Away from the capital, Monty Corry breathlessly reported on Easter Sunday from his aunt’s house in Shrewsbury, Rowton Castle, that ‘your name is in the mouth of every labourer, who without knowing what reform means, or caring, hears that Mr [Disraeli] has won a great victory … My private opinion is that my aunt’s carpenter, who “heard say that Mr Disraeli laid Mr Gladstone on his back” thinks that you really knocked the godly man down.’ It was a typically colourful review from Corry, who was already turning out to be a splendid private secretary. Disraeli had spotted him at a party in 1865
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