"'Yes I do, it is the blue ribbon of the turf.'

"'It is the blue ribbon of the turf,' he slowly repeated to himself, and
sitting down at the table he buried himself in a folio of statistics."

In a personal allusion to the arduous political labours of Lord George
Bentinck, Disraeli says: "What was not his least remarkable trait, is
that although he only breakfasted on dry toast, he took no sustenance
all this time, dining at White's at half-past two o'clock in the
morning. After his severe attack of influenza he broke through this
habit a little during the last few months of his life, moved by the
advice of his physician and the instance of his friends. The writer of
these observations prevailed upon him a little the last year to fall
into the easy habit of dining at Bellamy's, which saves much time and
permits the transaction of business in conversation with a congenial
friend. But he grudged it; he always thought that something would be
said or done in his absence, which would not have occurred had he been
there; some motion whisked through or some return altered. His principle
was that a member should never be absent from his seat."

Disraeli thus describes the last farewell he took of Lord George and his
tragic death a few days afterwards:

"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 meads of his youth.
Every breeze will bear health, and the sight of every hallowed haunt
will stimulate his pulse. He is scarcely older than Julius Cæsar when he
commenced his public career, he looks as high and brave, and he springs
from a long-lived race.