k these church
preferments will be the death of me." Palmerston favoured the
evangelicals, and Mr. Gladstone was mortified that Church did not succeed
Stanley in the chair of ecclesiastical history at Oxford, and that
Wilberforce was not elevated to the throne of York in 1862.

(M142) During his first administration he recommended for no fewer than
twelve bishoprics and eight deaneries. He was not unprepared to find, as
he put it to Acland, that "saints, theologians, preachers, pastors,
scholars, philosophers, gentlemen, men of business,--these are not to be
had every day, least of all are they to be commonly found in combination.
But these are the materials which ought to be sought out, and put forward
in the church of England, if she is to stand the trials, and do her work."

According to his fashion, he wrote down upon a fragmentary piece of paper
what qualifications he ought to look for in a bishop, and this is the
list:--

Piety. Learning (sacred). Eloquence. Administrative power.
Faithful allegiance to the Church and to the church of England.
Activity. Tact and courtesy in dealings with men: knowledge of the
world. Accomplishments and literature. An equitable spirit.
Faculty of working with his brother bishops. Some legal habit of
mind. Circumspection. Courage. Maturity of age and character.
Corporal vigour. Liberal sentiments on public affairs. A
representative character with reference to shades of opinion
fairly allowable in the Church.

One of his earliest preferments, that of Dr. Temple to the bishopric of
Exeter, created lively excitement. He had been a contributor to _Essays
and Reviews_:--

On some of the papers contained in the volume, Mr. Gladstone wrote
to the Bishop of Lichfield, I look with a strong aversion. But Dr.
Temple's responsibility prior to the publication was confined to
his own essay. The question whether he ought to have disclaimed or
denounced any part of the volume afterwards is a difficult one,
and if it was a duty, it was a duty in regard to which a generous
man might well go wrong. As regards his own essay, I read it at
the time of publication, and thought it of little value, but did
not perceive that it was mischievous.

In speaking of him to Acland in 1865, Mr. Gladstone had let fall a truly
remarkable saying, going deep down to the roots of many things:--

You need not assure me of Dr. Temp