characters. It is a great
privilege to be permitted to come in contact with living men of the
type of Gordon, but that privilege is only for the few. As the great
majority of our fellow-creatures are denied it, the next best thing for
them is to be able to read about these heroes, and thus endeavour to
catch their spirit. Some are inclined to sneer at biographies, and to
say that, speaking generally, they set forward only the good part of
the character of their subjects, omitting all that is faulty. To a
certain extent this is undoubtedly true, owing to the very nature of
things; but, on the other hand, it must be remembered that it is only
the good that we are to follow, and therefore it is useless to direct
attention to a man's failings.

There have been few men who have attained to eminence whose inner life
could be closely investigated and betray so few faults as did Gordon's.
The late Sir Stafford Northcote (afterwards Lord Iddesleigh), leader of
the Conservative Opposition in the House of Commons at the time of
Gordon's death, only expressed the literal truth when he said: "General
Gordon was a hero, and permit me to say he was still more--he was a
hero among heroes. For there have been men who have obtained and
deserved the praise of heroism whose heroism was manifested on the
field of battle or in other conflicts, and who, when examined in the
tenor of their personal lives, were not altogether blameless; but if
you take the case of this man, pursue him into privacy, investigate his
heart and his mind, you will find that he proposed to himself not any
ideal of wealth and power, or even fame, but to do good was the object
he proposed to himself in his whole life, and on that one object it was
his one desire to spend his existence."

But though Gordon's inner life was so thoroughly open to investigation,
there was something about him that made him very human. He had his full
share of faults, and a quickness of temper which manifested itself
unmistakably on occasions. He had also that kind of hasty impatience to
which men are liable who are themselves quick at taking in ideas, or
seeing how a thing should be done, when they are brought into contact
with others of a slower temperament. He was painfully conscious of his
own defects, and judged them far more severely than other people would
do.

What made him so really great was the happy combination of so many
virtues with a corresponding absence of ordinary defect