And where, perchance, he may now and again sing to the birds. Might not those birds, those beautiful birds, represent Freedom! Political Freedom, the Sovereignty of Ideas, the Monarchy of Mind, the Republic of Intellect, Free Thought, Free Speech, Free Pews, Free Churches in a Free State, until there shall be no Party but God, and no Politics but Religion—the mighty Christ all in all.’ In 1870 Mr. Grant Duff, in the course of one of his addresses to his constituents, said that some years ago, when Mr. Gladstone’s Administration was in power, a clever Tory, who hated both Mr. Gladstone and his Administration, wrote the following acrostic: ‘G was the great man, mountain of mind; L a logician, expert and refined; A was an adept in rhetoric’s art, D was the dark spot he had in his heart; S was the sophistry led him astray; T was the truth that he bartered away; O was the cipher his conscience became; N the new light that enlightened the same; E was the evil one, shouting for joy, “At it, and down with it, Gladstone, my boy.” This acrostic was repeated in a drawing-room in the presence of a young lady of good Liberal principles, and the daughter of a well-known Member of Parliament, who, without leaving the room, went to a table and wrote this answer to it: ‘G is the genius that governs the nation; L are the Lords, who require education; A is the animus raised by the great; D are the donkeys who fear for the State: S is the standard that Liberals raise; T are the Tories who howl in dispraise; O ’s Opposition, wanting a head; N is the nation, not driven, but led; E is old England, shouting for joy, “Stick to the Government, Gladstone, my boy.”’