Tue praiseworthy desire to die in harness, characteristic of so many great men, and the no less natural longing to cling to fame or power to the very last, characteristic of so many lesser ones, is not always attended with the results anticipated. Anti-climaxes are always the reverse of effective, and the records of noble lives teem with instances in which the lustre surronuding a great and glorious name lins been sadly dimmed by the mere fact of the man outliving or outetayivg the powers that have won him renown. Garibaldi lived too long in the public eyo after the accomplishment of his great work in Italy, and expressed opinions on political subjects which caused ro-grot to many of his warmest sympnthisers. Earl Russell clung to power some years after his own power had reached its zenith. Grisi, after retire ing in the height of her matchless fame, prompted by some malignant sprite re-appeared on the stage of Her Majesty's Theatre in her declining y and the painfulness of the exhibition will never be effaced from the minds of those who were unfortunate enough to witness it. " Of all in the theatre," wrote the Daily Telegraph on that occasion, Madame Grisi mast have been the greatest sufferer." The Poot Laureate, we fear, cannot escape being class. sed with those who have outlived their vigour. The latest productions of his pen are far from worthy of the man who wrote 'In Memoriam' and the 'Idylls of the King.' The badstatesip of the Duke of Wellington to have temporarily oblant fame as a comder, and Mr. Ruskin might have looked forward to more lasting renown asa man of taste and art had he died before he wrote his extraordinary diatribes on usury. We have even read 8 pious little book the author of which deplored mach that Abraham did not die when the great purpose of his life had been accomplished, instend of marrying Keturah and getting another family.
This will no doubt be looked upon by many as the expression of a very ungrateful and discontented feeling. Surely, they may say, it is better for great man to outlive his greatness for a fow years than that he should be suddenly cut off in the fall tide of a usefal and honourable career; anything rather than the loss of such a one while his labours and his genius are of euch supreme importance to his age or country. This is trae enough, of course. It isbetterthat Abraham should live to suffer an imaginary diminution of prestige by courting Keturah in hia old ago than that he should die before the birth of Isanc. It is better that the 'Promise of May' should dim the lustre of Tennyson than that the world should have been deprived of 'In Memoriam.' Bat it la not always that even a great man possesses the great gift of knowing when to retire, It is but natural that he should fight against the decodones he feels creep. ing over him, and refuse to acknowledge, even to himself, that be has not the grasp and power of thought he possessed teu years before. Whether such n suspicion is forcing itself upon the mind of the foremost man of England at the pro sent juncture perhaps no one is in a position to say with confidence. But while his masterly intellect is atill unimpaired, and his influence over his fellow-men stronger, if possible, than over, it is to be feared that the physical health of Mr. Gladstone will not permit Lim to continue much longer at the helm of state, Indeed go imminent seems the situation that the London newspapers do not hesitate to refer to in the plainest words. "It is pos. sible," writes the Standard, that he may not return to England for some weeks to come. Prudent as this exten-jou of his visit to the Riviera may in If be, it will inspire many of his followers with a keen sense of misgiv= ing. They will be disposed, not unnaturally, to recognise in it an omen of the Prime Minister's impending re. tirement from public life, and they will be forcibly reminded that the political dispensation under which they are living is at best only transitional. Mr. Gladstone may yet make some more groat speeches in the Chamber with which his reputation will alwayabe iden. tied, But the belief is general, and in all probability well founded, that a year ence he will not boin the Hone of Com-mone, and that he will nobagaiu address himself to any grent legislative effort." The brightest sun must set, and the greatest man withdraw from the scene of hiis more immediate labours, When we say that there is no on ab present on the boards of St. Stephen's fitted to tke Mr. Gladstone's place, no Elisha yot withstoulders atrong enough to wear the mantle of the ascending Elijah, we utter no more than a barren truth. But if the Premier is to retire, let Lim do so while in the full flush of Lis great powers, and in the enjoyment of his entire fame, Six years ago, the name of Gladstone was seldom montioned in London without expressions of the grossest opprobrium. Many of those who formerly had been his warm supporters turned into his bitterest opponents, and Lord Beaconsfield was the idol of the hour, If Mr. Glad.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.