The "hardships" there must have been particularly great when young
Gladstone entered Eton, at the close of the summer holidays of 1821. The
school was under the head-mastership of "the terrific Dr. Keate." He was
not the man to spare even the scholar who, upon the emphatic testimony
of Sir Roderick Murchison, was "the prettiest boy that ever went to
Eton," and who was as studious and well-behaved as he was good-looking.

The town of Eton, in which the school is located, about 22 miles from
London, in Berkshire, is beautifully situated on the banks of the river
Thames, opposite Windsor Castle, the residence of the Queen of England.

Eton College is one of the most famous and best endowed educational
institutions of learning in England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI.
The king was very solicitous that the work should be of a durable kind,
and he provided for free scholarships. Eton of Mr. Gladstone's day,
according to a critic, was divided into two schools--the upper and the
lower. It also had two kinds of scholars, namely, seventy called king's
scholars or "collegers," who are maintained gratuitously, sleep in the
college, and wear a peculiar dress; and another class--the
majority--called "oppidans," who live in the town. Between these two
classes of students there prevails perpetual hostility. At Cambridge,
there was founded, in connection with Eton, what is called King's
College, to receive as fellows students from Eton, and to give them
gratuitously an education. The ground on which students of Eton were
promoted to King's College and these fellowships was, strangely to say,
upon that of seniority, or long residence, and not of merit. Because
there was no competition, scholars who were deficient in education at
Eton were promoted to Cambridge, where they had no incentive to work,
being exempt from the ordinary university examination.