course of talk brought up scarcely any topic in which he did not
seem to know what was the latest thing that had been said or done.
Neither the lassitude nor the prejudices common in old age prevented
him from giving a fair consideration to any new doctrines. But
though his intellect was restlessly at work, and though his eager
curiosity disposed him to relish novelties, except in theology, that
bottom rock in his mind of caution and reserve, which has already
been referred to, made him refuse to part with old views even when
he was beginning to accept new ones. He allowed both to "lie on the
table" together, and while declaring his mind to be open to
conviction, he felt it safer to speak and act on the old lines till
the process of conviction had been completed. It took fourteen
years, from 1846 to 1860, to carry him from the Conservative into
the Liberal camp. It took five stormy years to bring him round to
Irish home rule, though his mind was constantly occupied with the
subject from 1880 to 1885, and those who watched him closely saw
that the process had advanced some considerable way even in 1881.
And as regards ecclesiastical establishments, having written a book
in 1838 as a warm advocate of state churches, it was not till 1867
that he adopted the policy of disestablishment for Ireland, not till
1890 that he declared himself ready to apply it in Wales and
Scotland also.

Both these qualities--his disposition to revise his opinions in the
light of new arguments and changing conditions, and the reticence he
maintained till the process of revision had been completed--exposed
him to misconstruction. Commonplace men, unwont to give serious
scrutiny to their opinions, ascribed his changes to self-interest,
or at best regarded them as the index of an unstable mind. Dull men
could not understand why he should have forborne to set forth all