t the cabinet is the operative part of
the privy council, that the privy councillor's oath is applicable to its
proceedings, that this is a very high obligation, and that no one can
dispense with it except the Queen. I may add that I believe no one is
entitled even to make a note of the proceedings except the prime minister,
who has to report its proceedings on every occasion of its meeting to the
Queen, and who must by a few scraps assist his memory."

By the end of the session, although its labours had not (M43) been on the
level of either 1881 or 1882, Mr. Gladstone was somewhat strained. On Aug.
22 he writes to Mrs. Gladstone at Hawarden: "Yesterday at 41/2 I entered the
House hoping to get out soon and write you a letter, when the Speaker told
me Northcote was going to raise a debate on the Appropriation bill, and I
had to wait, listen, and then to speak for more than an hour, which tired
me a good deal, finding me weak after sitting till 2.30 the night before,
and a long cabinet in the interval. Rough work for 73!"

II

In September he took a holiday in a shape that, though he was no hearty
sailor, was always a pleasure and a relief to him. Three letters to the
Queen tell the story, and give a glimpse of court punctilio:--

_On the North Sea, Sept. 15. Posted at Copenhagen, Sept. 16,
1883._--Mr. Gladstone presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and
has to offer his humble apology for not having sought from your
Majesty the usual gracious permission before setting foot on a
foreign shore. He embarked on the 8th in a steamer of the Castles
Company under the auspices of Sir Donald Currie, with no more
ambitious expectation than that of a cruise among the Western
Isles. But the extraordinary solidity, so to call it, of a very
fine ship (the _Pembroke Castle_, 4000 tons, 410 feet long) on the
water, rendering her in no small degree independent of weather,
encouraged his fellow-voyagers, and even himself, though a most
indifferent sailor, to extend their views, and the vessel is now
on the North Sea running over to Christiansand in Norway, from
whence it is proposed to go to Copenhagen, with the expectation,
however, of again touching British soil in the middle of next
week. Mr. Gladstone humbly trusts that, under these circumstances,
his omission may be excused.

Mr. Tennyson, who is one of the party, is an excellent sailor, and