78 FXHOES OF OLD COUNTY LIFE 



great man when untrammelled by weighty problems of 

 State. At the funeral of this great statesman I was 

 privileged to enter the church. Never shall I forget the 

 solemn scene, for never before in history was anything 

 like it. The procession was honoured by the presence 

 of the Prince of Wales and his royal brothers, foreign 

 ambassadors, most of the leading inhabitants of the 

 county, by even those who had been his greatest 

 opponents, men like Lord Hartington and Sir William 

 Harcourt. One alone was conspicuous by his absence. 

 He had missed his train at Paddington ! The beauty 

 of the surrounding neighbourhood, of the village 

 church and churchyard standing in the park at 

 Hughenden, the truly sylvan landscape, the quiet of 

 the " beech-clad Chilterns," the crowds of sobbings 

 reverential villagers, the respectful grief of his tenantry, 

 formed a picture never to hz forgotten, while this last 

 tribute of respect, to one of the most remarkable men 

 of this or any other age or country, was being paid. 

 No one more deeply mourned his loss than the writer 

 of these memories. The monument erected to the 

 memory of his father, Isaac Disraeli, by his devoted 

 wife, over-topping the park at Hughenden, and the 

 restoration of the beautiful parish church itself, will 

 of themselves perpetuate the name and reputation of 

 Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield, K.G., whose 

 dust now mingles with ancient champions of the 

 people's rights, in the church containing the ashes 

 of those noble crusaders, the De Montforts, names 

 ever to be associated with the most stirring events in 

 the history of England's freedom. 



