DISRAELI'S EARLY CAREER. 43 



Tories, the Marquis of Chandos, on whose behalf Mr. 

 Benjamin DisraeU addressed the freeholders. I can 

 see him now as a consummate dandy, in a frock-coat 

 well thrown back, to display a white waistcoat, his 

 hair falling over his shoulders in long black curls 

 which he constantly shook from his face, as he gave vent 

 to his pent-up thoughts. He made a most violent 

 onslaught on the Whigs, which called up to the Council 

 table in the County Hall Mr. Martin Smith, who gave 

 Disraeli's statement the lie direct, and, I believe, 

 challenged him to fight a duel. 



]\Ir. Disraeli's manner was very eccentric, and he 

 was laughed at as a mountebank and a Jew adven- 

 turer ; even his own — the Tory — party gave him the 

 cold shoulder ; but he persevered, and at last made 

 his speech, through the storm of ridicule and roars of 

 laughter which greeted his singular antics. 



I have before me a copy of an old diary written by 

 a well-known Reformer or Radical in 1832, and find 

 in it the following — 



" Wycombe Election. 



''June 3. — E. Lytton Bulwer writes to B. Disraeli, 

 Esq. : ' Mr. Hume expresses his great satisfaction in 

 hearing that you were about to start for Wycombe. 

 He has a high opinion of your talent and principles.' 

 D. O'Connell writes to Lytton Bulwer : ' I have no 

 acquaintance to whom I could recommend Mr. Disraeli. 

 It grieves me, therefore, to be unable to serve him on 

 his canvass.' Sir Francis Burdett also writes to Charles 

 Gore : ' I am sorry I have not it in my power to 



