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GEORGE MACDONALD (1824-1905)

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 210 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GEORGE See also:MACDONALD (1824-1905)  , Scottish novelist and poet, was See also:born at See also:Huntly, See also:Aberdeenshire . His See also:father, a See also:farmer, was one of the Macdonalds of See also:Glencoe, and a See also:direct descendant of one of the families that suffered in the See also:massacre . See also:Macdonald's youth was passed in his native See also:town, under the immediate See also:influence of the Congregational See also:Church, and in' an See also:atmosphere strongly impregnated with Calvinism . He took his degree at See also:Aberdeen University, and migrated thence to See also:London, studying at Highbury See also:College for the Congregational See also:ministry . In 185o he was appointed pastor of Trinity Congregational Church, See also:Arundel, and, after resigning, his cure there, was engaged in ministerial See also:work in See also:Manchester . His See also:health, however, was unequal to the See also:strain, and after a See also:short sojourn in See also:Algiers he settled in London and adopted the profession of literature .. In 1856 he published his first See also:book, Within and Without, a dramatic poem; following it in 1857 with a See also:volume of Poems, and in 1858 by the delightful " faerie See also:romance " Phantastes . His first conspicuous success was achieved in 1862 with See also:David Elginbrod, the forerunner of a number of popular novels, which include Alec See also:Forbes of Howglen (1865), See also:Annals of a Quiet Neighbourhood (1866), See also:Robert See also:Falconer (1868), See also:Malcolm (1875), The See also:Marquis of Lossie (1877), and Donal See also:Grant (1883) . He was for a See also:time editor of See also:Good Words for the See also:Young, and lectured successfully in See also:America in 1872-1873 . He wrote admirable stories for the young, and published some volumes of sermons . In 1877 he was given a See also:civil See also:list See also:pension . He died on the 18th of See also:September 1905 .

Both as preacher and as lecturer on See also:

literary topics See also:George Macdonald's sincerity and moral See also:enthusiasm exercised See also:great influence upon thoughtful minds . His See also:verse is homely and direct, and marked by religious fervour and simplicity . As. a portrayer of Scottish See also:peasant-See also:life in fiction he was the precursor of a large school, which has benefited by his example, and surpassed its See also:original See also:leader in popularity . The religious See also:tone of his novels is relieved by tolerance and a broad spirit of See also:humour, and the simpler emotions of humble life are sympathetically treated .

End of Article: GEORGE MACDONALD (1824-1905)
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