ANECDOTAL AND CHARACTERISTIC.
No one has been the subject of so much small talk as Mr. Gladstone. He
has been a fortune to the men who think it creditable to write gossip and
twaddle for newspapers in London or the provinces. In 1881 all England
was interested, or supposed to be so, in the tale of his hat. A writer
says: 'The House of Commons has not had such a laugh for years as it had
to-day over Mr. Gladstone and his hat. Mr. Gladstone is singular among
members in never bringing a hat into the assembly. He would not wear it
when his head was broken, but preferred a skull-cap. But it is the rule
that after a division is called nobody shall address the Speaker
standing, or with his head uncovered. To-day Mr. Gladstone wished to say
something after the division-bell had rung, but no sooner did he open his
mouth than the whole House yelled for him to observe the law. He sought
for a hat, but could find none, the House still roaring at him. At
length one of his colleagues got hold of Sir Farrer Herschell's hat and
put it on him. Now, Sir Farrer is a small man among small men, and he
has a small head for a small man. Mr. Gladstone, if not exactly a giant,
has the head of one. Imagine him, then, with Sir Farrer's hat upon his
head. A mountain crowned by a molehill could not have looked more
ridiculous. The House laughed and roared at Mr. Gladstone, and Mr.
Gladstone laughed at himself. Everybody voted this the sublimest
spectacle of the session.' Alas! Mr. Gladstone too often lent himself in
Parliament to being exhibited. To draw Gladstone was at one time a
favourite sport among the young men of the Opposition. Nothing was
easier. You had only to get up and misquote Mr. Gladstone, and the fiery
old man was on his legs in an instant.
In the _English Illustrated Magazine_ Mr. W. R. Lucy in 1892 gave an
interesting analysis of Mr. Gladstone intellectually. He writes: 'In
addition to a phenomenal physical constitution, Nature has been lavish to
Mr. Gladstone in other ways. Education, association, and instinct early
led him into the political arena, where he immediately made his mark.
But there are half a dozen professions he might have embarked upon with
equal certainty of success. Had he followed the line which one of his
brothers took, he would have become a prince among the merchants of
Liverpool. Had he taken to the legal profession, he would have filled
the courts of law with his fame. Had he entered the Church, the highest
honours would have been within his grasp. If the stage had allured him,
the world would have been richer by another great actor--an opportunity,
some of his critics say, not altogether lost under existing
circumstances. With the personal gifts of a mobile countenance, a voice
sonorous and flexible, and a fine presence, Mr. Gladstone possesses
dramatic instincts frequently brought into play in House of Commons
debates or in his platform speeches. In both his tendency is rather
towards comedy than tragedy. It is the fashion to deny him a sense of
humour, a judgment that could only be passed by a superficial observer.
In private conversation his marvellous memory gives forth from its
apparently illimitable stores an appropriate and frequently humorous idea
of the current topic. If his fame had not been established on a loftier
line, he would have been known as one of the most delightful
conversationalists of the day.'
The Rev. Dr. Robertson, of Venice, having sent Mr. Gladstone a copy of
his second edition of 'Fra Paolo Sarpi,' in returning thanks from
Hawarden, Mr. Gladstone writes: 'I have a strong sympathy with men of his
way of thinking. It pleases me particularly to be reminded of Gibbon's
weighty eulogy upon his history. Ever since I read it--I think over
forty years ago--I have borne to it my feeble testimony by declaring that
it comes nearer to Thucydides than any historical work I have ever read.
It pleases me much to learn that a Sarpi literature has appeared lately
at Venice. If you were so good as to send the titles of any of the works
or all works on the subject, I would order them; and I should be further
glad if you would at any time thereafter come and see them in a library
with hostel attached, which I am engaged in founding here.'
One of the London clubs to which Mr. Gladstone belonged was that known as
Grillions, where it was the custom when a member dined there alone to
record the event in verse. In 1882 Mr. Gladstone dined at the club
alone, and, having written as chairman in the club-book 'one bottle of
champagne,' added the following:
'The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a heaven of hell--a hell of heaven.'
To which Lord Houghton, as poet-laureate of the club, added some verses,
commencing:
'Trace we the workings of that wondrous brain,
Warmed by a bottle of our dry champagne.'
In 1891 the _Literary World_ wrote: 'There have been comments made lately
by different writers depreciating Mr. Gladstone's literary judgments.
Whatever else may be said for them, it is certain, we think, that they
are not hastily formed, for in his reading, as in all else, he is
strictly methodical.' This point is well made by a contributor to the
_Young Man_, in a long and interesting article. 'Mr. Gladstone,' he
says, 'cannot read hastily, nor has he ever acquired the fine art of
skipping. But he is not slow to discover whether the book is worth
reading, and if not, after a few pages it is cast on one side, though, as
a general rule, his judgment is lenient.' In the 'Autobiography of Sir
Henry Taylor' this is further illustrated. Mr. Gladstone on one occasion
asked him what he thought of two or three volumes of poetry recently
published. They were presentation copies sent him by obscure poets, who,
if possessed of a grain or two of common-sense, could have had but little
expectation that their volumes would be opened by Mr. Gladstone, even if
they should pass beyond the sifting hands of his secretaries. 'He
seemed, however, to be prepared to discuss their merits, had not my
entire ignorance,' writes Sir Henry, 'stopped the way.'
Another characteristic is mentioned by Sir Henry on the authority of Mrs.
Gladstone--the power he possessed of turning from what was arduous and
anxious, and becoming at once intensely occupied with what was neither,
and she regarded this as having something of a saving virtue. But she
added, nevertheless, it was a frightful life.
'Gladstone's method of impartiality is,' wrote Lord Houghton, 'to be
furiously earnest on both sides of a question.' Again, we have another
characteristic from Lord Houghton--Gladstone saying 'he felt strongly
that the statesman was becoming every day more and more the delegate of
the people and less the leader.'
Another characteristic incident is recorded by Mr. Richard Redgrave: 'Mr.
Lowe said that a few days before, dining with Mr. Gladstone, a lady being
seated between them, Mr. Gladstone across said to Mr. Lowe: "I cannot
think why they called Cobden the Inspired Bagman." "Neither can I," said
Mr. Lowe; "for he was neither inspired nor a bagman. In fact, it reminds
me of a story told of Madame Maintenon when someone offered to obtain an
order for her to gain admission into the _Maison des filles repenties_.
'Nay,' said Madame, 'I am neither a _fille_ nor am I a _repentie_.'" At
that the lady between the two politicians burst into a laugh, but Mr.
Gladstone pulled rather a long face,' as he did, I am told by a late
Minister, at a dinner where Lord Westbury uttered some rather coarse
jokes.
The late Mr. R. H. Hutton, of the _Spectator_, in an article in the
_Contemporary Review_, smartly hit off one of Mr. Gladstone's
characteristics: 'There is a story that one of his most ardent followers
said of him that he did not at all object to Mr. Gladstone's always
having one ace up his sleeve, but he did object to his always saying that
Providence placed it there.' In 1832 a Dean of Peterborough said of Mr.
Gladstone: 'His conscience is too tender ever to run straight.' In 1866
Dr. Lake, of Durham, remarked of Mr. Gladstone that 'his intellect could
persuade his conscience of anything.'
'In the course of life,' Mr. Gladstone wrote to Sir Henry Taylor, 'I have
found it just as difficult to get out of office as to get in, and I have
done more doubtful things to get out than to get in. Furthermore, for
more than nine or ten months of the year I am always willing to go, but
in the two or three which precede the Budget I begin to feel an itch to
have the handling of it. Last summer I should have been delighted [to
resign]; now I am indifferent. In February, if I live so long, I shall,
I have no doubt, be loath, but in April quite ready again. Such are my
signs of the Zodiac.'
In the series of sketches of 'Bookworms of Yesterday and To-day,' place
in the _Bookworm_ is given to Mr. Gladstone, who has been a
book-collector for over three-quarters of a century. 'He kindly informs
me,' writes Mr. W. Roberts, 'that he has two books which he acquired in
1815, one of which was a present from Miss H. More. At the present time
he estimates his library to contain from 22,000 to 25,000 books, arranged
by himself into divisions and sections in a very minute manner. The
library is so exceedingly miscellaneous that Mr. Gladstone himself does
not venture to state which section preponderates, although he thinks that
"theology may be one-fourth." There are about twenty editions of Homer,
and from thirty to forty translations, whole or part. He has never
sympathized to any considerable extent with the craze for modern first
editions, but "I like a tall copy" is Mr. Gladstone's reply, made with
all the genuine spirit of the true connoisseur, to an inquiry on the
subject. And so far as regards a preference for ancient authors, in old
but good editions, to modernized reprints, the verdict is emphatically in
favour of the former.'
Lord Shaftesbury seems to have been struck with Mr. Gladstone's
inconsistency. In his diary, in 1873, he writes: 'Last year Gladstone,
speaking on Female Suffrage, said "the Bill will destroy the very
foundation of social life." This year he says: "We had better defer it
till we get the ballot; then it will be quite safe."' In 1864 his
lordship had written: 'Mr. Gladstone will succumb to every pressure
except the pressure of a constitutional and Conservative party.'
Mr. W. Lucy thus illustrates Mr. Gladstone's restlessness: 'Except at the
very best, Mr. Gladstone's Parliamentary manner lacked repose. He was
always brimming over with energy, which had much better have been
reserved for worthier objects than those that sometimes succeeded in
evoking its lavish expenditure. I once followed Mr. Gladstone through
the hours of an eventful sitting. . . . The foe opposite was increasing
in the persistence of his attack, and nominal friends on the benches were
growing weary in their allegiance. The Premier came in from behind the
chair with hurried pace; he had been detained in Downing Street up to the
last moment. As usual, when contemplating making a great speech, he had
a flower in his button-hole, and was dressed with unusual care. Striding
swiftly past his colleagues on the Treasury Bench, he dropped into the
seat kept vacant for him, and, hastily taking up a copy of the orders,
ascertained what particular question in the long list had been reached.
Then turning with a sudden bound of his whole body, he entered into
animated conversation with a colleague, his pale face working with
excitement, his eyes glistening, and his right hand vehemently beating
the open palm of his left hand, as if he were literally pulverizing an
adversary. Tossing himself back with equally rapid gesture, he lay
passive for the space of eighty seconds. Then with another swift
movement of the body he turned to the colleague on the left, dashed his
hand into his side-pocket, as if he had suddenly become conscious of a
live coal secreted there, pulled out a letter, opened it with a violent
flick of extended forefingers, and earnestly discoursed thereon.'
In acknowledging a copy of a recently published work on 'Clergymen's Sore
Throat,' Mr. Gladstone has addressed a letter to the author, Dr. E. B.
Shuldham, on the subject of the management of the voice in public
speaking. 'No part of the work,' writes Mr. Gladstone, 'surprised me
more than your account of the various expedients resorted to by eminent
singers. There, if anywhere, we might have anticipated something like a
fixed tradition. But it seems we have learned nothing from experience,
and I myself can testify that even in this matter fashion prevails.
Within my recollection an orange, or more than one, was alone, as a rule,
resorted to by members of Parliament requiring aid. Now it is never
used. When I have had very lengthy statements to make I have used what
is called egg-flip--a glass of sherry beaten up with an egg. I think it
excellent, but I have much more faith in the egg than in the alcohol. I
never think of employing it unless on the rare occasions when I have
expected to go much beyond an hour. One strong reason for using
something of the kind is the great exhaustion often consequent on
protracted expectation and attention before speaking.'
One of the best of the many stories connected with Mr. Gladstone's many
residences in the South of France tells how one Sunday he and his wife
were seated in the church at Cannes near the pulpit. The Grand Old Man,
turning to his wife, said, in an irritable tone: 'I can't hear.' 'Never
mind, my dear,' said the lady. 'Go to sleep; it will do you much more
good.'
In a chapter of his autobiography Mr. Gladstone wrote: 'In theory, and at
least for others, I am a purist with respect to what touches the
consistency of statesmen. Change of opinion in those to whom the public
look more or less to assert its own is an evil to the country at large,
though a much smaller one than their persistency in a course which they
know to be wrong. It is not always to be blamed, but it is to be watched
with vigilance--always to be challenged and put upon trial.'
In 1881 Mr. Gladstone told the electors of Leeds he had been a Liberal
since 1846. The fact is, as Mr. Jennings has shown, that he held office
under a Conservative Premier, that he was returned for Oxford as a
Conservative, and that in 1858 he canvassed the county of Flint for Sir
Stephen Glynne, who was a strong supporter of Lord Derby's Government.
In 1855, when Lord Aberdeen, who was certainly no Whig, retired, Mr.
Gladstone wrote a most effective letter of regret, which incidentally
throws a little light on his correspondent's character. Mr. Gladstone
writes: 'You make too much of services I have rendered you. I wish it
were in my power to do justice in return for the benefits I have received
from you. Your whole demeanour has been a living lesson to me, and I
have never gone, with my vulnerable temper and impetuous moods, into your
presence without feeling the strong influence of your calm and settled
spirit.'
_Pearson's Magazine_ tells some interesting things about the Grand Old
Man. Though possessing strict views on Sunday observance, he does not
disapprove of Sunday cycling. The bicycle, he says, is no more than a
perfect means of locomotion. Hawarden Park, which is closed to ordinary
tourists on Sunday, is open to cyclists. He gives the first place among
living writers of fiction to Zola, but his favourite English books are
the Waverley Novels. Of his once large collection of axes only thirty or
forty now remain. 'In bygone days admirers were constantly sending him
axes as marks of their esteem, and now other admirers quite as constantly
smuggle them away as treasured mementoes of their visits.' A silver
pencil, axe-shaped, presented by the Princess of Wales 'for axing
questions,' is among the treasures of the G.O.M. Fifty or sixty
walking-sticks, part of a once unique collection, adorn a rack outside
Mr. Gladstone's study, but the number of these also 'is being diminished
by visitors whose enthusiasm is in advance of their scruples.' Alluding
to Mr. Gladstone's fondness for fresh air, the writer (Mr. W. A.
Woodward) says: 'I have seen him, with Mrs. Gladstone at his side, a
ridiculously small umbrella held between them, set forth for a pleasure
drive in such torrents of rain as no ordinary mortal would have faced
save on some vital purpose.' Books on divorce and marriage--judging by
the number of annotations in his neat, distinct handwriting in such
volumes in his library--receive his closest attention, but he has no very
great interest in the modern analytical novel. 'It is natural,' says the
writer, 'that the subject of marriage, in its middle relation to politics
and religion, should have exercised a large fascination over so ardent a
student of theology and sociology.'
Mr. Gladstone planted a young tree at Studley Royal, and the Studley and
Oldfield children were specially summoned to the place to witness the
ceremonial. As they were standing in review order--there being in all
about one hundred and twenty youngsters--Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone passed
down the lines, and some remarks by the right hon. gentleman were
addressed to Lord Ripon. The point mainly dwelt upon was the large size
of the heads of Yorkshire children. Mr. Gladstone suggested that it was
indicative of independence. He added that his experience was that the
farther north he went, the larger he found the human head, and he told an
anecdote about a man who went to a hatter's, but failed to get a hat
large enough, until the tradesman, driven to desperation, called for an
Aberdeen hat.
It is well known that Mr. Gladstone is an authority in the ceramic art,
and he never loses an opportunity of inspecting rare and beautiful
specimens. When he lately visited Manchester he spent an early hour at
the exhibition among the beautiful collection placed there by Messrs.
Doulton. And there he received an unexpected pleasure. More than a
dozen years ago, when speaking at a dinner of the Turners' Company, he
alluded to a visit he had made to the works of Messrs. Doulton. He had
been taken into the room of a young man, who happened to be absent at the
time, to see the quality of his workmanship. He was delighted with what
he saw, the more when he learned that the young artist had not heard a
sound since his fourth year. He spoke so kindly of him and his work that
it almost seemed as if Mr. Gladstone envied the isolation which seemed to
favour abstraction and study in the midst of bustle and din. It was this
gentleman, Mr. Frank Butler, whom Mr. Gladstone found in charge of the
Doulton art treasures at Manchester. He at once remembered him, and,
before leaving, he had Mr. Butler to seat himself at the potter's wheel,
and fashion before him a vase as a specimen of his skill. Upon this Mr.
Gladstone inscribed his name in the wet clay, and another was turned for
Mrs. Gladstone.
From a little volume--'Mr. Gladstone in the Evening of his Days'--I take
the following:
'Another reason why Mr. Gladstone gets through such an astounding amount
of work is his extraordinary habit of using up odds and ends of time.
One day not long ago he was driving into Chester after luncheon; his
pudding was very hot, so he went away from table, changed his clothes,
got ready for his drive, and came back and finished the meal, thus saving
the ten minutes during which his pudding cooled. It may here be
mentioned, in connection with the drives to Chester, that on the day a
few months ago when he drove in for the purpose of making his powerful
Armenian speech, Mr. Gladstone had been absorbed in Butler all the
morning, and the speech was made without any special preparation.' Even
at the great age of eighty-five it was evident that Mr. Gladstone worked
more hours a day than many men in the prime of life would like.
Sir Francis Doyle once asked Mr. Gladstone whether, after his long years
of practice, he ever felt nervous on rising to speak. 'Not on political
questions,' was his answer; 'but if I am called upon to deliver what the
Greeks used to call an "epideictic oration," as at the Literary Fund
dinner, or the like, I am often somewhat troubled at first.'
'I have just heard,' wrote on one occasion a correspondent of the
_Manchester Guardian_, 'a highly characteristic anecdote of Mr.
Gladstone's versatility. I suppress the name and place. After an
interesting interview with a prominent author, whose acquaintance he had
newly made, in reply to a courteous hope that his health and strength
might long be spared, Mr. Gladstone said: "Yes, I confess I wish to live
for two great objects. You can guess one of them: it is to settle the
Irish question. The other is, to convince my countrymen of the
substantial identity between the theology of Homer and that of the Old
Testament."'
Under this heading we give a few items from Bishop Wilberforce's notes.
In 1868 he writes: 'Gladstone noble as ever.' Again: 'Gladstone, as
ever, just, earnest, and honest, as unlike the tricky Disraeli as ever.'
Again the Bishop writes, after staying with him at Hatfield: 'I have very
much enjoyed meeting Gladstone. He is so delightfully true--just as full
of interest in every good thing of every kind, and exactly the reverse of
the mystery man. When people talk of Gladstone going mad, they do not
take into account the wonderful elasticity of his mind and the variety of
his interests. Now, this morning after breakfast he and I and Salisbury
went a walk round the beautiful park, and he was just as much interested
in the size of the oaks, their probable age, etc., as if no care of State
ever pressed upon him. This is his safeguard, joined to rectitude of
purpose and clearness of view.'
No reference to Mr. Gladstone would be complete without a word about his
collars. In a paper on the subject in the _New Century_, Mr. Harry
Furniss writes: 'I believe I am generally supposed to have invented Mr.
Gladstone's collars; but, as a matter of fact, I merely sketched them.
Many men wear collars quite as large, and even larger, than his, but they
are not so prominent in appearance, for the simple reason that when Mr.
Gladstone sits down it is his custom to sit well forward; his body
collapsed, so to speak, and his head sunk into his seat. The inevitable
result was that his collar rose, and owing to this circumstance I have
frequently seen it looking quite as conspicuous as it is depicted in my
caricatures. When Mr. Gladstone upon one occasion met the artists of
_Punch_ at dinner, I was chagrined to find when he walked into the
dining-room that he had discarded his usual large collar for one of the
masher type. I felt that my reputation for accuracy was blighted, and
sought consolation from the editor of a Gladstonian organ who happened to
be present. "Yes," he said; "he is evidently dressed up to meet the
_Punch_ artists. He is the pink of fashion and neatness now; but last
night when I met him at dinner his shirt was frayed at the edges, and his
collar was pinned down behind, but the pin gave way during the evening,
and the collar nearly came over his head."'
Mr. Justin McCarthy has much to say of Mr. Gladstone's eyes: 'I am myself
strongly of opinion that Mr. Gladstone strongly improved in appearance as
his life went on deepening into years. I cannot, of course, remember him
as he was in 1833. I think I saw him for the first time some twenty
years later. But although he was a decidedly handsome man at that time,
I did not think his appearance was nearly so striking or so commanding as
it became in the closing years of his career. I do not believe that I
ever saw a more magnificent human face than that of Mr. Gladstone after
he had grown old. Of course, the eyes were always superb. Many a
stranger looking at Mr. Gladstone for the first time saw the eyes, and
only the eyes, and could think for a moment of nothing else. Age never
dimmed the fire of these eyes.'
A few characteristics are given by Mr. McCarthy: 'I have mixed,' he
writes, 'with most of Mr. Gladstone's contemporaries, his political
opponents as well as his political followers, and I have never heard a
hint of any serious defect in his nature, or of any unworthy motive
influencing his private or public career. Defects of temperament, and of
manner, and of tact have no doubt been ascribed to him over and over
again. He was not, people tell me, always successful in playing up to or
conciliating the weaknesses of inferior men. He was not good, I am told,
at remembering faces or names. . . . Such defects, however, in Mr.
Gladstone's nature or temperament count indeed for little or nothing in
the survey of his career.' Another characteristic of Mr. Gladstone,
remarks Mr. McCarthy, is his North-country accent.
Sir Andrew Clark, who was Mr. Gladstone's physician for years, said he
never had a more docile patient than Mr. Gladstone. The moment he is
really laid up he goes to bed, and there remains till he recovers. He is
a firm believer in the doctrine of lying in bed when you are ill. You
keep yourself in an equable temperature, avoid the worries and drudgery
of everyday life, and being in bed is a good pretext for avoiding the
visits of the multitude of people whose room is better than their
company.
Mr. Gladstone's admirers are very angry when it is intimated that his
character is not perfection. It may be there are spots in the sun, but
the idol of the party must be spotless.
The following anecdote illustrates Mr. Gladstone's love of music. On the
eve of one of his great budgets, Mr. Gladstone found time to go to the
theatre to see Sarah Bernhardt act in 'Phedre.' The great statesman was
so delighted with the acting, that he wrote to mademoiselle a letter
expressing his great gratification. The divine Sarah always had a great
influence on the impressionable Premier. When she held a reception, the
first to come and the last to go was Mr. Gladstone, and none who
witnessed it were likely to forget the spectacle of the great statesman
bending low almost till he kissed the hand of the actress when she
advanced to welcome him.
According to all accounts, Mr. Gladstone is on the most friendly terms
with his tenantry. To some of them he has been specially kind. On the
occasion of the marriage of his son and heir he feasted 550 of his
cottage tenants on the first day, and upwards of 400 on the second. On
one occasion, while Mr. Gladstone was pointing out to a large party of
excursionists the beauties of the trees, he added: 'We are very proud of
our trees.' 'Why, then, do you cut them down as you do?' said a man in
the crowd. Said the Grand Old Man in reply: 'We cut down that we may
improve. We remove rottenness that we may restore health by letting in
air and light. As a good Liberal, you ought to understand that.'
Again I give an anecdote of his kindness as landlord. When Mr. Gladstone
was engaged in one of his Midlothian campaigns, his principal tenant, an
energetic and capable practical farmer, was suffering from severe
illness. Every day during the campaign came a letter from Mr. and Mrs.
Gladstone inquiring after his health. On their return from Scotland,
having travelled all night, they drove from Chester straight to the
tenant's house, and were both in his bedroom at half-past eight in the
morning.
Another Hawarden anecdote may be recorded here. In Mr. Gladstone's
household was an old woman-servant, who had a son inclined to go wrong.
The mother remonstrated, but all to no purpose. At last she thought if
the Premier would take the prodigal in hand, at last he might be
reclaimed. She appealed to Mr. Gladstone, and he responded at once to
her appeal. He had the lad sent to his study, spoke to him words of
tender advice and remonstrance, and eventually knelt down with him and
prayed to a higher Power to help in the work of reformation.
In May, 1885, Mr. Lucy writes: 'In making a statement to-night on the
course of public business, the Premier spoke, as has been a matter of
custom of late, amid continuous noisy interruptions from a section of the
Conservative party. To-night this method of Parliamentary procedure,
novel, as directed against the leader of the House, reached a climax
which had the desired effect of temporarily silencing the Premier. After
a painful pause, he observed that this new kind of Parliamentary warfare
was of little matter to him, whose personal interposition in political
strife was a question of weeks rather than of months, certainly of months
more than of years. But he had a deep conviction that within the last
three years a blow had been struck at the liberty and dignity of the
House of Commons by these intrusions upon debate.'
No notice can be held to be complete which does not give one an idea of
the splendid physical constitution which has enabled Mr. Gladstone to
lead the life he has led and to do the work he has done. On one occasion
he told his Welsh admirers that it was due to the air of that part of the
Principality near which he resided. But his vitality is undoubtedly an
illustration of the principle of heredity. The medical journals had
always much to say of Mr. Gladstone's health. We quote one. At the end
of the session in which Mr. Gladstone carried his Irish Land Bill, the
_Lancet_ wrote: 'Apart from all party and political considerations, it is
but proper to express our satisfaction at seeing Mr. Gladstone, at the
end of a session almost unprecedented for length and for those influences
which harass and exhaust, in a state of admirable health and spirits. It
was a physiological and psychological marvel last week to see him rise
and show reasons for disagreeing with the Lords' Amendments, not in any
hasty or excited mood, but with perfect serenity of intellect and temper,
with absolute mastery of details, and appealing to all that was best in
his opponents. This is a feat which exceeds, in our judgment, the
felling of many trees, and almost crowns Mr. Gladstone's many claims to
distinction. The last straw breaks the camel's back, and it would have
been excusable if the obstructions of August had elicited peevishness and
intelligible if they had produced exhaustion. But both strength and
temper are intact, and Mr. Gladstone goes to his holiday with a stock of
energy which many younger men would be glad to return with, and which is
no mean guarantee for future service to his Queen and country.'
Archbishop Magee used to tell a good story of Father Healy and Mr.
Gladstone. The latter asked him upon what principle the Roman Church
offered soul indulgences, saying when he was in Rome he was offered an
indulgence for fifty francs. Father Healy replied: 'Well, Mr. Gladstone,
I do not want to go into theology with you; but all I can say is, that if
my Church offered you an indulgence for fifty francs, she let you off
very cheap!'
A correspondent, a well-known London minister, who got crushed in the
crowd at the opening of St. Martin's Free Library, in 1891, by Mr.
Gladstone, tells an anecdote of the ex-Premier's kindness of heart, on
the authority of a former vicar. When Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr.
Gladstone regularly attended this church. A crossing-sweeper in the
parish, who had been some time ill, when asked by the vicar if anybody
had been to see him, said, 'Yes, sir; Mr. Gladstone.' 'Which Mr.
Gladstone?' he was asked. 'Why,' was the answer, 'Mr. Gladstone himself.
He often speaks to me, and gives me something at my crossing. Not seeing
me, he asked my mate, who was keeping it for me, why I was not there. He
told him I was ill, and then he asked where I lived. So he came to see
me, and talked and read to me.'
There was a characteristic big gathering, deserving to be recorded here,
at the National Liberal Club, in celebration of Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone's
golden wedding. In all there were nearly 2,000 guests, and these
included most of the Liberal leaders, and at least one distinguished
Liberal Unionist (Sir John Lubbock), who, when perceived among the
throng, received the welcome of a cordial cheer. The chief feature of
the proceedings was the presentation of the handsome commemorative
album--a remarkable work of art--to the ex-Premier in the reading-room.
The scene here was a particularly brilliant one; and when Mr. and Mrs.
Gladstone appeared among the throng, accompanied by several members of
the family, there was an outburst of enthusiasm which was continued to an
unwonted length. Mr. Gladstone's reply to the address was not long; it
was a feelingly-uttered expression of gratification. Only a few
sentences were occupied with political allusions. They declared that
Liberal principles were not of destruction, but of improvement.
These are a few of the sentences of thanks: 'I am ashamed,' said Mr.
Gladstone, 'of the kindness that has been shown me. ("No.") When I
speak of my wife, when I acknowledge that there is greater justice in the
tributes that you have so kindly paid to her, I there enjoy a relative
and a comparative freedom, and no words that I could use would ever
suffice to express the debt that I owe her in relation to all the offices
that she has discharged on my behalf, and on the behalf of those who are
near and dearest to us, during the long and happy period of our conjugal
union. (Cheers.) I hope it will not sound like exaggeration--it is
really a phrase dictated by my desire to express what I feel--if I say
that I feel myself to be, as it were, drowned in an ocean of kindness.'
The other day Canon Scott Holland, in a touching sermon, described Mr.
Gladstone as 'spending his life in benedictions to those whom he leaves
behind in this world, and in thanksgiving to God, to whom he rehearses
over and over again, day after day, Newman's hymn of austere and splendid
admiration.' Here is the hymn:
'Praise to the Holiest in the height,
And in the depth be praise:
In all His words most wonderful;
Most sure in all His ways!
'O loving wisdom of our God!
When all was sin and shame,
A second Adam to the fight
And to the rescue came.
'O wisest love! that flesh and blood
Which did in Adam fail,
Should strive afresh against their foe,
Should strive and should prevail;
'And that a higher gift than grace
Should flesh and blood refine,
God's Presence and His very Self,
And Essence all-divine.
'O generous love! that He who smote
In man for man the foe,
The double agony in man
For man should undergo;
'And in the garden secretly,
And on the cross on high,
Should teach His brethren and inspire
To suffer and to die.'
At other times Mr. Gladstone has been known to say that his favourite
hymns were 'Rock of Ages' and the version of 'Dies Irae' which Scott
introduced into 'The Lay of the Last Minstrel':
'That day of wrath, that dreadful day,
When heaven and earth shall pass away,
What power shall be the sinner's stay?
How shall he meet that dreadful day?'
Mr. Gladstone, according to a writer in the _Daily News_, once remarked
that he had made a careful study of all Toplady's hymns, but had only
found four other good lines in the whole of them. To those who have ever
heard Mr. Gladstone recite these four lines, as he was often used to do,
the recollection will come just now with pathetic poignancy:
'Lord! it is not life to live,
If Thy Presence Thou deny,
Lord! if Thou Thy presence give,
'Tis no longer death--to die.'
For Charles Wesley's hymns Mr. Gladstone did not greatly care. He
considered them much over-rated. 'And he wrote more than Homer,'
exclaimed Mr. Gladstone once; '7,000 hymns of thirty lines each, say; do
the sum, gentlemen, and be appalled.'