4 GORDON’S BOYHOOD.
This question may best be answered by stringing together in a com- pendious form a few of the incidents of his stirring life, for full par-
ticulars of which the reader is referred to the only three volumes that have yet been published concerning him, but which are too bulky and too costly to find their way into general circulation.* Having carefully studied all those works, and having had the great advantage and the high privilege of conversing and corresponding during several years with General Gordon upon some of those great questions which
lie nearest his heart, the present writer may, perhaps, be considered not wholly unqualified for the difficult task he has undertaken. He is well aware of General Gordon’s great dislike to being praised, as he has often heard him request that “no gilt might be laid upon him,” when describing his deeds. This is almost an impossibility—never- theless it shall be attended to as far as can truthfully be done in the following slight narrative. To Dr. Hill and Mr. Egmont Hake he is indebted for most of the information. here given, though some inci- dents are taken from private letters written to himself.
Gorpon’s TITLEs.
It is almost as difficult to give this illustrious officer his proper de- signation as it is to select the salient points of his life. The sphere of
his action extends over three continents, in each of which he has ob- tained some of the highest titles and honours. He is a General in the British Army, anda C.B. He is also a 7%-7u (the highest rank con- ferred on any subject in China). He belongs to the Order of the Star, and is entitled to wear the Yellow Jacket and the Peacock’s Feather. In Egypt he has attained to the rank of Pasha, and, as is well known, he was for some years Governor-General of the Soudan. 7 His life may be divided into five distinct and important sections, of each of which a slight sketch shall now be given.
His Boywoop.
Onartes G. Gorpon, fourth son of the late Lieutenant-General Henry W. Gordon, R.A., was born at Woolwich, January 28th, 1833. nn
* 66 The Ever-Victorious Army,” by Andrew Wilson, 1868. °© Colonel Gordon in Central Africa,” by Dr. Hill, 1881, and 2nd Edition, 1884. ‘* The Story of Chinese Gordon,” by A. Egmont Hake, 1884,