“With all drawbacks of what seem to us imperfect taste, an imperfect standard of character, and an imperfect appreciation of what there is in the world beyond a given circle of interest, the book does what a biography ought to do—­it shows us a remarkable man, and it gives us the means of forming our own judgment about him.  It is not a tame panegyric or a fancy picture.  The main portion of the book consists of Mr. Robertson’s own letters, and his own account of himself, and we are allowed to see him, in a great degree at least, as he really was....  It is the record of a genuine spontaneous character, seeking its way, its duty, its perfection, with much sincerity and elevation of purpose, many anxieties and sorrows, and not, we doubt not, without much of the fruits that come with real self-devotion; a record disclosing a man with great faults and conspicuous blanks in his nature.”

 [THE MORNING POST.]

“Mr. Brooke has done good service in giving to the world so faithful a sketch of so worthy a man.  It would have been a reproach to the Church if this enduring and appropriate memorial had not been erected to one who was so entirely devoted to its service; and the labour of love, for such it evidently was, was committed to no unskilful hands....  Mr. Robertson’s epistolary writings—­gathered in these valuable volumes—­often unstudied, always necessarily from their nature free and unrestrained, but evidencing depth and vigour of thought, clear perception, varied knowledge, sound judgment, earnest piety, are doubtless destined to become as widely known and as largely beneficial as his published Sermons.  It is impossible to peruse them without receiving impressions for good, and being persuaded that they are the offspring of no ordinary mind.”

 [THE MORNING HERALD.]

“Mr. Brooke has done his own work as a biographer with good sense, feeling, and taste....  These volumes are of real value to all thoughtful readers.  For many a year we have had no such picture of a pure and noble and well spent life.”

 [THE ATHENAEUM.]

   “There is something here for all kinds of readers, but the higher
    a man’s mind and the more general his sympathies, the keener will
    be his interest in the ‘Life of Robertson.’”

 [THE NONCONFORMIST.]

“As no English sermons of the century have been so widely read, and as few leaders of religious thought have exerted (especially by works in so much of an unperfected and fragmentary character) so penetrating and powerful an influence on the spiritual tendencies of the times, we can well believe that no biography since Arnold’s will presently be possible to be compared with this, for the interest excited by it in the minds of readers who consciously live in the presence of the invisible and eternal, who feel the pressure of difficult questions and painful experiences, and who seek