Well, one can see
proof of this in his conduct whenever he is leader of a Government.
Other Prime Ministers and leaders of the House are only too willing to
leave as much of the work as possible to their subordinates. Disraeli
used to lie in Oriental calm during the greater part of every sitting,
leaving all his lieutenants to do the drudgery while he dosed and posed.
Not so Gladstone. He is almost literally always on his legs. The biggest
bore--the rudest neophyte--the most gulping obstructive is certain of an
answer from him--courteous, considerate, and ample. No debate, however
small, is too petty for his notice and intervention; in short, he tries
to do not only his own work, but everybody else's.
[Sidenote: His justification.]
I have once or twice gently suggested that I thought the G.O.M. might
leave a little more to his subordinates, and spare that frame and mind
which bears the Atlantean burden of the Home Rule struggle. But Mr.
Gladstone is able to unexpectedly justify himself when his friends are
crying out in remonstrance; and it is, too, one of the peculiarities of
this extraordinary portent of a man--extraordinary physically as much as
mentally--that the more he works, the fresher and happier he seems to
be.
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