Lord Beaconsfield has been praised for his integrity in money matters; the praise could have been spared--it does not rise high enough. It is also said to his honour that he "never struck at a little man," and that was well; but it is explained as readily by pride and calculation as by magnanimity. A man of extraordinary coolness and self-control, his faults in every kind were faults of excess: it is the mark of them all. But whatever offence they gave, whatever mischief they did, was soon exhausted, and has long since been pardoned.
AUTHORITIES.--The writer's personal knowledge is largely represented in the above article. Among the biographical literature available prior to the authoritative _Life_ the following may be cited:--Lord Beaconsfield's Preface to 1849 edition of Isaac D'Israeli's works; _Correspondence with his Sister_, and _Home Letters_, edited by Ralph Disraeli; Samuel Smiles, _Memoirs and Correspondence of John Murray; Life of the Earl of Beaconsfield_, by F. Hitchman; _Memoir_ by T.E. Kebbel; _Memoir_ by J.A. Froude; _Memoir_ by Harold Gorst; Sir William Fraser's _Disraeli and his Day; The Speeches of Lord Beaconsfield_, edited by T.E. Kebbel. In 1904, however, the large collection of material for Lord Beaconsfield's life, in the hands of his executors Lord Rowton and Lord Rothschild, was acquired by _The Times_, and the task of preparing the biography was assigned to Mr W.F. Monypenny, an assistant editor of _The Times_ (1894-1899), who was best known to the public as editor of the Johannesburg _Star_ during the crisis of 1899-1903. (F. G.)
[1] The crown had in 1871 appointed the Rev. W.W. Harvey (1810-1883), a Cambridge man, to the living of Ewelme, near Oxford, for which members of the Oxford house of convocation were alone eligible. Gladstone was charged with evading this limitation in allowing Harvey to qualify for the appointment by being formally admitted M.A. by incorporation.
[2] For a detailed, if somewhat controversial, account of this affair, see Lucien Wolf's article in _The Times_ of December 26, 1905, and Mr Greenwood's letters on the subject.
BEACONSFIELD, a town of Devon county, Tasmania, on the river Tamar, 28 m. direct N.W. of Launceston. Pop. (1901) 2658. From its port at Beauty Point, 3½ m. distant, with which it is connected by a steam tramway, communication is maintained with Georgetown and Launceston. It is the centre of the most important gold-field in the island.