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The Life of William Denny,
Shipbuilder, Dumbarton. By Alexander Balmain Bruce. London: Hodder &
Stoughton. 1889. (pdf)
I read few biographies, and I never expected to write one is Professor
Bruce’s confession. He has managed to write a biography, however, which
is not only readable, but also thoroughly attractive, enjoyable, and
helpful. That that is due in a large measure to his own style and
directness of expression may be taken for granted; but it is due in a
still larger measure, we believe, to his subject. Mr. Denny was
something more than a shipbuilder. He was a man of more than ordinary
culture, of intellectual vigour, and of a large, generous, and
beneficent nature. While devoting himself to his profession with an
energy and intelligence which has made his name famous as a shipbuilder,
he aimed at playing the part of a social reformer in the circle more
immediately around him. And hence Professor Bruce has not merely to
record his deeds as a master workman and his inventions and triumphs in
naval architecture; he has to trace the history of Mr. Denny’s
intellectual and spiritual nature, and to say much in respect to his
efforts, hopes, disappointments, and successes in doing good. All
through, but especially in the second half, readers of the volume will
find much to stimulate them, and much that calls for sober and earnest
thought. Mr. Denny was not inexpert with his pen, and some of the
passages he wrote, and which Professor Bruce has wisely printed, are
among the freshest in the volume. Professor Bruce has evidently written
the biography, unused as he is to this kind of writing, with the warmest
sympathy, but not without discrimination. Here and there he betrays a
desire to improve the occasion, but his thoughts are fresh and never
tedious. |
