Page:Wives of the prime ministers, 1844-1906.djvu/187

MRS. DISRAELI her illness, and at times the suffering was very great, Mrs. Disraeli went on with her usual life. She entertained a small party at Hughenden at the end of November 1872. The guests were Sir William Harcourt, Lord and Lady John Manners, and Lord Ronald Gower. Although she was sadly altered, indeed death was written in her face, and Disraeli was terribly depressed about her, she was gorgeously dressed, and on the Sunday afternoon accompanied the party on a walk, in her pony carriage, talking brightly about her pets—horses and peacocks. The next morning she came down after eleven o'clock, wonderfully brisk and lively after a bad night, and had her breakfast brought to the library where the others were sitting. On 19th December she died at Hughenden, where she was buried.

Disraeli's grief was profound. He declared there never was a better wife. "She believed in me when men despised me. She relieved my wants when I was poor and persecuted by the world." In his reply to Gladstone's note of sympathy, he said, "Marriage is the greatest earthly happiness when founded on complete sympathy; that hallowed lot was mine for a 153