In St. Paul’s Cathedral he lies in effigy, and engraven upon the cenotaph can be seen the most splendid epitaph in the world.

His true greatness has been recorded by Sir William Butler in resounding and glorious English; and his last great act of stainless nobility has received a deathless tribute.

Your loving old,
G.P.

32

MY DEAR ANTONY,

I have now come down, at last, to a great writer of English prose who is still with us.

Lord Morley at the present day is, I think, universally recognised as the greatest living man of letters in the British Empire; he has crowned a long record of distinguished literary achievement with his Life of Gladstone, which has taken its place among the noblest biographies of the world, where it is destined to remain into the far future acclaimed as a masterpiece.  In his description of the veteran statesman launching in the House of Commons his great project of Home Rule for Ireland, he has surprised himself out of his own reserve, and painted the scene for succeeding generations in colours that can never die:—­

“No such scene has ever been beheld in the House of Commons.  Members came down at break of day to secure their places; before noon every seat was marked, and crowded benches were even arrayed on the floor of the House from the Mace to the Bar.  Princes, ambassadors, great peers, high prelates, thronged the lobbies.  The fame of the orator, the boldness of his exploit, curiosity as to the plan, poignant anxiety as to the party result, wonder whether a wizard had at last actually arisen with a spell for casting out the baleful spirits that had for so many ages made Ireland our torment and our dishonour—­all these things brought together such an assemblage as no minister before had ever addressed within those world-renowned walls.

“The Parliament was new.  Many of its members had fought a hard battle for their seats, and trusted they were safe in the haven for half a dozen good years to come.  Those who were moved by professional ambition, those whose object was social advancement, those who thought only of upright public service, the keen party of men, the men who aspire to office, the men with a past and the men who looked for a future, all alike found themselves adrift on dark and troubled waters.  The secrets of the Bill had been well kept.  To-day the disquieted host were first to learn what was the great project to which they would have to say that Aye or No on which for them and for the State so much would hang.

“Of the chief comrades or rivals of the minister’s own generation, the strong administrators, the eager and accomplished debaters, the sagacious leaders, the only survivor now comparable to him, in eloquence or in influence, was Mr. Bright.  That illustrious man seldom came into the House in those distracted days; and on this