Coningsby

Coningsby

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Coningsby, by Benjamin Disraeli
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Title: Coningsby
Author: Benjamin Disraeli
Release Date: February, 2005 [EBook #7412] [This file was first
posted on April 25, 2003]
Edition: 10

Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO Latin-1
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK,
CONINGSBY ***

Anne Soulard, Tiffany Vergon, and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team

CONINGSBY
OR THE NEW GENERATION
BY
BENJAMIN DISRAELI
EARL OF BEACONSFIELD

PUBLISHERS' NOTE
As a novelist, Benjamin Disraeli belongs to the early part of the
nineteenth century. "Vivian Grey" (1826-27) and "Sybil" (1845) mark
the beginning and the end of his truly creative period; for the two
productions of his latest years, "Lothair" (1870) and "Endymion"
(1880), add nothing to the characteristics of his earlier volumes except
the changes of feeling and power which accompany old age. His period,
thus, is that of Bulwer, Dickens, and Thackeray, and of the later years
of Sir Walter Scott--a fact which his prominence as a statesman during
the last decade of his life, as well as the vogue of "Lothair" and
"Endymion," has tended to obscure. His style, his material, and his
views of English character and life all date from that earlier time. He
was born in 1804 and died in 1881.
"Coningsby; or, The New Generation," published in 1844, is the best of
his novels, not as a story, but as a study of men, manners, and
principles. The plot is slight--little better than a device for stringing
together sketches of character and statements of political and economic
opinions; but these are always interesting and often brilliant. The
motive which underlies the book is political. It is, in brief, an attempt to
show that the political salvation of England was to be sought in its

aristocracy, but that this aristocracy was morally weak and socially
ineffective, and that it must mend its ways before its duty to the state
could be fulfilled. Interest in this aspect of the book has, of course, to a
large extent passed away with the political conditions which it reflected.
As a picture of aristocratic life in England in the first part of the
nineteenth century it has, however, enduring significance and charm.
Disraeli does not rank with the great writers of English realistic fiction,
but in this special field none of them has surpassed him. From this
point of view, accordingly, "Coningsby" is appropriately included in
this series.

TO HENRY HOPE
It is not because this work was conceived and partly executed amid the
glades and galleries of the DEEPDENE that I have inscribed it with
your name. Nor merely because I was desirous to avail myself of the
most graceful privilege of an author, and dedicate my work to the
friend whose talents I have always appreciated, and whose virtues I
have ever admired.
But because in these pages I have endeavoured to picture something of
that development of the new and, as I believe, better mind of England,
that has often been the subject of our converse and speculation.
In this volume you will find many a thought illustrated and many a
principle attempted to be established that we have often together
partially discussed and canvassed.
Doubtless you may encounter some opinions with which you may not
agree, and some conclusions the accuracy of which you may find cause
to question. But if I have generally succeeded in my object, to scatter
some suggestions that may tend to elevate the tone of public life,
ascertain the true character of political parties, and induce us for the
future more carefully to distinguish between facts and phrases, realities
and phantoms, I believe that I shall gain your sympathy, for I shall find
a reflex to their efforts in your own generous spirit and enlightened
mind.
GROSVENOR GATE: May Day 1844.

PREFACE

'CONINGSBY' was published in the year 1844. The main purpose of
its writer was to vindicate the just claims of