liked--in quiet
and almost uninterrupted study. In 1802 he married Maria Basevi, by whom
he had five children, of whom Benjamin (afterwards Lord Beaconsfield and
Prime Minister of England) was the second. He was able to maintain his
strenuous habits of study till he reached the advanced age of
seventy-two, when he was forced, by paralysis of the optic nerve, to
give up work almost entirely. He lived ten years longer, and died at his
seat at Bradenham House, Buckinghamshire, on the 19th of January 1848.

Isaac D'Israeli is most celebrated as the author of the _Curiosities of
Literature_ (1791, subsequent volumes in 1793, 1817, 1823 and 1834). It
is a miscellany of literary and historical anecdotes, of original
critical remarks, and of interesting and curious information of all
kinds, animated by genuine literary feeling, taste and enthusiasm. With
the _Curiosities of Literature_ may be classed D'Israeli's
_Miscellanies, or Literary Recreations_ (1796), the _Calamities of
Authors_ (1812-1813), and the _Quarrels of Authors_ (1814). Towards the
close of his life D'Israeli projected a continuous history of English
literature, three volumes of which appeared in 1841 under the title of
the _Amenities of Literature_. But of all his works the most delightful
is his _Essay on the Literary Character_ (1795), which, like most of his
writings, abounds in illustrative anecdotes. In the famous "Pope
controversy" he supported Byron and Campbell against Bowles and Hazlitt
by a defence of Pope in the form of a criticism of Joseph Spence's
_Anecdotes_ contributed to the _Quarterly Review_ (July 1820). In 1797
D'Israeli published three novels; one of these, _Mejnoun and Leila, the
Arabian Petrarch and Laura_, was said to be the first oriental romance
in English. His last novel, _Despotism, or the Fall of the Jesuits_,
appeared in 1811, but none of his romances was popular. He also
published a slight sketch of Jewish history, and especially of the
growth of the Talmud, entitled the _Genius of Judaism_ (1833).

He was the author of two historical works--a brief defence of the
literary merit and personal and political character of James I. (1816),
and a learned _Commentary on the Life and Reign of King Charles I._
(1828-1831). This was recognized by the University of Oxford, which
conferred upon the author the honorary degree of D.C.L. As an historian
D'Israeli is distinguished by two characteristics. In the first place,
he had small intere