Letter from William Gladstone, 11 Downing Street, to Mrs [Caroline Amelia Mary] Gordon [née Herschel] He assures Mrs Gordon that out of the eddy of public business, it is refreshing to write to Birk Hall about the first book of 'The Iliad'. Sir John Herschel will have many competitors, but he is sure to hold a forward place in the race. He has seen four new translations of Book 1 of 'The Iliad' in the last six months. Gladstone is not of the hexameter school, but he admires the execution in what Gordon has sent and he was only disappointed it did not go through to the close of the book. His last account of the Queen is not her best. 24 February 1862