y that he had asked Peel
for office, relying on the fact that the letter which contained
the request was marked "private," so that Peel could not use it
to disprove his statement (_Letters of Sir Robert Peel_, by C.
S. Parker, vol. ii. p. 486; vol. iii. pp. 347, 348).

[8] See Sir S. Northcote's report of a conversation with Disraeli in
his last years (_Life of Sir Stafford Northcote_, vol. ii.).

[9] In the _Life of Lord George Bentinck_ (written shortly after
Peel's death), Disraeli, after dilating upon the loyalty which
the Tory aristocracy had displayed towards Peel, observes, "An
aristocracy hesitates before it yields its confidence, but it
never does so grudgingly.... In political connections the
social feeling mingles with the principle of honour which
governs gentlemen.... Such a following is usually cordial and
faithful. An aristocracy is rather apt to exaggerate the
qualities and magnify the importance of a plebeian leader."

[10] When he did set himself to examine the condition of the people,
the diagnosis, if not always correct, was always suggestive,
_e.g._ the account of the manufacturing districts given in
_Sybil, or the Two Nations_.

[11] "The old Jew, that is the man."

[12] In the _Life of Lord George Bentinck_.

[13] +Oio pepnusthai, toi de skiai aissousin+ (_Od._ x. 495). Used of
Tiresias, in the world of disembodied spirits.

[14] To defend Disraeli by arguing that his policy had not a fair
chance because his colleagues did not allow him to carry it
through is to admit another error not less grave, for the path
he took was one on which no minister ought to have entered
unless satisfied that the Cabinet and the country would let him
follow it to the end.

[15] _Inf._ vii. 77.

DEAN STANLEY[16]

In the England of his time there was no personality more attractive,
nor any more characteristic of the country, than Arthur Penrhyn
Stanley, Dean of Westminster. England is the only European country in
which such a figure could have appeared, for it is the only country in
which a man may hold a high ecclesiastical post and yet be regarded by
the nation, not specially as an ecclesiastic, but rather as a
distinguished writer, an active and influential man of affairs, an
ornament of social life. But if in this respect he w