triple character of
a libertine, a swindler, and a suicide. Yet his follies, his vices, his
crimes, are all palliated or even applauded by this specious _facon de
parler_--"He was mad--quite mad!"

BENJAMIN DISRAELI (LORD BEACONSFIELD).

(1805-1881.)

LXV. POPANILLA ON MAN.

This racy piece of satire is taken from Lord Beaconsfield's
mock-heroic romance--written in imitation of _Gulliver's
Travels,--The Voyage of Captain Popanilla_, of which it forms the
fourth chapter.

Six months had elapsed since the first chest of the cargo of Useful
Knowledge destined for the fortunate Maldives had been digested by the
recluse Popanilla; for a recluse he had now become. Great students are
rather dull companions. Our Fantasian friend, during his first studies,
was as moody, absent, and querulous as are most men of genius during
that mystical period of life. He was consequently avoided by the men
and quizzed by the women, and consoled himself for the neglect of the
first and the taunts of the second by the indefinite sensation that he
should, some day or other, turn out that little being called a great
man. As for his mistress, she considered herself insulted by being
addressed by a man who had lost her lock of hair. When the chest was
exhausted, Popanilla was seized with a profound melancholy. Nothing
depresses a man's spirits more completely than a self-conviction of
self-conceit; and Popanilla, who had been accustomed to consider
himself and his companions as the most elegant portion of the visible
creation, now discovered, with dismay, that he and his fellow-islanders
were nothing more than a horde of useless savages.

This mortification, however, was soon succeeded by a proud
consciousness that he, at any rate, was now civilized; and that proud
consciousness by a fond hope that in a short time he might become a
civilizer. Like all projectors, he was not of sanguine temperament; but
he did trust that in the course of another season the Isle of Fantaisie
might take its station among the nations. He was determined, however,
not to be too rapid. It cannot be expected that ancient prejudices can
in a moment be eradicated, and new modes of conduct instantaneously
substituted and established. Popanilla, like a wise man, determined to
conciliate. His views were to be as liberal as his principles were
enlightened. Men should be forced to do nothing. Bigotry and
intolerance and persecution were the object