SO complex a character as John Brown's is not to be dis missed by merely likening him to the Hebrew prophets or to a Cromwellian Roundhead, though both parallels are not inapt; and the historian's task is made heavier since nearly all characterizations of the man have been at one extreme or another. But there is, after all, no personality so complex that it cannot be tested by accepted ethical standards. To do this sincerely, to pass a deliberate and accurate historical judg ment, to bestow praise and blame without favor or sectional partisanship, has been the author's endeavor.