Lord Granville has disclosed the secret of his delicate tact
and his conciliatory powers. He has.discoursed this" week at Dover. on the power of music, and though he tells us that in his childhood the stern spirit of the age refused to allow him to "learn =laic," he is plainly a person to whom harmony is more natural than dis- cord. The lightness of Lord Granville's touch is very enviable. He ingeniously pivoted his- speech upon his official character of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. He was unable, he confessed, to tell the people of Dover what their first Lord Warden, Horse; had thought about music, but Henry VIII., in his princely-days, had fostered the art so generously, that England in that time was far in advance of any other European nation, except Italy, as a musical country. Against Mr, Pitt's indifference to "sweet strains" might be set the Duke of Wellington's patronage, "either from a- love of science, or from his stern sense of duty, of the only insti- tution which then encouraged musical studies." But Lord Gran- ville was able to cite a more interesting example of devotion to music than Horse, Bluff Hal, or the Great Duke. "From personal and pleasurable experience," he could affirm "that Mr. Gladstone had one of the finest musical voices he had ever heard." It is pleasant to be informed that Mr. Gladstone "continues to sing to this day." Neither exclusion from office nor his dismal polemical adventures have weakened his vocal organs.
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