72 ECHOES OF OLD COUNTY LIFE. 



her a set of his works, and continued to do so when 

 any new publication of his appeared. Some few years 

 afterwards this lady died, and, to his utter astonishment, 

 left him all her fortune. This amounted to over ^^40,000, 

 and it enabled him to pay off the whole of the encum- 

 brances on his estate. This great benefactress was 

 buried at Hughenden, and lies in the same vault contain- 

 ing the remains of the famous author and statesman and 

 those of his wife. 



I shall not soon forget the time when he first entered 

 office, and, to the astonishment of every one, became 

 Chancellor of the Exchequer. On the morning it 

 was announced in TJic Times that he had accepted 

 office, I was riding to the meet of the Staghounds, and 

 Baron Lionel de Rothschild, father of the present Lord 

 Rothschild, overtook me, and whilst riding onwards 

 began talking of the new Derby Administration. I 

 expressed my surprise at ]\Ir. Disraeli being appointed 

 to preside over the finances of the country, and doubted 

 his capability for the office. The Baron replied, '' The 

 public make a great mistake. I know him well — his 

 genius is equal to anything ; he will make a good 

 Chancellor of the Exchequer, far better than Sir 

 Charles Wood, Spring-Rice, and .many others who r.ave 

 gone before him." This, coming from so eminent an 

 authority as Baron Lionel, quite satisfied me, and I soon 

 afterwards had occasion to find out that his opinion 

 was justified. 



A great agitation had commenced against a most 

 obnoxious tax, " the post-horse duty," which was levied 

 in a very objectionable manner, and was the last of the 



