of his life, which bridged the distance between his relinquishment of the
_Speaker_ and the hour when he finally laid down his pen. The
withheld portion of this Autobiography makes that abundantly clear, for,
as in a mirror, it reflects the secret history of the Liberal party. His
relations with Lord Rosebery, both during and after that statesman's
brilliant but difficult Administration, were singularly intimate and
cordial--a circumstance which invests with peculiar interest the final
chapters which he wrote. They throw a dry light on the political
intrigues which occurred after Mr. Gladstone's retirement; they reveal
the difficulties--both open and unsuspected--which beset his successor.
Lord Rosebery has written me a letter, and I have his permission to quote
from it:--"I can only dwell on the sterling notes of courage and
friendship. As to the first, he had taken part in many controversies,
which it is now unnecessary to revive, and borne himself gallantly in
them. But before his life ended he was to display a rarer quality. In
September, 1903, he wrote to me that he could only count on a few weeks
longer of life--that he was condemned by all doctors.... He partially
recovered from that attack, though from that day he was doomed to speedy
death. I saw him in February for the last time, not long before the end.
He told me, as he always did, that he did not feel amiss, but that his
doctors all unanimously condemned him to a short shrift; that his friend
Sir Frederick Treves was putting him under a new treatment, from which he
hoped to derive some benefit; but that, whatever happened, he should go
on writing as if nothing were wrong until the end came. That did not long
tarry. In the evening of Thursday, February 23rd, he was taken ill, and
before ten o'clock on Sunday morning he was dead. During the seventeen
months which elapsed from the time of the doom pronounced by his
physicians until its fulfilment, Wemyss Reid so demeaned himself that
none could have penetrated his secret. He was as gay and high in spirit,
as strenuous in work, as thoughtful for others, as ever; so that those