Lord Salisbury had
more than once spoken discourteously of him. In 1890 he remarked to me
_apropos_ of some attack, "I have never felt angry at what Salisbury
has said about me. His mother was very kind to me when I was quite a
young man, and I remember Salisbury as a little fellow in a red frock
rolling about on the ottoman."

That his temper was naturally hot, no one who looked at him could
doubt. But he had it in such tight control, and it was so free from
anything acrid or malignant, that it had become a good temper, worthy
of a fine nature. However vehement his expressions, they did not wound
or humiliate, and those younger men who had to deal with him were not
afraid of a sharp answer or an impatient repulse. He was cast in too
large a mould to have the pettiness of ruffled vanity or to abuse his
predominance by treating any one as an inferior. His manners were the
manners of the old time, easy but stately. Like his oratory, they
were in what Matthew Arnold used to call the grand style; and the
contrast in this respect between him and some of those who crossed
swords with him in literary or theological controversy was apparent.
His intellectual generosity was a part of the same largeness of
nature. He cordially acknowledged his indebtedness to those who helped
him in any piece of work, received their suggestions candidly, even
when opposed to his own preconceived notions, did not hesitate to
confess a mistake. Those who know the abundance of their resources,
and have conquered fame, can doubtless afford to be generous. Julius
Caesar was, and George Washington, and so, in a different sphere, were
Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin. But the instances to the contrary are
so numerous that one may say of magnanimity that it is among the
rarest as well as the finest ornaments of character.

The essential dignity of Mr. Gladstone's nature was never better seen
than during the last few years of his life, after he had finally
retired (in 1894) from public life. He indulged in no vain regrets,
nor was there any foundation for the rumours, so often circulated,
that he thought of re-entering the arena of strife. He spoke with no
bitterness of those who had opposed, and sometimes foiled, him in the
past. He gave vent to no criticisms of those who from time to time
filled the place that had been his in the government of the country or
the leadership of his party. Although his opinion on current questions
was frequently solicited