Carlton-House Terrace is in many respects the most delightful situation in London, for, whilst extremely central, it is very quiet.  It stands between Pall Mall and St. James’s Park.  One side faces a strip of beautifully kept garden, which lies between the terrace and the row of palaces formed by the Senior United Service, Athenaeum, Travelers’ and Carlton Clubs.  The other side has a charming prospect over St. James’s Park.  In summer this is really lovely, for all ugly objects are obscured by the foliage, amid which glimpses are obtained of the pinnacles and fretted towers of the palace of Parliament on the one hand, and those of its venerable neighbor, the majestic abbey, on the other.  It was here that Bunsen passed his London days, and the reader of his memoirs will remember frequent references to the charms of his house.  It may well be imagined how great a boon it is to the toil-worn minister to find himself, as it were, in a garden, with only the distant roar, like that of the sea, to remind him as he sits in his study that five minutes walk across that pleasant park will bring him to Downing street, and three more to the Treasury bench in the House of Commons.

In the country most of his time is spent at Hawarden Castle in Flintshire, about six hours from London.  This is the ancestral seat of Mrs. Gladstone’s brother, Sir Stephen Glynne, lord lieutenant of the county, whose family have held this property for centuries.  Sir Stephen is a very shy man of retired habits.  By a family arrangement his house is the country abode of his sister and brother-in-law.

In earlier life, Sir Stephen and his two brothers-in-law, Mr. Gladstone and Lord Lyttelton, formed an unfortunately favorable estimate of certain mines, into which much of the fortune of Sir Stephen and his sisters went, and from which it never came out again.  There was one other brother, the late rector of Hawarden.  He died about a year ago, and Mr. Gladstone’s second son, Stephen, was appointed his successor.  The living, in the gift of Sir Stephen, is very valuable.  Mr. Glynne, the clergyman, died without a son, and the title will therefore on Sir Stephen’s death be extinct.  As matters now stand, it may be presumed that Mr. W.H.  Gladstone, the prime minister’s eldest son, will succeed to the Hawarden estates.

Mr. Gladstone has himself recently increased the family interest around Hawarden by purchase.  About five years ago the state of his finances were the talk of the town, and a number of people, especially of the Conservative party, avowed themselves in a position to assert from personal knowledge that he was ruined.  There was no just ground for such a statement, and like so many other absurd rumors it died out.  None of Mr. Gladstone’s daughters are married, nor is his eldest son.

WHITSUNTIDE AMONG THE MENNISTS.