Aylmer Papillon was the title of it, Dr Smiles informs us; and he prints a letter from Disraeli to the John Murray of that day, which indicates its character pretty clearly.
The last chapter, its author says, is taken up with "Mr Papillon's banishment under the Alien Act, from a ministerial misconception of a metaphysical sonnet."
Murray could not publish Aylmer Papillon, but he had great hopes of its boyish writer (Isaac D'Israeli was an old friend of his), "took him into his confidence, and related to him his experiences of men and affairs."
Thus Mr Papillon considered that, while the teaching of English literature was admirable, the average standard of Latin and Greek teaching and attainment in the upper classes was " below that of an English public school "; he felt, however, that the secondary schools of the United States had a " greater variety of the curriculum to suit the practical needs of life," and that they existed, not " for the select few," but " for the whole people " (pp. 250 f.).
Top Ten Toys are the miniatures of the bunch and include Papillon, Pugs, Havanese, Pekingese and Yorkies.