

GLADSTONE, WILLIAM EWART. 



303 



College, $50,000. See GIFTS AND BEQUESTS in "An- 

 nual Cyclopaedia" for 1897. 



Williams, Augusta M., Boston, bequest to Ho- 

 bart College, Geneva, N. Y., $6,000. 



Williams College, Williamstown, Mass., gift to 

 library fund in memory of Josiah W. Wheeler, of 

 New York, $5,000. 



Winants, Mrs. Amanda E., Bayonne, N. J., gift 

 to the Bayonne Hospital and Dispensary, $10,000. 



Winchester, Henry K., Marlboro, Mass., be- 

 quests to Unity Church, Santa Barbara, Cal., $5,000 ; 

 to other institutions, $12,000. 



Wood, Henry, Boston, Mass., gift to the town of 

 Barre, a high-school building, supplementing gifts 

 of the public library, a chapel, and a society build- 

 ing. 



Wood, Samuel, Northboro, Mass., bequests to 

 local institutions, $5,000. 



Woodward, Mrs. Sarah, Saratoga, Cal., gift to 

 the American University, at Washington, D. C., 

 property in Seattle, Wash., valued at more than 

 $150,000. 



Wright, Charles B., Philadelphia, Pa., bequest 

 to the Anna Wright Seminary, Tacoma, Wash., for 

 maintenance or rebuilding, $50,000. 



Yale University, New Haven, Students of, gift 

 to the United States Government for the auxiliary 

 cruiser " Yale," two rapid-fire Maxim guns and a 

 full set of ship's colors, cost $6,000, for which more 

 than $10,000 was subscribed ; Young Men's Chris- 

 tian Association of, gift to the university, a new 

 mission building, cost $6,000. 



GLADSTONE, WILLIAM EWART, an English 

 statesman, author, orator, and scholar, born in Rod- 

 ney Street, Liverpool, Dec. 29, 1809 ; died at Hawar- 

 den Castle, Flintshire, North Wales, May 19, 1898. 

 Although English by birth, he was both on his fa- 

 ther's and on his mother's side of pure Scottish blood 

 his father being Lowland Scotch, his mother of High- 

 land descent. Gladstone himself said, " I am purely 

 and absolutely Scotch in every drop of my veins." 

 The original members of the family were of knightly 

 rank, but the holder of the estate in the early 

 eighteenth century, from the impoverishment of 

 the land and other causes, was driven into trade. 

 The last of the Gledstanes was a maltster at Perth. 

 Mr. Gladstone's grandfather was a corn merchant 

 at Leith, and his son, John Gladstone (the father of 

 William Ewart Gladstone), became clerk to a Liver- 

 pool merchant, and ultimately became himself a 

 millionaire merchant. He acquired vast estates in 

 Demerara. cultivated by slave labor. Grown rich 

 and influential, John Gladstone (now Sir John), be- 

 came deeply interested in political life, and for 

 several years held a seat in Parliament, where he 

 was an ardent supporter of Canning. On one occa- 

 sion, when Ewart Gladstone was only three years 

 old. Canning made an. election speech from the 

 window of John Gladstone's house, and the noisy 

 enthusiasm of the crowd greatly impressed the boy. 

 John Gladstone was stern and inflexible, but had a 

 keen perception and acute business instincts. He 

 encouraged his sons to practice the art of debate. 

 Nothing was taken for granted between John Glad- 

 stone and his sons ; all discussions were in perfect 

 good humor, but proof of everything was required. 

 The future Prime Minister was the third son of 

 John Gladstone. His mother was a daughter of 

 Provost Robertson, of Dingwall, and was notable 

 for her sweetness of disposition. She cultivated 

 with assiduous care the already deep religious im- 

 pressions that were implanted in the early life of 

 the statesman. 



Young Gladstone began his education by a course 

 of private instruction at the vicarage of "Seaforth, 

 adjacent to his home. Here one of his fellow-pu- 

 pils was Stanley, afterward Dean Stanley, and a 



warm friendship grew up between the two boys, 

 which continued until the end of Stanley's life. At 

 the age of eleven Gladstone was sent to Eton, the 

 preparatory school for Oxford University. The 

 Eton student life of that time must have given a 

 rude shock to the tender susceptibilities of a youth 

 brought up as Gladstone had been, for the older 

 pupils, reflecting the example of the social spirit of 

 the time, engaged in horse racing, betting, cock- 

 fighting, prize fighting, and drinking, on which a 

 corrupt and profligate court and monarch had 

 falsely stamped the seal of good breeding. Even 

 the tutors were not exempt from the insidious in- 

 fection, and we learn that the tutor of Gladstone 

 was addicted to excessive drinking and gambling. 

 Eton had also an unenviable reputation for flogging, 

 and one of the masters, Dr. John Keate, proudly 

 boasted that he had " flogged the whole bench of 

 bishops." Of young Gladstone at this period we 

 are told that he was a good-looking, rather delicate 

 youth, not much given to the athletic sports in 

 vogue, and only occasionally participating in cricket, 

 hockey, and sculling. He was not really delicate, 

 but on the contrary was robust, and the natural 

 pallor of his face made all the more conspicuous 

 and impressive the marvelous brilliance of his dark 

 eyes. Gladstone had a fine presence, a lofty fore- 

 head, and luxurious black hair. Sir Roderick 

 Murchison said he was " the prettiest boy that 

 ever went to Eton." Gladstone, thanks to his home 

 training, remained unaffected by his surroundings. 

 He was untiring in application to his studies, and 

 acquired considerable classical knowledge. He con- 

 tracted at Eton some happy and life-long friend- 

 ships. Arthur Henry Hallam, whose untimely 

 death stirred Tennyson's soul to the production of 

 " In Memoriam," with Selwyn, afterward elected 

 bishop, and Kinglake, author of "The Crimean 

 War, were contemporaries and close friends of his 

 at Eton. He joined the Eton Society and intro- 

 duced Kinglake to that assembly of aristocratic 

 young Tories. Current politics were forbidden, but 

 political opinion disclosed itself under the thin 

 drapery of historic or academic questions. Glad- 

 stone, during the latter part of his six years' stay at 

 Eton, took an active part in the editorship of the 

 " Eton Miscellany," and was one of the most pro- 

 lific contributors. After leaving Eton, where he 

 attained a high reputation, he studied for some 

 time under a private tutor, and on Oct. 28, 1828, 

 was entered and went into residence at Christ 

 Church, Oxford. Christ Church was, and is, the 

 most exclusive and select of all the Oxford colleges. 

 It used to be the custom for sons of princely and 

 ducal houses at this college to wear a distinctive 

 " tuft " in their college caps, and as the society of 

 these students was greatly sought, the word " tuft- 

 hunter" has passed into the language as indicating 

 a man who toadies to rank or wealth. The choice 

 of Christ Church was an ambitious one, but John 

 Gladstone had confidence in his son's ability, and, 

 though parsimonious, he gave his son a liberal col- 

 lege allowance. The choice was also prophetic, for, 

 not including Mr. Gladstone himself, Christ Church 

 College has turned out six prime ministers Lord 

 Liverpool, George Canning, Sir Robert Peel, Lord 

 Derby, and Lords Salisbury and Rosebery. The 

 life of Mr. Gladstone at Oxford was very much on 

 the same lines as at Eton constant study, wide 

 reading, and a keen interest in college matters, its 

 advanced thought and higher life. 



During his second term at Oxford he was elected 

 to the Oxford Union Debating Society, and a speech 

 at one of these gatherings made by Gladstone and 

 heard by Lord Lincoln, a college "friend, and re- 

 peated later by Lord Lincoln to his father, the 

 Duke of Newcastle, convinced the duke that Glad- 



