MR. GLADSTONE AND MR. BROWNING.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.']
SIR,—In a letter to the Spectator of November 26th, Canon MacColl has impugned my statement that Mr. Gladstone applied the words, "I call it devilish," to an alleged act of duplicity on the part of Disraeli. The following sentence occurs in a letter which I received to-day from my informant, who is an eminent scholar and schoolmaster : " You told the tale as I told it you, that is, as I heard Browning tell it." I hope that I am not guilty of indiscretion if I add that Mr. George Russell has kindly informed me that he had the incident direct from Browning. How the strange discrepancy arose passes my comprehension, and is not now my concern. What I am concerned with is to show that the anecdote rests on the authority which I claimed for it.—I am, Sir, &c., LIONEL A. TOLLEMACHE.
Hotel d'Angleterre, Biarritz, November 29th.
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