appointment of Dr. Tait, then Bishop of London. Dr. Jackson, Bishop of Lincoln, was in turn appointed to the see of London, to which Wilberforce had the strongest claim. To the see of Lincoln, Archdeacon Wordsworth, a nephew of the poet, and a theological antiquarian of great repute among the High Churchmen, was preferred. The selection of Dr. Tait procured for Mr. Disraeli the cordial congratulations of all parties, and it was admitted even by the Radicals that it immensely increased the popularity of a moribund Ministry. As a matter of fact, however, the credit was really due to the Queen, and not to the Minister. During November Wilberforce was at Blenheim, and in his Diary he records a conversation which he had with the Duke of Marlborough on this subject. “The Duke,” writes Bishop Wilberforce, “told me of Disraeli’s excitement when he came out of the royal closet. Some struggle about the Primacy. Lord Malmesbury also said that when he spoke to Disraeli he said, ‘Don’t bring any more bothers before me; I have enough already to drive a man mad.’” Then a few days later (18th November) Dr. Wilberforce had a conversation at Windsor with Dean Wellesley, an ecclesiastic deep in Court secrets, who said to him, with reference to the struggle for the Primacy, “The Church does not know what it owes to the Queen. Disraeli has been utterly ignorant, utterly unprincipled: he rode the Protestant horse one day; then got frightened that he had gone too far, and was injuring the county elections, so he went right round and proposed names never heard of. Nothing he would not have done; but throughout he was most hostile to you [Wilberforce]; he alone prevented London being offered to you. The Queen looked for Tait,[288] but would have agreed to you.... Disraeli recommended[289] ... for Canterbury!! The Queen would not have him; then Disraeli agreed, most reluctantly and with passion, to Tait. Disraeli then proposed Wordsworth for London. The Queen objected strongly; no experience; passing over bishops, &c.; then she suggested Jackson and two others, not you [Wilberforce], because of Disraeli’s expressed hostility, and Disraeli chose Jackson.... Disraeli opposed Leighton with all his strength on every separate occasion. The Queen would have greatly liked him, but Disraeli would not hear of him. You cannot conceive the appointments he proposed and retracted or was over-ruled in; he pressed Champneys for Peterborough;[290] he had no other thought than the votes of the moment; he showed an ignorance about all Church matters, men, opinions, that was astonishing, making propositions one way and the other, riding the Protestant horse to gain the boroughs, and then when he thought he had gone so far to endanger the counties, turning round and appointing Bright and Gregory; thoroughly unprincipled fellow. I trust we may never have such a man again.”[291] The importance of Dr. Tait’s appointment to the Primacy could hardly be exaggerated. In the