The record-union., 1898-05-22

was about much with him, should mar
ry him. To the objection that he had
! a wife living the ready answer was,
'Oh, he must get Gladstone to explain
her away!"
| Nearly every second hand bookseller
in London habituaIly sent Mr.. Glad
stone his catalogue. Sometimes he
would repair to the shop, list in hand,
| and look at the books he had marked,
! giving a check at once, which he some
times wrote in the shop, for the amount
/ spent. In more than one instance a
check for Fl or some such small amount
has been kept and framed by a book
seller At one time the most intimate
relations existed between Mr.. Gladstone
/ and Mr.. Weston, a bookseller in New
| Oxford street, close to Tottenham Court
road Sometimes Mr.. Gladstone, when
| about to dine at a public dinner in the
| city, would send his clothes to Mr..
| Westons house, and there dress for
dinner. In the more crowded parts of
| the city Gladstone would occasionally
be observed entering shop by men
| and women in the street. They would
gather around the entrance and make
| 1T impossible for him to make his exit
save by the rear. About half a dozen
years ago he entered a book shop in
/ the Edgeware road, not far from Edge
ware road underground station.
In a few minutes a dense crowd gath
cred on the pavement and blocked all
| egress, interfering with pedestrian traf-
| fic. and even interrupting the omni-
! buses and vehicles in the main street.
The three or four policemen near at
/ hand were wholly unable to control the
mob and to make a lane through which
| Mr.. Gladstone might pass to "groWl-
err called for his accommodation. One
policeman ran around to- the police sta
| ton hard by and returned in half an
hour with twenty or thirty constables,
who soon managed to secure the Pre-
mier's release after detention of more
| than an hour.
The famous American horse-t tanner
Rarey, when he was in England spoke
| of Gladstone as one Of the finest and
| boldest riders he had ever seen. Once,
when Chancellor of the Exchequer, he
| was taking his usual ride in Hyde Park
| on a spirited young horse, the horse
| plunged and ran away, got off the or
binary track of riders, and came along
| a spread of turf divided by rails and
| gateways of slender iron. It went
| straight over one of the gateways
| Gladstone was determined to get the
| better Of that horse. The moment the
horse had leaped the gate the rider
turned him around and put him at the
gate again Again and again he topped
it. and again his master turned him
| and made him go at it once more and
surmount it yet another time. So it
went on until the horse was fairly but
very harmlessly conquered, and the
rider was the supreme victor of the
| day.
OF Gladstone's GOODNESS and self-pos-
session in an emergency Miss Mary An
derson gives a notable and now histor-
| zeal instance. It was on the occasion
| of her first meeting with the G.. 0. M,
who was then Prime Minister, at
| breakfast in Downing street. Il had
the pleasure" says Our Mary, "of sit
| ting between him and the late Lord
Granville. Mr.. Gladstone was speaking
amusingly of toys, contrasting the
quaint and simple ones of his childhood
with the intricate and wonderful play
things of to-day, when, to the horror of
| all. a loud explosion was heard, which
seemed to be in the house. Happening
at time when dynamite was being
freely used in London, and Victoria
Station had already been partially de-