here is consid

ered a moral certainty. The enthusiasm is ungovernable; it has done us mischief in

causing the Sheriff to postpone the elec

tion; he was sincerely afraid of violence had he fixed Saturday-a great bore." On April 1st, Mr. Gladstone

wrote: "The enthusiasm keeps at boiling-point, and

our compu

Lord Rosebery wished Mr. Gladstone to have an opportunity of hearing Dr. Whyte, of Free St. George's, who shares with Dr. Macgregor, of St. Cuthbert's, the distinction of being the foremost preacher in Edinburgh. For the convenience of his guest the Earl had taken No. 120, George Street, as a town

tations are all to the good." It must not be forgotten that the nominal leaders of the Liberal party at this election were Earl Granville and Lord Hartington. Mr. Gladstone treated his former colleagues with generous consideration, recommending his son Herbert, who was standing for Middlesex, to "take opportunities of expressing loyalty" to them.

house. This

arrangement was useful on Sundays, for it

enabled Mr.

Gladstone to attend two and sometimes three services. On the first Sunday host and guest went

to Free St. George's, but Dr. Whyte was at North Berwick, and another minister preached to a disappointingly small congregation. On the second Sunday Mr. Gladstone

heard Dr. Macgregor preach from the text, "I am the light of the world." The congregation at St. Cuthbert's showed a natural, if rather unseemly, curiosity about the illustrious visitor, many standing up in the galleries to see him. A second visit to Free St. George's was made on April 4th, the day before the election. Dr. Whyte was lecturing on the life of David, and

when he gave out, as his text, the verse which tells that the Lord had put away Saul, and had chosen a man after His own heart, there were some eager politicians who applied the analogy to Lord Beaconsfield and Mr. Gladstone.

The tremendous exertions of Mr. Gladstone in this prolonged campaign -exertions incredible to all except those who heard his speeches or followed them in the newspapers-began to wear out even his iron strength, and in the second week Lord Rosebery persuaded him to take a short rest. His favourite amusement in these days of enforced idleness was tree-cutting and planting. Close to Dalmeny House there is a row of sycamores planted by Mr. Gladstone on one of his earlier visits.

Lord Rosebery was debarred by his position as a peer from taking a personal part in Mr. Gladstone's meetings, and as his health was not yet fully restored after his illness, he was rarely to be seen on public platforms. He made one short speech at the Glasgow University Gladstone Club, remarking that the issue of the forthcoming election. was the most solemn and tremendous which had occurred in the course of his life or in that of much older men. Imperial note was even then not wanting in his addresses. "When I say England, I mean not merely these two islands, I mean the great Empire throughout the world, of which we are as proud as the Tory party can possibly be."

The

At the banquet of the Scottish Liberal Club on March 31st, the Earl presided and read out in the course of the evening the electoral returns as they arrived by telegraph. There were cheers for

Lady Rosebery, to which he responded by claiming her as an earnest Liberal. "I am afraid,” he said, " that my wife is a little apt to go beyond the rules prescribed for the inanimate nature of peers in her sympathy with the Liberal party. Not that she canvasses or does anything wrong, but her wishes are so absolutely with the Liberal party that we shall all be the better for the rest of the week when she is acquainted with the results of this evening."

The election took place on Monday, April 5th, and resulted in a hard-won triumph for the Liberals. The Tory stronghold surrendered, but all the eloquence, the genius, the superhuman exertions of Mr. Gladstone secured him only a majority of 211 over his rival, the Earl of Dalkeith. No Liberal except Mr. Gladstone could possibly have won the seat. The fierceness of the struggle made the joy of victory all the keener. As soon as the result was known, George Street was thronged with excited multitudes. A strong barricade had been erected before No. 120, where Mr. Gladstone was spending the evening. As he sat at dinner with his host, he could hear the murmur of the many thousands who waited outside. They had come from every quarter of Edinburgh, from the fishing towns on the Forth, from inland farms, from villages among the Pentland Hills. It was estimated that no fewer than 12,000 persons thronged the wide and stately street. They were determined not to go without a word from the newly elected member. Half an hour passed and then the blinds were drawn up, and Mr. Gladstone stepped out on the balcony. Two candles were held on

either side of him, that the crowd might see his face. When the tumult of wild cheering had subsided, the hero of the day, in a few quiet sentences, thanked his supporters, and then, worn out with his protracted labours, retired within the house." No Midlothian man," said Lord Rosebery, "will ever spend a prouder night than this. It is a great night for Midlothian, a great night for Scotland, a great night for your county member, a great night for Britain,-aye, and a great night for the world." These words exactly expressed the feeling of the crowd. As the shouting died away, and the vast concourse dispersed, hundreds must have felt that for them life would henceforth possess a new interest and an added dignity. In Mr. Gladstone they had found a political hero whose career would always for the future have the importance of a personal relationship. His triumphs would cheer them, his disappointments depress their spirits. They would know what it meant to go to work in the morning encouraged, refreshed, by some word that Mr. Gladstone had spoken. Nothing that concerned him in his public or private capacity would be altogether indifferent to them. The dull old saying, "Measures, not men," influences the public only when there are no men who inspire enthusiasm.

Mr. Gladstone and Lord Rosebery were called at the time, "the father and son of the Scottish people." If the older folk idolized Mr. Gladstone, the rising generation-the students at the universities, the apprentices, all who in the natural course could look forward to fifty or sixty years of life-fixed their hopes and affections on Lord Rosebery.

Although the General Election resulted in a Liberal triumph, it was doubtful at first whether Mr. Gladstone would be Prime Minister. The whole Liberal party, the entire nation, wished him to hold the place which alone was worthy of his transcendent genius. "There is no real gladness in the victory," said Lord Rosebery, “if any other leader is to be given to the party." While the arrangements for the new Government were hanging in the balance, the newspapers indulged in a great deal of Cabinet-making. The Spectator suggested Lord Rosebery as Viceroy for Ireland. "He would make a court, often gloomy, brilliant and attractive." It never seems to have dawned on any one that he would not be offered an important place in the Government. "He is inevitable," said the Spectator, "if only for the immense services he has rendered in Scotland." A correspondent of the same paper, in constructing an imaginary Cabinet, put him at the head of the Local Government Board. Other writers proposed him as Viceroy for India, and as British Ambassador in Paris. It was finally announced that he had declined office on the ground that his connection with the Midlothian campaign might cause misapprehension. He did not wish it to be said that he had received payment for his services. The Times

made the following comment on his refusal: "Another Scottish peer has been invited to join the Government, but with rare modesty has declined that honour, as one too great for his present experience. As Lord Rosebery is the first to be asked to enter the Ministry who has not sat in a Liberal Ministry before, it is to be regretted that his honourable scruples should have led him to reject the proposal." There was some talk of his receiving a Marquisate, but this was the idlest newspaper gossip.

In 1881 Lord Rosebery accepted the post of Under-Secretary for the Home Department. Sir William Harcourt visited Scotland on October 25th, 1881, and his Under-Secretary accompanied him to a Liberal meeting in Glasgow. The freedom of the city was conferred on the Home Secretary, who in one of his speeches made grave allusion to "those two large volumes which I had the pleasure the other day of handing to Lord Rosebery, and which describe the functions of the Secretary of State for the Home Department." The Earl laughingly repudiated any intention of "following one of the masters of English eloquence," and said he had been brought there as "part of the furniture of the Home Office-and very dingy furniture it is." In another speech he described himself as "a backstairs Minister for Scotland," because solemn persons had hinted that in some mysterious way Scottish business would be facilitated under his régime. Many compliments passed between the elder and the younger statesman. Almost immediately afterwards, Lord Rosebery visited Dundee, and addressed a Liberal

audience in the Kinnaird Hall. At this meeting, as at many others, Mr. (now Sir Henry) Campbell-Bannerman was with him. There is no room in this brief biography for extracts from speeches, except when they bear directly on Lord Rosebery's career, but I may be permitted to quote one passage from his remarks at Dundee.

"Gentlemen, it is easy in the springtide of youth, when all is full of life and energy, to be attached to Liberal principles. The time of trial comes as age creeps on, and the pulse grows colder, and we become mere arm-chair politicians. I hope sincerely that, if I am spared for many years, it may be my fate not to be a backslider from this cause.”

Lord Rosebery was very busy in the autumn of 1881, and no attempt can be made here to follow him from platform to platform. In the course of a few weeks he spoke at Greenock, Manchester, and Hull, spending a night or two with Mr. Gladstone on his way north. In 1882 we find him more or less a "hermit" of the Home Office, escaping in the autumn for a visit to the Continent. In October he made a speech (again with "C-B.") at Ayr, and emphatically denied that he had ever in any way interfered with the election of Professor Blackie's successor in the Greek Chair at Edinburgh University. His chief effort during the autumn was his Rectorial address in the United Presbyterian Synod Hall, Edinburgh, when his subject was "Scottish Patriotism." This was the occasion to which Mr. Barrie alludes in his delightful little. volume, “An Edinburgh Eleven." "Scandalous Conduct of the Students" was

the heading in next morning's Scotsman. They had hustled Professor Butcher, interrupted the prayer, chaffed the new LL.D.'s, and behaved altogether so wildly that the chairman implored them to "give the Lord Rector a patient hearing, and desist from throwing pease." The difficulties were all at the beginning, for the address, as it proceeded, was a triumph. In the latter part almost every sentence was cheered. The students had brought the "Celtic chair" with them, and dangled it aloft at appropriate moments. Here we reach the incident which Mr. Barrie records "Raise your country,' cried the Lord Rector (cheers). 'Raise your university (cheers). Raise yourselves' (enthusiastic cheers). From the back of the hall came a solemn voice,' Raise the chair.' Up went the Celtic chair." The poor chair lost a leg during the proceedings.

By the end of 1882 there were four

little children in Lord Rosebery's nursery. The second daughter, Margaret Etrenne Hannah, arrived at The Durdans on New Year's Day, 1881. The heir was born at Lansdowne House, Berkeley Square, on January 8th, 1882. His christening at the Chapel Royal, St. James's, was the first important event of the season. Lady Lansdowne was his godmother; one of his godfathers was the Prince of Wales. To the home circle he has always been known as "Harry," although his full designation is Albert Edward Harry Meyer Rothschild. The Countess was not present at the baptism, but she presided the same evening over a large dinner-party, at which the Prince. of Wales and Mr. Gladstone were guests. The younger son, born at Dalmeny on December 14th, 1882, was named, after three Earls of Rosebery, Neil James Archibald. Professor Blackie attended his christening banquet, when the toast