leader than did the Duke of Wellington with all his prestige, or Sir Robert Peel with all his transparent honesty of purpose and his courage.

To say that Mr. Disraeli is the type of the Parliamentary leaders of the future is perhaps to hazard a suggestion which most people will at the first blush set down as a paradox. Yet the assertion is most true. Mr. Disraeli is a man of genius and ambition, who has made politics the profession of his life. The House of Commons is gathering all the powers of the State into its hands. It is the heart of our system of Government. There the Premier must be if he is to rule as well as govern: and in the House of Commons the Premiership is the prize of information and eloquence like that of Mr. Disraeli and his rivals on the Opposition benches. Perhaps nowhere are rank and wealth more powerful than in English social life. To get a footing in the higher circles of English society a parvenu must, as Mr. Disraeli has very well said, be "either a genius or a millionaire." But in politics wealth and rank without genius are powerless; and nowhere is a millionaire, who is nothing else, so insignificant as in the House of Commons. Ideas there are stronger than property. The largest rent-roll is nothing by the side of genius; and by the force of his genius, and by his genius alone, Mr. Disraeli has vanquished all the powers of rank and wealth. Look at his Cabinet! Is there no lesson in that? Years ago in one of his earliest works Mr. Disraeli drew a fine distinction between government by an aristocracy and government by the aristocratic principle, the key principle of the great aristocratic Republic of Europe. His own Cabinet is the aptest illustration of government by the aristocratic principle that we know in our political history. Representing every rank of the Peerage, Dukes, Marquises, Earls, Barons, as far as rank and wealth go, one of the most aristocratic of Cabinets, this clan of nobles not only acknowledge as their chief and leader a plain Buckinghamshire squire, but a Buckinghamshire squire with no escutcheon but Literature. "The age of Dukeism," said Mr. Disraeli, speaking of Canning's administration, "is past." What is the moral of his own?

WIMBLEDON.

OLL volunteers and small-bore men know that the Wimbledon Meeting will commence this year on the 13th of July, and that the camp will be ready for occupation on the previous Saturday, the 11th. For months past they have been thinking of the coming Wimbledon; getting in for the Queen's or the St. George's, going in for camp, making up parties, hunting up certificates, and corresponding to death the Secretary of the National Rifle Association, have been their constant occupation. But the general public may, in this season of notices, have overlooked the announcement, and it is in their interest that we draw attention to the subject.

The National Rifle Association has existed since 1860, and has, as every Londoner knows, held since then annual meetings lasting a fortnight, at which very valuable prizes both in money and plate have been offered for rifle competition. To the rifle shots of England Wimbledon is the one great outing of the year; men of business arrange their work so as to take their holidays there; volunteers from all parts of England make an effort to put in an annual appearance there, so as to compete for some of the many prizes and to test their powers against those of unknown shots from distant counties. As long as the Association continues as well managed as it has hitherto been, and can offer as many advantages to competitors, there is no fear of its losing interest among shooting men. And to all who take any interest in the volunteer movement, the Wimbledon Meetings should be interesting. Volunteering has now stood the test of time, and may fairly be considered an institution. The first fever of patriotism has burnt itself out, the uniforms which possessed an attraction at first are worn out and the novelty with them, and still volunteering prospers. What is it that keeps men together? We answer, mainly the shooting. Drilling without rifle practice, however enticing (because illegal) to Fenians, would be thought all work and no play by the men who in England give so much of their spare time to volunteering. Shooting is the back-bone of the volunteer institution, and Wimbledon is similarly the back-bone of shooting. Desultory shooting, with the chance of small prizes at county

matches, to be shot for against men whose powers were accurately known, could never possess power of attraction enough to hold together the 150,000 volunteers whom we now possess. Would noblemen and gentlemen breed and train Hermits and Blue Gowns to run in scratch matches or for Queen's Plates at provincial races?

"What has the Association done for us in its nine years of existence?" is a fair question to ask when its merits are being set before the public. Simply, then, it has made Englishmen, to whom nine years ago the rifle was a mystery, the first nation of rifle-shots in the world. During the earlier years of the meeting, people thought it was hopeless for us to contend against the Swiss and Belgians, who were always shooting, and about whose performances travellers had brought home parlous tales. What has been the actual case? No Swiss has ever been able to win a prize at Wimbledon, except the Count de Gendre, and he may fairly be counted, as far as shooting goes, as an Englishman, using English rifles and in the English manner; and as to our friends the braves Belges, special prizes and targets had to be set aside for them, in order that they might conduct their competitions after their own manner. Poor Jules Gérard, the lion-hunter, once said to the writer, "One does not require to see the shooting, it is quite enough to look at the position of the targets to know what the shooting must be. Why, if we put the targets and firing points as near as that in France, even the Chasseurs de Vincennes would be shooting each other all day long!"

Poor fellow he was well in for a prize once, but not being aware of the rules, came down too late to shoot off his tie. What a wonderful little fellow he was; quiet and gentle in manner, nothing but the eye told of the pluck within him. "Lions!" he said one day, "talk to me of bull's-eyes at a thousand mètres, not of lions; any child could shoot a lion. Why, you never fire at them at more than twenty paces, seldom at more than fifteen; still it is amusing when they are plenty;" and this, mind you, said really unconsciously. One year, three or four Belgians came over to distinguish themselves. One of the first things they visited was the Running Deer. When the method of working the target was explained to them, one, a great authority at the Tir National, solemnly delivered a lecture to his friends, explaining that when the deer ran from right to left it was desirable to follow it a short way with the rifle, and then fire behind it, on the principle that the motion given to the rifle would affect the bullet and cause it to "go on!" This principle was accordingly adopted, much to the benefit of people who did not adopt it and made bull'seyes accordingly.

One great peculiarity of the Wimbledon meetings is the absolute equality on which men meet. For this, no sport can compare with rifle shooting. In the hunting field, in the cover, or by the river, the squire is ever the squire, my lord still my lord, but at Wimbledon, duke, lord, swell, tailor, and tallow-chandler are "squadded" according to the counties they belong to, fall in in the ranks, are marched to the firing points, and have implicitly to obey the orders of the officers in charge. Some years ago a lord of the manor was shooting up well for the Queen's Prize, and a north countryman in the next squad said vehemently, that "he feared none o' them chaps, nobbut yon Spencer lad." Who can say how far the good of such meetings may go? To men who go to Wimbledon the great names of our aristocracy are not mere abstractions; they read a speech made by such a peer, or such an M.P., and though they may have been brought up to differ with the opinions expressed, they will read them and consider them, for they know the man who uttered them, know what he looks like, can picture him at the time of speaking, and know that, let agitators say what they will, he is by no means a likely person to take a pleasure in the gymnastic exercise known as "trampling on the hearts' blood of a people."

The camp life, too, is admirable training for our citizen soldiers, and those who are best able to judge tell us that the way in which they put up with unavoidable discomforts, and generally conduct themselves under the restraint so necessary for the general benefit, promise well for their efficiency, should they ever be called on for active service.

For the information of the uninitiated, we may say that the matches most interesting to witness are the "International" between picked eights of England, Scotland, and Ireland; the " Public Schools ;" and the "Lords and Commons." These always command a large attendance, and Wimbledon on any one of the days set apart for them is a pretty sight, with its white tents, its waving flags, and its eager masses. The all-important refreshment department is well managed by a Manchester firm, all things needful for the inner man being obtainable on the ground at a fair rate. Amusements, too, are provided for the otherwise heavy evenings. There is an excellent club tent, and theatrical entertainments and readings pass away the time. The sanitary arrangements are, we hear, this year to be managed by the Moule Company, and it is hoped that what has hitherto been a great difficulty may be overcome. At any rate, the earth system will have the chance of a fair public trial, and no doubt the result will be looked for with interest.

We think we have said enough to establish the fact that the Wimbledon meetings possess a national interest, and that the National Rifle Association is deserving of national support, and should not be allowed to depend for its existence on the chances of a successful Wimbledon, but should have a sufficient list of subscribers to enable it to withstand the chances of a wet, and therefore unpaying meeting. And without wishing to prejudge the law-suit as to the various rights on the Common, we sincerely trust that the decision will not be such as to shut up the only available ground for our national rifle meetings.

WYVERN.