But he grudged it; he always thought that something would be
said or done in his absence, which would not have occurred had he been
there; some motion whisked through or some return altered. His principle
was that a member should never be absent from his seat."
Disraeli thus describes the last farewell he took of Lord George and his
tragic death a few days afterwards:
"He goes to his native county and his father's proud domain, to breathe
the air of his boyhood and move amid the parks and meads of his youth.
Every breeze will bear health, and the sight of every hallowed haunt
will stimulate his pulse. He is scarcely older than Julius Caesar when he
commenced his public career, he looks as high and brave, and he springs
from a long-lived race.
"He stood upon the perron of Harcourt House, the last of the great
hotels of an age of stately manners, with its wings and courtyard, and
carriage portal, and huge outward walls. He put forth his hand to bid
farewell, and his last words are characteristic of the man, of his warm
feelings, and of his ruling passion: 'God bless you; we must work, and
the country will come round us.
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