Page:Wives of the prime ministers, 1844-1906.djvu/177

MRS. DISRAELI everywhere; when some one asked Disraeli if he were going somewhere alone, that is, without the other Ministers, he replied, "No, Mary Anne is going. I cannot leave her quite in the lurch." She was always a great admirer of her husband's speeches and actions. In 1844 Disraeli himself presided at a similar meeting, and when an acquaintance in helping her on with her cloak one evening afterwards remarked on Disraeli's wonderful reception at Manchester, she began straightway to tell Disraeli's triumphs as if she were a girl of eighteen. On the visit to the Duke of Buckingham at Stowe in 1845, when Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were the honoured guests, Mrs. Disraeli's greatest delight in the whole affair was that "Her Majesty had pointed Dizzy out, saying, 'There's Mr. Disraeli.'" It was the first time Her Majesty had met Disraeli privately. Both he and his wife were much delighted with the attention they received during the visit.

The autumn holiday of 1845 was spent at Cassel in French Flanders, where they lived a simple rural life, getting up at 5.30 a.m. and going to bed at 9 p.m. Walking was their only exercise and chief amusement. Mrs. Disraeli reckoned that in two months she had walked 143