very strictly defined, and in which a large latitude is enjoyed by the player who is not particularly scrupulous as to the way in which he plays. Thus, in his public character he has often stood convicted of conduct which, outside the domain of politics, would be justly regarded as disgraceful; yet in his private career he has shown himself eminently reputable and worthy. Just so the Grand Vizier of the story rebukes his daughter for telling an untruth, whilst he himself invents an accusation against his enemy which costs the latter his life. If I had simply to write of Lord Beaconsfield as an author, a man of genius, a member of society, it would be difficult to speak too warmly in his praise, and his wonderful career might be commended to the admiration and imitation of young men everywhere. But it is impossible to dissociate the private individual from the public character, the man from the Minister; and when we regard Lord Beaconsfield as a statesman, there is only one conclusion to which we can come. That is, that by birth, by training, by temperament, and by the strong bent of his own inclination, he is absolutely unfitted for the position which her now occupies at the head of the British Empire. He would have been an admirable Grand Vizier to the Good Haroun Alraschid; he would have been an excellent courtier in the train of le Grand Monarque; he might even have made a fair Prime Minister in the reign of Queen Anne; but in the days of Victoria, and as the leading member of a Parliamentary Government, he is, in spite of all his accomplishments and his talents, an anachronism of which it is our duty to get rid at the earliest possible moment. [LÉON GAMBETTA was born at Cahors, in 1838. Became a member of the Paris Bar in 1859. Was returned to the Corps Legislatif in 1869 as member for Paris and Marseilles, and took a prominent part among the opponents of the Empire. On the fall of the Empire, became Minister of the Interior in the Government of September 4th, 1870; and acted as virtual Dictator of France during the siege of Paris. Resigned on February 6th, 1871. Was returned to the National Assembly in the same month, and became the prominent leader of the Republican party. In 1879, appointed President of the Chamber of Deputies.] M. GAMBETTA. I OFFER no apology for asking my readers to turn aside from English political personages in order to study the character and the career of M. Gambetta. There is nobody like him in Europe. Other men have risen as high, and from almost as low a starting-point, but none of them have risen with such dazzling suddenness; and none, I believe, have borne their marvellous elevation so wisely, so steadfastly, or so modestly as he has done. The career of Lord Beaconsfield in its personal aspect may be likened to a three |