200 Later Years 



VII 



However, I was by no means the one and only- 

 cause of the rousing of wrath. In so doing I was, 

 at my best, far inferior to Mr. Gladstone, or any 

 Roman Catholic priest : seen even distantly on the 

 horizon, these were as a red rag to a bull. The 

 sight of printed reports of Mr. Gladstone's obser- 

 vations, or of a priestly form, would rouse George 

 Kingsley from any depths of study or contemplation 

 into a very pretty temper ; and I, as a child, used to 

 wonder why such things as priests and politicians 

 were permitted to exist, such a nuisance were they 

 both to our household calm. For example, in those 

 days, for some obscure reason, we used to take in 

 the Daily Telegraph; and the Daily TelegrapJi, for 

 some obscure reason, then used to approve of 

 Mr. Gladstone. The consequences were that when 

 a report of a speech by Mr. Gladstone was in the 

 paper and my father was at home to read it, that 

 paper was, according to the season of the year, either 

 torn to shreds and thrown into my willow shavings, 

 or thrust bodily into the fire, whereby we were 

 deprived for that day of the pleasure of reading the 

 police reports and such like amusement. Indeed, 

 such a grave nuisance did the Daily TelegrapJCs 

 Gladstonian leanings become that we resolved to 

 take in another paper, and chose TJie Standard, an 

 anti-Gladstonian. We soon found out our mistake. 

 That admirable paper merely made my father worse, 

 for it frothed up his rage and gave him definite extra 

 reasons to go on ; so we returned to the Telegraph, 



