thought impossible that the Liberal party should have a majority at all; and when seat after seat in the boroughs was found to be won by them, the principal emotion was one of surprise, followed it may be by a less agreeable feeling when it was found that Mr. Gladstone's tactics had placed him once more in office, with a majority of no less than 112. After this there was nothing more to be said. Lord Beaconsfield wound up the business of his Administration as speedily as possible so as not to hamper his successor, and cheerfully retired into the cool shade of the Opposition, having previously recommended Mr. Gladstone as his only possible

successor.

Thus driven into exile by an unexpected turn of fortune's wheel Lord Beaconsfield wasted no time in unavailing regrets, but accepted the inevitable with his accustomed stoicism, congratulating himself that he would now be able, for the first time in his life, to see the roses at Hughenden come into blossom. After such a defeat there was obviously nothing for the leader of the Tory party to do within the walls of Parliament, and accordingly he remained for the greater part of last year in seclusion. Very speedily there were rumours that a new novel was on the stocks, and might be looked for at a very early period. The name then crept out, and the world began to look forward for "Endymion" with sufficient curiosity and interest. It is hardly necessary to add that as usual a host of fabulous stories were told concerning the amount of money paid by Messrs. Longman & Co. to the statesman author-stories which did much more credit to the ingenuity of their inventors than to the good sense or good taste of those who believed them. When at last the romance came out gay in scarlet cloth with silver lettering it was found to be of a kind very different from what the world had been led to anticipate. Instead of being a classical romance it was a political novel, cast very much in the lines of those by which the author had made his fame five-and-thirty years ago, and marked by certain autobiographical features which it is impossible to misunderstand. Endymion Ferrars is obviously designed in some of his principal characteristics for Lord Beaconsfield himself in the days of his youth. His sister Myra is as obviously intended for that Sarah Disraeli for whom the Earl was well known to entertain the deepest and most tender affection, while the wife whom Endymion finds later on in his life corresponds in many important respects with her whom the author described as "the most severe of critics, but a perfect wife." For the rest nearly every personage of the story has been identified with some more or less conspicuous figure in modern society -not always with perfect success seeing that it has never been Lord Beaconsfield's habit to turn a novel into a portrait gallery. What he has done has been to take one characteristic from one person, and another from another, and so to build up, as it were, a complete man from a dozen fragments of portraiture. Of the book as a whole it is perhaps rather premature to speak with much decision. To me it seems to approach more nearly

than any other of its author's writings to the completeness and perfection of "Coningsby "-the best political novel of the century. There is, in addition, a sense of rich and ripe maturity about the book which is peculiarly seductive. Every page sparkles with an epigram, yet the sometimes rather forced brilliancy of the author's earlier works is conspicuously absent. Advancing age has mellowed and enriched the style, and has imparted a restraint, which was the only thing wanting to those earlier romances by which Lord Beaconsfield made his reputation. One thing is especially noticeable and especially characteristic, and that is the immense prominence which is given to womanly influences. Those who knew Lord Beaconsfield best, say that there was no feature in his character more striking than the peculiar reverence and tenderness with which he spoke of women, and that he never appeared in society to so great advantage as when conversing with its queens. From a party point of view he gave no small offence at one time by supporting some of the claims of the strongminded sisterhood to votes. The explanation of his action in this matter may be found in the pages of "Endymion" by those who know how to read between the lines.

The publication of this romance may almost be said to have crowned Lord Beaconsfield's public career. After its appearance he spoke in the House of Lords on two occasions. On the 4th of March last a great debate was raised on the abandonment of our position at Candahar, and on this occasion Lord Beaconsfield spoke with much if not all of his old fire and power. He began by justifying the refusal of the late Government to publish the compromising correspondence of Russia in the matter of Cabul, and delivered himself of some exceedingly caustic criticism of a Ministry which could deliberately contemplate the abandonment of our position in Afghanistan at a time when the information contained in those papers was in their possession. Lord Northbrook came in for a smart castigation as a member not merely of the peace-at-any-price party, but as a graduate in that higher school which negotiated while it waged war, and negotiated with more readiness if our arms had been defeated. Lord Beaconsfield admitted that, after the Congress of Berlin and the explanation of the Russian Chancellor, he did announce to the House that of the proceedings of Russia in Afghanistan at the time when war between that power and England was supposed to be imminent we had no cause to complain. The conversation between him and the Russian Minister at our Court to the same effect occurred in November, 1878, which was a year before the discovery of the secret papers at Cabul. Lord Beaconsfield then went into details to show that he could not have said to the Russian Minister that the Government of India had forced the hands of the Government at home. The mistake happened through a misapprehension on the part of Count Schouvaloff, who was a most honourable man. The observation about forcing hands had reference not to an operation of war, but to the sending

of the mission to the Ameer, which was an operation of peace, taken without the concurrence of the Government at home, and of which they disapproved. With regard to the abandonment of Candahar, Lord Beaconsfield feared that our withdrawal would leave the country in a state of anarchy. He also blamed the Government for not obtaining trustworthy information through the Indian authorities as to the cost of maintaining a garrison there, and repudiated the idea that the Queen's Proclamation precluded us from occupying territory obtained by right of conquest. He did not despair of our ability to protect our Indian Empire from the Indus frontier, but he strongly advised the retention of Candahar as a position of great strategical importance. In his opinion, London was the real key of India, as after all, it would have to be governed by popular opinion, expressed in and out of the English Parliament. It was wise, however, to avail ourselves of local resources. This country had long acted on that principle, and had generally managed to procure a precise and scientific frontier. The fact that the power of England could be felt on the spot was the best security for peace, and consequently of economy. He called upon their lordships to enter a protest against the rash and precipitate step which the Government appeared disposed to take. The speech was delivered with much of the old fire and energy, but there were not wanting evidences of a decay of physical strength which the friends of the orator could not contemplate without anxiety. Thus, for example, in the course of his speech, having to mention Herat, his once extraordinary memory completely failed him and he was compelled to substitute for the name of the place a rather awkward periphrasis. When the division was over he walked mechanically, not to his seat on the front opposition bench, but to that which he had occupied as leader of the Government. There was a burst of laughternot ill-natured, one is glad to remember-and with a quiet "Not yet" from Lord Granville the incident came to an end.

Yet once more his voice was to be heard controlling the Senate. He spoke for the last time on the occasion of the Czar's murder, and it is worthy of remark that his last recorded occupation was that of correcting the proof of his speech for "Hansard," with the remark that he did not wish to go down to posterity as speaking bad grammar.

Over the last days of Lord Beaconsfield's life it is impossible to linger in this place. They were pathetic enough, but their pathos was lightened by the fact that he enjoyed a larger share of friendship than most men, and that the popularity which had suffered a temporary eclipse was as bright and as great as ever during the last month of his life. He passed peacefully into the unseen world on the morning of Easter Tuesday (19th April, 1881), grasping the hands of devoted friends, and leaving behind him a reputation which can but grow brighter as time goes by.

Amongst the many fables which group themselves round the death-beds of famous men, there is a tradition that the last words of Mr. Pitt were,

"Oh my country! in what a state I leave my country! Whether Lord Beaconsfield said—as he might well have done-aught of the same kind, his friends who knew his fastidious reticence will probably never allow the world to know. But that he loved England with all the deep passion of a great, and strong, and noble nature, we are well aware, and that the country has lost by his death a man of rare judgment, of undaunted courage, and of consummate ability, even his adversaries have been forced, however unwillingly, to admit.

APPENDIX.

LORD BEACONSFIELD'S WILL.

"1, the Right Hon. Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield and Viscount Hughenden, of Hughenden Manor, in the county of Buckingham, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, and First Lord of Her Majesty's Treasury, hereby revoke all wills and other testamentary dispositions heretofore made by me, and declare this to be my last will.

"I desire and direct that I may be buried in the same vault, in the churchyard of Hughenden, in which the remains of my late dear wife, Mary Ann Disraeli, created in her own right Vicountess Beaconsfield, were placed, and that my funeral may be conducted with the same simplicity

as hers was.

"I bequeath all my personal estate, including the copyrights of all my published works (except chattels real, included in the general devise herein contained of real estate, and except what I otherwise bequeath by this my will or any codicil thereto, and except any articles belonging to me which I may by any memorandum in my own handwriting or by any paper signed by me designate as intended for personal remembrances to my friends, and which memorandum or paper I direct may have the same force and effect as if it had formed part of this my will), unto my friends, Sir Nathaniel Mayer de Rothschild, of Tring Park, Hertfordshire, Baronet, M.P., and Sir Philip Rose, of Rayners, Penn, Buckinghamshire, Baronet, their executors, administrators, and assigns, upon trust that they, or the survivor of them, or the executors or administrators of such survivor, or the trustees or trustee who shall have succeeded in their place (hereinafter called my trustees or trustee, or the trustees or trustee of this my will), shall call in, sell, and convert into money such part of my said personal estate as shall not consist of money. And I declare and direct that my trustees or trustee shall, out of the moneys to arise from the calling in, sale, and conversion into money of such part of my said personal estate as shall not consist of money, and the money of which I shall be possessed at my death, pay my funeral and testamentary expenses, and all my just debts, and such other sums as are hereinafter mentioned, and apply the residue of the said moneys upon the trusts with, and subject to, the powers, provisoes, and declarations, and in the manner hereinafter declared and directed, of and concerning the moneys to arise, and as if the same were moneys arising from any sale of the hereditaments hereinafter devised in strict settlement under the power of sale thereof hereinafter contained.