DISRAELI AS A FARMER. 55 



all directions ; but on his arrival home, as usual, he 

 resorted to his village haunt, and, after the usual 

 greeting, he thought he must show his friends that he 

 had not forgotten their agricultural remarks, and said, 

 " Rare weather for turmuts ! " Whereupon the farmers all 

 sprang from their seats as though a bombshell had been 

 thrown amongst them ; and one of them shouted out, 

 " D — n it, sir, there ain't a turmut in the country ; 

 they be all roasted up." Fawcett rarely ventured again 

 to air his agricultural knowledge. 



In addition to Lord Beaconsfield's desire to be an 

 authority on agricultural matters, he was anxious to 

 also pose as a farmer — in full costume. At one of the 

 annual m.eetings of the Royal and Central Bucks Asso- 

 ciation, at Aylesbury, those attending the show-yard 

 were startled by the appearance of their beloved M.P, 

 entering in full panoply of agricultural mail, or, as he 

 thought, in full farming costume. He had discarded 

 the traditional top-boots, but appeared in a brown 

 velveteen shooting-coat, with a flapping waistcoat, and 

 over his black trousers he had drawn a pair of long 

 dark-brown leather gaiters, with wooden buttons covered 

 with leather up the side, reaching from his dandy 

 Wellington boots to his hips, and fastened there with 

 leathern straps to his brace buttons ; his head was 

 covered with a black " billycock" hat, and a blue bird's- 

 eye silk handkerchief was tied loosely round his neck, 

 and he carried a big stick with a spud at the end ; in 

 fact, he looked like a well-dressed gamekeeper. Every 

 one was screaming with laughter, but he thought he was 

 paying us agricultural folk a compliment by wearing what 



