Note 31 — Chapter I · DISRAELI’S PERSONALITY

Like most of the Peelites, Mr. Gladstone was not proof against a certain air of over-righteous condescension and patronage. Even in the ’sixties he notes in his diary that, meeting Disraeli at a time of trial, he extended his hand, which was “kindly accepted.” But he honestly admired his gifts, and in 1859 generously disdained to “bargain” him “out of the saddle.”