William Gladstone Autograph Letter Signed 1887 Hawarden Castle Christmas Day For Sale

William Ewert Gladstone (1809-1898) - Autograph letter signed “W E Gladstone,” four time Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Two pages on a folded bifolium of printed Hawarden Castle letterhead, dated “Xmas Day 1887.”Written to Edward Marjoribanks, 2nd Baron Tweedmouth, then Liberal Chief Whip, on the recovery of Lady Tweedmouth of a long illness - news related that day by Lord and Lady Aberdeen. Gladstone recalls her having seemed “like one of charmed life and vigour, who seemed to defy alike age and sickness,” and hopes she will remain “for many many years the delight and crown of your life.”He then turns to his own plans: an imminent departure abroad (his 1888 Italian journey), a hoped-for stay at Dollis Hill the following spring, and the likelihood of taking a furnished house in London instead - closing “it is a hard strain but it comes in the way of duty.”Warm personal content written on Christmas Day from his family seat - well removed from the routine political notes that make up most surviving Gladstone correspondence. Condition: mailing folds; light scattered foxing; pencil docket “W E Gladstone” on the blank leaf.