development of Lancashire was increasing every day. He was a graceful
and tasteful scholar, who won the Chanceller's prize for Latin
verse at Oxford, and translated the Iliad into fluent hexameters.
Good as a scholar, he was, as became the grandson of the founder
of "The Derby," even better as a sportsman; and in private life
he was the best companion in the world, playful and reckless, as
a schoolboy, and never letting prudence or propriety stand between
him and his jest. "Oh, Johnny, what fun we shall have!" was his
characteristic greeting to Lord John Russell, when that ancient
rival entered the House of Lords.

Furthermore, Stanley had, in richest abundance, the great natural
gift of oratory, with an audacity in debate which won him the nickname
of "Rupert," and a voice which would have stirred his hearers if
he had only been reciting Bradshaw. For a brilliant sketch of his
social aspect we may consult Lord Beaumaris in Lord Beaconsfield's
_Endymion_; and of what he was in Parliament we have the same great
man's account, reported by Matthew Arnold: "Full of nerve, dash,
fire, and resource, he carried the House irresistibly along with
him."

In the Parliament of 1859-1865 (with which my political recollections
begin) Lord Palmerston was Prime Minister and Lord Derby Leader
of the Opposition, with Disraeli as his lieutenant in the House
of Commons. If, as Lord Randolph Churchill said in later years,
the business of an Opposition is to oppose, it must be admitted
that Derby and Disraeli were extremely remiss. It was suspected at
the time, and has since been made known through Lord Malmesbury's
_Memoirs_, that there was something like an "understanding" between
Palmerston and Derby. As long as Palmerston kept his Liberal colleagues