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Rh Scotland in the latter part of 1882 he was appointed assistant minister to the Rev. John Fraser, of the Free West Church, Brechin, Forfarshire, and was licensed to preach by the Free Presbytery of Edinburgh in 1883. This assistantship, founded in 1877 by a bequest of the late David Duke, Esq., of Esk Park, Brechin, has been held by a succession of able men, beginning with Mr John Rae, author of "Contemporary Socialism," &c., and including the Rev. George Adam Smith, the eloquent expositor of Isaiah, and the late gifted and lamented Rev. E. W. Barbour, of Bonskeid. While at Brechin Mr Davidson was invited by the Rev. Dr Saphir, of London, to become his assistant, and had the offer of an appointment as Professor of English Literature on the staff of one of the Colleges in India, but he decided to continue his work there till, in 1886, he received and accepted a unanimous call to the Free Church of St. Fergus, Aberdeenshire. At Mr Davidson's departure from Brechin, where he had laboured with great acceptance and success for three and a half years, much regret was expressed not only by the members of the Free West Church, but by many friends outside the congregation, who, at a well-attended farewell meeting, cordially united in asking his acceptance of a purse of sovereigns as a mark of the esteem in which he was held during his residence amongst them.

It has already been mentioned that, while prosecuting his college studies in Edinburgh, Mr Davidson devoted a large portion of his spare time to literary work. He was assistant editor of the "Globe Encyclopædia," published in six large volumes (Edinburgh, 1876–79); he was afterwards a member of Messrs W. and E. Chamber's literary