It has taken two editors and six volumes to complete the biography of Disraeli. The last two volumes enjoy the advantage of the freedom which the war has brought to those who search the faded purples and tinsels of the Victorian ash heap. The love letters of a Premier are not generally disclosed forty years after his death. However, as Lady Beaconsfield was dead, Catholics need only smile at his septuagenarian infatuation for Lady Bradford, illustrated in letters which outcloy even his coy adulation of the Queen. Lady Bradford he could not marry because Lord Bradford lived, and Lady Chesterfield her sister refused to marry him, though they were single, while the Queen, who was both single and devoted to Disraeli, could not have married him without putting Gladstone into office and perhaps their hate of Gladstone was their strongest bond.

Bishop-making is always a fascinating pursuit, even more for the makers than for the made. That Anglican Bishops are elected by the Grace of God and the favour of Downing Street has always added to the piquancy of the pursuit.