11 JUNE 1898, Page 16

ANOTHER SIDE OF MR. GLADSTONE.

[TO THE EDITOR OF TH2 "Semor•Tolt."] SIR,—In your interesting article on another side of Mr, Gladstone's powerful character in the Spectator of June 4th, you say that, "though willing enough to hear the other side, and eager to investigate all facts submitted to him, when hin mind was made up, he had a certain disdain for argument,. and did not appreciate rival authority, perhaps as great as his own, at its full value." I well remember how, among other peculiarities, this imperviousness of his mind, or rather his habit of guarding his independence, and reaching conclu- sions by processes of his own, was touched upon at Professor Huxley's dinner-table some twenty years ago. Dean Stanley, who was among the guests, amused us not a little by saying, "In the course of my life I have had many arguments with Gladstone, but only once have I succeeded in convincing him, of anything. After a long tussle, I got him to admit that ' reliable ' was a barbarous, ungrammatical adjective, and he- undertook never to use it again."—I am, Sir, Ste., 5 Abbey Road, N.W., June 4th. B.,. DUCKWORTH-