met such abuse, and then he quoted the stanza in the third canto of
_Childe Harold_:--

"He who ascends to mountain-tops, shall find
The loftiest peaks most wrapt in clouds and snow;
He who surpasses or subdues mankind,
Must look down on the hate of those below."

I asked if he did not think sometimes his temper carried Mr. Gladstone
away. He said, 'Think of the difference between a great cart horse, and
the highest bred most sensitive horse you can imagine, and then, under
lashing of a whip, think of the difference between them.' " After a stay
with Mr. Gladstone in a country house, Jowett, the master of Balliol, said
of him, "It is the first time that any one of such great simplicity has
been in so exalted a station."(129)

In one of his Lancashire speeches, Mr. Gladstone described in interesting
language how he stood:--

I have never swerved from what I conceive to be those truly
conservative objects and desires with which I entered life. I am,
if possible, more attached to the institutions of my country than
I was when, as a boy, I wandered among the sandhills of Seaforth,
or frequented the streets of Liverpool. But experience has brought
with it its lessons. I have learnt that there is a wisdom in a
policy of trust, and folly in a policy of mistrust. I have not
refused to acknowledge and accept the signs of the times. I have
observed the effect that has been produced upon the country by
what is generally known as liberal legislation. And if we are
told, as we are now truly told, that all the feelings of the
country are in the best and broadest sense conservative--that is to
say, that the people value the country and the laws and
institutions of the country--honesty compels me to admit that this
happy result has been brought about by liberal legislation.
Therefore, I may presume to say that since the year 1841, when Sir
Robert Peel thought fit to place me in a position that brought me
into direct, immediate, and responsible contact with the
commercial interests of the country, from that time onward I have
never swerved nor wavered, but have striven to the best of my
ability to advance in the work of improving the laws, and to
labour earnestly and fearlessly for the advantage of the
people.(130)

(M52) Five-and-twenty years later, when his course was almost run, and the
achievements of the long