I.TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.")
SIR,—The writer of the interesting appreciation of the Duke of Devonshire's Life in the Spectator for Novem- ber 12th speaks of Mr. Forster as having been "forced to stand aside from the vacancy created by Mr. Gladstone's temporary retirement," "owing to the bitter perverseness of a section of Radical Nonconformists." In writing thus he forgets to reckon Whig prejudices, which were of an entirely different character. I perfectly remember teasing Mr. (after- wards Sir W.) Harcourt, who was also in the running, by saying : "Mr. Forster will be the beat man; don't you think so ? " and getting the reply, given with thundering emphasis : "Would you wish us to be led by a man who couldn't con- strue a chorus of the Agamemnon ?" —I am, Sir, &cr., F. DAIISTINI CREMER, The Vicarage, Eccles, Manchester.
Previous page
