Mr. Disraeli addressed on Monday an audience of agriculturists gathered
at Halton to hear him, and see an industrial exhibition fostered by the Rothschild family, who possess very large estates in the neighbourhood. Nobody does this kind of thing so well as the Premier. He did not say a word on politics, but talked away pleasantly about the productions of Buckinghamshire, believed outside its bounds to be only beef, barley, butter, and bumpkins ; but known to Mr. Disraeli to include lace that might vie with Mechlin, furniture, embroidery, and silk so good that it is exported to Paris and reimported as fine material. He concluded by pointing out the benefits of such social gatherings, so superior " to any brutal pastime,"—baiting a Minister, for example ?—and with a graceful compliment to the Lady of the Manor, Lady de Roths- child. In his way, Mr. Disraeli turns these speeches as well as ever Lord Palmerston did, and it is curious to mark the difference between his artificial yet playful speech, and the Irish noble's broader humour.
Previous page
