persistence of some puissant machine.

He had, of course, like every statesman, often to traffic with
expediency, he had always, I suppose, to accept something less than his
ideal, but his unquenchable faith, not in himself--tho that with
experience must have waxed strong--not in himself but in his cause,
sustained him among the necessary shifts and transactions of the moment,
and kept his head high in the heavens.

Such faith, such moral conviction, is not given to all men, for the
treasures of his nature were in ingots, and not in dust. But there is,
perhaps, no man without some faith in some cause or some person; if so,
let him take heart, in however small a minority he may be, by
remembering how mighty a strength was Gladstone's power of faith.

His next great force lay in his industry. I do not know if the
aspersions of "ca' canny" be founded, but at any rate there was no "ca'
canny" about him. From his earliest school-days, if tradition be true,
to the bed of death, he gave his full time and energy to work. No doubt
his capacity for labor was unusual. He would sit up all night writing a
pamphlet, and work next day as usual. An eight-hours' day would have
been a holiday to him, for he preached and practised the gospel of work
to its fullest extent. He did not, indeed, disdain pleasure; no one
enjoyed physical exercise, or a good play, or a pleasant dinner, more
than he; he drank in deep draughts of the highest and the best that life
had to offer; but even in pastime he was never idle. He did not know
what it was to saunter, he debited himself with every minute of his
time; he combined with the highest intellectual powers the faculty of
utilizing them to the fullest extent by intense application. Moreover,
his industry was prodigious in result, for he was an extraordinarily