Endymion

Endymion

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Endymion, by Benjamin Disraeli
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Title: Endymion
Author: Benjamin Disraeli
Release Date: April, 2005 [EBook #7926] [This file was first posted on
May 31, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English

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ENDYMION ***

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ENDYMION
by
BENJAMIN DISRAELI
EARL OF BEACONSFIELD, K.G.

First Published 1880

CHAPTER I
It was a rich, warm night, at the beginning of August, when a
gentleman enveloped in a cloak, for he was in evening dress, emerged
from a club-house at the top of St. James' Street, and descended that
celebrated eminence. He had not proceeded more than half way down
the street when, encountering a friend, he stopped with some
abruptness.
"I have been looking for you everywhere," he said.
"What is it?"
"We can hardly talk about it here."
"Shall we go to White's?"
"I have just left it, and, between ourselves, I would rather we should be
more alone. 'Tis as warm as noon. Let us cross the street and get into St.
James' Place. That is always my idea of solitude."

So they crossed the street, and, at the corner of St. James' Place, met
several gentlemen who had just come out of Brookes' Club-house.
These saluted the companions as they passed, and said, "Capital
account from Chiswick--Lord Howard says the chief will be in
Downing Street on Monday."
"It is of Chiswick that I am going to speak to you," said the gentleman
in the cloak, putting his arm in that of his companion as they walked on.
"What I am about to tell you is known only to three persons, and is the
most sacred of secrets. Nothing but our friendship could authorise me
to impart it to you."
"I hope it is something to your advantage," said his companion.
"Nothing of that sort; it is of yourself that I am thinking. Since our
political estrangement, I have never had a contented moment. From
Christ Church, until that unhappy paralytic stroke, which broke up a
government that had lasted fifteen years, and might have continued
fifteen more, we seemed always to have been working together. That
we should again unite is my dearest wish. A crisis is at hand. I want
you to use it to your advantage. Know then, that what they were just
saying about Chiswick is moonshine. His case is hopeless, and it has
been communicated to the King."
"Hopeless!"
"Rely upon it; it came direct from the Cottage to my friend."
"I thought he had a mission?" said his companion, with emotion; "and
men with missions do not disappear till they have fulfilled them."
"But why did you think so? How often have I asked you for your
grounds for such a conviction! There are none. The man of the age is
clearly the Duke, the saviour of Europe, in the perfection of manhood,
and with an iron constitution."
"The salvation of Europe is the affair of a past generation," said his
companion. "We want something else now. The salvation of England

should be the subject rather of our present thoughts."
"England! why when were things more sound? Except the split among
our own men, which will be now cured, there is not a cause of
disquietude."
"I have much," said his friend.
"You never used to have any, Sidney. What extraordinary revelations
can have been made to you during three months of office under a semi-
Whig Ministry?"
"Your taunt is fair, though it pains me. And I confess to you that when I
resolved to follow Canning and join his new allies, I had many a twinge.
I was bred in the Tory camp; the Tories put me in Parliament and gave
me office; I lived with them and liked them; we dined and voted
together, and together pasquinaded our opponents. And yet, after
Castlereagh's death,