the dialogues of Plato. Mr. Gladstone 'remembers his speaking of Milton's
prose works with great fervour when they were at Eton together;' and adds
the confession--interesting alike as regards both the young students--'I
think it was from his mouth I first learned that Milton had written any
prose,' This affection for those soul-stirring treatises of the great
advocate of free speech and inquiry he always retained: they formed his
constant companions wherever he travelled; and there are many occasions in
which their influence may be traced on his thought and language. 'I would
rather swallow a bushel of chaff than lose the precious grains of truth
which may somewhere or other be scattered in it,' was a sentiment which,
though expressed in much later life, was characteristic of his whole
career. In this spirit he listened with deep interest to the roll of
theological controversy then raging at Oxford, though he was never carried
away by its violence.

In after life he had little leisure to pursue the philosophic studies
commenced at Oxford; but they took deep and permanent hold on his mind,
and formed in fact the groundwork of his great practical ability. This is
well stated by Sir Frederick Bruce:--

In Elgin (to use the distinctions of Coleridge, whose philosophy he
had thoroughly mastered) the Reason and Understanding were both
largely developed, and both admirably balanced. And in this
combination lay the secret of his success in so many spheres of
action, so different in their characteristics, so alike in their
difficulties. The process he went through was always the same. He set
himself to work to form in his own mind a clear idea of each of the
constituent parts of the problem with which he had to deal. This he
effected partly by reading, but still more by conversation with
special men, and by that extraordinary logical power of mind and