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Personal Reminiscences and Biographical Sketches by J. Dodds, With a Brief Memoir by His Wife
Personal Reminiscences and Biographical Sketches by J Dodds With a Brief Memoir by His Wife Author:James Dodds General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1887 Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million book... more »s for free. Excerpt: Dr. Henry Duncan, The Founder of Savings Banks. Much has been written in prose and verse about the simple beauties and comforts of a Scottish manse; and certainly these quiet and often picturesque residences in Scotland may well excite the admiration of all who love to see the beauty of nature blended with the peace of religion. They have been the happy homes of thousands of excellent men, and from them have issued forth many sons and daughters who have adorned society with their worth, or made the world debtor to their genius. Men like Wordsworth and Sir Walter Scott could look on a Scottish manse with a loving eye, and knew how to express the feelings it inspired. I do not quote the whole of Wordsworth's sonnet," On the Sight of a Manse in the South of Scotland," but will merely give the concluding lines -- "The abode Of the good priest, who, faithful through all hours To his high charge, and truly serving God, Has yet a heart and hand for trees and flowers, Enjoys the walks his predecessors trod, Nor covets lineal rights in lands and towers." Of all the Scottish manses I have ever seen orknown, the manse of Euthwell stands pre-eminent in my recollection. Its precincts are not remarkable for natural beauty, for the situation is low, and the soil around is by no means fertile; but the hand of its distinguished occupant, when I knew it, had surrounded it with lovely walks, lawns, and gardens, and turned a naturally barren scene into an earthly paradise. Yet the parish of which it formed the moral and spiritual centre commands from nearly all points pleasant views of the Solway Firth, t...« less