brigade in England. On his way, however, he touched at Lisbon on 6 Oct., and was at once begged by General Cradock to land and take command of a brigade consisting of the 2nd, 3rd, 6th, and 50th regiments, which Cradock wished to send to join the army of Sir John Moore in Spain. This brigade he led safely to Castello Branco by way of Abrantes, and there halted on 27 Nov., when he was ordered to hand over his brigade to Major-general Alan Cameron, and to join the main army under Sir John Moore. He reached Toro in safety, and was at once put in command of a brigade of Edward Paget's reserve, consisting of the 28th and 91st regiments. The reserve had to cover the famous retreat of Sir John Moore, and Disney greatly distinguished himself both at the action at Betanzos on 11 Jan. 1809, and in the battle of Corunna. For his services at that battle he received a gold medal, and was promoted major-general on 25 April 1809. In that year he commanded the first brigade of guards, attached to Hope's division, in the Walcheren expedition, and on his return to England was given the command of the home district. In 1810 he went out to Cadiz to act as second in command to General Graham, afterwards Lord Lynedoch, and in June 1811 he succeeded that general in the chief command there. He handed over the command at Cadiz to Major-general George Cooke in November 1811, and returned to England, and never again went on active service. He was promoted lieutenant-general on 4 June 1814, became colonel of the 15th regiment on 23 July 1814, was made a K.C.B. in 1815, and promoted general on 10 Jan. 1837. He died at his house in Upper Brook Street, London, on 19 April 1846, at the age of eighty.
[Sir F. W. Hamilton's History of the Grenadier Guards; Royal Military Calendar; Hart's Army List; Gent. Mag. for July 1846.]
DISNEY, WILLIAM, D.D. (1731–1807), son of the Rev. Joseph Disney, M.A., vicar of Cranbrook and Appledore with the chapel of Ebony in Kent, was born 29 Sept. 1731. He was educated at the Merchant Taylors' School under Mr. Creech, and was entered as a pensioner at Trinity College, Cambridge, 26 Jan. 1748. He graduated as B.A. in 1753 (when he was senior wrangler), M.A. 1756, and D.D. 1789. He was admitted minor fellow in 1754, major fellow in 1756, and third sub-lector in 1757. From 1757 to 1771 he was regius professor of Hebrew. In 1777 he became vicar of Pluckley in Kent, a living in the gift of the Archbishop of Canterbury, where he died 28 March 1807.
He published two sermons:
- ‘Sermon preached before the University of Cambridge, 28 June 1789, with some strictures on the licentious notions avowed or enumerated in Mr. Gibbon's “History of Rome,”’ Lond. 1709, 4to.
- ‘The Superiority of Religious Duties to Worldly Considerations,’ 1800, 8vo.
[Bibliotheca Britannica; Robinson's Register of Merchant Taylors' School; Register of Trinity College; Cooper's Memorials.]
DISRAELI, BENJAMIN, first Earl of Beaconsfield (1804–1881), statesman and man of letters, was born at 6 John Street, Bedford Row, London, on 21 Dec. 1804 (Notes and Queries, 6th ser. x. 457). He was the son of Isaac D'Israeli [q. v.], whose family consisted of four sons and one daughter. Benjamin, who was baptised at St. Andrew's, Holborn (31 July 1817), was privately educated, and at the age of seventeen was articled to Messrs. Swain & Stevenson, solicitors in the Old Jewry. He entered Lincoln's Inn in 1824, and kept nine terms, but removed his name in 1831. He soon, however, discovered a taste for literature, and in 1826 contributed a forgotten poem, 'The Modern Dunciad,' to a forgotten magazine, called 'The Star Chamber.' In the same year he burst upon the town with 'Vivian Grey' (of which a second part appeared in 1827), a novel more remarkable perhaps for a youth of twenty than even Congreve's 'Old Bachelor.' Extravagant, audacious, and sparkling, rather than truly brilliant, it achieved at once a great success; but the young author, as if to show his contempt for popularity, quitted England soon after its publication, and spent the next three years (1828-31) in Spain, Italy, the Levant, and the south-east of Europe, which he described to his sister in the first series of letters edited by Mr. Ralph Disraeli. On his return to England in 1831, the brother and sister still continued regular correspondents, and his 'Letters' from 1832 to 1852 form the contents of a second volume lately published by the same editor. They do not add much to what was already known, and, though amusing and interesting, are coloured by a strain of egotism, which, if intended for a joke in writing to a near relative, is not one of those jokes which every one is bound to understand.
It was not till the general election of 1837 that Disraeli obtained a seat in parliament, having previously contested without success both High Wycombe (twice in 1832, and again in 1834), and Taunton (in 1835), involving himself in squabbles of no very dignified character with Joseph Hume and Daniel O'Connell. At Taunton he attacked O'Connell, who had written a complimentary letter
