Something like a little amicable duel took place at one time between Ruskin and Mr. G., when Ruskin directly attacked his host as a “leveller.” “You see you think one man is as good as another and all men equally competent to judge aright on political questions; whereas I am a believer in an aristocracy.” And straight came the answer from Mr. Gladstone, “Oh dear, no! I am nothing of the sort. I am a firm believer in the aristocratic principle—the rule of the best. I am an out-and-out inequalitarian,” a confession which Ruskin treated with intense delight, clapping his hands triumphantly.
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John Ruskin's account of a dinner with Gladstone on 14 December 1978, printed in John Morley, Life of William Ewart Gladstone. Volume II (1903), p. 582.William Ewart Gladstone
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Gladstone, William Ewart
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