an was committed for trial.
Mr. Gladstone directed his solicitors to see that the accused was properly
defended. He was convicted and sent to prison. By and by Mr. Gladstone
inquired from the governor of the prison how the delinquent was conducting
himself. The report being satisfactory, he next wrote to Lord Palmerston,
then at the home office, asking that the prisoner should be let out. There
was no worldly wisdom in it, we all know. But then what are people
Christians for?

We have already seen(261) his admonition to a son, and how much importance
he attached to the dedication of a certain portion of our means to
purposes of charity and religion. His example backed his precept. He kept
detailed accounts under these heads from 1831 to 1897, and from these it
appears that from 1831 to the end of 1890 he had devoted to objects of
charity and religion upwards of seventy thousand pounds, and in the
remaining years of his life the figure in this account stands at thirteen
thousand five hundred--this besides thirty thousand pounds for his
cherished object of founding the hostel and library at Saint Deiniol's.
His friend of early days, Henry Taylor, says in one of his notes on life
that if you know how a man deals with money, how he gets it, spends it,
keeps it, shares it, you know some of the most important things about him.
His old chief at the colonial office in 1846 stands the test most nobly.

III

Near the end of 1889 among the visitors to Hawarden was Mr. Parnell. His
air of good breeding and easy composure pleased everybody. Mr. Gladstone's
own record is simple enough, and contains the substance of the affair as
he told me of it later:--

_Dec. 18, 1889._--Reviewed and threw into form all the points of
possible amendment or change in the plan of Irish government,
etc., for my meeting with Mr. Parnell. He arrived at 5.30, and we
had two hours of satisfactory conversation; but he put off the
_gros_ of it. 19.--Two hours more with Mr. P. on points in Irish
government plans. He is certainly one of the very best people to
deal with that I have ever known. Took him to the old castle. He
seems to notice and appreciate everything.

Thinking of all that had gone before, and all that was so soon to come
after, anybody with a turn for imaginary dialogue might easily upon this
theme compose a striking piece.

In the spring of 1890 Mr. Gladstone spent a week at Oxford of which he
s