collegers of recent years have done very fair work and carried off many
distinctions at Cambridge. With all these odds against them, and these
difficulties to surmount, yet there were Eton boys whose attainments
were deep and solid, and who became famous men, and one of these was
William E. Gladstone.

When young Gladstone entered Eton his brothers, Thomas and Robertson
Gladstone, were already there, and the three boys boarded at Mrs.
Shurey's, whose house "at the south end of the broad walk in front of
the schools and facing the chapel," was rather nearer the famous
"Christopher Inn" than would be thought desirable nowadays. On the wall
opposite the house the name of "Gladstone" is carved. Thomas Gladstone
was in the fifth form, and William was placed in the middle remove of
the fourth form, and became his eldest brother's "fag." This doubtlessly
saved him much annoyance and suffering, and allowed him better to
pursue the studious bent of his indications.

William E. Gladstone was what Etonians called a "sap"--in other words, a
student faithful in the discharge of every duty devolving upon him at
school--one who studied his lessons and was prepared for his recitations
in the classroom. This agreeable fact has been immortalized in a famous
line in Lord Lytton's "New Timon." He worked hard at his classical
studies, as required by the rules of the school, and applied himself
diligently to the study of mathematics during the holidays.

It is said that his interest in the work of the school was first aroused
by Mr. Hawtrey, who afterwards became Head-Master, who commended some of
his Latin verses, and "sent him up for good." This led the young man to
associate intellectual work with the ideas of ambition and success.
While he did not seem to be especially an apt scholar in the restricted