Club, the Ragged School
Shoeblack Society, and many other associations were
there with their gifts, or had been, and addresses of
congratulation flowed in from all quarters. Never
were they more heartily given, or more genuinely
deserved. For, up to this time
He is the half-part of a blessed man,
Left to be finished by such as she :
And she, a fair divided excellence,
Whose fulness of perfection lies in him.
And if on that happy day he had quoted to her the
now familiar lines : Beloved ! let us love so well
Our work shall still be better for our love,
And still our love be sweeter for our work
And both commended for the sake of each
By all true workers and true lovers born, —
he would have quoted a prophecy which was to be
fulfilled to the letter.

CHAPTER XVI
1870—1876
LONDON AND THE LONDON SCHOOL BOARD
We must now go back a few years in our story. The
passage of the Elementary Schools Bill through the
House of Commons, the public interest in the ques
tion, the new life that seemed to be in store for many
societies to which he was pledged, gave intense satis
faction to John MacGregor, and when in October
1870, steps were taken to elect members for the first
London School Board — ever memorable for the
number of eminent men it contained — his labours were
unceasing. For eighteen consecutive nights, Sunday
only excepted, he delivered speeches in Greenwich
and its neighbourhood — speeches which in those days
of strong political and religious feeling and discussion
needed most careful preparation — while on the day of
the elections he laboured in the neighbourhood of
the polling places, from day-dawn to sunset. Here is
his brief and modest account of the proceedings :
1870. Dec. 1. — Bristow, returning officer, told me the pleasing news of
my Election— No. 2 in the four members.

1870 LORD LAWRENCE 373
Dec. 2. — Many congratulations.
Dec. 4, Sunday. — This month has culminated in interest and
thankful gladness.
We have elsewhere spoken of Mac Gregor's nous,
his business capabilities, and his sound judgment of
men and things. Here is his account of the first
meeting of the Board :
Dec. 21. — First meeting of L. S. B., Lord Lawrence evidently not
up to rules of chairman and meetings. Minutes of former meeting
incorrect and incomplete. Report of committee incorrect, and not
presented with explanation. As they had not notified to me my
appointment on it, or their meeting, or their report, I had to dissent
from it on the Board. This made me speak too often, which was a
blunder. I hope my augury not true that Lord L. is not fit for his
post, and will leave and that future secretary will easily rule the
Board. We know of no better commentary on this pro
phecy of Mac Gregor than the words of Sir Charles
Aitcheson, one of the biographers of Lord Lawrence.
He says :
In the autumn of 1870, Lord Lawrence allowed himself to be
nominated for election to the London School Board under the
Elementary Education Act, which had just come into force. It was
not work for which, he was naturally suited. He hated Boards, and
considered himself constitutionally ill-fitted to be member, even of a
Council of Three. He was no speaker and the practical training of
an Indian career, in which there is much writing and little talk, was
not such as to cultivate the gifts required for the conduct of affairs in
a large board of fluent debaters. For three years he acted as
Chairman of the Board. The term of office came to an end in
November 1873, and he declined to stand again on the ground of
failing health.

374 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xvi.
Almost immediately after his first attendance at
the meetings of the School Board, Mac Gregor com
menced an agitation. In his profession he felt it
incumbent upon him to call together right-minded
men to pray that right judgment might be given
them ; as a volunteer it seemed to him that drills and
firings, reviews and parades, were useless unless the
men engaged in them prayed for Queen and country,
for wise counsels among the rulers of the nations and
for peace in the hearts of citizens, and so the Lawyers'
Prayer Union and the Volunteers' Prayer Union were
instituted. But how much more need was there for
prayer in an organisation which would deal with the
moral, mental, and spiritual welfare of millions upon
millions of school children ? So we find from his
diary that on January 28, he called together some
friends to meet "at Smithies' to consider what to do
about prayer question on the School Board." T. B.
Smithies, a man. whose life of labour deserves to be
written in letters of gold, was one of those earnest,
quiet men who, while standing himself in the back
ground, gave leverage to some of the finest move
ments of his time.
Three days after that meeting Mac Gregor wrote :
" Lord Sandon suggested requisition to chairman for
room for prayer — excellent proposal, to which we got
38 signatories, including Huxley."
These are the well-known names of some of those
who attended the prayer meeting of the London
School Board in 1873 : — Samuel Morley, M.P.,

1870 RELIGION IN BOARD SCHOOLS 375
Canon Cromwell, Lord Lawrence, R. Freeman, Rev.
J. Rodgers, John MacGregor, Sir Charles Reed,
M.P., T. B. Smithies, Rev. J. A. Picton, J. Stiff, J.
E. Tresidder, A. McArthur, Prebendary Thorold (the
present Bishop of Winchester), Dr. Joseph Angus, J.
Watson, Very Rev. J. Mee, A. Lafone, J. B. Ingle,
E. H. Currie, T. Scrutton, E. N. Buxton, W. H.
Smith, M.P., Prebendary Barry, C. E. Mudie, H. S.
Gover. The form of prayer used at the first and second
Boards, and it may be later, was as follows, and we
heartily commend its perusal to all those who are
interested in the present "religious difficulties," and
irreligious discussions, on Bible Teaching in Board
Schools :
Almighty and Everlasting God, who knowest the hearts of all men,
and understandest all their ways, without whom nothing is strong,
nothing is holy ; Hear us, Thine unworthy servants, who now draw
near to Thee, beseeching Thee to guide and prosper the work of our
hands. May the dew of Thy blessing continually rest upon the
whole of the wide field in which we are called to labour. As Thou
hast taught us in everything, by prayer and supplication, with
thanksgiving, to make known our requests unto Thee, do Thou
impress upon us a sense of the solemn responsibility which rests
upon us, and increase our faith in the assurance that Thou wilt
direct those who in all their ways acknowledge Thee. Grant that
we, and all associated with us in the great work of teaching and train
ing the young and ignorant, may be so guided and overruled by
Thee, in all our thoughts, words, and works, that the children
entrusted to our care may learn in their early days to know Thee,
the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.
Be present amid the deliberations of this day. Give us a constant

376 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xvi.
sense of Thy presence. Vouchsafe to us the grace, the wisdom, the
courage we may need. Direct and control all hearts, so that all
things may be ordered and settled upon the best and surest founda
tions, and the children of this generation may become a people
fearing Thee and working righteousness.
Guide with Thy counsels those who may be called to select
teachers, and grant that there may never be wanting able and godly
persons to carry forward the education of the children of this
country. Bless the religious instruction given in the schools. May
those who teach never be weary, amid the many discouragements of
their work, in giving line upon line, precept upon precept ; and may
those who are taught have their hearts so opened by the Holy. Spirit
as to attend to the things spoken in Thy name from Thy Word.
With these our prayers for future help and blessing, we join our
praises and thanksgiving for what has been already done. We thank
Thee that many, by means of the schools hitherto established, have
been taught in childhood those Holy Scriptures which are able to
make wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
Vouchsafe the continuance of Thy blessing to those who may come
under instruction, granting them in this world knowledge of Thy
truth, and in the world to come life everlasting, through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Our Father, &c.
Just before the Elementary Education Act came
into operation, there was much searching of heart
among the various philanthropic societies as to how
they would be affected by it. Mac Gregor's concern
was chiefly for the street-sellers and street-workers
of London, and it was a curious fact that their case
could not be effectually dealt with by the new Act.
Young criminals were provided for by the Refor
matory Acts, wandering children were the subjects
of the Industrial Schools Act, workhouse children
were cared for under the Local Government Act

1870 THE ART OF MENDICANCY 377
children of outdoor paupers could be educated under
Denison's Act, children in factories or workshops
came under the Factory Acts and the Workshop
Acts, children working as shoeblacks or messengers
were specially dealt with under the Street Traffic
Acts, children of the wage-earning poor would soon
be sent to school under the Education Act ; orphans,
idiots, blind, cripples, foundlings, deaf mutes, all had
special asylums, but the ten thousand little folks who
sold and worked in the streets had so far no law to
protect, regulate, or discipline them.
Mac Gregor's constant plea was that begging should
be made an offence ; that street vendors should be under
regulation, and especially that newsboys, matchsellers,
and crossing-sweepers should be organised, disciplined,
and licensed. He had no love for the professional
crossing-sweeper, "the privileged beggars of the
chief city of the world, every one of them a standing
monument of gross parochial neglect and misused
private sentiment ;" he felt it to be a disgrace to our
national life that naked shivering children should be
sent out by the parish to rack sympathy by their rags
and dirt ; taken in fact from the schoolroom to be
thoroughly instructed in the art of mendicancy,
sometimes under the guidance of hulking men who
could menace as well as whine, and poor haggard,
tottering widows, pleading by their very feebleness,
without even a semblance of work.
Many of the abuses of which he then complained
have been abolished or rectified, but some remain, and

378 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xvi.
we still need — perhaps more than ever — philanthropists
to inquire into the street population, and to agitate for
the regulated control of the outcast, and the downfall
of the professional idler and impostor. What Mac
Gregor wrote about crossing-sweepers, for example, in
1872, needs to be re- written again to-day.
Tolerated by the police, and petted by the public, they are the
envy of all other beggars, the astonishment of honest workers on
their way to school or business, and most of all a puzzle to the
man who lights the street lamps, the man who waters the road, and
the man who scrapes it all day for a shilling, close beside the self-
appointed functionary who is ten times better paid than himself for
merely wielding a besom.
He went into this matter thoroughly, and the
result of a careful inspection of the work of a man,
a woman, and a boy, each on a crossing, gave this
result : the boy received 2s. 6d. for less than two
hours' work, the woman 3s. 6d. for less than an hour,
and the man 5s. for under two hours' labour. No
wonder therefore that Mac Gregor waxed wroth and
wrote strongly of the absurd position of the British
philanthropist who insists upon feeing impostors and
does not stir hand or foot to force them out of their
false claims.
There is development in the art of imposture, as
in every other art, and only within quite a recent date
a case came under the observation of the present
writer, in which a man, ostensibly a beggar and a
cripple, acted as "farmer" of the crossings of a whole
district. His plan of action was to send a strong

1870 SKIN-DEEP CHARITY 379
labourer to make the crossings clean, and then to
plant at his various stations the best assorted collec
tion of cripples and monstrosities he could hire so as
to extort pity. The returns were large, and they
went, not to benefit the poor wretches who worked
for him, but to pay for his own luxuries, dissipations,
and extravagances when the evening shadows fell.
The question which Mac Gregor so often asked
still remains unanswered. "If the 'Streets Act'
enables the police to regulate messengers, shoeblacks,
and others, assigning to each of them a proper stand,
why cannot the whole army of street vendors,
crossing-sweepers, and other beggars be similarly
dealt with and properly licensed?"
Perhaps a word or two from Mac Gregor's pen may
stir up some one — for all great reforms come from the
individual in the first instance — to take this matter up.
He says :
Let every man and woman of us who loves children, and who
would pour out tears if his children were to be degraded by the doles
of false sentiment, and not raised by the help of true sympathy,
desist from, and denounce, the cruel selfishness of haphazard alms
giving — that skin-deep charity which costs no trouble and confers no
good : and let all of us pray God to give us wisdom as well as love,
so that our feeble but right efforts may have His blessing, and we
may rescue the lost ones for whom Christ died.
To carry out the principle of compulsory attendance
at school, as a new and comprehensive means of good
for the people, taxed all the energies of the Board, and
Mac Gregor rendered signal service from the fact that

380 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xvi.
he had visited other lands where the compulsory sys
tem had been long applied and was working admirably,
and from personal knowledge he could speak with
authority of the schools of Germany, Holland, Sweden,
and America.
He soon found that it was impossible for him to
give full attention to the ever increasing duties of the
School Board and to labour at another calling, and
therefore he abandoned his profession that he might
devote himself more fully to that great work — the edu
cation of the people. At one time he wrote to a
friend, " I give eight hours a day for five days a week
to this School Board."
He held the office of chairman in the " School
Management Committee " — an office involving a large
amount of correspondence and personal interviews
with prospective teachers — and he was also chairman
of the " Industrial Schools Committee." Seeing that
for twenty years past he had been familiar with the
latter kind of work, dealing exclusively with the
vagrant children and those who were destitute or going
to ruin by incipient crime, there was no doubt he
was the right man in the right place.
In the course of three years ^personally investigated
2000 cases of such children brought before him by
five officers of the Board, with the result that iooo of
these were sent to Industrial Schools by the action of
his committee.
No better man could have been selected for this
task. His love of children was marvellous — not only

1870-6 TRAINING BOYS FOR ARMY 381
the nicely dressed and well-behaved " society " children,
but the poor and neglected waifs and strays of the
streets and alleys.
One scheme for the welfare of young lads which
Mac Gregor brought prominently forward on several
public occasions was for training boys for soldiers.
Other boys were trained for the navy, why not train
them for the army ? At that time 6000 boys were
under training for the navy ; they were entered from
fifteen and a half to sixteen years of age, and were
usually transferred as first class boys to a sea-going
ship, and at eighteen years old they were rated as
able seamen. The cost of each boy's training for
the navy was ^"60 which was willingly paid by the
nation because the boys thus trained became splendid
seamen. Why not in like manner train boys for the
Army? There were many sources of. supply — notably
from reformatories, industrial schools, workhouse and
elementary schools, and Mac Gregor worked up statis
tics with regard to these and showed that certainly
5000 lads could be obtained every year, fit and willing
to be trained and to enlist. He combated the restric
tions against boys from reformatories not being allowed
to enlist ; however good they were, if they came straight
from a reformatory they were refused, although many of
these same lads were readily accepted after a week or
two spent in the wretched and demoralising life outside.
His idea was to establish, as an experiment, an institu
tion to maintain, instruct, and train for the army lads

382 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xvi.
from fifteen to seventeen years old, when they should
enter, selected as fit and willing to become soldiers,
and that none should leave until they were eighteen.
They should be educated in ordinary secular and
religious knowledge, drill and gymnastics, industrial
work indoors and out, drawing and music ; pocket-
money should be given in proportion to industrial
earnings, and prizes for shooting, progress, and good
conduct. Mac Gregor was of opinion that ,£25 a year
would be ample to pay for all that was required in the
training of a lad. But the scheme did not meet with
success. On the School Board he revived and revised it, but,
still failing, he took a very active part in the establish
ment of drill competitions between Board schools.
On one occasion there was a demonstration in Regent's
Park, when 10,000 children were put through various
drill exercises, so admirably executed that an agitation
was got up by the Workmen's Peace Association, and
a deputation from that body was sent to the Board to
express their disapprobation of such demonstrations on
the ground that they tended to foster a military spirit
in the minds of the young ! These views found sym
pathy from some members of the Board, drill compe
titions began to be looked upon with suspicion, and
within three years from this incident, only about 400
boys competed for the challenge banner awarded by
the Society of Arts.
Mac Gregor's interest in boys' training ships never
ceased, and the boys of the Chichester and Arethusa

.1870-6 TRAINING BOYS FOR NAVY 383
at Greenhithe were the objects of his special care. He
never missed the " annual prize day " if he could possi
bly help it, and the boys never flagged in trying to
obtain one of the Rob Roy prizes, derived from the
profits of one of his books of travel. Nor did he ever
forget the interests of the boys when it was in his
power to help or defend them. At one time many
foreigners were crowded into our merchant navy. " By
all means give foreigners fair play," wrote Mac Gregor,
"but only after English boys are cared for. Charity
begins at home, and our home is England ; English
boys make far better sailors than any foreigners, when
it comes to rough work on stormy seas." On another
occasion he made an appeal in the Times on behalf of
the boys of the Chichester.
Many a young lad has been rescued from a life of sorrow and
want, and they are sent out as trained sailor-boys. But although
these boys are approved by the ship's captains, it is found that until
the boys can be taught how to steer a vessel, as well as the other
duties of a seaman, they cannot be well received by the rest of a
ship's crew. Steering is not to be taught by book or precept only,
or in a ship at moorings : the boys should be taught to handle the
tiller by voyages to the Nore. They would learn also the use of
buoys, beacons, and lights. A cutter of twenty tons would be of
immense service in their training.
The result of this appeal was the gift by a clergy
man, the Rev. C. Harrington, Rector of Bromyard,
of a strong well-built sea-going yacht, the Dolphin.
Among the subjects that Mac Gregor took up with

384 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xvi.
great vigour on the School Board were cooking and
plain sewing for girls, and drilling, swimming, and
athletics for boys. Upon the subject of swimming he
was particularly keen. He used to tell a story of a
philosopher who came to a ferry and got into the boat
which was to take him across a Highland lake. The
talk between him and the boatman was pleasant at
first in the calm, but as the boat went further the wind
increased and the waves splashed, yet the philosopher
heeded not. Nay, worse, he said : " Boatman, do you
know ontology? " and the answer was "No! " "Well,"
said the wiseacre, " you have lost half your existence."
And the wind blew stronger and the waves splashed
wetter, and the boat tossed higher, until the boatman
said to the wiseacre, "Will you let me ask you one
question — can you swim?" "No," said the philoso
pher. "Then," the boatman cried, "you have lost
the whole of your existence, for this boat is going to
sink in five minutes."
A very good plan, advocated and carried out largely.
by Mac Gregor, was to give a boy proficient in swim
ming a reward of two shillings for teaching another
boy to swim. The plan worked well and there was
not any accident on record during his oversight of the
scheme. It greatly delighted him when the Royal Humane
Society gave medals for swimming to competitors in
the leading public schools, to prepare them for deeds
of human kindness.
The Royal Humane Society was an institution . in

1870-6 SWIMMING 385
which Mac Gregor maintained a constant interest.
"Some good men and things," he was wont to say,
"are vigorous in their youth, but slow and stagnant as
they grow older ; or they even become fossilised.
The Royal Humane Society has the experience of a
hundred years and more of noble work, but in activity
and practical means for its great purpose this society
adapts, improves and invents new ways of saving life
and new incentives for devoted exertion." He
regarded this society and the Royal National Life
boat Institution not merely as good and useful philan
thropic associations but as distinctly Christian in their
tendency. "Did not the Highest," he said on one
occasion, "come down from Heaven to seek and to
save that which was lost. Let us, with deep rever
ence, follow in His footsteps."
A firm believer in swimming as a Christian duty —
on the ground that it gave opportunity to help and
save other lives— Mac Gregor was ever the advocate:
of caution and the discourager of rashness. Moreover
he took the sensible view that every one who went in
for swimming, or, in fact, anything in which there was
an element of hazard, should master all the conditions
and possibilities of any critical circumstances in which
they might be placed. As captain of the Royal Canoe
Club he discountenanced canoeing by persons who:
were not swimmers, and as swimmers he urged them
to study their responsibilities in that capacity. The
following is an illustration, given in a speech to the prize
medallists (swimming) of the Royal Humane Society :
B E

386 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xvi.
Another caution may be well enforced, by an example which
occurred a short time ago. The Royal Canoe Club has existed for
sixteen years with more than 600 members scattered over the world.
In the hundreds of canoe voyages during all that time, only one man
has been drowned from his canoe (so far as we know) while a
member of the Club. This was a son of Sir Charles Reed, who was
both a good swimmer and canoeist, and who had accomplished a
long cruise in Norway and Sweden safely enough. He lost his life
while canoeing in Ireland, on a lake full of bog water, which is an
astringent and contracts the body. Therefore let swimmers beware
of bathing in bog water.
It is perhaps unnecessary to say that on the
question of the Bible in schools, Mac Gregor's
trumpet gave no uncertain sound. He held that
the Bible should be read by everybody, everywhere,
and at all times and seasons, and that the first duty
of parents and teachers was to "drive home" its
sacred, guiding, and sustaining truths into the minds
of the young. It would not be of interest to any one
to revive the old discussions or even to indicate the
line of Mac Gregor's arguments in connection with
them. One extract from the diary will show the
spirit which animated him.
July 10, 1873. — Settled the tenders for 15,000 desks, and at four
had a meeting in my rooms to establish examinations of Board
children and pupil-teachers in Bible Knowledge. Present, Barry,
Rigg, Tressider and three members of S. School Institute Committee.
After prayer and much consideration it was agreed that my proposal
should be carried out. I consider this the most important meeting
held in these rooms, where many other interesting movements have
begun. Next to the study of the Bible MacGregor had

1870-6 BOYS' LITERATURE 387
hope in pure literature for boys, and he took advan
tage of his position on the London School Board to
air his views on this subject on every fitting occasion.
It was his great ambition to see a boys' newspaper
established which should be read with as much
avidity as the "gutter press" and the "penny
dreadfuls." So early as 1869 he called into his counsels such
men as Dr. Macaulay, the editor of the Leisure Hour
and Sunday at Home ; Mr. T. B. Smithies, of the
British Workman ; W. H. G. Kingston, and R. M.
Ballantyne — princes in the realm of boys' literature,
and men who year after year satisfied the craving
for adventure and romance, but never penned a line
that could bring a blush on the cheek of man, woman,
or child, or lost an opportunity to enforce a good
sterling moral. The Boys' Newspaper, as he wished
to see it, never saw the light, and for the nearest
approach to his ideal, the Boys Own Taper, he had
to wait for ten weary years.
To this magazine, as to many others, Mac Gregor
wrote a number of spirited papers, and to all his terms
were " £0 os. od."
If space permitted we might well devote a chapter
to his correspondence with young lads in whom he
took an interest and who admired him. It is' both
curious and interesting, but we can only give one
specimen. When Rob Roy's canoe books came out they were
largely read by public school boys, and many of them

388 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xvi.
dreamt ambitious dreams, or saw magnificent visions, of
their own exploits modelled upon his. But there was
a fascination in the style of Rob Roy's books which
won the hearts alike of athletic and contemplative
youth, it appealed to their noblest manhood, and many
answers to the appeal came in the shape of confidential
letters. Some of these lie before us, carefully docketed,
and in one or two instances, a rough draft of the reply
sent is appended.
It will be no breach of confidence to give an extract
from a letter written by a Westminster boy — it gives a
fine and characteristic touch of pure English and
Christian boyhood.
A Westminster Schoolboy to John Mac Gregor.
Ever since I read the 'Voyage Alone,' I have longed to make
your acquaintance, for, fond of boats, a lover of the sea and sailors
I was captivated by the little Rob Roy and always hoped to meet
the Captain and crew 
But you are ignorant from whom this letter comes. It comes
from one who in his holiday lives most of the day in a sailing-boat
on the Cornish coast, or in one of the fine Cornish luggers ; who in
a gale of wind is ever anxious for the dear fellows in the offing, who
at school has had many a breeze to weather, for, till lately, those who
showed the true colours have been in rough water, but thanks to the
Great Captain for the last two years, Westminster is another place,
refitted from ' stem to stern.'
And now sir, having gone so far, may I ask whether the Rob Roy
still wears her burgee and is still afloat ? for having accompanied her
over many hundred miles it is only natural that one should feel a
strong interest in such an old friend more especially when I have
planned and plotted a little craft, after her model, one day to help

1876 A WESTMINSTER SCHOOL BOY 389
me, I trust, in leaving many a vessel side lightened of some of a
cargo of Testaments. Such is one of my hopes 
If Rob Roy won the heart of the Westminster boy,
in no less degree did the Westminster boy win the
heart of Rob Roy, and a cheery, genial letter went off
at once to beg the scholar to make an appointment to
overhaul the canoe and see the collection of curiosities.
No wonder he answered, " I appreciate your kindness
fully in so good-naturedly answering, with such a jolly
letter, one whom you never met."

CHAPTER XVII
1874 — 1886
FAMILY, SOCIAL AND CITIZEN LIFE
In 1874, when MacGregor settled down in his home
at Blackheath, he did not begin his family life, as many
do, by giving up all outside work. On the contrary,
he added to the labour of the London School Board,
Cookery School Committees, Palestine Exploration
Fund and Exhibition, Canoe Club, and a dozen other
engrossing matters ; new enterprises in the neighbour
hood of his own home, such as a Bible meeting in the
Royal Naval College at Greenwich ; a prayer meeting
at Blackheath, drawing-room meetings in his own
house for various societies, such as the British Syrian
Schools, Medical Mission, Miss de Broen, and the
M'Call Mission in Paris ; periodical visits to the
workhouse, and other local charities, besides the
entertainment of many guests, for he was in the
midst of relatives and an ever widening circle of
friends. For nearly two years after his marriage he abstained
from the arduous work of lecturing. He resumed
it, however, in December 1875, and continued it at

l878 LECTURE SUCCESSES 391
intervals until he successfully finished the stupendous
task he had set himself. Then he wrote :
March 8, 1878.— Last lecture for the sum of .£10,000 aimed at
some years ago as possible to be got from people by offering informa
tion and advice for money. Gave the lecture at Eyre Arms, St. John's
Wood, where I had twice been before on a similar errand, once to found,
again to build up, and now to finish Trinity Schools, St. John's Wood.
The place was full and the audience very appreciative. At the end a
boy and girl came on the platform and presented me with a splendid
bouquet of camellias. These children had (as also the stewards)
scarves of Mac Gregor tartan with wands, &c. This is lecture No.
126 of this numbered list. The amount obtained over all expenses
is £100. Therefore, the number of lectures is 126 and the sum
gained over and above expenses has been £10,042. Only one
lecture in all these had to be put off on account of illness, and this
was given afterwards for the same object.
Mac Gregor did not entirely abandon public lecturing
after this, although he greatly decreased his engage
ments, and from time to time the proceeds of a lecture
came as a boon and a blessing to some specially de
serving causes. But as the years went on he cared
less and less for being away from home, and became
conscious of fatigue and anxiety in their delivery, some
times almost approaching nervousness. In the follow
ing letter to his wife he records his last great effort in
that direction. Queen's Hotel, Leeds
November 21, 1884
My Own Darling,
Everything has prospered completely, and I am so very much
pleased and thankful. I was anxious, but I don't know why, and
now I retire from my profession as a lecturer  The platform
was wide and roomy, and I went nearly an hour beforehand to

392 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xvii.
begin arrangements. Just before starting from the hotel, a young
man called on me there, saying he saw my name on the bills,
and that he came to tell me he was ' Johnny Reynolds,' the son of
Constable Reynolds who was our lodge-keeper at Drumcondra ! He
-went out to the Crimea (the father) with darling Douglas as an
^orderly,' and was invaluable as a staunch, brave, and godly servant
till he put the sod over his dear master's grave. How very strange
all this ! . . . .
To-morrow I hope to be with my sweeties safe and sound. Yours, J-
Always a lover of children, it was a source of no
little joy when in October 1875 MacGregor welcomed
his firstborn, who was named Annie Elizabeth Frances,
and again in 1881, when in his diary he wrote of his
second daughter, Helen Douglas; "March 19, 1881 :
Blessing, praise and glory to the Father of Heaven
who gave us this day a darling baby girl."
His diary abounds in touching and beautiful refer
ences to his wife and children, and in frequent thanks
giving for his overflowing cup of happiness. " No
man was ever so happy I think as I am," is the con
stant burden of his song. He watched the growth
and development of his children with intense solicitude,
and we think it will not be out of place to give just a
passing specimen of his fatherly pride and joy.
Oct. 21, 1877. — A few days ago Ina was heard saying to herself,
very softly, 'Nice God!' her only way of expressing love. The
experiment of having her at morning prayers is made too soon in her
little history. She sits all right at reading, but climbs upon the back
of each servant at prayers !

.1879-86 LETTERS TO CHILDREN 393
Feb. 23, 1879. — Address to S. School of St. John's on a very
remarkable subject. Last week little Ina had said ' Mama, who is
God?' I never heard this simple question put before, and I
endeavoured to answer it at this Sunday service which was very
largely attended by teachers and children, who were unusually
attentive from beginning to end. Ina, after this 'Who is God?'
asked her nurse, 'Did God make Hisself?' These precocious
indications of thought often dangerous to be incited. Well do I
recollect Mrs. Bevan's little girl, whose creed was the essence of the
' Gospel and in these words : ' Jesus died astead of me.'
Jan. 6, 1 88 1. — Ina, looking at picture Bible illustration of Mary
. and Child, said : ' There's the little Baby that made his mother.'
Jan. 2, 1882. — Delightful tea party of Ina's dolls.
He used to write comical little letters to his children.
In those days they were very fond of playing at "keep
ing shop " in their nursery, and they let down over the
bannisters, by means of a small bucket and string,
groceries and other articles, close to their father's
study door ; he thoroughly enjoyed their play, and
bought the contents of the bucket, returning it with
the payment, and on one occasion the following letter
'accompanied the penny : — 7 Vanbeugh Park Road East,
March 3, 1886.
Madam,
I am very much pleased with the 'plumes,' and I hope they
will match your new bonnet. The biscuits are too too delicious, and
I hunger for a hamper of them. But most of all I do love the sago.
You will please return the bill receipted.
Mr. Pap.
Some of the letters were illustrated with comical
sketches, some with the consecutive letters of the
alphabet commencing each line, and all were merry
and loving.

394 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xvii.
Mac Gregor was very fond of dogs, and for many
years was wont to take one, bearing the name of
" Rob," on his canoe trips. He was remarkably con
siderate for all animals, but especially for dogs, and
would never keep Rob waiting for food until it could
be given without inconvenience — he thought the dog
should come first. "If you love a dog at all (and the
man who does not love one I don't envy)," he said,
" one of the pleasantest things is to see him well fed,
and one of the least pleasant things is to see him
patiently waiting until you are fed first."
We could tell many good stories of dogs in connec
tion with Rob Roy, but we will let one suffice, given in
his own words :
Behind the banks of the Thames near Greenwich, are wide
plains below the river's level. Into these, millions of tons of slimy
mud dredged from the river and brought by barges are poured by
steam engines, and the half liquid mass flows sluggishly on the plains
till it dries at last into firm soil. In 1876 I was walking by the river
and climbed up the bank and looked on the huge mud basin — vast,
silent, ugly, and deep !
It was far more dangerous, too, than any pool of water, because in
mud you cannot swim, and, once sinking there, your eyes and mouth
and nose are filled with slime : and so there is certain death. After
one look and almost a shudder, I turned away, carefully stepping
on the slippery edge, but a moment after there came a cry from my
boy-companion : * ' Oh, Uncle John, Rob has jumped in ! ' ' Rob '
is my faithful little canoe dog, the fourth dog of the name, which has
been my sole companion in voyages over lakes, rivers, and seas. I
rushed back up the bank and was horrified to see only the nose and
* Graham Wilmot Brooke, who went afterwards to the River Niger as a
C.M.S. Missionary, and died of fever in March 1892.

1876 DEATH OF SIR DUNCAN MACGREGOR 395
eyes of my pet dog, while all the rest of him was covered by the blue-
black slimy mud.
He was motionless, utterly unable to save himself, but his eyes
looked up, faintly pleading for help. My heart beat fast as I
cautiously glided along a slippery plank to save him, and reached to
him with an umbrella, at great peril, too, of certain death to myself,
for no help was near if I fell in. 'Twas useless ! At last I stooped
on the treacherous board (in greater peril still) and dived my hand
and firmly grasped the dog — heavy and clotted with disgusting
slime. The story sounds egotistical as it stands, it was used
as an illustration in a discourse, and the moral was to
show how sinners were saved from " the horrible pit
and the miry clay."
It was a great joy to Mac Gregor to have his grand
old father, Sir Duncan, as a near neighbour and fre
quent visitor. There are many entries in the diary
concerning him :
1876. Jan. 23, Sunday. — Sir Duncan came here. He told me mother
had a Testament in the Kent. Soldier was found to have it when all
saved at Falmouth. Said a Roman Catholic had taken it ' because
it might have luck,' and this same Testament was afterwards in the
hand of the soldier of the 43rd Regiment who had to be shot under
Sir D.'s orders. Sir D. of course visited him in his cell and there
gave him this Testament.
March 16. — Dined with Sir D. (his birthday, 89 years old). He
gave us short address after. He was at twelve commisioned officer
in Mac Gregor regiment of Fencibles. At thirteen changed 55th.
Aug. — Sir D.'s fall and illness at Eastbourne. Found Sir D.
in perfect possession of mental faculties, calm, pleasant, after eight
hours' sleep, reading Times and Lord Albemarle's book with deep
interest. As day went on his arm began ¦ to swing, and hand to

396 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xvii.
clutch, and this with more violence causing some uneasiness and
pain. Dr. Bell visited him and prescribed with judgment. Sir D.
said how merciful in God to send him this warning. Scarcely ill
once for seventy years. Never fully realised death coming. At
same time thankful, realised entirely presence of God, faith in the
blood of Christ, joy in the Holy Ghost, and peace. Also felt
entirely convinced that he ' when absent from the body ' would be
'present with the Lord.' He still read the Times fully and the
Daily News. Strove hard to rise and walk without help, though
staggering from weakness.
March 16, 1879. — My father's birthday, ninety-two years old.
Annie and I dined with him, and R., E., P. and D. During dinner
he was very bright and collected. At prayers I read Psalm xci., after
which Sir D. sitting, prayed. He soon showed great weakness and
rambled in ideas, and in words for a considerable time. He said in
his prayer (always till now so very beautiful, eloquent, powerful and
simple) that he ' felt he could not pray,' could not express what he
wanted, but, ' Thou knowest better than we do what we need. Oh
give us what we need.'
June 8, 1881, Wednesday. — A time never to be forgotten in my
life. On my way to the Bible Society Committee (exceptionally held
on Wednesday) I called as usual to see my loved and honoured
father who was apparently in better health than for the last ten days.
As I came in he said, 'Oh my darling darling first-born,' and
seemed cheerful and peaceful but weak. At the Bible Society two
foreign agents spoke, and I went to the Club and then came out
home. At my own door, dear Annie met me with the awful intelli
gence that my precious father had died peacefully, painlessly, at ten
minutes past one o'clock. The rest of the day was so full of thought,
prayer, work, that I cannot record it.
As years advance sorrows must of necessity increase.
In 1883 his beloved sister Elizabeth passed away,
and in that same year, "our well-beloved father," Sir
Crawford Caffin.

1875 SCIENCE AND THE BOOK 397
It would have been well for Mac Gregor if, when he
settled down into home life, or even when he left the
London School Board, he could have given up at least
two-thirds of his public engagements. But it would
have been impossible, even had he wished to do so.
Standing at the head of so many growing movements,
he was thrust forward by the multitudes behind, and
feeling himself still to be in possession of all his old
physical and mental strength, it was not in his nature
to seek rest while so much good work was at hand to
be done. We cannot tell of a tithe of his labours, but
we select a few samples.
The Open-air Mission still claimed his services,
and in addition, he preached and lectured to large
audiences in many places on the Christian Evidences,
and on Science and the Book. One such lecture was
given at Woolwich, and being badly reported,
he wrote to the editor of one of the papers and asked
to be allowed to state what he really said on that
occasion. Here is a portion of his letter :
After allusions to Art, and to mixed science and pure science, I
said that, besides in these ways of inquiry, the man of science
searches for other knowledge, in four directions: (1) outwards, to
the illimitable space about us; (2) inwards, asking, 'What is this
" Me," " Myself," ? ' (3) forwards, ' What is there to come ? ' (4) back
wards, 'Whence and when did things begin?' Take only the last
— ' Each of us,' I said, ' would like to know whence and how came
I ? ' Various are the answers. Take again only the last of these as
Darwin, Tyndall and Huxley, those splendid thinkers, try to answer.
This is not the time or place to discuss their theories, except from
one point, and upon that I will say a few words. No doubt — as a

398 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xvii.
question of pure science it is quite possible, nay probable, that
mankind was developed from something else — say from a quadruped
on land ; and that that was developed from one in the water, say a
crocodile ! [some one laughed]. No one should laugh at what is
feasible enough ; but no one can stop at this point. The crocodile
must have come from a lower form, say a fish with fins ; and that
from a jelly fish, moving by its own action ; and that from a jelly
fish, fast to a rock ; and that from a jelly (not fish) ; and that from a
substance of millions of atoms, loose in liquid, say like pea-soup.
Go back ages more, and that turbid liquid came from pure liquid ;
that again — going back — from gas ; and that must have been deve
loped from a rare ' something.' Let us call the very farthest you can
fancy by the name ' Ether,' as the origin of all.
Well, let us take breath. Now, while we look at this unimagin
able 'first thing,' let us clearly understand and agree that it must
have possessed the following properties : —
i. — It (the 'something') must have existed from all eternity; for
if anything came before it, then that previous thing is what we
are to look to, and, at any rate, one thing must have existed from all
eternity, else something would have come out of nothing.
2. — We must next believe that our 'Ether' was always and in
every point of space, unless we have reasons why it was ' here ' and
not 'there.'
3. — This wide-spread Ether must have had in it (and that from
all past eternity) the property, energy or elements, or cause for
developing into (successively) gas, liquid, fish, &c. &c, down to the
specimens now in this room, you and me, men with muscle, thought,
and moral sense.
Now, I ask you, if the difficulties of understanding — nay, of even
faintly conceiving— a thing such as described — (and which is the
latest answer from pure science) are not precisely of like kind, and of
the same degree, as the difficulties of conceiving or understanding
the idea of a personal God, in the three attributes of  (1) His exis
tence from all eternity : (2) His existence in every point of space ;
(3) His power of originating man ?
But until these difficulties are removed, or acknowledged to be

1875 SCIENCE AND THE BOOK 399
inherent and necessary, thousands of reflecting people will not look
at Revelation, because they cannot conceive how a God to reveal
can exist, and my one point (now) has been to show that the difficul
ties are inherent in any conception of a first cause.
The difficulties, then, of believing with understanding what some
men of science lately suggest are the same in kind, and, at least, as
great in degree as the difficulties for believing what Revelation from
the first asserts.
Students will go but a little way with science before they are
pulled up by something they cannot fathom. What, then, is that
power which could endure from all eternity, could operate universally,
producing, controlling, evolving, and developing all nature, unless it
was an all-powerful and everlasting God ? The moral is that students
need have no special difficulty in believing a revealed religion, although
their brains are too small to understand the source in its essence.
They must not make their incapacity to understand such matters the
ground for unbelief.
So far as to my assertion at the meeting that ' Science ' does not
in the least reduce the difficulties of belief as to our origin, either in
amount or in kind, by substituting Ether, or a ' thing,' or a principle,
for a living God, the occasion was not one for discussing the
claims of the Book, as a revelation, but perhaps you will allow me to
state some of my convictions on this subject, the result of many
years of reading, thought, and converse with able men of all opinions
and grades of life, and in many lands.
Convinced that a Being made me and governs me, I expect Him
to communicate something about His nature, and something for my
mind and heart. The Bible asserts itself to be such a communica
tion. It is believed to be so by vast numbers of intelligent people ;
and this surely justifies, at least, further inquiry. The Old Testament
is vouched for by Jesus Christ, and His history is in the New Testa
ment. The whole issue seems to turn upon the character of Christ
who is at once the subject of the Book and its voucher.
I acknowledge that, if Christ was a knave or a fool, His testimony
to the Book is worthless ; but, if He was a knave, then a deceiver
has done more, and willingly suffered more, unselfishly, for humanity,

400 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xvii.
than any true man ; or, if he was a fool, then a fool has said and
done wiser things, every day of His life, than all the sages before or
since. The difficulties'! of not believing in His integrity and intelligence
are greater than those of accepting both. No place can be found in
history and among mankind for Christ, that is not speedily seen to
be preposterous — except the position which He himself assumes.
Prince, teacher, healer — each of these titles a designing man could
assume ; but who of the noblest of heroes could say, to enemies and
inmost friends, 'Look at my life and conduct, absolutely without
flaw ? ' Plato would have been laughed at by his disciples had he
done this, and Aristotle would have been rightly called mad.
The Book, in both Testaments, is also unique in all its features
and its fortunes. The text of the older part is vouched in antiquity,
and guarded in genuineness by the jealousy between Jew and
Samaritan ; each for ages past the best watch on the other against
any alteration of the charter of both.
Greek Church, Roman Catholic, and Protestant have, in a similar
way, by their very antagonism wonderfully guarded the New Testa
ment canon ; so that there are more variations now in a single play
of Shakespeare (printed too in his lifetime) than in the MS. of a
Gospel. I accept the ' Book,' then, for careful examination and
test, as containing God's revelation to me ; necessarily subject to the
human defects of language, transmission, and understanding ; for it
is a message to erring men not to perfect seraphs.
Looking around on the hostile critics, I notice the slavish bondage
to each other's opinion among infidels and sceptics of the highest
mental powers — and intimately known to me — while they wave the
banner of ' Free-Thought.' But I remark the universal acknowledg
ment, even among these, that if men really did live up to Christ's
example and doctrine, and the precepts of the Book, every one
would be happier and wiser than under any other code.
I see the joyous change in life of brave soldiers, hardy sailors,
great lawyers and statesmen, the leaders of mankind, who were once
unbelievers but now accept the Book and the Saviour. Also I see
the weary vacant life of the gayest, most successful, political, witty,

l87S SCIENCE AND THE BOOK 401
and sarcastic, when pain or loss, or failure comes, and the present is
unhappy, and the prospect beyond is utter gloom.
These are enough reasons for me to examine, with all diligence
and humility, and to the very best of my ability, the evidences for
the Book within my comprehension. I find its prophecy fulfilled
often before my eyes and in far-off lands. I find its miracles quite a
part of God's regular laws ; as the striking of a clock, at long intervals,
was arranged by its maker, as well as its constant pendulum tick.
Deeper still, I find precious promises made in the Book, each
faithfully kept in my heart when it claims them, and thus, even if I
do doubt His truth sometimes, it is when the bad part of me wishes
me to be still bad. I have tried in vain to conceive what the world
would be, or even London, if the Book were taken away and all its
teaching. Those who disregard it now would find a strange cosmos
of confusion round them then to live in. Their ill-success is their
best protection against such a disaster.
If God were such as I could comprehend, in His essence or in
His ways, He would not be infinite. What he has revealed in His
Son, I can know and understand sufficiently to have Him for a
Saviour ; and what he teaches me by the Spirit, I can learn enough
to know my own feebleness and His power, my own sin and His
mercy, my own short span of life now, and how it can still be
sanctified and prepared for a joyful resurrection to an immortality of
blessedness and glory.
I believe the Book with all my mind, and seek to love its truths
with all my heart.
This letter was re-printed, and a copy was sent to
Professor Tyndall who acknowledged it thus :
Royal Institution of Great Britain,
November 23, 1875.
My Dear Mac Gregor,
I have read your letter through from beginning to end. It is
very able intellectually, and full of spiritual vigour. More I need
not say. Yours ever,
John Tyndall. c c

402 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xvii.
Of his miscellaneous work, his general movements,
and the people he met, the diary furnishes such ample
material that we may select almost at random. Day
by day, year by year, there are entries of attendances
at committees, addresses, public meetings, writing
reports, contributions to the press, starting new
schemes — such as cookery classes, public gymnasiums,
School Board Drill Competitions — or aiding old ones.
Notes from John Mac Gregors Diary.
1877. July 18. — Bible Society Committee Deputation to Chinese
Ambassador. Four members with me. Ambassador with three
attendants and Dr. Macartney. Made us' sit. I was spokesman,
and told of Bible at Coronation and every day in Parliament and in
216 languages. Found, when read and believed, men more' moral
and happy, more ready for death and eternity. Daily issue of Bible
Society, if piled up one on another, higher column than St. Paul's
Cross by one half. The copy we gave was one printed in China for
the Society, but bound in London. He asked us to explain consti
tution of Society. I said it was all over Dominion of Canada, larger
area than U. States of America, all over India, nearly as populous,
with the others, as China itself. He asked interesting questions, and
said he would like to visit the Bible Society House. This is one of
the few very important matters I have engaged in.
Jan. 26.— Dined Burns, 29 Queen's Gate. Twenty there. Sat
next Admiral Sir Houston Stewart and Cameron, African traveller.
Opposite me was Stanley, the other hero of Africa. He recognised
me as last seeing him in 1869 at Suez— a man with calm sensible
air. The American Minister was there, and Lord Kinnaird with his
new title.
April 29. — Capital meeting of Open-air Mission to celebrate our
first quarter of a century. I read my summary of twenty-five years'
work.

1880 COLONISATION OF PALESTINE 403
May 6. — Ragged School Union prizes to children in Exeter Hall,
Lord Shaftesbury presided, and I addressed the children who
crowded the gallery.
Nov. 25, 1878. — Met Laurence Oliphant at Athenaeum. He had
been a third or fourth time with Lord Salisbury at Hatfield concern
ing the scheme for the colonisation of Palestine which we had
anxiously considered. He was to go with Lord W. to Egypt and
would at once proceed in the business. I consider this to be the
beginning of a very important effort.
The story of Laurence Oliphant's scheme for the
colonisation of Palestine is too well known to need
repetition here, but we give a few notes as to
Mac Gregor's intimacy with this strange and wonder
ful man.
1880. May 27-29. — Met L. Oliphant at Athenseum and heard his won
derful tale.
June 15. — Palestine Exploration Fund. Oliphant there, and we
resolved to survey Eastern Palestine.
1882. Feb. 6.— Took Laurence Oliphant to see Besant. Oliphant at the
Athenaeum told me his design for restoration of Jews had been
formed in 1878 in the smoking-room of the Club in conversation
with me in corner opposite. We went to Palestine Exploration
Fund. May 19. — To Lord Mount-Temple by his request to meet Lord
Shaftesbury and Lord Folkestone about Jews for Palestine. We all
agreed it was not now ripe for action.
April 14. — D. of Sutherland invited me and four others to con
sider Jordan Canal' from Haifa to the Hooley Lake and Dead Sea
and out at Akaba. Most curious chapters in Ezekiel and Isaiah
bearing on this. Mr. Mackinnon, a great steamboat man, a valuable
helper. Something will come of this. Remarkable passages as to
Jordan, Zech. xiv., Ezek. 47.

404 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xvii.
The scheme was to construct a navigable channel
between the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Akaba,
which constitutes the north-eastern arm of the Red
Sea. The channel was to pass from Haifa, a point
immediately north of Mount Carmel, through the plain
of Esdraelon to the Jordan, and thence to follow the
course of that river to the Dead Sea. From the Dead
Sea it was to proceed southwards through the Wady
El Araba until it effected a junction with the Red Sea
at Akaba, the ancient Elath, the port where Solomon
is supposed to have kept a fleet.
Neither the colonisation scheme nor the scheme for
a canal ever came to anything, but we insert here one
of many letters written to Mac Gregor by Oliphant
with regard to the former enterprise :
From Laurence Oliphant to John Mac Gregor.
Damascus, April 29.
My Dear Mac Gregor,
You will be interested in hearing how I have been progressing.
I did not delay in Egypt owing to quarantine delays but pushed on
at once for Beyrout, saw Midhat Pasha who told me to go and make
my examinations and come back and report. From information I
received, I determined to strike from Sidon for Banias, and from
there struck south-east, keeping on an average from fifteen to twenty
miles east of the Jordan, and so traversing the whole length of
Jordan, Ajlun, and the Belka. The latter I found to be a perfectly
magnificent tract, thirty miles by twenty. A plateau 3000 feet
above the sea, with well-wooded and watered mountain ranges of
from 4000 to 5000 feet — and not a private proprietor in it. The
whole crown property, and far finer than anything to be found west of
the Jordan. I took neither tents nor dragoman, nor paid a farthing
for Arab escort. Fortunately I had as a companion an Englishman

1882 LETTER FROM LAURENCE OLIPHANT 405
who spoke Arabic and was ready to rough it with the Arabs, and we
went in such an impecunious style that we were not worth robbing.
We crossed by Jericho to Jerusalem, and rode back by Nazareth and
Tyre, the whole lasting over a month and only costing for the two of
us ^40. I have put the whole scheme before Midhat Pasha, who
approves, and is now engaged in so modifying it as to make it accept
able to the Porte. As for guarantees of protection from Arabs and
from Turkish officials, I see plainly that this can easily be provided
for by the colonists themselves. If they are sufficiently numerous, and
are backed by a strong European board of directors, neither Arab
nor Turkish authority will dare to interfere with them. Such Jews
as I have confidentially spoken to, say they will readily emigrate when
they can become landholders in their own country. The whole affair
is very much simplified by my finding so much land en bloc belong
ing to the Government. On the western side so much is already in
private hands that the State lands are too poor and scattered to be
desirable. The tribes of Gad and Reuben certainly had the cream
of the thing, and it is here I would propose to commence now.
Midhat Pasha is placing troops all along the Hadj Road which
would form the eastern boundary, and the best proof that the Arabs
are pretty well cowed lies in the fact that I was able to ride all
through them without being robbed or paying them blackmail. It is
very different now from what it was when you were laid hold of in
the Huleh, as I found when I was over the same ground. I am
going over the scheme with Midhat Pasha, clause by clause, in a few
days, and hope to leave Beyrout for Constantinople on the 12th May.
It is there that I expect my real difficulties will begin, but events
have been so wonderfully ordered for me, so far, that I do not despair.
Please keep all this very quiet as I am afraid of publicly creating
difficulties at Constantinople, and I am keeping my object most
secret here. If we can once get hold of the Belka, it will be the
small end of the wedge and the rest will follow. The entire financial
collapse of the Porte makes the moment favourable 
Yours affectionately,
L. Oliphant.

406 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xvii.
Notes from Mac Gregor s Diary continued.
1879. Feb. 9. — Sent off first article to Waugh for Sunday Magazine
upon Palestine, past, present and future, with some misgiving as to
embarking on so important a work.
Feb. 12. — Lord Elcho's Testimonial Committee. I was made
Chairman. March 7. — Curious letter from an old woman to me, addressed,
' Dr. Mac Gregor Roy. C/o Postmaster-General,' who kindly sent
it to me.
1881. August 1 9. — Dined at Castle Wemyss with Lord Shaftesbury and
Lady Edith Ashley, &c.
August 22-3. — Duke of Edinburgh, Lord S., and large number of
people on Cumberland training-ship to distribute prizes.
1883. June 23. — To Buxton's, where School Board boys and girls were
drilled. A very beautiful sight in lovely weather. Prince of Wales,
Princess and three daughters lunched with us.
July 13. — At Fisheries acting as one of jury for small boats for
seven hours.
May 11.— To Totland Bay.
1884. May 19.-^- In this week had deeply interesting meeting with Tenny
son on his invitation. He was finishing a strange Irish story with
all the odd words and phrases, and I was able to give him help from
knowledge of the Irish-English. Then in a long walk with him and
his niece to the cliffs, and the beacon — full of information, repartee,
and original thought.
May 27, 28, 29, 30. — Tennyson, four long walks with me.
June 1. — Once more to Tennyson's. Seven or eight others and
the dogs.
June 14. — In a pleasant letter from Miss Weld, she told us that
my remonstrance with Lord Tennyson as to the light use of the

1 88s MONUMENTS TO MARTYRS 407
name of the Devil,* had been considered in writing the Irish story,
which he read part of to me at our first meeting, and she said, ' You
will be pleased to hear that my uncle has omitted the word you
took exception to from his Irish poem.'
Feb. 23. — Mr. Moody (and his daughter) gave us the delight and
honour of a visit to our house where we had him for more than two
hours. It was a season not to be forgotten all our lives. His
restless interest in my curiosities was eager and delightful. I shall
never forget Feb. 23.
Dec. 23. — China Inland Mission, a remarkable meeting in the
Rink when I presided. Some noble young Cambridge men who
have volunteered to go out, spoke admirably. Stanley Smith, C. T.
Studd, one the Captain of the Cambridge Cricket Club, and the
other stroke of the Cambridge University Boat Club. The Hall was
full and the Spirit of God was there. The China Inland Mission is
on different lines from any I know. I have always been interested
about China since my visit to the fair at Nijni Novgorod on the
Volga, where there were 25,000 Chinese. And then the six Chinese
officers at the Royal Naval College here.
1885. March 1. — To-day is sixty years since the Kent was lost. I had
Scripture Class at King's Street, Mr. Bacons, and Penifer who was a
boy on the Kent was present. My cousin, David Pringle was there
too — he also was in the Kent.
March 16. — The Royal Naval College Bible Class was begun on
March 15, 1874, and it was stopped on Monday, 16 March, 1885
(eleven years).
So early as 1855 Mac Gregor was strong upon the
question of erecting monuments to martyrs. He wrote
at that date :
* MacGregor believed in a personal devil, and objected strongly to the
name of the devil being used lightly. He was greatly pleased when the clause in
the Lord's Prayer was altered in the Revised Version of the New Testament
to " Deliver us from the Evil One."

408 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xvii.
We had the first of a series of ladies' meetings last night for a
shilling subscription for the Martyrs' Memorial. We are appointing
trustees to collect in America, Canada, India, and Australia, and
money is pouring in in England. This is indeed a noble work and
we had a grand assembly. I told of the 180 martyrs burned in
Smithfield, and that the ground is just free and a pillar to be put up
on the blackened embers of those 'of whom the world was not
worthy,' and read the account of John Rogers, the first martyr — it all
told admirably .... This is a work strictly scriptural, for God
with his very mouth told the Jews thus to commemorate their
examples of faith.
For some years Mac Gregor worked hard in this
cause, and in 1870, he had the satisfaction of noting in
his diary :
March 11, 1870. — Martyrs' Memorial in Smithfield was opened
to-day — an important and striking ceremony. I have longed for this
fulfilment. One day, not long after this, as he was walking alone
on the level sands of an Eastern seaport, a stranger
joined him in his stroll, and conversation turned upon
Bibles and martyrs.
In parting, the stranger said, " Sir, you are a man
that ought to promote a suitable memorial to William
Tyndale ; good-bye." The incident passed into
oblivion for a time, but when, in 1878, public interest
was stirred in the matter, the voice of the stranger
came back to Mac Gregor as a call to action.
To be instrumental in the erection of a statue may
not be considered by some a very important work and
certainly not sufficiently so to call for permanent record
as a notable event in the career of a popular public

1879-84 WILLIAM TYNDALE 409
man, but the story of Tyndale's statue on the Thames
Embankment is, we think, worth telling, more espe
cially as it brings out prominently one feature in the
character of Mac Gregor — his perseverance in the face
of difficulties.
Mac Gregor had said, and heard it said hundreds of
times, that the greatness of England was due, in a very
large degree, to the translation of the Bible into the
common tongue, so that it could be " understanded of
the people," and its precepts taken home to their hearts,
thence to issue in renewed life and vigorous enterprise.
Not only did Tyndale give England and the world
this great boon, but he helped to make the English
language what it is. Mr. Fioude, in his History, says :
"Of the translation itself, though since that time it has
been many times revised and altered, we may say that
it is substantially the Bible with which we are all
familiar. The peculiar genius — if such a word may
be permitted — which breathes through it, the mingled
tenderness and majesty, the Saxon simplicity, the
preternatural grandeur, unequalled, unapproached in
the attempted improvements of modern scholars, all
are here, and bear the impress of the mind of one man
— William Tyndale."
On these and other grounds, Mac Gregor thought
that a memorial to Tyndale would form a common
rallying ground on which all sects of Christians could
meet, and that there was no name which simple
Christians of all churches and schools would more
readily agree to honour.

410 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xvii.
The publication of the Revised Version of the New
Testament gave a strong impetus to the scheme of the
memorial from the fact that the preface called attention
to Tyndale's work as "the true primary version."
There was much in the character of Tyndale that
appealed to the sympathies of Mac Gregor. " Tyndale
achieved the reputation of a scholar, the work of a
benefactor, the glory of a confessor, and the supreme
honour of martyrdom at the early age of thirty-six
He was in the prison which he was only to leave for
the stake, before the date of the English Reformation.
.... He had actually done his great work, the trans
lation of the New Testament, at the age of twenty-six,
and from that age to his martyrdom was fleeing from
city to city, or in prison, and still labouring to perfect
his original work and to add to it a translation of the
Old Testament."
The splendid doggedness in the purpose of Tyndale
won the admiration and was helpful to the character of
Mac Gregor. Tyndale set his hand to one thing, and he
never looked back. He published hardly anything
besides his translation, and as fast as the book was
circulated or destroyed, he published new and im
proved editions — thirty thousand copies altogether in
one year.
Again, Rob Roy was a lover of the Bible apart from
Church dogmatism. He was content to allow it to
speak for itself and to do its own work ; and although
he was clearly of opinion that often it was better that
instruction should go with the Book, he held that it

THE TYNDALE MONUMENT

1879-84 THE BIBLE IN MODERN TIMES 413
was not indispensable there should always be some
one at hand to say what it meant and what it did not
mean. The whole movement was to do honour to the Bible
by honouring the man who made it accessible to the
people, and, reviewing the subject, the Times, in an
admirable article, hit upon a motif which was one of
the incentives to Rob Roy to continue his persistent
labours. " Immensely as the literature of the country
has increased this century, the Bible now occupies a
larger proportionate space in that literature than ever
it did. No book raises so many inquiries or touches
so many interests. The Bible sends the student to
libraries and archives. To the Bible we owe much of
the intense and spreading interest in languages, and in
the originals of customs and of peoples. It directs the
traveller to buried cities, to the tombs of kings, to the
records of States once great, and well-nigh forgotten.
Wherever the battle of opinion is now the liveliest,
wherever the race for discovery is the most eager,
wherever the earth at last reveals her buried history,
it is to add to our knowledge of the sacred story
and to our understanding of the sacred volume. So
far as the people are concerned — that is, so far as
all except a very few learned men are concerned
— all this literature dates from William Tyndale's
translation of the New Testament into our vernacular
tongue." The statue, the work of Mr. J. E. (afterwards Sir
Edgar) Boehm, R.A., represents Tyndale in his

414 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xvii.
doctor's robes, his right hand on an open New Testa
ment resting on a printing-press ; his left grasps his
cloak and holds a manuscript while he is supposed to
be uttering the memorable words, "If God spares my
life, ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth the
plough shall know more of the Scriptures than thou
doest." On each of the two brass entablatures is an
inscription, the first is : " William Tyndale, first trans
lator of the New Testament into English from the
Greek. Born a.d. 1484. Died a martyr at Vilvorde
in Belgium, a.d. 1536. 'Thy word is a lamp to my
feet and a light to my path.' ' The entrance of Thy
word giveth light.' Ps. cxix. 105, 130." And this is
the second, " ' That God has given us Eternal life and
this life is in His Son.' 1 John v. 11. The last words
of William Tyndale were, ' Lord open the King of
England's eyes ! ' and within a year afterwards a
Bible was placed in every parish church by the King's
command." A few incidents in connection with this work may
not be uninteresting. The Tyndale Memorial Com
mittee was formed in 1879, but its operations were
stopped for nearly two years, as a movement was on
foot to do honour to Robert Raikes, the founder of
Sunday Schools, and it would not be seemly for
two sets of philanthropists to be in apparent oppo
sition. The work was again fairly started in 1882, and the
spirit in which Sir Edgar Boehm did his part of it
may be gathered from the following letter :

1879-84 THE TYNDALE MEMORIAL 415
Sir Edgar Boehm to John Mac Gregor.
KlSSINGEN, August 2, 1882.
Dear Mac Gregor,
I came here a short time ago to strengthen myself for
Tyndale and am going to Nuremberg to find a printing-press of the
XV. century to introduce on the statue. If I am not successful
there I shall go and stay at Antwerp, where, in the printers' museum,
there is everything I shall require. It may seem of small impor
tance, this adjunct to the statue, but I should rather leave it but
altogether than not have it perfectly correct 
J. E. Boehm.
Opposition was, of course, raised in some quarters
to so costly a memorial as was proposed, and Mac
Gregor had a good many arguments — if such they
may be called — put before him like this :
" Tyndale died for the name of Jesus. Multitudes
are daily dying without the name of Jesus. Tyndale
longed to give the Gospel to the people, and shall we
erect a bronze statue to a man who gave up his life for
the sake of his Master, who said carry the Gospel to
every creature "- — and so forth.
Happily approval outweighed opposition a thousand
fold. One enthusiastic supporter urged that monu
ments "higher than Nelson's" should be erected in all
parts of the great Protestant city of the world. " Let
Cranmer speak again," he wrote to Mac Gregor, ' And
as for the Pope I refuse him with all his false doc
trines.' Let the noble Hooper speak again, ' Mr.
Mayor, I am not come hither as one forced or com
pelled to die — for it is well known I might have had

416 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xvii.
my life with worldly gain — but I am come to confirm
the truth which I taught here with my blood, willing
to offer and give my life for the truth rather than con
sent to the wicked religion of the Bishop of Rome,
and I trust by God's grace to-morrow to die a faithful
subject to God and a true obedient subject to the
Queen.' Latimer should speak once more and say,
' Be of good comfort Mr. Ridley and play the man ;
we shall this day light such a candle by God's grace
in England as I trust never shall go out." .... and
John Bradford of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, should
again speak his great warning, ' O, England!
England! beware of idolatry, beware of anti-Christ,
take heed that they do not deceive and destroy
thee.' " From John Mac Gregors Diary.
Nov. 26, 1879. — Tyndale Committee. Two nuns called at the
office asking to see, ' Mr. Tyndale ' and were informed ' Mr. Tyndale
was burned 300 years ago for translating the Bible ! '
May 7, 1884. — The day for a grand man to be brought into the
remembrance of millions. All passed off well.
From the Rev. Carr J. Glynn to John Mac Gregor.
8, Sussex Place, Hyde Park,
May 8, 1884.
My dear Mac Gregor,
I am full of thankfulness to God for yesterday's
completion of seven years' anxious work as to W. Tyndale. It is a
noble figure and I do trust that many and many a soul will have first
impressions, or increasingly so, on looking at William Tyndale and
reading the texts. No one can say how important the statue is on
many counts, especially in these days when the Reformation and
Protestantism are so attacked.

1 88s DEATH OF LORD SHAFTESBURY 417
As to yourself it will be a bright and happy reflection for you in all
your future life and William Tyndale will be well remembered by
your dear children, Very truly yours,
Carr J. Glynn.
July 12, 1884. — Last meeting of Tyndale Memorial Committee —
presented last audited account with a balance after all debts of
,£150. Thus God has most graciously allowed me to form and to
continue, and to finish, one of the most blessed and interesting works
I have had to conduct.
The ceremony of unveiling the Tyndale memorial
was performed by Lord Shaftesbury. In the following
year the " Good Earl " passed away to his reward.
On the day of his death the following letter was
written :
Sir Edwin Chadwick to John Mac Gregor.
United Service Club, Pall Mall, S.W.,
Oct. 1, 1885.
Dear Mr. Mac Gregor,
In answer to some inquiries as to our illustrious friend,
my former colleague and supporter in sanitation, I received, with
description of his condition, the following from Lord Ashley : — ' In
spite of pains and discomfort, it is marvellous and beautiful to see
the ineffable peace and faith and trust, which possess his mind and
soul ; a lesson and a picture on how to live, and how to die.' I
apprehend the release to him is near. Knowing your regard for
him I send this notice to you, that it may be considered what steps
may be taken for paying due regard publicly on the occasion, in
which I should be glad to have an opportunity of consulting you, at
any time here, that you might appoint. Yours faithfully,
Edwin Chadwick. d D

418 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xvii.
We have seen from time to time in the course of
this narrative how closely Mac Gregor was associated
in important philanthropic works with the Earl of
Shaftesbury. It could not be otherwise, therefore,
than that the death of so noble a coadjutor should fill
him with the deepest sorrow. He was a man who,
from the morning of his life to its evening, was
incessantly engaged in works of benevolence and
mercy, intended to alleviate the sufferings and elevate
the moral and physical condition of his fellows ; a man
who lived a public life for sixty years almost without
an enemy, who died amid the universal blessings of
the people, and on whose whole career there rested not
the shadow of a single stain.
The memory of such a man, John Mac Gregor felt,
must be perpetuated through all generations not only
in the hearts of the people but by outward and visible
signs, and when a National Memorial was proposed —
to comprise a statue in Westminster Abbey, a drinking
fountain in Shaftesbury Avenue, and a National Con
valescent Home for poor children — Mac Gregor became
the Chairman of the Executive Committee, and devoted
to the work much of the old energy he had displayed
on the Tyndale Memorial.
In March of the same year, 1885, the "Gordon
Memorial Fund for the Benefit of poor Children," was
originated at a united meeting of members of the
Ragged School Union and the Reformatory and
Refuge Union. It was decided to raise a fund for
the benefit of boys and girls in need of temporary help,

1886 CORRESPONDENCE 419
by reason of poverty or their friendless condition, by
sending them to country homes for a visit when in
need of change, or to the seaside or to hospitals in
sickness ; to give outfits for their emigration, to
minister to their safety and comfort, or to help in any
way that might be devised.
MacGregor became one of the treasurers of the
fund, and the labour that it entailed is only known to
members of his own household and to those with whom
he worked in the good cause. But the final shape
taken for the Gordon Memorial he did not live to see.
It was, however, a cause of great thanksgiving to him
that he was able to be present in Westminster Abbey
on the memorable occasion when the fine statue of
his old friend and colleague, Lord Shaftesbury, was
unveiled. It is a fact beyond contradiction that MacGregor
was not a good correspondent. Even his most intimate
friends lament that they have no memorial of him in
the shape of a really good letter. This is not to be
wondered at considering the enormous amount of work
he had in hand, and, in consequence, the mechanical
way in which he had to deal with it when it involved
correspondence. And this habit grew, until his letters
dwindled down from sheets to half-sheets, and from
half-sheets to lines. But those who wrote to him were
generous, and his short note, " Pray tell me what is
being done with regard to so-and-so," would often
bring out a long letter in reply. From a mass of
letters which he treasured, we have selected a few for

420 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xvii.
insertion here, and have endeavoured to choose those
which bring out points in Mac Gregor's character as
well as idiosyncrasies in the writers.
He had appeals for help from many quarters and
for many objects. He took an intense interest in the
work of other workers, and always helped them if
he could. For none did he feel greater sympathy
than the late Miss Whateley, of Cairo, in her splendid
efforts for Egypt. She appealed to him to tell her
how she could best approach the Great City Companies
for help. During the Arabi war she had been the
victim of robbery, her school-house had been turned
into a refuge for the destitute, and needed repairing
and enlarging, the school meantime increasing too
rapidly for the funds. Here is an extract from one of
her letters :
From Miss M. A. Whateley (Cairo) to John Mac Gregor.
In all the dark views we have of this poor country, in all the
mistakes made about it, in all the different opinions about these
mistakes, all Christians, I might say all men of sense (only can a man
of real sense not be a Christian ?), agree that education is the best of
all good. May I remark that of the hundreds of lads trained in my
school not one has been found a rebel ; and that the wonderful way
in which the railways and telegraphs worked on in the midst of the
(Arabi) war may not unfairly be — in part at least — attributed to the
fact that a large proportion of the young men working in these
Departments come from the 'Madress El Inglese.' I dread so
appearing to put the secular part forward too much that I have never
before put this on paper, but possibly it is as well to show that, even
for this world's good, Christian teaching is the best. Don't we
deserve a helping hand from wealthy English companies? 700

1868 LETTER FROM MARTIN TUPPER 421
children being taught to walk the right way as far as can be taught,
and all with civilisation and Scripture instead of fanaticism and the
Koran  Yours sincerely,
M. A. Whateley.
From Martin Tupper to John MacGregor.
Albany House, near Guildford,
March 9, 1868:
Dear Sir, I suppose myself to be beholden to you for sundry Pro
testant Alliance papers ; also I am told that you are the Rob Roy Mac
Gregor of canoe celebrity. Let me thank you — hypothetically — on both
grounds. But the chief errand of this note is to state why I have
not hitherto (and probably shall not still, without cause found) joined
either the Church Association or the Protestant Alliance in these
difficult days. It seems to me I should be getting out of a large
field into a little one — sinking from a national and universal greatness
to a self-imposed partisanship on a small scale. In this Protestant
country and with our constitution of Church and State, I may fairly
assume that by birthright I belong irrevocably to the Church Associa
tion and to the Protestant Alliance ; one would hardly care to join —
as if de novo — the Human Club or the Sane Society. I am, and
have been all my life, a moderate Churchman and a free Protestant,
and I need not join any private companies to prove these.
There ! and I know how you will reply : that the enemy associates
in E.C.U. and Catholic Alliance, &c. &c, and so we must, too.
I don't know that; we have the vantage ground of a Protestant
Crown and a Reformed Church, and need not condescend to lower
platforms. That I am heartily with you and against Rome, Puseyism,
and Colensoism is most true. You read me in the Rock, e.g., and I
send you now (ill-printed and inaccurate) one of my old Directoria,
as another — e.g. next week — a neat new edition will be ready at the
Rock office. Let me hear from you : my daughter will keep your
autograph. Truly yours,
Martin F. Tupper.

422 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xvii.
From Frank Buckland to John Mac Gregor.
4, Old Palace Yard,
Nov. 13, 1869.
Dear Mac Gregor, 1 quite approve of your idea. 'The boys' of 1869
will be ' the men ' of future years, and when we are dead and gone
will represent our nation. It is therefore the duty of those who are
now ' at work ' to pass on some of their experiences to those who will
come after them.
There is so much rascality, ' half truth telling,' nay, positive lying
for self-interested purposes, that the boys ought to be told what I
have found out for myself, ' Experientia does it.' I hope, therefore,
that your paper will succeed. Mind you, I do not think it will pay
unless it be A 1, and then it will have a large circulation.
Do not try to amuse the boys too much. Young English minds
only want to have ' the right road ' pointed out and they will follow
it. I will support your new journal in every way I can.
Yours ever,
F. Buckland.
Bishop of Manchester (Dr. Fraser) to John Mac Gregor.
July 21, 1870.
My dear Sir,
I am much obliged by your letter, which deeply interested
me. Certainly one's prayer for Christianity ought to be like Dido's —
Exoriare aliquis ! But the cumulative evidence of Christianity is a
feature which, while it constitutes its strength in every mind competent
to weigh evidence, constitutes its weakness also before an untrained
and unlettered audience, and I should be sorry to stake the faith of
hearers upon the result of a combat, in which to raise objections is so
much easier than to answer them. At the same time, I feel with you
that the efforts of atheists and secularists are too much ignored by
the Clergy, and that too many of the advocates of Christianity are
intellectually incompetent to deal with its opponents. We want a
more educated, better-grounded, clergy : we want, still more perhaps,

187s LETTER FROM MATTHEW ARNOLD 423
a higher standard of Christian life wherewith to reply to the gainsayers.
I am very ignorant myself of the extent to which secularism and
atheism prevail among the masses. But I do not think they are
deeply or widely lodged in the mind of Lancashire, which, ' au fond,
is too religious to welcome them. But it is time for the Church to
gird on her armour for a real fight, instead of wasting her strength
upon miserable internal controversies. Yours very truly,
J. Manchester
Sir George Grove to John MacGregor.
Lower Sydenham,
Feb. 16, n p.m.
My dear Mac Gregor,
I am immensely grateful to you for your note and for
the corrections which I am sure I shall find most valuable, pray
continue them throughout the book. I see that many of your
remarks concern the colloquial style, of this I have already been
made aware on reading the book myself. I am unable to write
unless I fancy an auditor before me, and I can truly say that I never
wrote a line of this book without having in imagination a boy or a
grown person by my side to whom I was talking. Hence many of
the colloquations. But such scaffolding ought to disappear, and
shall disappear. Please let me have the rest. Such hints are
invaluable, especially when conveyed with such kindness and sym
pathy as animates, and has always animated all our intercourse.
I am just going to bed and shall take your little address there with
me. Yours ever truly,
G. Grove.
From Matthew Arnold to John Mac Gregor.
Athen^um Club,
June 16, 1875.
My dear Mac Gregor,
I make it a rule not to bother the School Board with

424 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xvii.
recommendations, but I am going to break my rule in favour of an
Irishman called O'Conor, whom I have never seen.
He sent me his poems some time ago — he had scraped together
money enough to publish them, though only a working man down at
Deptford. I opened them with a feeling of bore with which one does
open the volumes of poetry that one receives, but I found real gaiety,
tune, and pathos — something that made me think of Burns, but a
Burns infinitely less educated, without the training of Presbyterian
Scotland. I find O'Conor is applying for a place of School Board
visitor in your district. I am sure he would be humane and sympa
thetic and I am told that he has an excellent character for sobriety
and steadiness. I tell you fairly that his letters are often not spelt
correctly and have mistakes in grammar, but he has a real dash of
genius and it is sad to think how often this merely makes a man's
misery for want of any chance for it in his circumstances. That is
why I write to you. Do try and interest Mr. Legge and Mr. Waugh
in the case, if I have succeeded in interesting you.
Ever sincerely yours,
Matthew Arnold.
Rev. Benjamin Waugh to John Mac Gregor.
Haxted Cottage, Edenbridge, Kent,
March 13, 1879.
My dear Mr. Mac Gregor,
You may be interested to read what my good old
father says about you, and your paper of last month. Having
referred to another paper as pleasing him, he continues : But
more so in the paper, 'What we found in Palestine.' There are
few contributors to the Sunday Magazine, whose productions,
whether for young or old, I love to read and think about so much
as those of Mr. Mac Gregor. He throws so much intelligent and
generous sympathy into what he does, and he always honours
the Bible, no doubt because the Book has honoured him. He
gives it a first place in everything. Alike to old things discovered
and new things created, it is the light that lighteth, and to civilised
and barbarian the giver of heaven-born liberty. He is making Pales-

1884 LETTER FROM DR. SAMUEL SMILES 425
tine to live again, pointing out its place in the world, and in its
future history. When ready, and after reading the paper, I was
prompted to pray that the Lord would long spare his life and bless
him with good health and happiness in the exceeding great and
precious promises that he may continue to be a servant of God, and
a blessing to mankind. Yours truly,
Benjamin Waugh.
From Rev. C. H. Spurgeon to John Mac Gregor.
[A Mr. Mac Gregor, a member of Mr. Spurgeon's
church, brought a pair of huge horns from South Africa
as a present to his pastor. Spurgeon wrote a letter of
glowing thanks which was sent by his secretary in
mistake to " Rob Roy " Mac Gregor :]
Nightingale Lane, Balham,
Feb. 25, 1880.
My dear Friend, This is real fun. The letter was not for Rob Roy at
all, but for quite another Mac Gregor altogether. Pray forgive my
Secretary's blunder. It is your own fault for being so famous. He
knows only one Mac Gregor. I should not have thought of your
carrying horns to Blackheath. The right Mac Gregor is a member
of my church and is often in these regions. Yours, and no mistake,
C. H. Spurgeon.
Dr. Samuel Smiles to John Mac Gregor.
8, Pembroke Gardens, Kensington, W.
Dec. 9, 1884.
Dear Sir, I am glad that you found my little book interesting.
Now that I am getting old, it is my recreation and amusement to put
together many of the things I have been searching into ; and it is a

426 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap. xvii.
pleasure to me to know that others find my books pleasant and
interesting. I had already mentioned the subject of Blasco de
Garay's paddlewheel boat in my lives of Bolton and Watt. I was
indebted to Mr. Bergewroth, for his account of the papers at Siman-
cas, when, like you, he found no mention of steam being used. I
had a letter from him on the subject, obtained through Mrs. Bennett,
a cousin of Mr. Gladstone. I also added that 'this statement is
confirmed by the independent examination of J. Mac Gregor, Esq.,
of the Temple, who gives the result in a letter to Bennet Woodcroft,
Esq., inscribed in a note to the "Abridgments of the Specifications
relating to Steam Propulsion." ' I did not, however, know that the
writer of that letter was the famous Rob Roy Mac Gregor. The
late Charles Gilpin told me of a very singular circumstance about
you — of having been placed in the arms of one of his aunts at
Plymouth (I think) after your rescue from the Kent East Indiaman,
one of the burning (?) recitals heard in my boyhood. Like me, you
must be getting pretty well on in years. I think I must have read
all you have written and published and I have also read many of
your speeches on public questions. I am very pleased to hear from
you now, and I will send your letter to my daughter to put among
her collection of autographs. Believe me, Dear Sir,
Yours very faithfully, S. Smiles.
From the Bishop of Exeter to John MacGregor.
Christ Church Vicarage, Hampstead,
Jan. 23, 1885.
Dearest Mac Gregok,
.... Warmest thanks for your congratulations, but
my heart bleeds to leave my flock after thirty years' ministry here.
Breathe a prayer for me and them. It is delightful to hear from you
of all the loving labours in which the Master is using you. He is
worthy for whom you do this.
I have not a photograph of Tyndale's Statue. If you kindly send

1887 LETTER FROM LORD KINNAIRD 427
it, only view it as a pledge that you will come with Mrs. Mac Gregor
and see it in the Deanery Library, Gloucester.
Your ever affectionate Friend,
E. H. Bickersteth.
Rev. J. N. Dalton {tutor to the late Duke of Clarence)
to John Mac Gregor. Trinity College, Cambridge,
Feb. 25, 1880.
Dear Sir, I thank you very much for sending some of the papers
relating to the London Shoeblack Societies. Prince Edward has
read them with great interest. It must be a great satisfaction to
yourself, as the founder of the movement, to see what excellent fruits
it has, under God's blessing, brought forth. That it may continue
so to do is Prince Edward's earnest prayer. Yours very sincerely,
J. N. Dalton.
Lord Kinnaird to John Mac Gregor.
50 South Audley Street, W.,
May 11, 1887.
My dear Mac Gregor,
I felt sure you would be grieved to hear of my father's
death. I gave my mother your message. It is a comfort to us all to
know we have the prayers of many friends. What a difference, thank
God, there is in London work since Lord Shaftesbury, my father, you,
Judge Payne, and others ' put your shoulders to the wheel,' — what
really marvellous progress ! With heartfelt thanks to you for all your
past kindness ever since I can remember, Ever yours affectionarely,
Arthur Kinnaird.

CHAPTER XVIII
1888—1892
BY THE STILL WATERS
Few men could have borne the strain of so active and
hard-working a life as Mac Gregor had led without
succumbing to sickness. But in his case, until he was
sixty-three years of age, he never had any illness,
except in 1849 when he fell a victim to malarial fever
contracted during his first tour in the East. On the
contrary, his health was so uniformly robust and his
spirits so buoyant that when he was verging on sixty an
old friend said of him, "He never grows older, never
relinquishes anything, and is as much a youth as a
man." Nevertheless, he had occasional "warnings" and
sometimes there seems to have been on his mind an
apprehension of evil days in the future. The first
really serious warning was within a few months of his
retirement from the School Board :
Feb. 11, 1877, Sunday. — Soon after the sermon began I felt drowsy
and went off into a slight faint and unconsciousness lasting only a
few seconds, but with clutching of hands and nervous action.

1885 THE GORDON MEMORIAL 429
Walked out of church with Col. Field.* Burton came and pre
scribed rest.f My work last week particularly exhausting.
A very short rest seemed all that was needed and as
we have seen in the previous chapter he was soon in
the full stream of new and old activities. We may
supplement the narrative in that chapter by a few notes
from his diary :
1885. April 12, Sunday. — Visited Arthur MacGregor, \ ill of rheumatic
fever. I had to go in by train. The only other occasion of my
using Sunday thus was when I came back from Holland very wet
from the steamer at 4 a.m. Went to the Athenaeum for luncheon.
Only about ten members there, not one in the smoking-room, and
the billiard-room closed up. A very great difference this from some
Sundays when I had to get lunch there after four or five hours of
open-air preaching thirty years ago.
April 17. — Arthur MacGregor buried in Brompton Cemetery. A
most impressive scene. Persons attended from the Y.M.C.A., the
Open-air Mission, the Ragged School, Shoeblack Society, and the
Polytechnic. Arthur had been active on each of these committees.
Several of the young men going out to China were there. Arthur
himself was preparing to be a missionary.
April 25. — With Williams, Kirk, and Maddison to the Lord
Mayor who received us cordially and acceded to the request to join
the Gordon Memorial Committee.
From that day forth for many months he was every
day at work on " Gordon business," throwing himself
* Now General Sir John Field, K.C.B.
t Mr. John M. Burton, of Lee, the medical attendant and valued friend for
many years of both Sir Duncan Mac Gregor's and Sir Crawford Caffin's.
"families. \ The eldest son of Colonel H. G. Mac Gregor, C.B., John Mac Gregor's
youngest brother.

430 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap, xviii.
into it with the enthusiasm of a youth and as if it were
the only one thing that claimed his attention
1885. Oct. 1. — Lord Shaftesbury died.
Oct. 9. — Was one of the pall-bearers at Lord S.'s funeral.
Oct. 16. — Meeting at Mansion House for memorial to Lord S.
Excellent speeches from Lord Granville and Lord Mount-Temple.
Then for many months occur such entries as this :
" Working hard at Lord S.'s Memorial."
1886. Jan. 16. — Another delightful visit to old Pennifer who was in the
Kent (aged 77), a true Christian sailor.
Feb. 27. — Settled with Boehm that he would erect the marble
statue of Lord S. for the Abbey, and Mr. Gilbert would make the
bronze statue for Shaftesbury Avenue.
April 23. — Wrote to Chamberlain as to Home Rule.
April 30. — Splendid meeting at the Rink on Home Rule. I was
chairman. The politics of Mac Gregor were not very pro
nounced. He was anything but a lover of party and
voted for principles rather than for men. He was de
scribed as a "philanthropic liberal" — the embodied
expression of disinterested patriotism — "a Liberal so
far as he has any party politics at all." When, there
fore, Greenwich, and the regions round about, wished
to express disapprobation on the question of Home
Rule and held a monster meeting at the Rink to that
end, Mac Gregor, as chairman, fitly represented the
principle of non-party unity prevailing in that crisis
between patriotic Liberals and Conservatives " who

1886 AT BLACKHEATH 431
were determined to maintain the union between Great
Britain and Ireland and the integrity of the Empire."
It was Mac Gregor's practice habitually to stand
aloof from political strife. But in the present instance,
he considered that loyalty to his country and old
association with Ireland alike demanded an expression
of opinion.
1886. June 5. — London Scottish R. V. opening large building for the
corps and muster of the corps which has nine hundred men.
July and August were spent at Braemar with his
family ; this he much enj'oyed, and his Rob Roy
Lecture in the Free Church was largely attended by
residents and visitors.
Sept. 6. — Twenty boys playing football without shoes on the sand
(at Portobello, near Edinburgh) with a small hand-ball splendidly. I
asked the name of the club. ' The Bare-Foot Rangers.'
Dec. 29. — To the Seamen's Hospital where I sang Eastern
music. Up to this time there was but little perceptible
difference in Mac Gregor, except that perhaps he
appeared to live more in the past than in the present
and had lost somewhat of his old mental and physical
vigour. Still his interest in everything that worked
for good was keen, and many new schemes were in
his mind. He lent substantial aid in promoting the
erection of a Presbyterian church in Blackheath where
'he and his family worshipped. He was a constant
attendant at the church, and greatly valued the minis-

432 JOHN MACGREGOR chap. xvm.
trations of the Rev. J. Head Thompson, the pastor ;
he still loved to visit the Naval School at Greenwich,
the workhouse, and other local institutions ; and he
enjoyed his visits to London to mingle among his old
associates. Every institution with which he had been
connected seemed to have for him even more than the
old attraction. Schemes for the betterment of young
men came in from all quarters, and wherever he could
help he helped. He greatly sympathised with Canon
Farrar in his attempt to establish a large gymnasium,
with cricket and football clubs, boat clubs, a cadet rifle
corps, singing classes, swimming baths — anything that
would bring London youths together for physical re
creation and in contact with muscular Christian laymen
and clergymen who would enter heartily into the work.
He followed every movement of the Palestine Explo
ration Fund, and was a constant reader of the Jewish
Chronicle, to which in former days he had been a not
infrequent contributor. The Shoeblack Brigade, the
Pure Literature Society, the British and Foreign Bible
Society, of which for many years he had been an
active member, and especially the Open-air Mission
still engaged his time, thought and sympathy. " Mac
Gregor and I often got a Sunday afternoon walk
together," writes his well-beloved friend and brother-
in-law, Major E. Owen Hay — "a much-valued time
to me. One day we were crossing Blackheath and
came upon a preacher standing inside the railings
on the Heath while his audience, a small crowd
were gathered outside the rails. Mac Gregor's only

l8»8 FAILING HEALTH 433
remark to me was : ' Owen, that man is on the wrong
side of the railings.' "
In 1888 it was evident to all that a serious change
was taking place in Mac Gregor, and the diary bears
painful testimony to the fact. From time to time
many days elapse without any entry. Each event
recorded, however, tells of the clinging interest he still
had in his life-work. Thus :
1888. May 6. — Committee meeting of Lord S. (Shaftesbury Memorial)
with Mr. Billing, Williams, and myself. The inscription finally
ordered. But next day I wrote to Williams that it ought to be
improved as it had no relation to God.
Among the last entries is one of touching interest.
To understand it we must go back eighteen months in
the diary to quote the following :
1886. Dec. 23. — John Thompson committed a burglary in this house.
He was well known to me for about a year, and I assisted him at
various times. In the afternoon of the day I gave away dolls, &c,
to the workhouse children, and a delightful duty it was. At
night, when I was in bed after 11 p.m., the police roused us up by
throwing gravel at the windows. Three very brave young men
of the police met the thieves and they searched their pockets. Next
day they were tried at the Greenwich Police Court and remanded.
1887. Jan. 7-10. — I went four times to the Court before our case of the
burglar was brought on, and in the end he was sentenced to a year
and a half in prison with hard labour.
' This man Thompson was one who had been be
friended by Mac Gregor over and over again,, not only
E e

434 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap, xviii.
with monetary help, but by many acts of personal
kindness and sympathy. Surely for such ingratitude
there could be nothing left but the bitterest indignation.
Such, however, was not the spirit of Mac Gregor. He
had prayed too often the prayer : " Forgive us our
trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us,"
to cherish animosity, even against one who had so
treacherously wronged him. And we find on the last
folio of his last diary this short but eloquent sermon
which needs no comment.
July 5, 1888. — The man Thompson released. Came here, and I got
him emigrated by the good man Wheatley.
Only occasionally was the diary now in use, and on
the last two pages are these significant entries, showing
how his heart was in full touch with the past.
Oct. 1. — Went to Westminster Abbey with Annie (Mrs. Mac
Gregor). The occasion was the unveiling of the statue of his
old and well-beloved friend and fellow-labourer for so
many years, Lord Shaftesbury.
1889. June. — The Committee of the Bible Society elected me as one of
their Honorary Governors for life. This I prize much.
June 16, Sunday. — On a very hot day went to some O. A. M.
(open-air missions).
July 17. — Wimbledon. Queen's Prize by a Scotsman.
There the Journals end. A few days later he wrote
to Mr. Walter Besant, then the secretary of the

1 889 THE LAST VOYAGE 435
Palestine Exploration Fund, saying he would be
unable to attend the Committee meeting. To which
Mr. Besant replied :
July 29, 1889.
.... That any ordinary man should be ill is a matter of course,
but that you should be ill is a surprise to anybody. I thought you
were built of iron. I trust, however, that your illness is only
temporary. But it was, alas, an illness from which he never
could recover. Already he was in the doctor's hands,
and in 1889 a sea voyage was recommended. At once
Mac Gregor, with his wife and eldest daughter, Ina,
set forth northwards, intending to go to the North
Cape. But the strong sea air increased the weakness
of the patient, and he was very ill on board. It was
a time of intense anxiety to Mrs. Mac Gregor, and she
had a consultation with three medical men who were
passengers on the boat. They advised landing at
Trondhjeim, the nearest port, and returning home by
the next steamer to Hull. The voyage was accom
plished with great difficulty, and it was the last the
gallant sailor ever took.
'But the end was not yet. Four years of illness,
with gradual loss of strength, lay before him — years
of hoping against hope.
The old home at Blackheath was broken up, and he
removed with his family to Boscombe, near Bourne
mouth. He would not believe that the days of active
• work were over ; he was ready, patiently to follow any
recommendation that might tend to improve his health,

436 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap, xviii.
and he could say, " God will make clear His purpose,
I, at least, can wait in silence."
It is not the province of a biographer to intrude
into that sacred silence. But it is meet that those
who tended him and watched the flickering spark of
mortal life, and the steady ever-brightening light of
Christian faith, should tell the story of the inner life,
that grew while the outward life was perishing, and
the narrative that follows has been given on our
earnest plea.
In the spring of 1890 Mrs. Mac Gregor was very
tired with long watching and nursing, and the doctor
insisted on her leaving home for ten days. During
that time daily bulletins were sent by her eldest
daughter : Boscombe, Bournemouth,
May 7, 1890.
We have just come in from a delightful walk with Pappie. It is a
beautiful evening so we went on the pier. The sea was simply lovely,
and Pappie seemed to enjoy it very much and was quite interested
watching the ships and fishing-smacks. He seems better to-night
than he has been for a long time. He took prayers this morning
and read the Twenty-third Psalm 
We had such a happy evening together last night. I played to
Pappie a little, and before I went to bed read him the evening portion
from 'The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith,' and he said a few
words of prayer. May 9, 1890.
.... Pappie thought it was best not to go out as it was damp
after the rain. He has been wonderfully bright to-day considering
he has been kept indoors. The last two evenings I have been reading
to Pappie Stanley's Lecture; he enjoyed it very much, especially
about the ' pygmies.'

1890 IN THE GLOAMING 437
May 10, 1890.
Pappie told me last night that he had felt better the last three or
four days than he had for a long time. He seems so happy to think
you are having a change and is quite cheerful. May 15, 1890.
.... I read Pappie some of Livingstone's Life from the book
Uncle Robert gave me. He is very bright indeed, and Dr. Scott*
said his general health is excellent.
We make no apology for lifting the veil which hid
him from the public eye to take this glimpse of him in
the seclusion of his home in the days of weakness and
suffering. Surely it is good to see him thus and
to see the ruling passion strong in death ; prayer and
praise, Livingstone's and Stanley's stirring adventures
— ships, sails, and sea — the struggle to keep well and
cheerful in order that his loving wife might have a
brief respite for rest and change — peace and companion
ship in the love of his children.
During these last years Mrs. Mac Gregor and her
eldest daughter were in the habit of noting in their
diaries some of his sayings, and we are privileged to
give a few extracts here :
From Mrs. Mac Gregors Diary.
1891.
Aug. 23. — J. spoke of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. J. said,
' We are allowed to be ready, and we ought to delight to tell others of
Him. When He comes there will be many doing some things very nice,
very good, but they haven't got the real thing, and they will be just
too late. We ought to look to it and to make sure of having the love
of Christ ; unless a man has this he is not happy.'
* Dr. T. B. Scott of Bournemouth, the medical attendant and kind friend
of John Mac Gregor during his last illness.

438 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap, xviii.
Half an hour later he spoke most beautifully upon the nearness.
of the Lord to him; and said, ' I feel him nearer and nearer
to me.'Sept. 6, Sunday evening. — ' We must do our work for the King. It
is most delightful to work fox God  God knows our position. He
is going to do great things. It is delightful to tell of the love of Jesus.
Just to go and tell a poor man or woman of the love of God, and to
help them, and the boys too. Oh ! yes, the sailor boys and the
ragged school children —that's delicious ! ' After this, he gave me a
full account of his method of open-air preaching, and spoke of the
King's Cross days, and his arguments with infidels.
Dec. 29. — J. said, with great earnestness, and with his old deter
mined way of speaking, while sitting by the fire in the drawing-room,
' We ought to be preaching, preaching, we are far too comfortable
here ' ! !
1892. Jan. 10. — ' He never makes mistakes you know, other people do,
but He never.' ' It is nice having you with me my darling, but oh !
soon I shall be with Him, in the glory.'
' Our Lord God is very near us. He is waiting for us. He does
not tell us the exact day, but it is sure.' ' We shall see Him, and
His hands that were nailed for us, and His side pierced.'
' People will run, and call upon the rocks to hide them — but He is
coming and all H is people will come with Him. He says so, and
He will reign for ever and ever, and my delight is that I am getting
nearer and nearer to Him?
March 14. — 'Whether I go, or whether I stay, He is with me, and
He is with you too my darling.' And then he spoke of our dear girls.
March 22. — On returning home from one of Mr. Selwyn's * services,
I told J. about it and Mr. Selwyn's address — he looked at me very
earnestly, and said, '¦Does he bring souls to Christ V 'Yes,' I
replied, 'this is his one desire.' J. added with great vigour, ' Help
him on, help him on.'
In June (only a few weeks before he went Home) he said to me
* Rev. S. A. Selwyn, vicar of St. John's, Boscombe.

J892 HOMEWARD BOUND

439

one day, when we were speaking of the Lord Jesus : 'I see him every
day." From Ina Mac Gregor s Diary.
April 2. — I had been reading the portion of Spurgeon's ' Cheque
book of the Bank of Faith,' and Pappie spoke of our working and
living for God ; and added, ' When at last He shall call us, may we
be ready.'
September. — He was speaking of Christ's coming soon, and then
began to speak of his life, and said, 'I am an old man now,' and
spoke of the opportunities he had missed for God. With the tears in
his eyes he said, ' And you too will have some work to do for God.'
1892. July 15. — 2.15 p.m. He had been unconscious for some hours —
a gleam of consciousness came back at this time, and he smiled so
sweetly on us, and when mother spoke of his going to the Lord he
said quite distinctly, ' I'll go to see Him.'
Early in the evening of the following day, July 16,
the call of the Master came, and John Mac Gregor
passed away to his reward.
A few days later all that was mortal of him was laid
to rest in Bournemouth Cemetery beside the graves of
his old friend Canon Carus and his fellow worker Earl
Cairns, and ere the mourners left the sacred spot they
sang together the touching hymn beginning " The
sands of Time are sinking "-^one of his favourite
hymns in which are the following lines :
I shall sleep sound in Jesus,
Fill'd with his likeness rise
To live and to adore him.
To see him with these eyes.
My kingly King in Zion
My presence doth command
Where glory, glory dwelleth
In Emmanuel's land.

44o JOHN MACGREGOR chap, xviii.
Of testimony to the life and character of John
Mac Greo-or there is more than abundance, and only
one or two extracts from letters innumerable will be
given here.
From Mr. Nathaniel Bridges to Mrs. MacGregor.
I cast my eye back to the year 1 85 1, when I first made his acquain
tance and joined him in his most interesting and successful Shoeblack
Movement of which he was the life and soul. I felt at once I was
in touch with a most uncommon character, calculated to influence
all more or less who came in contact with him. It was the power of
a man who possessed, believed and enjoyed the religion of the Lord
Jesus Christ and was ever anxious to impart the same blessing to
others. His life, his activity for good, even more than his words,
were the sermon which I know influenced the lives of young men
of his own age and who, in the day when the secrets of the hearts
shall be revealed, will rise up and call him blessed. His work
amongst the ragged children, his efforts with the infidel, his sympathy
with all who in whatever way were seeking to hasten the coming
Kingdom, and, in the meantime, to ameliorate mankind and mitigate
the sorrows of human existence, rise up to the memory of those
who knew him while one feels that not the half has been known or
told 
From the Rev. Ernest Cowan to Mrs. Mac Gregor.
.... I can never forget that I held your clasped hands on that
day when you both knelt at the Communion rails of St. John's, Black
heath, and pledged your troth either to other. Neither can I forget
all your dear husband's kindness to me when he was a member of
the congregation and a resident in die parish 
It has indeed been a long and weary illness, but I doubt not
accompanied by many gracious alleviations and the ever soothing
consciousness that you were ministering to one who loved } ou and
who loved you best on earth. Oh, blessed rest for that soul, so

1892 "CAST IN AN UNCOMMON MOULD" 441
human in its sensibilities and yet so different from others — cast in an
uncommon mould and doubtless fashioned for special employment
in the coming Kingdom.
From Lord Bangor to Mrs. MacGregor.
It was not three years ago that I stood on the platform of Exeter
Hall with Lord Aberdeen who called on me to move a resolution,
and when I mentioned the name of dear John Mac Gregor, the whole
meeting rose to their feet and for the moment you could hear nothing
but the deafening applause, testifying to the love and affection they
had for one who, in connection with Lord Shaftesbury, had been the
means of rescuing so many waifs and strays from the purlieus of
London. I well recollect now more than forty years ago, hearing
him preach the Gospel on Sunday morning in one of the streets off
the Strand, when a man came up to him and asked, ' What's the use
of preaching here ? When I want to hear that kind of thing I go to
Church.' He talked much in reply to him, and said, ' When were
you last in Church ? ' The man was dumbfounded and did not reply,
when Mac Gregor said, ' You would not have heard the Gospel
to-day if it had not been preached in this street by me.' The man
seemed quite touched, and was an attentive listener afterwards.
John Mac Gregor showed wonderful tact and earnestness in every
thing he did.
There are many lessons to be learned from the life
of John Mac Gregor. He being dead yet speaketh,
and the main burden of his message is to young
men. He was a firm believer in " enduring hardness," and
had an honest contempt for a life of listlessness. He
despised all short cuts to knowledge, and thought that
* if anything was worth knowing it was worth knowing
thoroughly. He maintained that no life could be kept

442 JOHN MAC GREGOR chap, xviii.
in a healthy state unless the habit were acquired of
forcing oneself every day to do something heartily dis
liked but which it is one's duty to do. The man at
ease, without plan or purpose demanding energy and
zeal ; the listless man who cares for nothing ; the poor
meaningless " butterflies," who flit from so-called plea
sure to so-called pleasure for lack of knowledge as to
what real pleasure is ; the deluded young man who
seeks all his enjoyment in theatres, music-halls, billiards,
and such like — it was to these that John Mac Gregor
spoke some of his most burning words, and for these
that he had a consuming anxiety. Apostle as he
was of muscular Christianity, in all his words and
actions he showed that athleticism was only a good
thing when it " girded up the loins of the mind " for
those moral possibilities and activities which belong
to every useful life. And he carried this theory on to a
higher platform ; a life of spiritual ease, of contentment
in being " a hearer of the word and not a doer," of
gaining good more than of doing good, of preaching,
or "talking" Christ, and not "living" Christ — this he
conceived was the great bane of religious life, and he
contended that the need of the Church was that its
members should be men who would " endure hardness
as good soldiers," and thus become strong, courageous,
invincible Christians.
He believed in pressing everything into the highest
service ; a musical voice, a volunteer's uniform, a canoe
paddle, the power of entertaining, a man's professional
calling, the gift of utterance, the winning manner, the

l892 CHARACTERISTICS 443
art of social ice-breaking, good-fellowship, sympathy —
no matter what the gift might be, he believed that
it came from God, and was ready for His using.
Probably nothing in all his life pained him more
than to see young men with splendid qualifications
squandering them upon selfish indulgences and
meaningless pleasures. He felt that if a tittle of
this wasted power were only utilised in direct effort
to make the world better there would be a social
and religious reformation such as never yet has been
known. Perhaps the most influential part of his own work
was that unpretentious, quiet, helpful aid he gave to
obscure boys in obscure places, and at all times. There
was no applause to be gained, no recognition to be
given ; nobody knew of the work or shared it with
him, it was simply quiet, continuous, self-sacrificing
work, having for its sole reward the opportunity of
saying a word that should bring perchance new hope
and aspiration to a weary life drifting away with the
strong current of evil. Self is unhappily so much the
trade-mark of religious labour ; it is so much the
fashion to put our philanthropic goods in the front
window ; so general to depend for a good name in
the Churches, to find reward in advertisements and
newspaper paragraphs ; so easy to overlook the
naturalness and simplicity of the goodness of Christ ;
that it is pleasant to find a man who loved society,
music, and literature, who was courted, feted, and
sought out, stealing away into courts and alleys

444 JOHN MACGREGOR chap, xviii.
where everything was repulsive, to try and seek and
help and save some poor ignorant, unfriended street-
boy by holding up before him an ideal life. And
in this field of usefulness never was there a greater
need of labourers than now, when evil is daily grow
ing subtler, and the "old paths" are being "im
proved" off the face of the earth.
One who knew Mac Gregor well has given this
testimony :
To some his manner may have appeared a little abrupt and self-
asserting ; it was really a consciousness of power and purpose, which
was not arrogance, and to those who knew him well he would often
make it plain that he was the humble-minded Christian, alive to his
own shortcomings, and ever ready to recognise and appreciate the good
that existed in others. His influence with young men of all classes was
remarkable. His ready sympathy with their difficulties attracted
them, and his own manly character and pursuits won their admira
tion. His aim seemed ever to be to show them that Christianity is
meant to encourage and elevate the best feelings of our nature, by
setting its stamp on every innocent and beautiful recreation, with an
ultimate view to their own best good, and the glory of God. His
canoe and other expeditions were the outcome more of a strong and
aspiring nature than, as has been mistakenly suggested, of a restless
disposition ; and they gave him a large acquaintance with life and
manners, increasing thereby his usefulness in intercourse with
others. He was a believer in the plain Gospel of Christ, in
prayer and in the power of faith. Of religious diffi
culties he had to encounter many — for no man can
study the "evidences" and keep abreast of current
literature without finding them bristling around him ;

l892 CHARACTERISTICS 445
but of doubts he had few. If ever they arose — " these
spectres of the mind " — he faced and laid them by the
single charm, " It is written." Miracles, the stumbling-
block of thousands, were aids to faith with him. Here
is his artless argument :
"Some people feel it difficult to believe that any
miracle has ever occurred, because they say, ' It would
be a breach of the laws of nature ! ' I do not believe
that any breach of the laws of nature has ever
occurred, but that these laws have been always
observed, and that one of the laws He ordained
(though we did not know it — being ignorant) is that
He can do, has done, and will do, whatever is His
will and pleasure at all times, in all places."
The popular cry for social reform never for a
moment drew him away from his conviction that there
was "one thing needful" for each individual — the sal
vation of his own soul — and that this was a far higher
mission than to wash, clothe, and feed the poor, or to
provide education and amusement. At the same time
he did not leave this undone, but took a persistent and
consistent part in gladdening, elevating, and reforming
the lives of the poor — work which he regarded as an
outgrowth of the Christian spirit, but not Christianity
itself. We think that all who have followed the narrative
contained in these pages must have come, with us, to
the conclusion that John Mac Gregor was a man of no
ordinary type, but a unique and remarkable personality,
a brave, honest, and gifted man, who lived a life of

446 JOHN MACGREGOR chap, xviii.
patient well-doing and left the world better than he
found it.
In many lands the interest attaching to his name
and fame still lingers, and, as with his historic name
sake, so with him :
Far and near, through vale and hill
Are faces that attest the same,
And kindle like a fire new-stirred
At sound of Rob Roy's name.

INDEX

Aar, River, 282
Abana, 313, 322, 345
Aberdeen, 5
Aberdeen, Lord, 341 and n, 441
Abydos, 73
Acre, 326
Acropolis, 64
Acts of Uniformity, 196
Adelsberg, grotto at, 253
Aden, 318
Aitcheson, Sir C. , 373
Ajlun, 404
Alexandria, 5, 74
Algeria, 256
America, South, 13
Angus, Rev. J., 375
Antwerp, 220, 415
Arethusa, The, 382
Argonaut Rowing Club, 371
Argyll, Duke of, 55
Aristotle, 400
Art of Mendicancy, The, 377-8
Ashley, Hon. E., 270, 271
Ashley, Lady E., 406
Ashley, Lord, 55, 78, 79, 80 (see
Shaftesbury, Lord)
Ateibeh, Lake, 322, 323
Athenaeum Club, 184, 403
Athens, 64, 65
Attaka, mountains of, 314
Austria, 48
Avignon, 63
Azores, 368
Baalbec, 68
fJaden, 129
Bagster's Critical New Testament,
177

Balearic Isles, 204
Ballantyne, R. M., 387
Band of Hope Review, 126, 147
Bangor, Lord, 37
Barbados, 21, 25
Barcelona, 205, 206
Barry, Prebendary, 375
Bashan, hills of, 324
Basle, 129
Beagle, The, 269, shipmates of 271, 272
Beaumont, Dr., 9
Beibroun, 68
Belfast, 29
Bell, Dr., 396
Belvedere House, Drumcondra, 30,
i4r
Bergen op Zoom, 5
Bertram, J., 344
Besant, Walter, 403, 434, 435
Beyrout, 67, 117, 313, 404, 405
Biarritz, 203
Biblical Museum, 172, 276
Bickersteth, Rev. E. H., 38, 40, 97
" Bill for the Better Care and Re
formation of Juvenile Offenders,"
119
Birch, Dr., 361
" Birmingham Conference," 118, 119
Biscay, Bay of, 1, 9, 10
Bisley, 231
Blackwood, Sir Arthur, 159
Blasco de Garay, 202, 203, 204, 207,
426
Boehm, Sir Edgar, 413, 414, 415,
43°
Bologna, 134
Bordeaux, 203
Boscombe, 435, 438

44§

INDEX

Bournemouth, 435, 437, 439
Boys' Literature, 387
Boys' Own Paper, 387
Boys' Refuge, 172
Bradford, John, 416
Bradlaugh, Charles, 250
Bridges, N, 126, 127, 186
British and Foreign Bible Society,
180, 402, 432
British' Workman, 387
Brock, Rev. W., 168
Brooke, Graham Wilmot, 394
Brooke, Lt.-Col. R. Wilmot, 113
"Broomers," 92
Brougham, Lord, 120
Browning, Robert, 366
Buckland, Frank, 344
Bulwark, The, 172
Bunsen, Chevalier, 184
Burgos, 203
Burning of the Kent, 10
Burns, Cleland, 270, 271
Burns, Sir John, 269, 271, 368
Burton, J. M., 429
Buxton, E. N., 375, 406
Buxton, Sir E., 60, 125
Caffin, Rev. G. B., 370
Caffin, Sir C. , 370, 371, death 3g6, 429^
Cairns, Earl, 439
Cairo, 70, 74, 307, 317
Camberwell, 54
Cambria, The, 2, ig, 20
Cambridge, 36, 37, 38, 39
Cambridge, Duke of, 298
Cameron, Commander, 402
Canada, 213, 402
Canoe-chasing, 296
Canoe Club, 248, 285, 296, 302, 358,
366, 371, 385, 386, 390
Canterbury, 2.7
Carlow, 52
Carlyle, 60, 117
Carmel, Mount, 69, 325, 404
Carrick-a-rede, 34
Carthage, 256
Carus, Canon, 439
Catania, 135
Cavendish, Lord Frederick, 259

Cette, 206
Chamberlain, Rt. Hon. J., 430
Chamounix, 130, 131, 134
Chartists, 48, 49
Chatham, Earl of, 5
Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith,''
" The, 436, 439
Chichester, The, 300, 302, 371, 382, 383
China Inland Mission, 407
Churchill, Lord A., 366
Church of England Young Men's
Society, 171
Clan Mac Gregor, 3
Clarendon, Lord, 103
Clinton, Lord R. , 73
Clyde, Field-Marshal Lord, 232
Cobb, Captain Henry, 1, 10, 12, 14,
17, 20
Collins, Jack, 187
Colquhoun, Capt., 271
" Common Lodging-House " Bills, 184
Commons, House of, 274
Constance, 129, 133
Constantinople, 66, 405
Cook, Captain, 13
Cooking School Committees, 390
Copenhagen, 288
Corduroy, Mr., 55
Corny Regan, 34, 36
Covent Garden, 157
Cowes, 359
Cozens, Mr., 148, 149
Cranmer, 415
Crocodile, The, 305, 315
Cromwell, Canon,' 375
Cronstadt, 220
Crossing-sweepers, 378
Crouch, Mr. William, 20
Crouch, Miss, 24
Culloden, 42
Cumberland, The, 406
Cumming, Dr., 98
Cunard Company, 269
Currie, E. H., 375
Cyprus, 67
Daily News, 396
Damascus, 69, 313, 323, 324, 325
Damietta, 313

INDEX

449

Dannemora Iron Mine, 227
Dead Sea, 404
Dealtry, Archdeacon, 48
Derby, Earl, 19511
Diary, extracts from, 47, 52, 54, 60, 61,
62, 63, 64, 69, 70, 73, 74, 97, 101,
118, 119, 120, 124, 126, 127, 129,
130. 135. !36, 139. 140, 141, 147,
148, 165, 168, 169, 171, 172, 173,
176, 176a, 177, 178, 179, 181, 184,
185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 198, 200,
203, 204, 206 (Spanish notes), 210,
212, 213, 216, 217, 224, 226, 233,
234, 247, 248, 252, 258, 259, 261-263,
268, 273-276, 277, 278, 283, 284, 285,
298, 301, 302, 350, 357, 358, 359,
361, 365-366, 370, 372-373, 386, 391,
392. 393. 395. 396, 4°2, 403, 4°6-
407, 408, 433, 434 (the last entries)
Diary, Ina Mac Gregor's, extracts
from, 439
, Diary, Mrs. Mac Gregor's, extracts
from, 437-438
Dick, Elizabeth, 2, 6 (see Mrs. Mac
Gregor)
Dick, Joanna, 6, 10, n, 17, 19, 23, 24,
25
Dick, Sir William, Bt., 2
Dickens, Charles, 356
Dolphin, The, 383
Dublin, 30
Dublin Shoeblack Society, 178
Ducies, Lord, 275
Eastern chorus, 76
"Eastern music," 75
Ecce Homo, 276
Ecclesiastical Titles Bill, 100
Edinburgh, 24, 25
Edinburgh, Duke of, 276, 297, 406
Egypt. 3°3
Elbe, 289
Elcho shield, 249
Elementary Education Act, 376
Elementary Education Bill, Mr.
? Forster's, 266, 372
Epictetus, 159
Escurial, 204
Esdraelon, 404

Etna, 136, 228, 258
Evangelist, The, 359
Exeter, Bishop of, 38, 39, 40
Fairey, Rev. C. R., 359
Falmouth, 17, 20, 21, 23, 24, 26, 395
Family matters, 4
Farmer, H., 366
Farrar, Canon, 432
Fearon, Colonel, 1, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16,
19, 20
Fearon, Mrs., ig
Fenze, The, 315
Ferrara, 134
Field, General Sir J., 429
Field Lane School, 78, 139
Field, The, 290
Finland, 227
Finnis, Alderman, 91
Floating bottle found, 21
Folkestone, Lord, 403
Fowler, Mr. J. R., 78, 80, 81, 82, on
shoeblack movement, 85 (see Lord
Mayor)
France, 98
Frankfort, 128
Franklin, Lady, 366
Freebooters, 88
Freiburg, 128
Frend, Mr., 65
Friends, Society of, 20, 21
Froude, J. W., 276, 409
Gaiter Club, 269, members of 270
Gallipoli, 66
Garibaldi, 274
Gaza, 70
Geneva, 63
Gennesareth, Lake, 303,333
Genoa, 133, 137
Gibraltar, 74
Gladstone, Mr., 276
" Go out quickly," 154, rgo, igi
Gordon Memorial, 4ig, 429
Gorham case, 46
Gover, H. S., 375
Gozo, 63
" Grammar of Assent," 358
Grant, Lt.-Gen. Sir J. Hope, 232
FF

45°

INDEX

Granville, Lord, 119, 430
Grattan, 50
Gravesend, 6
Great Exhibition of 1851, 78, 124
Greece, 65
Greeley, Horace, 160
Grotto," The, 61
Gurney, Mr., 125M
Haldane, Mr. Alex., 185, 186
Halifax, 29
Hamburg, 220, 288
Handel, 44
Hannibal, 256
Hanover, 220
Hany, 227, 306, 307, 310, 311, 3r2,
313, 316, 317, 318, 319, 320, 322,
324
Harcourt, Mr., 73
Harrington, Rev. C, 383
Havannah, The, 300
Havelock, Sir H., 275
Hay, Major E. Owen, 432
Hay, Major Owen, 271
" Heart of Midlothian," 2
Hedley Vicars, 140, 141, 217
Hesba Stretton, 57s
Hijaneh, Lake, 322, 323, 324
Hindmarsh, 62, T03, 130, 199, 200
History of the Grotto, 61, 62
Hobson, Rev. J P., 164
Holland, 362
Holland, Sir H., 259
Holyoake, George J., 160, 250, 251
Homburg, 128
Home Rule, 430
Hooper, 415
Hope, Admiral Sir J., 270
Horace, 159
Horse Guards, 18, 24, 25
Huleh, Lake, 313, 338
Huss, John, 129
Huxley, Prof., 366, 367, 374, 397
Hythe, 235
Iconoclast, 155
Indefatigable, The, 300
Industrial Schools Act, 1866, 118, 264,
376

Industrial Schools Committee, 380
Ingle, J. B., 375
Inwards, J., 285
Ireland, 48
Irish Church Missions, 177
Irish Protestant Alliance, 178
Irish Stories, 52
Isabel, The, 65
Isles of Greece, 254
Ismailia, 307, 310
Italy, 48
Japan, Bishop of, 40, 98
Jenny Lind, 357
Jericho, 345, 359, 405
Jerusalem, 327, 405
Jesus Lane, 37
Jewish Chronicle, 432
Jordan, 303,313, 345. 4°4
Jordan Valley, 70
Josephus, 159
Juvenal, 189
Kantara, 307, 310, 311
Kedron, 70
Kelvin, Lord (Sir W. Thomson), 270
Kent, The, ±, 6, 9, 13, 14, 17, 20, 21,
23. 25, 37, 142, 186, 187, 212, 395,
407, 426, 430
Kephessia, 64, 65
Khedive of Egypt, 361
Killiecrankie, 41
King's Cross, 158, 160, 161, 162
Kingsley, Charles, 38
Kingston, W. H. G., 387
Kinnaird, Lord. 124, 185, 270, 402
Kinnear, Lord, 270
Kirk, John, 174™
Kirkham, G., 327
Kishon, River, 335
Labouchere, H., 55
Labour Bureau, 179
Lafone, A., 375
Land's End, 10
La Salette, 208
Latimer, Bishop, 157, 416
" Law of Reformatories," 121
Lawrence, Abbott, 176

INDEX

4Si

Lawrence, Lord, 358, 373, 375
Lawyers' Prayer Union, 111, 112, 147,
I7L 374
Lebanon, 68
Lectures— " Voyage Alone," 301;
"Rob Roy on Jordan," 350, 353,
358, 361, 391
Leibnitz, 202
Leisure Hour, 387
Letters from Major D. Mac Gregor to
his father, Mr. John Mac Gregor,
10-18, Bishop of Exeter to Mrs. Mac
Gregor 39, to Bishop of Exeter 40,
to his sister 47, to his father 51 , from
Lord Ashley 79, to his sister 101,
103, to one who was thinking of
joining the Roman Catholic Com
munion 108-110, to his sister ir3-
115, 115-116, from Joseph Sturge
119-120, to a friend 122, 123, to his
sister 124, 128, to the Times 130-
134, to his sister 135, from Albert
Smith 137, from Lord Shaftesbury
139, home 140, from his father
142-143, from Lord Shaftesbury
156, to his sister 158-161, 163-164,
from Rev. J. P. Hobson 164-165,
from Redburn 166, 167, to his
sister 168, from Mr. W. 169, to
Ragged School Magazine 180, to his
sister 180, from Bishop of Oxford,
190-191, from Loftus Otway 203, to
his sister 204, 205, 206, 210, from
Dr. Livingstone 21 1-212, to his sister
218, 225, 227-229, to volunteers
238, from a volunteer's mother
244, from George J. Holyoake 251,
to the Record 253, 254, 255, 256,
257, 258, from a "Beagle" to Mrs.
Mac Gregor 272, to the Times 289,
304. 305, 3°6, 3°7-3x°. 3io. 3H.
312-314, 3r5-3i8, 319-321, 322-
325, from his father to Mr. Evans
327, from Duchess of Sutherland
355, from Charles Dickens 356,
from Sir John Millais 356, written
in Scilly Isles 360, to Sir John
Burns 368, from Professor Tyndall
369, from Rev. J. W. Bardsley

369, from a Westminster School
Boy 388, to his wife 391, to his
daughters 393, to an editor 397-
401, from Laurence Oliphant 404-
405, 408, from Sir Edgar Boehm
415, from Rev. Carr J. Glynn
416, from Sir Edwin Chadwick
417, from Miss M. A. Whateley
420, from Martin F. Tupper 42T,
from Frank Buckland 422, from
Bishop of Manchester 422, from
Sir George Grove 423 , from Matthew
Arnold 424, from Rev. Benjamin
Waugh 424, from C. H. Spurgeon
425, from Samuel Smiles 425, from
the Bishop of Exeter 426, from
Rev. J. N. Dalton 427, from Lord
Kinnaird 427, from Mr. Besant
435, from his daughter to his wife
436, 437. from Mr. N. Bridges to
Mrs. Mac Gregor 440, from Rev. Er
nest Cowan to the same 440, from
Lord Bangor to the same 441
Lennox, Hon. C. H., 271
Lewis, Sir G. Cornwell, 82
"Life and Work of the seventh Earl of
Shaftesbury," 195K
" Life of Bishop Wilberforce," 197, 198
Lincoln, Lord, 73
Little " Rob Roy," 9, 20, 25
Liverpool, 32, 36
Livingstone, Dr., 203, 209, 210, 318,
437
Local Government Act, 376
Loch Earn, 41
Locke, Mr., 172
Lockhart, Col., 271
London, 24, 122, 123, 125, 185, 206,
216, 227, 233, 234, 235, 247, 254, 259,
266, 267, 268, 276, 284, 302, 355, 359,
363, 372, 401, 441
London Bridge, 302
London School Board, 267, 360, 365,
37L 372, 374. 39°. 397
London Scottish, 231, 232, 233, 300,
43i
Lord Mayor (Sir J. Fowler) on Open-
air Mission, 157, 180
Lome, Marquis of, 235)1, 368

452

INDEX

" Loss of The Kent," g
Louise, Princess, 368
Lowe, Rt. Hon. R., 276
Lubeck, 220
Lucerne, 282
Lynedoch, Lord (General Sir T.
Graham), 5
Lyons, 63, 133, 137. 2o6> 2S9
Macaulay, Dr., 235, 387
McGillivray. 344
Mac Gregor, Annie Elizabeth Frances
Ina, eldest daughter of John Mac
Gregor, 392, 435
Mac Gregor, Arthur, nephew of John
Mac Gregor, 429
MacGregor, Douglas Alexander,
brother of John MacGregor, 30,
42, 114, 140, death 141, 142, 143,
210, 392
Mac Gregor, Duncan, brother of John
MacGregor, 30, 114, 212
MacGregor, Elizabeth Joanna Ann,
sister of John MacGregor, 30, 113,
114, 115, 369, death 3g6
Mac Gregor, General Sir George,
cousin of John Mac Gregor, 41
Mac Gregor, Helen Douglas, daughter
of John Mac Gregor, 392
Mac Gregor, Henry Grey, brother of
John Mac Gregor, 30, 1 14, 212,
Colonel 429
Mac Gregor, John, birth 2, rescue from
burning ship 2, family 3, on Lanark
race-course 21, at coronation of Wil
liam IV. 26, Dr. Chalmers 27, first
school 27, happy days at Weedon
28, childish reflections 28, brothers
and sister 30, second shipwreck 31,
speech to prize-winners 32, black
mailed in Ireland 34, joins Uni
versity Bible Class 37, tour with
cousin 41, traces descent 41, only
attempt at poetry 43, writes for
Punch 44, for Mechanics' Magazine
44, his subjects 44, to London to
read for the Bar 45, B.A. 46, begins
diary 49, origin of connection with
Ragged School Union 53, " ateacher

of teachers" 55, on the art of
speaking 57, as story-teller 58, sym
pathy "with children 59, elected
secretary to Grotto 61, starts on first
Eastern tour 62, attack of illness 65.
meets with pirates 65, attacked by
fever 66, visits a dying American
66-67, adventure with crocodiles 70,
attack "of sunstroke 73, returns to
London 74, reading with Chitty
74, employment of shoeblacks dis
cussed 79, Shoeblack Society started
80, May I, 1851, 83, takes thirty
shoeblacks to the Great Exhibition
84, his ambition 91, new schemes
93, appointed Honorary Secretary
Protestant Defence Committee 98,
his attitude against the papal ag
gression 98, an eight months' dis
cussion 105, starts Lawyers' Prayer
Union 111, "a wonderful counsellor
and minister" 113, " special events "
116-117, made M.A., 117, called to
the Bar 117, enlisted in Volunteers
117, joined Preventive and Reform
atory School Committee 118, pre
paration of ' ' Law of Reformatories ''
121, assists at a fire 122, " Mr. Mac
Gregor, Philanthropist, London"
123, on rational amusement, 123,
tries table-turning 125, as reader of
character, 125, his love of London
125, sets out on Irish tour 126,
" pious but not agreeable " 127,
Continental tour 128, ascent of the
Galenstock 129, of Mont Blanc 131,
drinks the Queen's health on
summit of Mont Blanc 133, ascends
Vesuvius 135, and Etna 136, friend
ship with Albert Smith 137, returns
to work 138, prepares a lecture on
his tour 139, where given 139, a
year of national trouble 140, leaves
Dublin 141, tour in Norway 141,
receives news of death of Douglas
141, a sore disappointment 144, ob
jects of his attention 147, as street
controversialist 150, opponents to
his mission 152, counsel to fellow-

INDEX

453

preachers 154, his magnificent cour
age 156, " Rock and the Sand " i5g,
issues a challenge 160, "which is
Macgregor? " 162, his quiet sarcasm
163, meets objections to the Bible
164, the sick infidel 164, his dealings
with Redburn 165-170, enumerates
his work 170, a man of method 173,
his punctuality 174, his love of
athletic exercise 175, his amazing
industry 176, " idle words " 177, "a
literary curiosity " 177, formed Irish
Protestant Alliance 178, formed
Dublin Shoeblack Society 178,
"penny dreadfuls" 181, his many-
sidedness 183, Mrs. Stowe's " Sunny
Memories " 184K, his many friends
186, " a real man " i8g, interview
with Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford
191-197, " predilection for science "
199, " Specifications for Patents,"
" Digest of Patent Laws," " Marine
Propulsion," etc. etc. 199-203, meets
Livingstone 203, tour in Spain 203,
exposes La Salette miracle 208,
illustrates Livingstone's " Travels
and Researches in South Africa "
209, his mother's death 212,
visits United States and Canada
213, "Our Brothers and Cousins"
213, American reminiscences 214-
2ig, " Is this progress ? " 2ig,
another European tour 220, com
parison of Greek and Roman
churches 220, describes tea-drinking
in Russia 221, Russian impressions
222, visits a Swedish iron-mine 227-
229, appointed captain in London
Scottish 233, dissertations on the
Volunteer movement 236-242, a
typical incident 242, forms Volun
teers' Prayer Union 243, self-analy
sis 245, shooting scores 247, sever
ance from Volunteer movement 249,
Wemyss' opinion of 249, his many-
sided activities 250, down the
Danube 253, visits the Isles of
Greece 254, opinion of Greek sol
diers 254, re-visits Malta 255,

experience of . the Mediterranean
255, a unique country 256, London
thirty years ago 260-261, visits
haunts of vice 262-263, dealing with
waifs and strays 267, log of the
Beagle 271 et seq., first appearance
in Committee of House of Com
mons 274, a notable birthplace
275, " a good story " 275, with
Mr. Gladstone 276, meets Delane
276, starts on his famous tour
277, outline of the tour 277-
282, cynosure of a thousand eyes
281, his first canoe book 283, a
"little bit mad," 285, starts on
second tour 285, a "bald outline "
287, exciting incidents 288-289,
opinion of the canoe 294-295, sold
Norway Rob Roy 302, starts for
Egypt and Palestine in the fifth Rob
Roy 302, first paddle in Africa 305 ,
in the desert 307, curious sleeping
quarters 308, a sail by night 309,
on the Suez Canal 309, at Rameses
311, night-fishing 312, the lost
found 3r2, bird versus fish 314, in
the Red Sea 3T5, a "distinguished
traveller " 316, negro dancers 318,
the Wells of Moses 318, on travelling
alone 319, Egyptian reflections 320,
a " gossipy mood" 320, a Christmas
dinner 322, "the first traveller
there" 324, encounter with a croco
dile 325, spiritual aspects of the
tour 327, a possible John Bunyan
329, regard for the Sabbath 331, an
original traveller 333, a traveller's
duty 334, a pleasure to give pleasure
335, his unselfishness 335, charac
teristics as a traveller 335, " hair
breadth 'scapes " 337, adventure
with Arabs 337-338, reasons for
travelling alone 341, to his critics
342, the Kingfisher 343, services to
science 345, return from Jordan tour
346, a gigantic task 349, " comedy
lectures" 353, a welcome guest 355,
among the fisher folk 359, pilchard
fishing 360, opening a mummy 36r,

454

INDEX

Dutch cruise 362, "the roast beef
of Old England " 363, Dutch adven
tures 364, men he met 365, " nobody
has had a happier life ' ' 366, a happy
knack 367, cruise in the Shetlands
367, an "intellectual" feast 367, a
sudden resolve 368, engagement 368,
"preparing for execution" 370,
marriage 371, prayer at School
Board 374, abandons his profession
380, chairman of School Manage
ment Committee 380, " the right
man in the right place" 380, phil
osopher and ferryman 384, a. warn
ing 386, lecture successes 391, birth
of firstborn 392, a letter to his
children 393, fondness for dogs 394,
a dog-story 3g4-395, " Science and
the Book " 397-401, proposed Jor
dan Canal 403-404, his opinion of
Tyndale 410, not a good corres
pondent 4ig, a serious warning 428,
political leanings 430, with family
at Braemar 431, a serious change
433, his dealings with a burglar 433-
434, in the doctor's hands 435, his
last voyage 435, hoping against hope
435, death 43g, testimonies 440-441,
" being dead yet speaketh " 441, his
characteristics 441-446
Mac Gregor, John, grandfather of
John Mac Gregor, 10
MacGregor, Major Duncan, father
of John Mac Gregor, 3, 4, g, 19,
20, 21, 24, Lieut.-Colonel 25, In
spector-General of Constabulary 30,
K.C.B. 50, 51, Sir, 141, 142, 143,
275. 326, 346. 367. 3°9, 37°, 37L
3g5, death 3g6, 429/1
Mac Gregor, Mrs., mother of John
Mac Gregor, 6, 9, 10, 12, 16, 19, 20,
23, 24, 25, 26, death 212
MacGregor, Mrs., wife of John Mac
Gregor, 187, 369-371. 434. 435. 436-7
Mac Gregor, William, brother of John
Mac Gregor, 26, 27, 30, death 143M
McKillop, Capt., R.N., 306
Mackinnon, W., 403
Macleod, Dr. N., 270

McNeile, Dr., 98
Madiai, 102, 105, 147
Madrid, 204
Majorca, 204
Malabar, The, 315
Mannheim, 128
Mansfield Society, 147
Marathon, 64, 65
Marne, River, 282
Marseilles, 259
Marsh, Miss, 141
Martyrs' Memorial, 102, 357, 408
Matapan, Cape, 58, 59
Maule, Fox, 55
Maunsell, Mr., 149
Maurice, Prof. Denison, 55
Maynooth, 98, 102, 106, 173
Mayo, Lord, 315
Mayo, Rev. H., 359
Meagher, Thomas Francis, 50, 52
Mechanics' Magazine, 44, 199, 274
Mee, Very Rev. J., 375
Mendelssohn, 44
Menzaleh, Lake, 306, 308, 320
" Messengers," g2
Messina, 137
Meurthe, River, 282
Midhat Pasha, 404, 405
Milan, 134
Millais, Sir J., 356, 365
Millar, Rev. Canon, 370
Montague, Lord R. 37
Mont Blanc, 130, 131
Mont Cenis, 137
More, Hannah, 25
Morley, Samuel, 374
Morning Advertiser, 173
Morning Herald, ng
Moscow, 221, 224, 225
Moselle, River, 282
Moses Wells, 314. 316, 318
Mount-Temple, Lord, 403, 430
Mudie, C. E., 375
Napier, Sir J., 202
Naples, 135, 137
Napoleon III., 2g, 283, 2g7
National Gallery, 82
National Reformatory Association, 120

INDEX

455

National Rifle Association, 231, 234,
235
Nazareth, 6g, 326
Neja, 324
Nautical Almanac, 164
Newcombe Sand Banks, 24
New Testament, Revised Version of,
410
New York Herald, 317
New York Tribune, 160
Niagara, 215, 228, 258
Niblo's Theatre, 215
Nice, 137
Nijni Novgorod, Great Fair of, 220,
222, 407
Nile, 70, 303
Nimes, 206
Noel, Hon. and Rev. B. W., 46, 48, 124
Norway, Adventures in, 144, 286, 287
O'Brien, William Smith, 50, 52
O'Connell, Daniel, 4g, 50
Og, King of Bashan, 324
Oliphant, Laurence, g3, g4, g5, g6, 126,
147, 149, 158, 160, 270, 275, 358, 403,
404, 405
Open-air mission, 147, 148, 171, 197,
327. 346. 397. 402. 429. 432, 434
Osiris, 361
Otway, Loftus C, 203
Oxford and Cambridge Club, 357
" Our Brothers and Cousins," 213
Owen, Professor, 365
Palermo, 135
Palestine, 107, 303, 403, 406
Palestine Exploration Fund,'276, 327,
357. 390, 403. 432, 435
Palma, 204
Palmerston, Lord, 103, 179
P. and O. Co., 333
Paolo, 137
Papal conspiracy, ior
Papin, 202
Paris, 63, 203, 206, 259
Parker, Theodore, 218
Parkes, Sir H., 365
" Parliamentary Bill" (extracts from),

Parnassus, 254
Paul's Cross, 157
Payne, Judge, 91
Peel, Sir Robert, 30, 83K
Perpignan, 206
Pharpar, 313, 322, 324, 345
Phillips, Sir Faudell, 173, 298
Phylas, 64, 65
Picton, J. A., 375
Pilchard fishing, 360
Plato, 400
Pliny, 159
Pompeii, 135
" Popery in a.u. 1900," 106
Portal, Miss, 103, 268
Port Said, 304, 305
Preventive and Reformatory School
Committee, 119, 147, 172
Prince Consort, 102
Prince Imperial, 301, 306, 366
Prince of Wales, 259 (anecdote of),
'275,298, 301, 314, 366, 406
Princess of Wales, 406
Pringle, David, 16, 407
Protestant Alliance, 101, 102, 103,
106, T47, 171, 421
Protestant Defence Society, 98, 147,
172
Pultney's Home, 146
Punch, 39, 44, 53,83, 90, 116, 274, 309,
37°
Punshon, Morley, 301
Pure Literature Society, 172, 181,
183ft, 432
Queen, The, 365
Radstock, Lord, 218
Rag Fair, 158
Ragged School Shop, 147, 180
Ragged School Union, 44, 53, 55,
147, 172, 267, 402, 418, 429
Ragged School Union Magazine, 55, 180
Raikes, Robert, 414
Rameses, 311, 312
Record, The, 107, 173, 185, 186, 213,
218, 225, 252, 282, 2go, 321, 324,
328
Redburn, 166, 167, i6g, 2og

456

INDEX

Red Sea, 303, 312, 313, 314, 315
Reed, Sir C, 375
Reeves, Sims, 61
Reformatories Act, 118
Reformatory and Refuge Union, 118,
418
Reggio, 137
Regiment, 31st, 1
Regiment, 55th, 3g5
Regiment, 72nd, 4
Resdmsnt, 78th (Ross-shire High
landers), 4
Regiment, g3rd (Sutherland High
landers), 25, 27, 2g
Regnier, General, 5
Reilly, Sir F., 7g
Religion in Board Schools, 375
Reuss, River, 282
Rhine, The, 282
Ridley, 416
Rimbault, Prof., 75
Rob Roy, 89, 297, 305, 330, 334, 337,
34«. 359. 362, 365, 387, 388, 389,
394. 4IQ. 413. 425. 44^
Rob Roy Canoe, 277, 278, 388
" Rob Roy on the Baltic," 290, criti
cisms upon, 2go-293
" Rob Roy on the Jordan,' 301, 303,
336-337 (extract from), 337K, 34i»,
344, 346, 350
Rob Roy, the Second, 283, 285, 286, 288,
the Fifth, 303
¦' Rob Roy Underground," 22g
Rob Roy yawl, 298, 2gg, its cargo
300, 302, 365, 366
Rock, 421
Roden, Lord, 102
Rogers (poet), 60
Rogers, Rev. J., 375
Rosetta, 5
Ross, Col., 271
" Rovings of the Rob Roy," 2go
Rowan, Colonel, 51
Royal Botanical Society, 361
Royal Humane Society, 384, 385
Royal Literary Fund, 361
Royal National Lifeboat Institution,
283, 302, 385
Royal Naval College, 3go, 407

Russell, Dr. W. H., 130, 137, 210
Russell, J. Scott, 202, 204, 207
Russell, Lord W., 274
St. Bernard, 134
St. John's Chapel, 46, 48, 178
St. Paul's, 128, 22g
St. Petersburg, 220, 226, 227
" St. Remigius,'1' 328, 345
Salisbury, Lord, 403
Sandon, Lord, 374
Sandys, 43
Schaffhausen, 129, 282
Schoolboys' Scripture Union, 69
School Management Committee, 380
Scotland, 23, 24, 140
Scott, Sir W., 3, 4
Scripture Readers' Association, 171,
194. 195
Scrutton, J. , 375
Seamen's Home, 367
Sebastopol, 143
Segovia, 204, 207
Selmone, 64
Selwyn, Rev. S. A., 438
Shaftesbury, Lord, 57, gr, 128, 138,
139, 143, 156, i57» I77> I79>r82, 183,
184, 185, 190, 195K, 268, 269, 275,
301, 329, 403, 406, death 417, 418,
419, 427, 430, 433, 434, 441
Shalouf, 313
Shearin, Mr., 55
Shetland Isles, 367
Shipwrecked Mariners' Society, 283
Shoeblack brigade, legalised 82, de
velopment of the movement and
system of working, 84, statistics con
cerning, 85, 86, stories of 87, 172,
37i. 432
Sidon, 69
Sisera, 325
Skin-deep charity, 379
Slavery Committee, 117, 147, 179
Smith, Albert, 125, 130, 131, 134, 137,
138
Smith, Archibald, 277, 278
Smith-Cunningham, Mr. and Mrs.,
28
Smith, Rt. Hon. W. H., 320, 375

INDEX

457

Smithies, T. B., 374, 375, 387
Smyrna, 65
Snape, Mr., 61, 79, 80, 165, 167, 178,
186, 274
Society for Pure Literature, 181-182
Society of Arts, 207, 236, 252, 366,
382
Sodor and Man, Bishop of (Rev. J.
W. Bardsley), 369
South Africa, 542
Southampton, 74
Southsea, 359
Sowerby, Mr., 361
Spain, 105
Spencer, Herbert, 367
Spurgeon, C. H., 301
Stanley, H. M., 317, 318, 345, 402, 436
Staunton, Col., 304, 306
Stephen, Leslie, 366
" Steppers," 93
Stewart, Admiral Sir H., 402
Stewart, Major David, 5
Stockholm, 227, 287
Stowe, Mrs. Beecher, 184
Strassburg, 128
" Stratiotikos," 243
Stuart, Sir John, 5
Sturge, Joseph, 119
Suetonius, 159
Suez Canal, 304, 315
Sunday at Home, 173, 387
Sunday Magazine, 406, 424
Sunday question, 149
Sunday School Institute Committee,
386
Sutherland, Duchess of, 117, 274, 355
Sutherland, Duke of, 298, 301, 361,
4°3
"S.V.P.," 88
Sweden, 227
Swimming, 383, 384, 385
Syracuse, 137
Tablet, The, 107
Tacitus, 159
Tail of the Beagle," " The, 272
Tait, Archbishop, 157, 175, 184
Tanjore, The, 304, 305
Tasmania, 359

Tattersall, Dr. , 33, 36, 37
Taylor, W., 141, 144, 186, 210
Tennyson, Lord, 406
Tent-life, 321
Texel, River, 364
Thalberg, 61
Thames Embankment, 409
Thebes, 70
Thompson, Mr., 12
Thompson, Rev. J. Head, 432
Thorold, Bishop (of Winchester), 375
Thousand Miles in the Rob Roy," " A,
283, 344«
" Three Days in the East," 75, 168
Tiberias, 314, 325, 345
Times, The, 103, 107, 119, 130, 140, 276,
283, 289, 302, 305, 309, 332, 366, 367,
383. 395. 396, 413
Toulon, 137
Tours, 203
Town Mission, 147
Trajan, 159
Trinidad, 202
Tripoli, 68
Trollope, Anthony, 270
True Briton, The, 79, 147, I7g
Tunis, 255, 256
Turin, 137
Turkey, 140
Turner, Rev. Sydney, 118
Turner, Richard, 183
Tuscany, 105
Tuscany, Grand Duke of, 102
Tyndale, William, 408, 4og, 410, 414,
415, 416, 417, 426
Tyndall, 276, 358, 367, 36g, 397, 401
Tyre, 69
United States, 213, 402
Urk Island, 363
Ussher, J., 108, 207
Valence, 63
Valencia, 204
Valladolid, 204, 207,
Vambery, 274, 276
Vaughan, Dr., 357, 366
Venice, 134
Vernon, Mr. , 73
GG

45§

INDEX

Vesuvius, 135, 228
Victoria Rifles, 231
Villiers, Bishop, 156
Virgin Mary, 109
Volunteer Movement, 237-242
Volunteer Service Review, 233K
Volunteers' Prayer Union, 243, 374
" Voyage Alone," 298, described 300,
302
Walcheren Expedition, 5
Wales, Prince of, 259 (anecdote of),
275. 298, 301, 314, 366, 406
Wales, Princess of, 406
Ware, Martin, 54, gi, 126, 141, 186,
275
Warren, Captain, 327
Washington, George, 217
Weedon, 27
Wellington, Duke of, 30, 124
Wemyss Castle, 26g, 36g, 406
Wemyss, Earl of (Lord Elcho), 232,
234. 235. 247, 248, 24g, 276, 2g8, 406
Weser, River, 287

Wesley, 106
West Indies, 25
Westminster, 26
Westminster Abbey, 273, 4ig, 434
Whateley, Miss, 420
White (of Selborne), 344
" White's Ephemeris," 164, 165
Wilberforce, Bishop, igo-ig7
William IV., 26
Wilson, 344, 345
Wimbledon, 231, 234, 235, 242, 247,
434
Winchester, Bishop of, 192
Wiseman, Cardinal, 98
Wood, J. G, 344
Wordsworth, 4
Workmen's Peace Association, 382
" Youthful Offenders' Bill," 120
Zoan, 320
Zug, 282
Zurich, 129, 282
Zuyder Zee, 362

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