and bloody one, when Lincoln rose up and said: 'Boys, the man actually threw me once fair—broadly so; and the second time, this very fall, he threw me fairly, though not so apparently so.' He would countenance no disturbance, and his unexpected and somewhat astonishing magnanimity ended all attempts to raise one."—Lamon's Lincoln.
And this "boatman, axeman, and hired-laborer," who made such an imperishable record in our history, thus described himself: "If any personal description of me is thought desirable, it may be said, I am in height six feet four inches, nearly; lean in flesh; weighing on an average one hundred and eighty pounds; dark complexion; with coarse back hair and gray eyes."—People's Cyclopaedia.
Just which of your neighbors could have handled Abraham Lincoln?
WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE (1809–1898)
Of Scotch descent; son of Sir John Gladstone, a wealthy merchant, and for some years member of Parliament; at Eton, distinguished for his scholarship; at Oxford, winner of a "Double First" in 1831; and famous there in the political debates in the Oxford Union; in 1832 elected to the House of Commons, and making a brilliant speech; in 1834 Junior Lord of the Treasury; in 1835 Under Secretary of State for the Colonies; in 1839 published his work on "Church and State"; in 1841, Vice-President of the Board of Trade; Master of the Mint; and Member of the Privy Council; supporting free-trade with Peel, he resigned his seat in the House; in 1847 re-elected; in 1850, on Peel's death, becoming Parliamentary leader and master of debate; in 1852 answering Disraeli in a great speech; then Chancellor of the Exchequer, and again in 1859; he gave much time to the readjustment of taxations; on Palmerston's death, in 1865, became again leader of the House; in 1866 resigning; in 1868, on the fall of the Disraeli ministry, Gladstone first became Prime Minister; urging
