Page:Wives of the prime ministers, 1844-1906.djvu/166

WIVES OF THE PRIME MINISTERS April 1832, that Disraeli first met the lady who was ultimately to be his wife. She asked particularly to be introduced to him. Writing next day to his sister he describes her as "a pretty little woman, a flirt, and a rattle." She told him that she liked silent, melancholy men, and Disraeli, making mental note of her singular volubility, replied that he had no doubt of it. But he went much to her house in London the next year, and became, as time progressed, very friendly with her and her husband. So when, at the election of 1837, a second Conservative candidate was needed for Maidstone—Wyndham Lewis was the other—Disraeli was asked to stand. His success was doubtless in great measure due to his friendship with the Wyndham Lewises. Mrs. Lewis, in a letter to her brother, prophesied that in a few years Disraeli would be one of the greatest men of the day, and observed, "they call him my Parliamentary protégé." Count D'Orsay offered him the sage advice: "You will not make love! You will not intrigue! You have your seat: do not risk anything! If a widow, then marry!" In August Mrs. Lewis paid a first visit to the 132