ody of a Scotsman. It is easy to make too
much of race, but when we are puzzled by Mr. Gladstone's seeming
contrarieties of temperament, his union of impulse with caution, of
passion with circumspection, of pride and fire with self-control, of
Ossianic flight with a steady foothold on the solid earth, we may
perhaps find a sort of explanation in thinking of him as a highlander in
the custody of a lowlander.

Of John Gladstone something more remains to be said. About 1783 he was
made a partner by his father in the business at Leith, and here he saved
five hundred pounds. Four years later, probably after a short period of
service, he was admitted to a partnership with two corn-merchants at
Liverpool, his contribution to the total capital of four thousand pounds
being fifteen hundred, of which his father lent him five hundred, and a
friend another five at five per cent. In 1787 he thought the plural
ending of his name sounded awkwardly in the style of the firm, Corrie,
Gladstones, and Bradshaw, so he dropped the _s_.[12] He visited London
to enlarge his knowledge of the corn trade in Mark Lane, and here became
acquainted with Sir Claude Scott, the banker (not yet, however, a
baronet). Scott was so impressed by his extraordinary vigour and
shrewdness as to talk of a partnership, but Gladstone's existing
arrangement in Liverpool was settled for fourteen years. Sometime in the
nineties he was sent to America to purchase corn, with unlimited
confidence from Sir Claude Scott. On his arrival, he found a severe
scarcity and enormous prices. A large number of vessels had been
chartered for the enterprise, and were on their way to him for cargoes.
To send them back in ballast would be a disaster. Thrown entirely on his
own resources, he travelled south from New York, making the best
purchases of all sorts that he could; then loaded his ships with timber
and other commodities, one only of them with flour; and the loss on the
venture, which might have meant ruin, did not exceed a few hundred
pounds. Energy and resource of this kind made fortune secure, and when
the fourteen years of partnership expired, Gladstone continued business
on his own account, with a prosperity that was never broken. He brought
his brothers to Liverpool, but it was to provide for them, not to assist
himself, says Mr. Gladstone; 'and he provided for many young men in the
same way. I never knew him reject any kind of work in aid of others that
offered itself to