dy; the author has been tempted to turn
aside too frequently in search of some brilliant epigram; he has
mistaken bombast for eloquence, and mere flowery brilliance for warmth
of emotion. But we might hope that longer experience and more earnest
purpose might correct such defects. Alas! in the year of their
publication, Disraeli first entered Parliament. His next works comprised
the trilogy, where the artistic aim has become subordinate to the
political or biological; and some thirty years of parliamentary labours
led to 'Lothair,' of which it is easiest to assume that it is a
practical joke on a large scale, or a prolonged burlesque upon
Disraeli's own youthful performances. May one not lament the degradation
of a promising novelist into a Prime Minister?

FOOTNOTES:

[4] Perhaps I ought to substitute 'Lord Beaconsfield' for Disraeli; but
I am writing of the author of 'Coningsby,' rather than of the author of
'Endymion:' and I will therefore venture to preserve the older name.

[5] 'He never loved that loved not at first sight,' says Marlowe, and
Shakespeare after him. I cannot say whether this be an undesigned
literary coincidence or an appropriation. Disraeli, we know, was skilful
in the art of annexation. One or two instances may be added. Here is a
clear case of borrowing. Fuller says in the character of the good
sea-captain in the 'Holy State'--'Who first taught the water to imitate
the creatures on land, so that the sea is the stable of horse-fishes,
the stye of hog-fishes, the kennel of dog-fishes, and in all things, the
sea is the ape of the land?' Essper George, in 'Vivian Grey,' says to
the sea: 'O thou indifferent ape of earth, what art thou, O bully ocean,
but the stable of horse-fishes, the stall of cow-fishes, the stye of
hog-fishes, and the kennel of dog-fishes?' Other cases may be more
doubtful. On one occasion, Disraeli spoke of the policy of his opponents
as a combination of 'blundering and plundering.' The jingle was thought
to be adapted from a previous epigram about 'meddling and muddling;' but
here is the identical phrase: Coleridge wrote in the 'Courier:' 'The
writer, whilst abroad, was once present when most bitter complaints were
made of the ----government. "Government!" exclaimed a testy old captain
of a Mediterranean trading-vessel, "call it _blunderment_ or
_plunderment_ or what you like--only not a _government_!"'--Coleridge's
'Essays on his own Times,' p. 893. Disraeli is sometimes credi