Gladstone, Bagged

Gladstone, by Roy Jenkins (Random House, 768 pp., $35)

FTER the young William Gladstone was beaten up by some sports in his rooms at Christ Church, Oxford, he confided to his diary: “Here I have great reason to be thankful to that God whose mercies fail not . . . 1) Because this incident must tend to the mortification of my pride, by God’s grace. . . . It is no disgrace to be beaten for Christ was buffeted and smitten. . . . 2) Because here I have to some small extent an opportunity of exercising the duty of forgiveness.” His letter proposing marriage to his future wife contained a 140-word sentence about the Almighty. “Oh, William dear,” she would later say, “if you weren’t such a great man you would be a terrible bore.”

About the Author

George F. Will

George F. Will has been a columnist, beginning with National Review, since 1973.

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Gladstone, by Roy Jenkins (Random House, 768 pp., $35)

FTER the young William Gladstone was beaten up by some sports in his rooms at Christ Church, Oxford, he confided to his diary: “Here I have great reason to be thankful to that God whose mercies fail not . . . 1) Because this incident must tend to the mortification of my pride, by God’s grace. . . . It is no disgrace to be beaten for Christ was buffeted and smitten. . . . 2) Because here I have to some small extent an opportunity of exercising the duty of forgiveness.” His letter proposing marriage to his future wife contained a 140-word sentence about the Almighty. “Oh, William dear,” she would later say, “if you weren’t such a great man you would be a terrible bore.”