The Irish standard., 1896-10-31
SEQ.
which required a vi 81 q 10 the ssou1ttr IN
ECFIe to examine an iInpoF ant fitness,

~ SpuAbyl 1911
Iorders an imp witness
and was Ii the anti raiillRay days
istllae members, off the house of commons
who were made in to The commit had
Etoktr aFe1gb coach. Had one. then
| lyConnei were both msalb ers the
eo1nnalIt and t!ieys had Ms travel; to
| gsther I'm this way TIL y were In close
for some days. Can well
iIlagfne that the pale faced and Sece1esi-
minded i.young Chris !. church
student of that epoch EpuId have found
Ell difficult to sunde rstand the won
fdertuI ma boist ferrous, vivacious, accus-
Toned "a every sort OF fleece conflict on
form and III law co1,1 81 and I should
[ha;Ye been quite prepared TO- hear from
M. Gladstone that the Impression. was
not very sympathetic But this was not
50. III 1t lis certainly true that as his own
years have Increased Mr.. Glad stone's ad-
|,m:ration for the great Irish Tribune has
also. increased. j E9 s4s B, Il s,5{ /.
III naturally asked a. good many 'qles-
| lions. with regard s to Disraeli q. "A BIZ
ography I OF that sta tesman d.. it may still
t;be remembered, one Of the sins Of my liter
airy youth and, tb a certain extent,:I was
on familia ground In discussing the ca
Teer of Lord Beaconstiel Id. ~ Mr.. Gladstone
spoke of him kindly and congd erately.
His first recolle ction of meeting Disraeli,
Mr.. SGla dstonei said was at q dinner in the
house OF Lord Lyndhurst. Lyndhurst, it
| may be remembe red, was one of the earliest
Iofi Lord Beaoonsfeld,s friends and patrons;
readers OF Grenville's memoirs will re-
member some very biting illusions to this
! Friendship. The chief impression Mr..
Gladstone took away from this meeting
Was5 that sDssareH was very peculiarly
dressed. This was very natural impress
sion 4 for, as every body knows who has
Tread the early history o. the future Prime
Minister, Dfsraen was one Of the most ex-
'travag ant1y- dressed handles of any period.
When 1t came to the D.sraeli OF his own
time, Mr.. Gladstone said he had once ex-
pressed the opinion of that Disraeli was
the most interesting person in parliament
airy history except William Pitt; but after
the great struggle over the Eastern ques-
ton and the Treaty OF Berlin he had with
drawn (, the qualification, and said that
Disraei had become the most interesting
figure In all the annals Of the House OF
Commons.
Several other topics were discussed
among others the question Of marriage and
|allied subjects; on all Of which MI. Glad
ST one remains. where he stood when he so
obstinately opposed the Divorce Bill--a
stallnch and infiexible Conservative. {.
/ Il 80 entt a short time with him in his II
bTaTy u W here he had an easy chair, and a
candle arranged ait Its back so as to make
readings somewhat easier. This was be-
fore he discovered that there was a cat
araet n the eye. He could talk of little
|ibut literature on the Irish question, and,
ind eed, ireland was evidently his first and
Hast thought. When Mrs. Drew came in
with some letters, and handed him just a
couple out OF the bundl e-as the only ones
he need trouble himself about Are they
about Ireland 2 he asked eagerly. 1t was
Will easett ting IN this seat that Mr.. Glad
stone gave finest testiruo ny to the harr
Emoay and beauty Of his family life That
ever the head OF d household has given
he said that he had to thank Providence
for many things. but for nothing more. than
that he had no anxieties whatever Or cares
but those Of political life. Y III his family
not a single member had ever given the
sinai est cause for anxiety. :,. & s5l,5S
( We had / to take an early dinner, ana
MT Gladgtone was not dining in the Cas-
tie that night. = Bin. as he was taking q
cup Of tea in the library he}happ ened TO
mention John Bright who WIS then lying,
iii, and: i told him that my information was;
that the news in the papers did not convey
a sufficiently .ade quates idea of the gravity
of the Illness, and that probably the great
tribune was very near his last hour.
Shortly after Mr.. CT adstone came into the;
dining room to ask me some further ques-g
tions On what had sad with regard to
Mr.: Brig AS It turned out, my fnfornla-(
4tion proved correct short time after
wards Mr.: Bright died. Vs. II +, 5s@5,
sSi The drive which / took to- the meeting
at Chester was almost as Int resting In It's
SWay ssas ak and .tal III with MI. Glad
stone, Mrs. Glad tone and n 1r. Herbert.
Gladstone were in the carriage, and, of
course, VIII talked about Mr.. Gladstone. ~
sa4kedlthe SON i'll. his father had any talent
TOR music; and if 1t we're not true that. he
ssnads sung sats onetirne. Herbert said, some
What n-handedly, that his father used to.
sing 81 sAttle oh, he sang beautifully"
said IN Is ssladstone, with all enthusiasm
that sQncz1ing. And as we were speak
ing yof the Eoning meeting Of B..rmingh am,
the fait thrill III made use Of anot her OBJ
.servatipn regard to s43her hnsbandss
lWh.,ch strnck and pleased me greatly. She
iVVas5 expressing some apprehension lest the
hafisin which he would have to speak would
TOO large. For u would make an att
tempt TEN I'd get himself heard and strain his
svos:ce;s however large the hall was. He
.hasss.lch Ile said. s Il 5s,,
I4ss need \ not tell those who have read
many iarne ary descrip tons from my
Iuien what MIR. lsiadst one was to the parlta-9
writer. AZ gas he was n the