The sketches of T. H. Green, E. A. Freeman, and J. R. Green were originally written for English magazines, and most of the other Studies have been published in the United States. All of those that had already appeared in print have been enlarged and revised, some indeed virtually rewritten. I have to thank the proprietors of the _English Historical Review_, the _Contemporary Review_, and the _New York Nation_, as also the Century Company of New York, for their permission to use so much of the matter of the volume as had appeared (in its original form) in the organs belonging to them respectively. _March 6, 1903._ CONTENTS Page I. Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield 1804-1881 1 II. Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, Dean of Westminster 1815-1881 69 III. Thomas Hill Green 1836-1882 85 IV. Archibald Campbell Tait, Archbishop of Canterbury 1811-1882 100 V. Anthony Trollope 1815-1882 116 VI. John Richard Green 1837-1883 131 VII. Sir George Jessel 1824-1883 170 VIII. Hugh M'Calmont Cairns, Earl Cairns 1819-1885 184 IX. James Fraser, Bishop of Manchester 1818-1885 196 X. Stafford Henry Northcote, Earl of Iddesleigh 1818-1887 211 XI. Charles Stewart Parnell 1846-1891 227 XII. Henry Edward Manning, Archbishop and Cardinal 1808-1892 250 XIII. Edward Augustus Freeman 1823-1892 262 XIV. Robert Lowe, Viscount Sherbrooke 1811-1892 293 XV. William Robertson Smith 1846-1894 311 XVI. Henry Sidgwick 1838-1900 327 XVII. Edward Ernest Bowen 1836-1901 343 XVIII. Edwin Lawrence Godkin 1831-1902 363 XIX. John Emerich Dalberg-Acton, Lord Acton 1834-1902 382 XX. William Ewart Gladstone 1809-1898 400 BENJAMIN DISRAELI, EARL OF BEACONSFIELD[1]