e
criticism, till in 1872 he was able to liken the great Liberal,
Government to "a range of exhausted volcanoes," and to say of its
eminent leader that he "alternated between a menace and a sigh." In
1873 Gladstone introduced a wholly unworkable Bill for the reform
of University education in Ireland. It pleased no one, and was
defeated on the Second Reading. Gladstone resigned. The Queen sent
for Disraeli; but Disraeli declined to repeat the experiment of
governing the country without a majority in the House of Commons,
and Gladstone was forced to resume office, though, of course, with
immensely diminished authority. His Cabinet was all at sixes and
sevens. There were resignations and rumours of resignation. He
took the Chancellorship of the Exchequer, and, as some authorities
contended, vacated his seat by doing so. Election after election
went wrong, and the end was visibly at hand.

At the beginning of 1874 Gladstone, confined to his house by a
cold, executed a _coup d'etat_. He announced the Dissolution of
Parliament, and promised, if his lease of power were renewed, to
repeal the income-tax. _The Times_ observed: "The Prime Minister
descends upon Greenwich" (where he had taken refuge after being
expelled from South Lancashire) "amid a shower of gold, and must
needs prove as irresistible as the Father of the Gods." But this
was too sanguine a forecast. Greenwich, which returned two members,
placed Gladstone second on the poll, below a local distiller, while
his followers were blown out of their seats like chaff before the
wind. When the General Election was over, the Tories had a majority
of forty-six. Gladstone, after some hesitation, resigned without
waiting to meet a hostile Parliament. Disraeli became Prime Minister
for the second time; and in addressing the new House of Commons
he paid a generous compliment to his great antagonist. "If," he
said, "I had been a follower of a Parliamentary chief so eminent,
even if I thought he had erred, I should have been disposed rather
to exhibit sympathy than to offer criticism. I should remember the
great victories which he had fought and won; I should remember
his illustrious career; its continuous success and splendour, not
its accidental or even disastrous mistakes."

The roost loyal Gladstonian cannot improve upon that tribute, and
Gladstone's greatest day was yet to come.

VI

_LORD SALISBURY_

This set of sketches is not intended for a continuous narrati