last of the great school of Everett, Sumner, and Phillips.

His art of speaking had an enduring charm, and he completely satisfied
the taste for pure and dignified speech. His voice was of silvery
clearness, which carried to the furthermost part of the largest hall.


_Gladstone_

Gladstone was an orator of preeminent power. In fertility of thought,
spontaneity of expression, modulation of voice, and grace of gesture, he
has had few equals. He always spoke from a deep sense of duty. When he
began a sentence you could not always foresee how he would end it, but
he always succeeded. He had an extraordinary wealth of words and command
of the English language.

Gladstone has been described as having eagerness, self-control, mastery
of words, gentle persuasiveness, prodigious activity, capacity for work,
extreme seriousness, range of experience, constructive power, mastery of
detail, and deep concentration. "So vast and so well ordered was the
arsenal of his mind, that he could both instruct and persuade, stimulate
his friends and demolish his opponents, and do all these things at an
hour's notice."

He was essentially a devout man, and unquestionably his spiritual
character was the fundamental secret of his transcendent power. A keen
observer thus describes him:

"While this great and famous figure was in the House of Commons, the
House had eyes for no other person. His movements on the bench, restless