The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-10-30

tnere was great nero OF animals. WlVh
the "Swells" came in something OF the
free-and -easness which has leavened
English society with it's license and its
slang. "Free-and -easiness is all very well,
once laughed Disraeli, "but why not be
little freer and little less easy?" With
the "Swells" came also another social
change, the diffusion not only Of wealth.
but of taste. great lady assures
Lothian" that he will be surprised to see
80 many well dressed and good looking
people at the opera whom he had never be-
held before.
VII.
Disraeli held that the secrets Of success
in life are: know ledge of your own capad-
ties, constancy of purpose and mastery
of your subject He laid especial stress
upon the first named qualification. What
We want is to discover the character OF
a man at his birth and to found his educa-
ton upon his nature" And again: Until
men are educated with reference to their
nature, there will be no end of domestic
frdcds.' 1t was his conviction that national
literature ought to be native and not i'm
ported. "The duty Of education is to give
ideas. When our limited stock OF ideas
was embedded in the literature Of two dead
languages it was necessary TO acquire
those languages. But now each nation
has its literature. Let education be con-
fined to a national literature, and We should
soon perceive the beneficial effects upon the
mind Of the students Study would then
be a profitable delight. I pity the poor
victim Of the grammar and the lexicon.
The Greeks who were masters Of COM
position, were ignorant of all lang uages
but their own. They concentrated their
genius on the study OF expression in one
tongue. To this they owe the blended
simplicity and strength Of style which the
initiative Romans. T'tfk all theiE splendor,
never attained" -Disraeh~. asserted that
the mere fact of copying or assuming ideas
deprives them Of their native virtue, and
that all which is second hand loses the vigor
and flavor of its originals in initiating them.
1t is we'll known that during the greater
part of his life Disraeli was handicapped
by the charge that he was an allen" Con-
corning this alleged alien aloofness, the
present biographer discourses at some
length He reminds us that Mazarin was
an "alien," not to speak of such examples
as Alferoni and Ripperda. In the eighteenth
century a Scotch Premier was in English
eyes an "alien" Augustus was partly,
Napoleon wholly, an allen" What but
aliens" were MANN, Gambetta, Lasker,
Midhat and Emin? This, at least. Mr..
Sichel affirms with confidence, that no
body understood his countrymen more
shrewdly and at the same time more
sympathetically than Disraeli His was
no sham patriotism. and he loved John
Bull fondly, even when he poked fun at
him. Nor had any pondered more deeply
the lessons which history imparts There
are, however, two grains Of truth in the
reproach. He did regard the world and
it's history as a feeting show. He believed
in recurring cycles. What is now old was
once new; what is new will be one day old
SO long as individuals did their best, what
did it matter? One civilization succeeds
another, and the last state OF a mighty
nation is often worse than the first. The
'whirlieig Of Time brings about It's revenges
In this sanse-the historical and philo-
sophical sense-he might be called an in
differentistr But If Disraeh understood
England, it took long for his countrymen to
understand him in the same way. When they
came to do 80 he met with the generous
appreciation which immense bravery and
perseverance, always receive In the end; but
meanwhile, for many a decade, his steps
were logged with Jealous malice. He .edu-
Gated" his followers, but suspicion and
Misunderstanding hampered his every
move. During two spans Of some six years
each without counting his early period
he had to play losing game with an TN
ruffied brow, an encouraging smile and
unwearied resource. He had to hearten
the despairing, the recalcitrant, the slothful
and the sullen, He had to deplore the
stupidity Of misused opportunities. he had
to humor the engrossers Of Office; and. even
in tho intervals OF power, to bend his neck
to the grinding stone of finance. His
hour struck at last. At o. he began to
govern England on lines planned and
with projects pondered full thirty years
earlier, Even then he had to confront
anonymous endeavors to sap his leadership
from quarters which should have disarmed
suspicion.
VIII.
There is no doubt that, for a man OF Dis
raeli's sensitive temperament the greater
part OF his life had been fraught with in
expreesible sadness No one was more
cut to the quick by contumely or imperti-
nence; no one was more determined to hide
the wound. III Jowett once said. "Dizzy
were on the brink Of the hottomless pit,
and aach ,,,pment ahcp,t IN fall into II his