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 each other in the holidays, and even keeping such division lists as they could get hold of. Gladstone began early to use both his tongue and his pen. He spoke frequently in 'Pop,' the school debating society, where current politics were forbidden, although historical subjects and abstract questions afforded ample scope for eloquence. Gladstone's first speech was delivered on 15 Oct. 1825, when he supported the modest proposition that education was 'on the whole' good for the poor. He edited the 'Eton Miscellany.' which lasted from June to December 1827. After George Canning's death in August 1827, Gladstone wrote a fervent eulogy of him there, the first of his many tributes to that statesman. Gladstone, as he told the House of Commons in 1866, 'was brought up under the shadow of the great name of Mr. Canning.' His father had induced Canning to stand for Liverpool in 1812, and the crowd at that election was the first thing Gladstone could remember. When he went from Eton to Oxford he was a Canningite in politics, and a Canningite in foreign politics he always remained.

Gladstone left Eton at Christmas 1827, and read for six months with a private tutor, Mr. Turner (afterwards Bishop Turner of Calcutta). In October 1828 he went into residence at Christ Church, Oxford, of which he was nominated a student in 1829. Dr. Samuel Smith and afterwards Dr. Gaisford were deans in his undergraduate days. Among his fellow-students were Charles Canning, Lord Lincoln (afterwards fifth duke of Newcastle), Henry George Liddell (afterwards Dean), Sir Francis Doyle, and Sir [q.v. Suppl.] For the greater part of his time Gladstone 'kept' in Peckwater near Canterbury Gate. He read hard, was abstemious in the use of wine, and maintained in every respect the high character he had gained at Eton. His college tutor was the Rev. Robert Brisco; but he read classics privately with [q. v.] His only exercise was walking. At Oxford, as well as through life, he was extremely and, as men of the world thought, ostentatiously religious. He founded an essay society which was called after him the ' W. E. G.' He was secretary and then president of the Oxford Union in Michaelmas term 1830. Like a good Cauningite he defended catholic emancipation but denounced the reform bill. His speech against the bill excited the most enthusiastic admiration, and led Charles Wordsworth to predict with confidence that he would be prime minister. It obtained notoriety many years afterwards, when Disraeli quoted it in the debate on the second reading of the reform bill of 1866. Along with Charles Wordsworth and Lord Lincoln, Gladstone promoted a petition to the House of Commons against parliamentary reform, which was signed by more than seven hundred undergraduates. In December 1831 Gladstone took a double first in classics and mathematics.

In 1832 Gladstone spent six months in Italy, and acquired a familiarity with the Italian language which he never lost. He had some thoughts of taking holy orders (, p. 24). But his father was bent upon making him a statesman, and had interest with Sir Robert Peel. Sir John Gladstone was not a man to be trifled with, and, in December 1832, his brilliant son was returned to the first reformed parliament as one of the members for Newark. Newark was a nomination borough which the Reform Act had spared, and the patron was the Duke of Newcastle, father of Gladstone's friend, Lord Lincoln. Gladstone was elected at the head of the poll, and the whig candidate, [q. v.] (afterwards Lord-chancellor Truro), was defeated. Except for the great session of 1846, when he was a secretary of state without a seat in parliament, and the first session of 1847, Gladstone sat continuously in the House of Commons from 1833 till his final retirement from parliament in 1895.

On 25 Jan. 1833 Gladstone was admitted a student of Lincoln's Inn; but, like Disraeli, who went through the same process, he was not called to the bar. On 6 March he was elected a member of the Carlton Club, from which he did not withdraw till March 1860, after he had definitely joined the liberal party and become chancellor of the exchequer in the second administration of Lord Palmerston. Except for a few sentences on a Liverpool petition (21 Feb.), which were most imperfectly reported, Gladstone's maiden speech was delivered on 3 June 1833. It was a defence of his father, who had a plantation in Demerara, where, according to Lord Howick (afterwards third earl Grey), there was undue mortality among the slaves. This Gladstone strenuously denied, declaring that his father's slaves were happy, healthy, and contented. He favoured 'gradual' emancipation, with full compensation to the owners. This speech was remembered, and used against Gladstone when, in 1862, he expressed sympathy with Jefferson Davis and the south. But he never supported the principle of slavery. The speech made a most favourable impression upon both sides of the house, and received a high compliment from Lord Stanley (afterwards four-