continue to be read, it will be rather because they are his than in
respect of any permanent contribution they have made to knowledge. The
wisdom of his policy, foreign and domestic, will have to be judged,
not only by the consequences we see, but also by other consequences
still hidden in the future. Yet among his acts there are some with
which history cannot fail to concern herself, and which will keep
fresh the memory of their author's energy and courage. Whoever
follows the annals of England during the memorable years from 1843 to
1894 will meet his name on almost every page, will feel how great must
have been the force of an intellect that could so interpenetrate the
story of its time, and will seek to know something of the dauntless
figure that rose always conspicuous above the struggling throng.

There is a passage in the _Odyssey_ where the seer Theoclymenus says,
in describing a vision of death: "The sun has perished out of heaven."
To Englishmen, Mr. Gladstone had been like a sun which, sinking
slowly, had grown larger as he sank, and filled the sky with radiance
even while he trembled on the verge of the horizon. There were men of
ability and men of renown, but there was no one comparable to him in
fame and power and honour. When he departed the light seemed to have
died out of the sky.

-----

[63] "Gled" is a kite or hawk. The name was Gladstones till Mr.
Gladstone's father dropped the final s.

[64] One of his most intimate friends has, I think, said that "he
never knew what it was to be bored." Fortunate, indeed, would
he have been had this been so; but that one who had watched him
long and closely should make the statement shows how gently
bores fared at his hands.

I recollect his once remarking on the capacity for boring
possessed by a gentleman who had been introduced and had talked
for some fifteen minutes to him; but his own manner through the
conversation had betrayed no impatience.

[65] Sermons belong to a somewhat different category, else I should
have to add the discourses of a few great preachers, such as
Robert Hall, J. H. Newman, Phillips Brooks.

[66] Though one of Macaulay's speeches (that against the exclusion of
the Master of the Rolls from the House of Commons) had the rare
honour of turning votes.

[67] "He said that this was the hardest battle of men he had entered,"