=Source.=--_The Times_, April 22, 1881.
It is finely said by Bacon of death that "it openeth the gate
to good fame and extinguisheth envy...." It is singularly true
of Lord Beaconsfield, whose fate it was to interest all men, to
puzzle most, and to provoke the antagonism of many. Certainly
no English statesman, since the death of Lord Palmerston, has
occupied so prominent a position or excited so deep an interest
on the Continent of Europe. His secret lay perhaps in the
magnetic influence of a dauntless will, in his unrivalled powers
of patience, in his impenetrable reserve and detachment. If we
compare the beginning of his political life with its close, and
note how its unchastened audacity was gradually toned down into
the coolest determination and the most dispassionate tenacity, we
shall see how the magnificent victory he achieved over himself gave
him power to govern others, to withstand their opposition, and to
bend their wills to his own. This is what Continental observers
saw in him--unrivalled strength of will and dauntless tenacity of
purpose--and this is why they admired him. The sense of mystery
engendered the sense of power, and foreigners freely admired where
Englishmen were often puzzled and at times almost bewildered.