"The degrees of inscrutable wisdom are unknown to us; but if ever there
was a man for whose sake it was meet to indulge the kindly though frail
feelings of our nature--for whom the tear of sorrow was to us both
prompted by affection and dictated by duty--that man was
George Canning."
After Hallam, Selwyn and other contributors to the _Miscellany_ left
Eton, at midsummer, 1827, Mr. Gladstone still remained and became the
mainstay of the magazine. "Mr. Gladstone and I remained behind as its
main supporters," writes Sir Francis Doyle, "or rather it would be more
like the truth if I said that Mr. Gladstone supported the whole burden
upon his own shoulders. I was unpunctual and unmethodical, so were his
other vassals; and the '_Miscellany_' would have fallen to the ground
but for Mr. Gladstone's untiring energy, pertinacity and tact."
Although Mr. Gladstone labored in editorial work upon the _Miscellany_,
yet he took time to bestow attention upon his duties in the Eton
Society of the College, learnedly called "The Literati," and vulgarly
called "Pop," and took a leading part in the debates and in the private
business of the Society. The Eton Society of Gladstone's day was a
brilliant group of boys.
Pages:
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64