A writer in Wednesday’s Paris Figaro devotes three columns to  Mr. GLADSTONE,
in the course of which he says: -

“His father, a Scotchman, was a corn merchant, and afterwards  a ship owner
at Liverpool. The King knighted him. The son has not inherited the  title. He
has preferred to remain one of the people. It was the pride of M.  THEIRS, whom
Mr. GLADSTONE is some respects resembles….. His first budget speech  was not
only applauded by the usual ‘her, hers,’ but also by stamping of the  feet…
..When in office he is Conservative and is with the Catholics; when in  
Opposition he is Liberal and is against the Catholics…..He retired to his seat  at
Hawarden, which belongs to his second son.

Mr. GLADSTONE’s son is vicar of the adjoining parish. Mr.  GLADSTONE leads
the life of a gentleman farmer. He rises early and is very  abstemious. He
chiefly eats fish, because that diet stimulates the brain. He  takes two glasses of
Bordeaux, because that wine is a tonic to the cervical  matter. He takes one
glass of port, because that is the orators wine. Mr.  GLADSTONE, it will be
seen, is logical even in his modus vivendi.

On Sundays he reads the Lessons of the Presbyterian rite at  Church. People
go from five leagues round to hear his fine sonorous voice.  Afterwards he puts
on his stout wooden-soiled boots, with nails as big as those  on old church
doors, takes an axe, and the ex-Prime Minister becomes a  wood-cutter.”