Значение слова MACDONALD в Литературной энциклопедии

GEORGE (1824-1905).-Poet and novelist, _s._ of a farmer, was _b._ at Huntly, Aberdeenshire, and _ed._ at the Univ. of Aberdeen, and at the Independent Coll., Highbury. He became minister of a congregation at Arundel, but after a few years retired, on account partly of theological considerations, partly of a threatened, breakdown of health. He then took to literature, and _pub._ his first book, _Within and Without_ (1856), a dramatic poem, _Poems_ followed in 1857, and _Phantasies, a Faerie Romance_, in 1858. He then turned to fiction, and produced numerous novels, of which _David Elginbrod_ (1862), _Alec Forbes_ (1865), _Robert Falconer_ (1868), _The Marquis of Lossie_ (1877), and _Sir Gibbie_ (1879), are perhaps the best. He also wrote stories for children of great charm and originality, including _The Princess and the Goblin_, _At the Back of the North Wind_, and _Ranald Bannerman's Boyhood_. As a novelist he had considerable narrative and dramatic power, humour, tenderness, a genial view of life and character, tinged with mysticism, and within his limits was a true poet. On retiring from the ministry he attached himself to the Church of England, but frequently preached as a layman, never accepting any remuneration for his sermons.