What a singular destiny has been that of this remarkable man!  To be regarded in his own age as a classic, and in ours as a companion.  To receive from his contemporaries that full homage which men of genius have in general received from posterity!  To be more intimately known to posterity than other men are known to their contemporaries!  That kind of fame which is commonly the most transient is, in his case, the most durable.  The reputation of those writings, which he probably expected to be immortal, is every day fading; while those peculiarities of manner and that careless table-talk the memory of which, he probably thought, would die with him, are likely to be remembered as long as the English language is spoken in any quarter of the globe.

ON W. E. GLADSTONE

[From The Edinburgh Review, April, 1839]

The State in its Relations with the Church.  By W. E. GLADSTONE, Esq., Student of Christ Church, and M.P. for Newark. 8vo.  Second Edition.  London, 1839.

The author of this volume is a young man of unblemished character, and of distinguished parliamentary talents, the rising hope of those stern and unbending Tories who follow, reluctantly and mutinously, a leader whose experience and eloquence are indispensable to them, but whose cautious temper and moderate opinions they abhor.  It would not be at all strange if Mr. Gladstone were one of the most unpopular men in England.  But we believe that we do him no more than justice when we say that his abilities and his demeanour have obtained for him the respect and good will of all parties.  His first appearance in the character of an author is therefore an interesting event; and it is natural that the gentle wishes of the public should go with him to his trial.

We are much pleased, without any reference to the soundness or unsoundness of Mr. Gladstone’s theories, to see a grave and elaborate treatise on an important part of the Philosophy of Government proceed from the pen of a young man who is rising to eminence in the House of Commons.  There is little danger that people engaged in the conflicts of active life will be too much addicted to general speculation.  The opposite vice is that which most easily besets them.  The times and tides of business and debate tarry for no man.  A politician must often talk and act before he has thought and read.  He may be very ill informed respecting a question; all his notions about it may be vague and inaccurate; but speak he must; and if he is a man of ability, of tact, and of intrepidity, he soon finds that, even under such circumstances, it is possible to speak successfully.  He finds that there is a great difference between the effect of written words, which are perused and reperused in the stillness of the closet, and the effect of spoken words which, set off by the graces of utterance and gesture, vibrate for a single moment on the ear.