ce the days of Richelieu, there has been no such picturesque figure
in the history of civilization as that of Benjamin Disraeli.

Although his father, Isaac Disraeli, was in much more than easy
circumstances and had made a literary reputation, he was under the
social disadvantage that was the portion of a Jew, and his mother, Maria
Basevi, was of the same despised race.

Their son was born in London, December 21, 1804, and his birth was
attended by the usual Jewish ceremonies in the Spanish synagogue. When
he was thirteen years old his father formally withdrew from the Jewish
congregation, and the children were baptized into the Christian faith,
Benjamin's godfather being Sharon Turner. The boy was early seen to have
rare talents, and he was already an immense reader in his father's vast
library. It was decided to give him an exact education and send him to
one of the large schools, where he should have the advantage of
discipline and the opportunity of desirable friendships; but the
prejudice against his birth was an obstacle--life would have been made
impossible by the indelicacy and cruelty of the high-born and Christian
lads. He was finally sent to a school where he found himself the
superior of his masters; even there he was taunted with his birth; and
he was taken home to work with his father and with tutors, where,
conscious of his powers and full of lively ambition, he studied twelve
hours a day, and made himself the master of a vast and varied
information. At seventeen he entered a solicitor's office, and while
working there for three years, entered at Lincoln's Inn, he evinced an
ability that promised him great eminence. It was not, however,
precisely the sort of eminence that he desired, the strifes and
achievements of political life being more to his taste.

He had the qualities which fitted him for that life, the "taking arts"
and accomplishments; he was a fine linguist; he had a wonderfully
well-stored memory, great self-confidence, self-respect, and assurance;
his manners were easy, and he had all social graces and refinements; his
face was singularly handsome, and remarkable through its pallor, the
depth of its black eyes, and delicacy of its chiselled features framed
in night-dark curls; he was a master of the art of self-defence, a hard
and fine rider, and he was equipped with wit, sarcasm, poetical
perception, keen reason, unbounded ambition, and undaunted courage.

He dressed in his early years in