man, and the varying European complications resulting therefrom. Thus it was that Disraeli, whose career had always possessed for many cultured young Australians the glamour of a strange fascination, suddenly began to loom from out the mist of English party politics, as the great patriotic statesman of the English-speaking world. Plain prose was found at times inadequate to the expression of our admiration, and "patriotic sonneteering" in honour of Beaconsfield was not unknown among us. But the ablest of these political young Australians eschewed the tinklings of verse, preferring to compose weighty articles on "the Political Future of Europe," and to plead for Colonial representation in the so-called Imperial Parliament.
The verses, though inferior in political grasp and intellectual ability, serve best to show the fervour with which "Young Australia" regarded the wonderful man who was then guiding the helm of State. I transcribe from the Melbourne Review, where they originally appeared, two Sonnets, which, so lasting has been my admiration for Lord Beaconsfield, I do not altogether blush to own, after the cooling lapse of years:—
