CHARACTER-SKETCH OF LORD GEORGE. 431 



regard him of the purest and most disinterested 

 character, of dauntless courage, and with an entire 

 absence of personal vanity and conceit. Before 

 quoting from two or three of these letters, I must 

 permit myself the pleasure of citing the following 

 passage from the pen of the editor of the ' Croker 

 Papers ' : 



" Lord George Bentinck is a unique figure in our 

 history. No one before or since has ever entered 

 political life under circumstances so remarkable, or 

 made such rapid strides towards distinction in an 

 equal period of time. All his parliamentary repu- 

 tation was achieved in about two years. It is true 

 that he had been a long time in the House, but 

 most people supposed that he cared for nothing 

 in the world except horses ; and for some years 

 undoubtedly he did not. That a power of master- 

 ing facts and accumulating information was among 

 his natural gifts, his letters amply testify. But 

 the Turf engrossed his whole being, and he pur- 

 sued it, in Mr Disraeli's words, ' on a scale that 

 has never been equalled.' When he went to the 

 House he seldom remained long, and appeared to 

 take very little interest in the debates. He spoke 

 unwillingly and with difficulty. Such was the 

 man to whom the Protectionists looked for guid- 

 ance when they found themselves cast off by Sir 

 Robert Peel. 



"In 1847 Lord George Bentinck was prevailed 



