Page:Gissing - The Unclassed, vol. I, 1884.djvu/61

 appearance. There were several hundreds of Blue-books, a complete set of Hansard, a complete series of the Annual Register, and other volumes of the same character. The remaining free space around the room was covered with maps of various countries, statistical charts, almanacks. The explanation of this singular phenomenon lay in the fact that, from his earliest manhood, Abraham Woodstock had devoted himself with astonishing zest to the study of contemporary politics. His ardour had increased with knowledge, and at the present time he was probably unsurpassed among laymen in intelligent familiarity with the details of English and foreign political life. Not a statesman of the leading countries with whose history, actual policy, and probable prospects he was not well acquainted. La haute politique was the playground of his imagination; he seized his Times every morning with a vehement interest in the latest telegrams from the various capitals. In home affairs he could have instructed many a cabinet minister; the blunders of leader-writers were his repertory of humour; the incapacity of