It was Jimmy Lowther against Mr.Gladstone.

Mr.Balfour occasionally dropped in a perfunctory word; now and then even tried to raise the standard of revolt against Mr.Lowther; and, of course, had finally to accept the consequences of Mr.Lowther's acts.

Joe was there too; much more active in sympathy with Jimmy than Mr.Balfour.With all his faults, there is a certain saving refinement in Mr.Balfour--it is not a refinement that has restrained him from being cruel with the hysteric violence of the effeminate, but it is a refinement that preserves him from the mere Newmarket horseplay of Jimmy Lowther, and the thin rancour of a Brummagem drummer.

Joe, I say, was there, ready to back up Jimmy in his worst exploits, but, after all, Jimmy was the leader.

In this mighty struggle--not merely for the reconciliation of England and Ireland, but for the existence of Parliamentary institutions--the stakes are no smaller--the gentlemen of England were represented by Mr.Lowther, and the rude democracy by Mr.Gladstone.Democrats need not feel much ashamed of the contrast.
[Sidenote: The apotheosis of Jimmy.] But there Jimmy Lowther was, gulping and obstructing, obstructing and gulping.