William Ewart Gladstone's enduring fame arises from his long and distinguished career in politics. He was prime minister four times (1868-1874; 1880-1885; 1886; and 1892-1894), and he, more than any other person, was responsible for the shaping of the late-Victorian Liberal party. But, although his public presence in the Victorian culture was primarily political in a direct sense, Gladstone was also an influential figure as a writer on an impressively wide range of topics.

Gladstone, fifth eldest of six siblings (four brothers and two sisters), was the son of John Gladstone, a wealthy Liverpool merchant, and his second wife, Anne Robertson Gladstone. The elder Gladstone had considerable ambitions for his son who was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, culminating an academic career of rare promise with Firsts in Literae Humaniores and Mathematics in 1831. While at Oxford Gladstone displayed, in equal proportions, an aptitude for classical studies, a...