David Elginbrod. By: George Macdonald: To The Memory of Lady Noel Byron

David Elginbrod is an 1863 novel by George MacDonald. It is MacDonald’s first realistic novel. A novel of Scottish country life, in the dialect of Aberdeen. A story of humble life, centering in two saintly personalities, a dignified and pious Scottish peasant, and his daughter. A vein of mysticism runs through the story, and mesmerism and electro-biology are introduced. Anne Isabella Noel Byron, 11th Baroness Wentworth and Baroness Byron (née Milbanke; 17 May 1792 - 16 May 1860), nicknamed Annabella, was the wife of poet George Gordon Byron, more commonly known as Lord Byron. A highly educated and strictly religious woman, she seemed an unlikely match for the amoral and agnostic poet, and their marriage soon ended in acrimony. Lady Byron’s reminiscences, published after her death by Harriet Beecher Stowe, revealed her fears about an alleged incest Lord Byron had with his half-sister. The scandal about Lady Byron’s suspicions accelerated Byron’s intentions to leave England and return to the Mediterranean where he had lived in 1810. Their daughter Ada worked as a mathematician with Charles Babbage, precursor of computer science. Lady Byron had felt that an education in mathematics and logic would counteract any possible inherited tendency towards Lord Byron’s insanity and romantic excess. George MacDonald (10 December 1824 - 18 September 1905) was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister. He was a pioneering figure in the field of fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow writer Lewis Carroll. His writings have been cited as a major literary influence by many notable authors including W. H. Auden, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Walter de la Mare, E. Nesbit and Madeleine L’Engle.C. S. Lewis wrote that he regarded MacDonald as his ＂master＂ ＂Picking up a copy of Phantastes one day at a train-station bookstall, I began to read. A few hours later,＂ said Lewis, ＂I knew that I had crossed a great frontier.＂ G. K. Chesterton cited The Princess and the Goblin as a book that had ＂made a difference to my whole existence＂.Elizabeth Yates wrote of Sir Gibbie, ＂It moved me the way books did when, as a child, the great gates of literature began to open and first encounters with noble thoughts and utterances were unspeakably thrilling.＂ Even Mark Twain, who initially disliked MacDonald, became friends with him, and there is some evidence that Twain was influenced by MacDonald. Christian author Oswald Chambers (1874-1917) wrote in Christian Disciplines, vol. 1, (pub. 1934) that ＂it is a striking indication of the trend and shallowness of the modern reading public that George MacDonald’s books have been so neglected＂. In addition to his fairy tales, MacDonald wrote several works on Christian apologetics including several that defended his view of Christian Universalism.