The myth is anachronistic, Toryism having a different meaning today than it did in 1840. Wordsworth's conservatism might be defined by his response to the Reform Act of 1832. Both Wordsworth, who witnessed the French Revolution, and William Ewart Gladstone, who only read about it, feared reform might precipitate social breakdown. The Reform Act made too great a concession to ‘the most selfish, perhaps, and ignorant class of the community', that is to say, the ‘ten pound Raters or Renters’ who it made the largest category of voter. Wordsworth's anxiety at the revival of revolutionary forces is glimpsed in his remarks to Lord John Russell when they met in London in 1831. Wordsworth's opposition to the Catholic Relief Bill of 1829 also depended on a belief that tried and tested experience was superior to the unknown.