When Froude gave Mr.Reid the manuscript, he said, "It will please neither Disraeli's friends nor his foes.

But it is at least an honest book." He heard, with more amusement than satisfaction, that it had pleased Gladstone.

For the political estimate of a modern and Parliamentary statesman Froude lacked some indispensable qualifications.

He knew little, and cared less, about the House of Commons, in which the best years of Disraeli's life were passed.

He despised the party system, of which Disraeli was at once a product and a devotee.