many respects remarkable.

In some ways he was an ideal candidate. He was very tall, with a
fair complexion and a singular nobility of feature and bearing.
To the most casual observer it was palpable that he walked the
world

"With conscious step of purity and pride."

People interested in heredity tried to trace in him some resemblance
to his famous grandfather; but, alike in appearance and in character,
the two were utterly dissimilar. In only one respect they resembled
each other, and that was the highest. Both were earnest and practical
Christians, walking by a faith which no doubts ever disturbed,
and serving God in the spirit and by the methods of the English
Church. And here we see alike Will Gladstone's qualifications and
his drawbacks as a candidate for a Scottish constituency. His name
and his political convictions commended him to the electors; his
ecclesiastial opinions they could not share. His uprightness of
character and nobility of aspect commanded respect; his innate
dislike of popularity-hunting and men-pleasing made him seem for so
young a man--he was only twenty-seven--austere and aloof. Everyone
could feel the intensity of his convictions on the points on which
he had made up his mind; some were unreasonably distressed when
he gave expression to that intensity by speech and vote. He was
chosen to second the Address at the opening of the Session of 1912,
and acquitted himself, as always, creditably; but it was in the
debates on the Welsh Disestablishment Bill that he first definitely
made his mark. "He strongly supported the principle, holding that it
had been fully justified by the results of the Irish Disestablishment
Act on the Irish Church. But, as in that case, generosity should
characterize legislation; disendowment should be clearly limited to
tithes. Accordingly, in Committee, he took an independent course.
His chief speech on this subject captivated the House. For a very
young Member to oppose his own party without causing irritation,
and to receive the cheers of the Opposition without being led to
seek in them solace for the silence of his own side, and to win
general admiration by transparent sincerity and clear, balanced
statement of reason, was a rare and notable performance."

When Will Gladstone struck twenty-nine, there were few young men in
England who occupied a more enviable position. He had a beautiful
home; sufficient, but not overwhelming, wealth; a property which
gave