The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-07-18

| bowed and worn in the service of his country, chuckllng over the political | opinions of his verdant youth. For politics. indeed, occupy pretty nearly every one of these seventy or eighty closely written pages. Not even Pitt | himself could have been more preco- cious. Those young gentlemen evil dently kept very sharp eye on the government, the cabinets, the minis ters and the movements of the day
 ''I am strongly of opinion" concerning this vote, T don't agree" II cannot say that I approve" q am far from liking scores and scores of such eX- pressions occur, critical of Catholic emancipation, bishops and their votes Ireland, the priesthood, the Pope and so forth. It is all so dignified, so grave, so earnest, as if the boy of sixteen were himself responsible. Would that one were permitted to make a few ex- tracts, but the laws of copyright or courtesy, both perhaps, forbid this
 The ownership. presume, of these ad- | mirable and priceless letters is vested in the Gladstone family, Or has the copyright lapsed through ages? These are nice questions-but at all events let the biographer see to them. They will supply him with an admirable chapter, to prove that the Gladstone boy was father to the Gladstone man.
 | Even in our nasty glimpse we were able to detect that circumlocution which was so notorious a habit both in the writings and speeches of the great | orator ar1 rlio aoto ria Ia ic telling his dear Farr (who must have been delightful, affectionate fellow
 to have inspired such letters from the grave Gladstone, the gay, sprightly and effervescent Hallam, and the rest) | about some John somebody (never mind his name-no tales out of sehooD who had, as an ordinary person would say, got drunk-much to the anger of the terrible Keate, who Is going to give him beans Get us, at all events, be familiar) It was all Johns zeal for the classics, so kindly hints young l Gladstone, that had induced him to take hint from Horace, Homer and other jolly free-living old pagans. Then he beats about the bush with very significant Latin tage-"Qualis ab | Ogygio," "Bibulus liquidi Falerni," ct cetera-uses the very word 'circumlo- cution," as he says, in order to avoid 'ill-omened words" This escapade ap- parently lost poor John his move into | the sixth
 We wonder how many boys of sixteen in these days of high living and low thinking indite essays to their friends 1 (Farr had just gone up to Cambridge
 and Gladstone is giving him the news), l full of quotations from the ancients? But if Eton existed for anything it was to fill boy with love of the classics. l So he says somewhere after reading an | attack upon the college in '"The Edin- i burgh Review" which was evidently 1 much to the fore in those days. There is more than one reference to it; a second-if I remember right--has vio- | lent attack on the poor bishops
 Those hard-headed Scots,' says boy i Gladstone evidently with much indg- nation, to judge by dashes!!! actually propose to deprive them of their votes, and to separate the state from the | churchi!!' Gn case of any errors we had best say that this epitome is done from memory alone. and. the actual words may be misplaced or changed but the spirit is preserved) He evil dently thinks 'The Edinburgh" very yiolent-though in the matter of that l Eton article approves of much. He is decidedly in favor of Tagging, by the way-"that fine old Radical institution which proves how very abstract a home is liberty"
 The Eton society, whose doings mostly concerned young Gladstone, ev- | idently fed largely on magazines and newspapers, too. 'The Edinburgh" was taken in, but a proposal to sub- scribe to ''B1ackwood'' and ''The New Monthly was thrown out. And we can well do without then," As for the journals, they take in "The New Times" Gs it ''The Times newspa- perO, "The Morning Chronicle and
 "The St. James Chronicle" Clad stone does not care for any of them himself. But he is rather keen on 'The Standard It Is well written, | though certainly holds rather absurd | opinions on some subjets. He is very curious about it's lack of advertise ments, without which he understands | (not without reason) no London daily can live But surely, he says, it has a very large circulation. Then he asks his dear Farr if he can find,out for him. Apropos, there is here secret history of the new Eton paper, "The Miscella- n.y." with whose fortunes Gladstone was intimately associated Its affairs were governed by a committed Doyle, Hallam, Selwyn, Gaskell were promi- nent The editorship was then in com- mission-all articles being submitted to their judgment. Benjamin Bouverie was the pseudonyme for the many headed chief. Peregrine Courtenay and Gregory Griffin had served for two preceding literary efforts. How ever, ''The Miscellany" seems to have been "go," for a time, at all events though, like other journals, it had it's ups and downs. Contributors as usual, were difficult Especially the poets | On the whole, Gladstone was glad when he sent his last number to press l before going up to Oxford On the whole, he was not satisfied Benjamin Bouverie was not so good as "The Eto- nian" or '"The Microcosm"
 While dealing with literary matters we may as we'll hint at an amusing | passage (thfs occurred at Oxford) as |