GLADSTONE AT OXFORD.
After spending six months with private tutors, in October, 1828, he went
up to Christ Church, Oxford, and the following year was nominated to a
studentship. 'As for Gladstone,' writes Sir Francis Doyle, 'in the
earlier part of his undergraduateship he read steadily, and did not exert
himself to shine as a speaker; in point of fact, he did not attempt to
distinguish himself in the Debating Society till he had pretty well made
sure of his distinction in the Schools. I used often to walk with him in
the afternoon, but I never recollect riding or boating in his company,
and I believe that he was seldom diverted from his normal constitutional
between two and five along one of the Oxford roads. The most adventurous
thing I ever did at Oxford in Mr. Gladstone's company, if it really were
as adventurous as I find he still asserts it to have been, was when I
allowed myself to be taken to Dissenting chapels. We were rewarded by
hearing Dr. Chalmers preach on two occasions, and Rowland Hill at another
time.'
Gladstone seems to have delighted in these escapades. His mother was an
occasional attendant on the ministrations of the celebrated Dissenting
preacher Dr. Raffles, of Liverpool, and possibly might have taken the
future Premier with her. His attendance at church was very regular. 'He
used rather to mount guard over my religious observances,' writes Sir
Francis Doyle, 'and habitually marched me off after luncheon to the
University sermon at two o'clock. Now, I have not the gift of snoring
comfortably under a dull preacher; instead of a narcotic he acts on my
nerves as an irritant, but with Mr. Gladstone the case was different.
One afternoon I looked up, and discovered, not without a glow of triumph,
that although the reverend gentleman above me had not yet arrived at his
"Thirdly," my Mentor was sleeping the sleep of the just. "Hullo!" said I
to myself, "no more two-o'clock sermons for me." Accordingly, on the
very next occasion when he came to carry me off, my answer was ready:
"No, thank you, not to-day. I can sleep just as well in my arm-chair as
at St. Mary's." The great man was discomfited, and retired, shaking his
head, but he acknowledged his defeat by troubling me no more in that
matter.'
Cardinal Manning had been the principal leader in the Oxford Debating
Society till Mr. Gladstone appeared upon the scene. At once he and
Gaskell became the leading Christ Church orators, and the great
oratorical event of the time was Mr. Gladstone's speech against the first
Reform Bill. 'Most of the speakers,' writes Sir Francis Doyle, who was
present on the occasion, 'rose more or less above their ordinary level,
but when Mr. Gladstone sat down we all of us felt that an epoch in our
lives had arrived. It was certainly the finest speech of his that I ever
heard. The effect produced by that great speech led to his being
returned to Parliament as M.P. for Newark by the Tory Duke of Newcastle,
who is remembered for his question, "May I not do what I like with my
own?"'
To return to Mr. Gladstone's career at the University. In 1831 he took a
double first-class, and would easily have attained a Fellowship in any
college where Fellowships depended upon a competitive examination. He
held with Scott, the foremost scholar of the day, the second place in the
Ireland for 1829. In that year a deputation from the Union of Cambridge
went to Oxford to take part in a debate on the respective merits of Byron
and Shelley. One of the Cambridge party was Monckton Milnes, afterwards
Lord Houghton. He writes: 'The man that took me most was the youngest
Gladstone, of Liverpool--I am sure a very superior person.' On all he
seems to have exercised a beneficial influence. He deprecated the
example of the gentlemen commoners, and did much to check the pernicious
habit prevalent at that time in the University, of over-indulgence in
wine. His tutor was the Rev. Robert Briscoe. He also attended the
lectures of the Rev. Dr. Benton on divinity and Dr. Pusey on Hebrew. He
read classics privately with a tutor of the Bishop of St. Andrews. In
1830 he was at Cuddesdon Vicarage with a small reading-party, where he
seems to have mastered Hooker's 'Ecclesiastical Polity.' He founded and
presided over an essay society called after his name, of which he was
successively secretary and president. In his maiden speech at the Union
in 1830 he defended Catholic emancipation; declared the Duke of
Wellington's Government unworthy of the confidence of the nation; opposed
the removal of Jewish disabilities; and argued for the gradual
emancipation of slavery rather than immediate abolition.
It is evident that all the time of his University career Mr. Gladstone
had a profoundly religious bias, and at one time seems to have
contemplated taking Holy Orders. Bishop Wordsworth declared that no man
of his standing read the Bible more or knew it better. One of his
fellow-students writes: 'Poor Gladstone mixed himself up with the St.
Mary Hall and Oriel set, who are really for the most part only fit to
live with maiden aunts and keep tame rabbits.' At this time Mr.
Gladstone's High Churchmanship does not seem to have been so pronounced
as it afterwards became. He was a disciple of Canning, and rejoiced at
Catholic emancipation. 'When in Scotland, staying at his father's house
in Kincardineshire, he attended the Presbyterian Kirk zealously and
contentedly, and took me with him,' writes Sir Francis Doyle, 'to what
they call the "fencing of the tables," an operation lasting five or six
hours.'
One of Gladstone's college acquaintances was Martin Tupper, whose
'Proverbial Philosophy' had a sale out of all proportion to its merits,
in 1864. He wrote--
'Orator, statesman, scholar, and sage,
The Crichton-more, the Gladstone of his age.'
'My first acquaintance with Gladstone,' Martin Tupper writes, 'was a
memorable event. It was at that time not so common a thing for
undergraduates to go to the Communion at Christ Church Cathedral, that
holy celebration being supposed to be for the particular benefit of Deans
and Canons and Masters of Arts; so when two undergraduates went out of
the chancel together after Communion, which they had both attended, it is
small wonder that they addressed each other genially, in defiance of
Oxford etiquette, nor that a friendship so well begun has continued to
this hour.' He testifies how Gladstone was the foremost
man--warm-hearted, earnest, hard working, and religious, and had a
following even in his teens.
The following anecdote is amusing. Tupper writes: 'I had the honour at
Christ Church of being prize-taker of Dr. Benton's theological essay,
"The Reconciliation of Matthew and John," when Gladstone, who had also
contested it, stood second, and when Dr. Benton had me before him to give
me the twenty-five pounds' worth of books, he requested me to allow Mr.
Gladstone to have five pounds' worth, as he was so good a second.' Alas!
Mr. Tupper in after-life was led to think that the man to whom at one
time he looked up, had deviated from the proper path. In his 'Three
Hundred Sonnets,' he kindly undertook, in the reference to Gladstone, to
warn the public to
'Beware of mere delusive eloquence.'
And again he wrote of a
'Glozing tongue whom none can trust.'
Still, it is well to quote in this connection how Tupper considered
Gladstone the central figure at Oxford University. He writes: 'Fifty
years ago Briscoe's Aristotle class at Christ Church was comprised almost
wholly of men who have since become celebrated, some in a remarkable
degree; and as we believe that so many names afterwards attaining to
great distinction have rarely been associated at one lecture board,
either at Oxford or elsewhere, it may be allowed to one who counts
himself the least and lowest of the company to pen this brief note of
those old Aristotelians. In this class was Gladstone, ever from youth up
the beloved and admired of many personal intimates.'
Miss Clough's character of Gladstone, solely from his handwriting, is
thus recorded by Lord Houghton: 'A well-judging person; a good classic;
considerate; apt to mistrust himself; undecided; if to choose a
profession, would prefer the Church; has much application; a good
reasoner; very affectionate and tender in his domestic relations; has a
good deal of pride and determination, or rather obstinacy; is very fond
of society, particularly ladies'; is neat, and fond of reading.'
Bishop Wordsworth writes: 'My cousin William Wordsworth, then living at
Eton, was dining at Liverpool at the house of a great Liverpool merchant
just after Gladstone had taken his degree. Amongst the company were
Wordsworth, the poet, and Mr. John Gladstone, the father of the future
Premier. After dinner, the poet congratulated the father on the success
of his distinguished son. "Yes, sir," replied the father, "I thank you.
My son has greatly distinguished himself at the University, and I trust
he will continue to do so when he enters public life, for there is no
doubt that he is a man of great ability, but he has no stability."'
Sir Francis Doyle describes a visit he paid to Gladstone at his father's
house. 'Whilst there,' he writes, 'I was very much struck with the
remarkable acuteness and great natural powers of Mr. Gladstone the
father. Under his influence, apparently, nothing was taken for granted
between the father and his sons. A succession of arguments on great
topics and small topics alike--arguments conducted with perfect good
humour, but also with the most implacable logic--formed the staple of the
family conversations. Hence, it was easy to see from what foundations
Mr. Gladstone's skill as a debater was built up.' Further illustrative
traits are supplied. For instance, one of the amusements of the place
was shooting with bows and arrows. The arrows were lost in the long
grass; Sir Francis would have left them to chance and time. Not so Mr.
Gladstone. He insisted on their being all found. Again, on a trip to
Dunottar Castle, Mr. Gladstone was riding a skittish chestnut mare, who
would not let him open a gate in front of him. 'My cob,' Sir Francis
writes, 'was perfectly docile, and quiet as a sheep. I naturally said,
"Let me do that for you." But no; his antagonist had to be tamed, but it
took forty minutes to do so, and then the horsemen proceeded on their
way.' It is said that Mr. Rarey, the horse-tamer, subsequently had a
high opinion of Mr. Gladstone's skill as an equestrian.