Mr. Gladstone's birthday must be a day of tribulation. The
• practice of pelting him with telegrams and letters of congratu- '' lation seems to us a very inhumane one, and not really expressive the hearty affection and reverence which these messages are, we suppose, intended to convey. Surely the time is not yet passed • when it seems most fitting for private people in general to keep their loyalty and admiration for public men to themselves till
some natural and fitting occasion occurs for expressing it. If Cr. every cordial emotion felt towards a public man is to be brought c3 at once under his notice by letter or telegraph, existence will
soon become such a burden that men of the highest ability will • shrink from publicity. There is an effeminate desire now-a-days to impart ever.' feeling of admiration and confidence to the N object of it, for which we can find no term of dislike that is too strong. The present age both shrinks too much from censure, and lavishes too much of praise,—and the want of modesty and reserve in the latter attitude of mind is almost more ominous than the want of courage in the former.
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