heological and ethical of the great poets, and because the
tongue and the memories of Italy had a peculiar attraction for him. He
used to say that he found Dante's thought incomparably inspiring, but
hard to follow, it was so high and so abstract. Theology claimed a
place beside poetry; history came next, though he did not study it
systematically. It seemed odd that he was sometimes at fault in the
constitutional antiquities of England; but this subject was, until the
day of Dr. Stubbs, pre-eminently a Whig subject, and Mr. Gladstone
never was a Whig, never learned to think upon the lines of the great
Whigs of former days. His historical knowledge was not exceptionally
wide, but it was generally accurate in matters of fact, however
fanciful he might be in reasoning from the facts, however wild his
conjectures in the prehistoric region. In metaphysics strictly so
called his reading did not go far beyond those companions of his
youth, Aristotle and Bishop Butler; and philosophical speculation
interested him only so far as it bore on Christian doctrine. Keen as
was his interest in theology and in history, it is not certain that
he would have produced work of permanent value in either sphere even
had his life been wholly devoted to study. His mind seemed to need to
be steadied, his ingenuity restrained, by having to deal with concrete
matter for a practical end. Neither, in spite of his eminence as a
financier and an advocate of free trade, did he show much taste for
economic studies. On practical topics, such as the working of
protective tariffs, the abuse of charitable endowments, the
development of fruit-culture in England, the duty of liberal giving by
the rich, the utility of thrift among the poor, his remarks were full
of point, clearness, and good sense, but he seldom launched out into
the wider sea of economic theory. He took a first-class in mathematics
at Oxford, at the same time as his first in classics, but did not
pursue the subject in later life. Regarding the sciences of experiment
and observation, he seemed to feel as little curiosity as any educated
man who notes the enormous part they play in the modern world can
feel. Sayings of his have been quoted which show that he imperfectly
comprehended the character of the evidence they rely upon and of the
methods they employ. On one occasion he horrified a dinner-table of
younger friends by refusing to accept some of the most certain
conclusions of modern geology.