Gladstone's  temper  in  the  arduous  work  of  practical  legislation
to  which  so  much  of  the  energies  of  his  life  was  devoted,  is
worth  giving  here  from  a  letter  of  this  date  to  Buigon  of  Oriel.
Nobody  answers  better  to  the  rare  combination,  in  Bacon's
words,  of  a  '  glorious  nature  that  doth  put  life  into  business,
with  a  solid  and  sober  nature  that  hath  as  much  of  the  ballast
as  of  the  sail '  : —

Sometimes  it  may  be  necessary  in  dealing  with  a  very  ancient  in-
stitution to  make  terms,  as  it  were,  between  such  an  mstitution  and  the
actual  spirit  of  the  age.  This  may  be  in  certain  circumstances  a  necessary,
but  it  can  never  be  a  satisfactory  process.  It  is  driving  a  bargain,  and
somewhat  of  a  wretclied  bargain.  But  I  really  do  not  find  or  feel  that
this  is  the  case  now  before  us.  In  that  case,  my  view,  right  or  wrong,  is
this  :  that  Oxford  is  far  behind  her  duties  or  capabilities,  not  because
her  working  men  work  so  little,  but  because  so  large  a  proportion  of  her
children  do  not  work  at  all,  so  large  a  proportion  of  her  resources  remains
practically  dormant,  and  her  present  constitution  is  so  ill -adapted  to
developing  her  real  but  latent  powers.  What  I  therefore  anticipate  is
not  the  weakening  of  her  distinctive  principles,  not  the  diminution  of  her
laboiu",  already  great,  that  she  discharges  for  the  church  and  for  the  land,
but  a  great  expansion,  a  great  iuvigoration,  a  great  increase  other  numbers,
a  still  greater  increase  of  her  moral  force,  and  of  her  hold  upon  the  heart
and  mind  of  the  country.
