But I have now a new title to speak. It is deafness; and I know from deafness that I run a worse chance with a man whose mouth is covered with beard and moustache.
A young relation of mine, slightly deaf, was sorely put to it in an University examination because one of his examiners was secretal in this way.
I will not trouble you further except to express, with misgiving, a doubt on a single point, the final f.
In driving with Lord Granville, who was deaf but not very deaf, I had occasion to mention to him the Duke of Fife, I used every effort, but in no way could I contrive to make him hear the word.
I break my word to add one other particular. Out of 27,000 odd lines in Homer, every one of them expressed, in a sense, heavy weight or force; the blows of heavy-armed men on the breastplates of foes ... [illegible] and the like.—With many thanks, I remain yours very faithfully,
W.E. GLADSTONE.
P.S.—I should say that the efficacy of lip-expression, undeniably, is most subtle, and defies definite description.
TO DR. ARCHDALL REID
Parkstone, Dorset. April 19, 1896.