uttered as they
were in the morning, when night has yielded to the star of day, and at
evening, when day is, in turn, vanquished by night, our theory of the sun
Gladstone is confirmed beyond reach of cavil; indeed, the solar theory is
no longer a theory, but a generally recognized fact.

Evidence, which is bound to be confirmatory, reaches us from an altar and
from works of art. The one altar of Gladstone is by some explained as
the pedestal of his statue, while the anthropological sciolists regard it
simply as a milestone! In speaking to archaeologists it is hardly
necessary even to touch on this preposterous fallacy, sufficiently
confuted by the monument itself.

On the road into western England, between the old sites of Bristol and
London, excavations recently laid bare the very interesting monument
figured here.

[Sketch of monument: image1.jpg]

Though some letters or hieroglyphs are defaced, there can be no doubt
that the inscription is correctly read G. O. M. The explanation which I
have proposed (Zeitschrift fur Ang. Ant) is universally accepted by
scholars. I read Gladstonio Optimo Maximo, "To Gladstone, Best and
Greatest," a form of adoration, or adulation, which survived in England
(like municipal institutions, the game laws, and trial by jury) from the
date of the Roman occupation. It is a plausible conjecture that
Gladstone stepped into the shoes of Jupiter Optimus Maximus. Hence we
may regard him (like Osiris) as the sum of the monotheistic conception in
England.

This interpretation is so manifest, that, could science sneer, we might
laugh at the hazardous conjectures of smatterers. They, as usual, are
greatly divided among themselves. The Spencerian or Euhemeristic
school,--if that can be called a school

"Where blind and naked Ignorance
Delivers brawling judgments all day long
On all things, unashamed,"--

protests that the monument is a pedestal of a lost image of Gladstone.
The inscription (G. O. M.) is read "Grand Old Man," and it is actually
hinted that this was the petit nom, or endearing title, of a real
historical politician. Weak as we may think such reasonings, we must
regard them as, at least, less unscholarly than the hypothesis that the
inscription should be read

"90 M."

meaning "ninety miles from London." It is true that the site whence the
monument was excavated is at a distance of ninety miles from the ruins of
London, but that is a mere coincid