LORD BEACONSFIELD AT THE GUILDHALL BANQUET.

Bay of Plenty Times, 8 February 1879, Page 3

LORD BEACONSFIELD AT THE GUILDHALL BANQUET.

Thk Loudon correspondent of the New York Tribune, contribute'; the, following fair picture of Lord 1-oaconslield at the Guildhall banquet: — "The great man moved so slowly towards the (luildhall platform that everybody had a good look at him, and could judge for himself whether he looked well or; ill. Lord Beaconsfield's friends have taken: great pains lately to spread the belief that ho.' is unusually well. They have taken so much; pains that. "l could not but recollect tlie re-} mark T had heard from a lady of much wit,' that she was growing old when her friends' began to tell her how young she appeared.'. In truth, Lord Beaconsfield has a right to the gentle consideration we offer to great age and many infirmities. If I speak of his appearance with brutnlfranknoss, it is because his health is part of ijhe public domain, it is a matter with which the wolf.'uv. of England is bound up. While his strength and vigor last, his malign influence lasts. A man who wishes well to his country must be excused if he notes respectfully, but with particularity, the signs of decaying power in her evil genius. He walked as a man might walk whose propelling power was duo to some machinery inside of him. There was a gingerly stifiucs:. of movement about him, as if he wore not quite sure the clockwork might not run down before he had got to hi.. appointed place. He leaned on Montague Cony's arm, and leaned heavily. His face was what his face always is, an impenetrable screen for the restless brain behind it. A few minutes later I had a still better chance to study this _ny_.tei.ous countenance. In his place in the processm which marched from iho lifrnry into the banque'i.ig-hall, Lord 3cfi'_-__jc_lt'ii ;...v_e the circuit oi that

g'ron . room, and it chanced that the procesI. KJo.t came to a momentary halt, -as he Tyas near tlie end of the table at which I stood. :'I .had -no more scrnpL. in staring at him than •I had in staring at the grotesque figures of Gog and. Magog- which haunt the corners of tbe gallery. Nor -was" he any more conscious than they of tlie attention bestowed on him ; at any rate, he gave no more sign of it. Not a muscle of; his face moved; they hardly looked a. if" they could move. He had the Lady Mayoress on his arm. Onc.e he bent to speak to her, and whatever the observat ion lie confided to her may have been, ft was delivered without .a change of expression, or a gleam of'dife in his Bunken.oycs. I never saw"':, human visage so scarred and scored with, strange lines. Not the least strange thing about thorn is that they ore as ftilT of power as.they are pf fantastic meaning. The parchment "which hides his "skull' is strained tight as a drum -head over the protruding,, bones beneath the eyes, and hang^^fc-tir--wrinkles just below. Beyond ,|toai.t -it, is a thouchtful face, and beyond^#ubt also-,coji-: temptuous of other pc()p^'thoughts.-Tlie_ . v n strength in the ja^and g^jgi'i. •_h the forehead, with a^Frckin.^^itt'er in the „I,'issy eye, which also suggests thj-t-|_o dc.pijs-_'the race whom he governs.rr^ith.alljiihat, the face has an im.menSc»;ia§pijnati":>'n",for the beholder. Lowell ; 'Isaidlthat^the Venus of Milo made all other ?"v;enii^.i.-f.epm ignoble. This man, with his ihcompl^ensible mixture of great qualities *indjriqi.e<fibfe*.flippancy, makes the greatest of > *m^'.iriv|^. seem commonplace. Even L'pr_i-^__-SM^'S.hV'iß. not unworthy, with lus'''_aUo^3iriW^ro ft^i° visage, to be the descendant of Burleigh, looks as if his chief had found him out.