3-085-783 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone, about to start for their daily drive from the Château Thorenc, Cannes, [February], 1898. 'Mr. Gladstone's health continues to improve under the kindly influence of the Riviera climate which the veteran statesman enjoys on his daily drives. The neuralgic pains which lately caused so much uneasiness as to his condition have been much less persistent during the last week or so, though they still prevent him from obtaining as much sleep as would ensure a more rapid improvement. In the opinion of his host, Lord Rendel, there is no cause for serious anxiety concerning Mr. Gladstone's condition, though Lord Rendel himself confesses to disappointment over the return of the neuralgic trouble after the very cheering improvement in the veteran statesman's health which took place in the first days of his sojourn at Cannes. It must be remembered, however, that Mr. Gladstone is in his eighty-ninth year, and at such an age even the marvellous vitality which has hitherto been associated with his name must inevitably show some signs of diminution. On the whole, however, Mr. Gladstone remains a wonderful man for his age, as is proved by the way in which he bears up against his present cause of suffering'. Gladstone died on 19 May 1898. From "Illustrated London News", 1898.