On the side opposite to Castlereagh and Palmerston is the statue of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield. Lord Beaconsfield is remembered as a famous leader of the Conservative party in Parliament, and as a man who did much for the growth of the British Empire. It was at his suggestion that the late Queen took the title of Empress of India, and to him we owe much of our present position in Egypt. Lord Beaconsfield was also a well-known writer of novels. His most famous books are perhaps _Lothair_, _Sybil_, and _Coningsby_. Lord Beaconsfield died in 1881, and is buried at Hughenden in Buckinghamshire. William Ewart Gladstone, the great Liberal leader, and Lord Beaconsfield’s chief political opponent, is buried in the North Transept, and his statue stands next to that of Disraeli. Mr. Gladstone was four times Prime Minister. The Bill for the Disestablishment of the Irish Church was passed when he was in power in 1871. Gladstone was not only eminent in politics, but he exercised a considerable literary, social, and moral influence over many of his fellow-countrymen. Gladstone died in 1898. In the year 1870 the Education Bill was passed, a Bill which has made a great difference to all English people, as everybody now has the opportunity of going to school and of having a good and useful teaching, not only in reading and writing, but in many other things as well. The scheme for this new plan of education was made by William Edward Forster, who is commemorated in the Abbey by a medallion which is placed above the monument of his uncle, Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, in the North Choir aisle. The grave and monument of Sir Rowland Hill in St. Paul’s Chapel remind us of another important change which took place in 1839, namely, the introduction of the penny postage and the invention of adhesive postage stamps. Another monument, a very beautiful and interesting one, is that erected to the memory of Henry Fawcett, the blind Postmaster-General, who accomplished so much good work in spite of the terrible disadvantage of his blindness, which was the result of an accident when he was quite young. This always seems to be a monument to undaunted courage and perseverance in the face of great misfortune, and it should teach us to be brave and patient, however much things may seem to be against us. It is now time to speak of the chief authors of the century, and to turn our thoughts once more to Poets’ Corner. Here, next to Dr. Johnson, we find the grave of the brilliant play-writer and parliamentary orator, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, the author of the _Rivals_ and _The School for Scandal_. Sheridan died in 1816, the year after the Battle of Waterloo.