Author: Wilfrid Ward

Publisher:

Published: 2015-07-20

Total Pages: 442

ISBN-13: 9781331839934

Excerpt from The Dublin Review, Vol. 152 When the generation to which the present writer belongs was in its youth there was a little book of caricature of Gladstone and Disraeli which was very popular. One picture depicted the House of Commons. On one side of the table stood Mr Gladstone, fire flashing from his eyes, as with angry and threatening gesticulation he denounced his chief opponent. The hawk-like face added to the destructive suggestion of his attitude, while the movement of his arm was almost physically menacing. At the other side of the table, impassive, apparently half asleep, with an amused sneer on the face and his hat somewhat drawn over his eyes, sat Mr Disraeli. Beneath the picture was written an extract from one of his speeches, which ran nearly as follows: "The right honourable gentleman sometimes addresses us in such a tone and with such a manner as to make me sincerely thankful that a very substantial piece of mahogany stands in this House between him and myself." The contrast between these two men was a never failing drama before the public eye. The heated earnestness of the one, the cool sarcasm of the other; the unctuousness of the one, the cynicism of the other; what critics regarded as an undue parade of religious principle in Gladstone, and the entirely secular ideals of his rival - who, nevertheless, liked a Cardinal, and avowed himself to be "on the side of the angels" - this contrast was unfailing and constantly found fresh occasions for its display. Gladstone's dislike of Disraeli was largely the censure passed by a man of high principle on one whom he regarded as without principle and flippant. Disraeli treated Gladstone as a solemn person of appalling energy, with perhaps a suspicion of Pecksniff about him, who was apt to get very excited; or, as he once described him, as a "sophistical rhetorician inebriated by the exuberance of his own verbosity, and gifted with an egotistical imagination." The two antagonists used to recall Pickwick and Jingle. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.