Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1898-05-19

An average lifetime had passed since he
left college and IN that time he had been
one Of the btisies. men in the world. vet his
knowledge of the classics had constantly
improved. The principal Latin authors
were still as familiar to him as the English
authors of the same rank, and Greek as his
second native tongue.
Every American college has its STANDARD
jokes about the various Englishmen who
have put forth so many varying views ON
the HAD and Odyssey" the same man
sometimes changing his views completely
within few years, but Mr.. Gladstone is al
ways honoreo as the consistent and almost
convincing advocate of the unity of Homer.
1t is a very curious fact that down to the
middle of this century American scholars
and colleges were practically unanimous in
maintaining the unity of Homer: that a
change came so rapidly that ~ one time the
great weight of authority was the other
way and that in many cases the same pas
sages were relied on to prove various au-
thors that had been to prove unity while
many men who had when students thought
Gladstone's reasoning Unanswerable lived
to wonder that it should ever have seemed
TO them weighty.
In his ''Studies on Homer ard the To.
meric Age QS5S) Mr.. Gladstone maintains
that one man wrote the entire poems. and
that they are historic-that is, there was "a
real Troy which was destroyed by the
Greeks. In his "Juventus Mundi' 1850
and his latest work on Homer (1Sii) he goes
still further and attempts to fix the date OF
Troy's destruction. The argument is. if
anything, ADLER, yet the first convinced, and
the last did not. The world is now in an
era of skepticism rs to all ancient stories
Tho most ardent admirers OF Gladstune's
genius merely smile at his views ON such
subjects and say that he Is by nature dey-
otec, whether as to the litcraness OF the
Pentateuch, of Homer or any other ancient
work.
Mr.. GIaGstone's Library.
Mr.. Gladstone's library contains aho-s
25,000 volumes. and lie was fully three
quarters of n century collecting it. Scarcely
O day passed that he did not make some ad-
d.tion to it. For instance, on the day os
Stanley wedding be escaped as soon as inc
could from the gay throng and went to the
shop OF bookseller ON southampton row,
where he bought 1.-THE Life of Thomas
Reynolds" in two Volumes THE Morning
Of Life" a Catholic religious book; ireland
Before and After the Union" by r. b.
Martin; THE Rise and Progress of Eeli-
gious Opinion in Ireland" by Mrs. Thomp-
sen; Lord Hollands "Reminiscences"
"Manchester College Lectures, - containing
an address by Cardinal Newman on elias
steal literature; "Byron's Letters" "Lent
Lectures, THE Laws of Honor" an &c
count of the suppression OF duclsin France;
re Douddha,' by Saint Hilaire; The
French Librarian or Literary Guide" by
Ventonillsc; English Synonyms" and a
Greek work
He always had his books rebound, hold
ing that any book worth having was
worthy of good cover His library was so
miscellaneous that he could not himself
state what sort of books predominated,
though he had personally divided it into
many minute sections. Theology, he
thought, comprised about one-fourth Of the
whole. There are about 20 editions of Ho-
mer and from 80 to 10 TRANSACTIONS, whole
or in part. lie never sympathized to any
considerable extent with the craze for
modern first editions, but Il like a tail
copy" was Il characterize remark made
once TO Il friend. And so far rs regards a
preference for ancient authors, I'm old but
good editions, to modernizcd reprints. the
verdict was emphatically Ia favor Of the
former"
Gladstone and the Caricaturists.
Mr. G!adstones pronounced personality
and his extended public career combine 10
make him IN easy and always timely sub
Ject Tor the caricaturiSt's pencil. In fact it
Is hard to Imagine on looking over the
funereal pages of Punch what its artists
would have done had there been nc Glad
stone. These satirical pictures of the great
Liberal leader have n certain value, how
ever, for they show him In exaggerated
measure, 1t IS true, bat still with a degree
of fidelity at oil periods of his life and as he
appeared IN every possible mood. The ex-
ampies here given are copied from the pic
lures OF John Leech, John Tennel, Linley
Sanbourne and Harry Furniss as they were
printed between 1853 and the present time.
The picture with the exaggerated shirt
collar is by Furniss, who delighted to por-
tray the Grand Old Mans high collar as
his most pronounced characteristic, often
simply indicating with line or two the
top OF his head and with a dot the eve, as
in this case.
Among the pleasantest and most valu-
able customs Of the staff of Punch has been
Tor many yc;.:j the eating OF 4 weekly din
ner with the e11tor, at which the policy of
the paper and its caricatures are outlined
and criticised. Mr.. Gladstone was invited
to be an honored :rresU at one of these din
ners, and there was some previous specula-
ton as to hGw he and Mr.. Furniss would
enjoy the meeting. Mr. Gladstone proved
equal to the occasion lie came. and hard
~ was he seated at the table when the COM
pany became aware of change in his ia
miliar personality. a second look revealed
its nature. Mr.. Furniss started; somebody
Uttered; there was a smile, a ripple and
then a roar of laughter.
Mr.. Gladstone had on the smallest, slen-
derest and mcst inconspicuous of narrow
rundown collars, assumed for that occa-
sion only, and was quietly enjoying the
artists discontinue. Mr.. Furniss soon re-
covered himself and appreciated the joke
as much as any one else
Gladstone and the Queen.
Gladstone never was favorite at the
palace. Indeed the queen is reported to
have said more than once with emphasis
that she detested him, and said it in
way to imply that she also feared him
When Lord Salisbury resigned in 1892 to
be followed In office by Gladstone, she IS
said to have accepted the resignation with
expressed regret" thereby breaking the
unwritten law that British royalty should
I