denominations, but by no means wholly so, which is markedly contemptuous of existing Missions and sceptical of their future. In so far as this opinion represents the absence of Christian conviction, it is not surprising and it is not significant; but in so far as it represents the mind of Christian people, it is both surprising and significant. It is surprising because loss of faith in Christian Missions logically involves loss of faith in Christianity itself; it is, indeed, historically absurd, since all Christians, and none more conspicuously than Europeans, who might seem less likely subjects for the influence of an Oriental faith than the mass of existing nonChristians, are living evidences of the missionary success of the Christian religion. It is significant, we believe, in spite of its unreasonableness, because it reveals a deep and general dissatisfaction with the conduct and results of modern Missions.

The stout volumes which record the life of Thomas Valpy French, Bishop of Lahore, provide, perhaps, the most effectual defence of Christian Missions and the most searching criticism of missionary methods. Mr. Birks has evidently found his task a labor of love. He is a genuine admirer of his subject, and he counts boldly on the equal admiration of his readers. At first we were disposed to resent the copious extracts from correspondence, which did not seem always to deal with very important matters, or throw much light on the bishop's character; and we still think that better justice would have been done to the subject if the ample materials which the author had at his disposal had been more sparingly used, and, perhaps, more effectively arranged. Beyond this general criticism we have nothing adverse to say. Mr. Birks was bold, but not too bold, in counting on the enthusiasm of his readers. It is much to say of a modern biography that it left us, at the conclusion of two bulky volumes, really impressed by the subject, and really grateful to the writer. We cannot readily recall a record of which the interest is so sustained, the moral dignity so great,

and the pathos so deep. We share Mr. Birks's enthusiasm and pardon his diffuseness. The personal charm of this life is very great; but in our judgment its importance is even greater. Alike in what he did, and what he failed to do, French was a pioneer. We believe that the volumes before us will take a position of recognized and permanent value in the literature of Christian Missions.

Thomas Valpy French was born on New Year's Day, 1825. He died at Muscat, in Arabia, on May 14, 1891. Of the sixty-six years of his life, more than forty were devoted to missionary work mostly in India. During that long period he toiled almost unceasingly amid circumstances, always arduous. not rarely of extraordinary difficulty. The intervals of nominal rest in En gland were scarcely less full of work than the years abroad. He was a mar who must have distinguished himself in any sphere of life. Possessed d every advantage of birth, ability physical vigor, strong and lofty chara ter, he might have held a place of great prominence among his contemporarie in less toilsome and, so far as secular estimates reckon, more important walk of life; but almost from his cradle the evangelist's ideal arrested and inspira him. The strong religious surround ings of his early years strengthened and colored his missionary aspirations He gained from Arnold at Rugby a moral strenuousness which proved wholesome tonic to the sentimentality of inherited evangelicalism. Oxford then throbbing with the ardors and an bitions of the Tractarian movement inspired him with that affection for primitive theology and keen interest in Christian history which left so deep a mark on his subsequent life, and exer cised so potent an influence on the development of his thought. His career at Oxford was distinguished. A first class in the Final Classical School, in days when first classes were rare and final schools few. was followed by the chancellor's prize for a Latin essay and a fellowship at University College. It was not unlikely that

French would settle down to a career

in the university; but the death of a college friend in a railway accident, tcoupled with the direct appeal of Fox, the Rugby missionary, determined him to renounce Oxford for India. Fox's death followed speedily on his solemn appeal to French, and "added to its force by making it come to him like a voice from the dead." On April 16, 1850, he was formally "accepted" by the Church Missionary Society, and charged with the foundation of a college at Agra.

The foundation of this college was designed as an attempt to evangelize the higher classes of the native population. The normal method of preach

ing in the bazaars was found by experience to be of little use for any but the general multitude. A real desire for Western knowledge existed among the wealthy and influential Hindoos; and it was thought that, by offering the advantages of a sound education in secular subjects, an opportunity might be found for inculcating the moral and religious teachings of Christianity. Before all things a thorough grasp of the vernacular languages was necessary; and French set to work at this difficult task with indomitable courage and industry. The obstacles in the way of evangelization which arise from ignorance, or merely partial knowledge of the native languages, must be very formidable. French undoubtedly possessed an unusual ability in mastering strange tongues, and his reputation as a linguist is deservedly high. "He was known in his later days as the 'haftzaban Padri,' or seven-tongued clergyman of Lahore." This facility was the result of protracted and unremitting labor; his disgust at finding himself quite powerless to address the natives acted as a constant spur to his industry. The task would have daunted most men, at least as it was presented to French by Mr. Jukes, whom he had consulted.

in the services of the church and in the schools. You had better give some six or eight hours a day to that, and also spend two or three hours at Punjabi, to be able to talk with villagers. You should also try and give two or three hours to the study of Persian, which you will find invaluable in the schools, and all your spare time to Arabic, so as to be able to read the Quran.

It is very evident that French prided himself on his linguistic achievements; he applied himself to the study of languages up to the very end of his life; and his last missionary enterprise was not unconnected with his anxiety to perfect his knowledge of Arabic. Yet it is sufficiently evident that he did not

always succeed in making himself intelligible, even when using a language

in which he considered himself to have acquired facility of expression. In Persia he relates with pious exultation his enjoyment of "the strangely unlooked-for privilege to be allowed in these Persian villages, so hopelessly out of my beat before, to be heard and understood even by some of the poor, as well as by the educated." His zeal obstructed his perception of the true state of affairs, and an editorial note is suggestive:

Yet by the poor the bishop was not always understood. Dr. Bruce relates how one day he heard him trying to explain to his gholam, or servant, the Indian custom of taking on one of the horses in the middle of the night to a stage halfway in advance upon the next day's march. French addressed him in words which may be roughly paraphrased as follows: "Gholam! conduct my steed into the way of truth at-at midnight, and I will make my exodus (departure out of life) to-morrow morning." The poor man gazed at him in blank amaze till Dr. Bruce expained.

The difficulty in French's case arose from his scholarly preference for classical terms, which were largely unintelligible to the common people. This preference led to the practical failure of the revised Hindustani Prayer-book. The strength and weakness of his character are very apparent