blazoned on my banners; my pecuniary resources too were limited. I am not one of those public beggars that we see swarming with their obtrusive boxes in the chapels of your creed, nor am I in possession of a princely revenue from a starving race of fanatical slaves.' He expected, he said in conclusion, to be a representative of the people before the repeal of the Union. 'We shall meet at Philippi.' Disraeli waited at home till the night of the day on which the letter appeared for the effect of his missive. No notice being taken of it, 'he dressed and went to the opera.' When Peel had challenged O'Connell some years before, the police interfered; on this occasion the same thing had happened. 'As I was lying in bed this morning,' Disraeli wrote on May 9 to his sister, 'the police officers from Marylebone rushed into my chamber and took me into custody. I am now bound to keep the peace in 500_l._ sureties--a most unnecessary precaution, as if all the O'Connells were to challenge me I could not think of meeting them now. The general effect is the thing, and that is that all men agree I have shown pluck.' [Sidenote: NOVELS AND SPEECHES] If Disraeli gained nothing by this encounter he at least lost nothing. He was more than ever talked about, and he had won approval from a high authority at any rate. 'You have no idea,' said Lord Strangford to him, 'of the sensation produced at Strathfieldsaye. The Duke said at dinner it was the most manly thing done yet.' On one side only his outlook was unfavourable. The Taunton election had been a fresh expense. He had again to borrow, and his creditors became pressing. Judgments were out against him for more debts than he could meet. About this time--the date cannot be fixed exactly, but the fact is certain--a sheriff's officer appeared at Wycombe on the way to Bradenham to arrest him. Dr. Rose,[5] a medical man in the town, heard of the arrival, and sent on an express with a warning 'to hide Ben in the well.' Affairs were again smoothed over for the moment. 'Ben,' undaunted as ever, worked on upon his own lines. He completed his 'Vindication of the British Constitution'--vindication rather of Democratic Toryism--amidst the harassing of duns. It was dedicated to Lyndhurst, and Lyndhurst paid him a visit at his father's house. He had a smart quarrel with the 'Globe' over a revival of the O'Connell business. In the spring of 1836 appeared the Runnymede letters in the 'Times,' philippics against the Whig leaders after the manner of Junius. He was elected at the Carlton Club, to his great satisfaction, and when the newspapers abused him he quoted a saying of Swift, 'that the appearance of a man of genius in the world may be always known by the virulence of dunces.' To assist his finances a proposal was made to him 'to edit the "Arabian Nights" with notes and an additional tale by the author of "Vivian Grey."' He described it as 'a job which would not take up more than a month of his time' and by