l
20._--This blank day is, I think, probably due to the Queen's
hesitation or reluctance, which the ministers have to find means
of [covering].

One joyous element in these days at Hawarden was the arrival first of the
youngest son of the house, then of the eldest, the latter of them having
won a seat in Worcestershire, and the former having failed in Middlesex,
after a display of qualities that delighted his family and friends much
more than mere victory could have done. "About one," Mr. Gladstone marks
on the 8th, "Herbert entered in triumph. We were there, and could not but
be much moved." And on the 14th, "Willy made his triumphal entry at four,
and delivered a very good speech. Neville Lyttelton, too, spoke well from
the carriage." As Lord Acton wrote to Miss Gladstone about Middlesex, "The
picture of the young, untried son bursting into sudden popularity, and
turning men's thoughts from the absorbing exploits of his father, adds an
affecting domestic feature to that great biography. That meeting at
Hawarden, after such a revolution and such a growth, is a thing I cannot
think of without emotion." A little later, when Mr. Gladstone's option of
Midlothian left the Leeds seat vacant, his son was elected without
opposition to fill it. Mr. Gladstone's letters on this operation, which
had its delicacies, are an excellent example of his habits of careful and
attentive judgment in handling even secondary affairs.

II

(M199) From the moment when it became clear that Lord Beaconsfield would
be swept out of office, it was just as clear to sensible men that only one
successor was possible. It was Mr. Gladstone, as everybody knew and said,
who had led and inspired the assault. A cabinet without him would hold its
councils without the most important of the influences on which it
depended. If the majorities that carried the election could have been
consulted on the choice of a minister, nobody doubted upon whom with
unanimity their choice would fall. Even those who most detested the
result, even those who held that a load of anxiety would be lifted from
the bosoms of many liberals of official rank if they were to hear of Mr.
Gladstone's definite retirement from public life, still pronounced that it
was Mr. Gladstone's majority, and that was what the contributors to that
majority intended to vote for was, above all else, his return to office
and his supremacy in national affairs. If he would not lay down