passion which he threw into the pursuit of the object on which he
was for the moment bent, that fused these dissimilar qualities and
made them appear to contribute to and to increase the total force
which he exerted.



CHAPTER II: EARLY INFLUENCES



The circumstances of Mr. Gladstone's political career help to
explain, or, at any rate, will furnish occasion for the attempt to
explain, this complexity and variety of character. But before we
come to his manhood it is convenient to advert to three conditions
whose influence on him has been profound: the first his Scottish
blood, the second his Oxford education, the third his apprenticeship
to public life under Sir Robert Peel.

Theories of character based on race differences are dangerous,
because they are so easy to form and so hard to test. Still, no one
denies that there are qualities and tendencies generally found in
the minds of men of certain stocks, just as there are peculiarities
in their faces or in their speech. Mr. Gladstone was born and
brought up in Liverpool, and always retained a touch of Lancashire
accent. But, as he was fond of saying, every drop of blood in his
veins was Scotch. His father was a Lowland Scot from the
neighborhood of Biggar, in the Upper Ward of Lanarkshire, where the
old yeoman's dwelling of Gledstanes--"the kite's rock"--may still be
seen. His mother was of Highland extraction, by name Robertson,