448 DEATH OF LORD GEORGE BENTINCK. 



the great hotels of an age of stately manners, with 

 its wings, courtyard, carriage-portal, and huge out- 

 ward walls. " Lord George," adds Mr Disraeli, 

 " put forth his hand to bid me farewell, and his 

 last words were characteristic of the man, of his 

 warm feelings and ruling passion : ' God bless you ! 

 we must work, and the country will come round to 

 us yet.' " 



It is evident that some foreboding of the coming 

 tragedy must have crossed Mr Disraeli's mind at 

 that final interview, for he immediately proceeds 

 to say : " But why talk or think of death ? He goes 

 to his native county and his father's proud domain 

 to breathe the air of his boyhood, and move amid 

 the parks and scenes of his youth. Every breeze 

 will bear health on its wings, and the sight of 

 every hallowed haunt will stimulate his pulse. 

 He is scarcely older than Julius Csesar when he 

 commenced his public career ; he looks as high and 

 as brave, and he springs from a long-lived race." 

 Yet if any gloomy presentiment suggested itself on 

 this occasion to Mr Disraeli's thoughts, it can be 

 shown beyond doubt by many irrefutable evidences 

 that Lord George went down to Welbeck full of 

 energy and hope. On arriving at the home of 

 his childhood, he was thought by some of his 

 attached relatives — and never was son or brother 

 more beloved — to be looking worn and pale. Noth- 

 ing, however, appears to have been said to him on 

 the subject in a family always noted for reticence and 



