MRS. DISRAELI
it is doubtful if Disraeli would have had so great a career. To paraphrase his own words in Coningsby on marriage, he found in her one who gave him perfect and profound sympathy, could share his joys and often his sorrows, aid him in his projects, respond to his fancies, counsel him in his cares and support him in dangers, and "make life charming by her charms, interesting by her intelligence, and sweet by the vigilant variety of her tenderness."
Mrs. Dawson, wife of the Right Hon. George Dawson and sister of Sir Robert Peel, was one of Mrs. Disraeli's greatest friends. George Dawson wrote the following lines to accompany a reproduction of Mrs. Disraeli's portrait by A. E. Chalon, published in Heath's Book of Beauty (1841). They probably reflect what those who knew Mrs. Disraeli best felt with regard to her:
"The choice unfetter'd fondly turns to thee:
Still to thee turns, all-confident to find
The features but the index of the mind,
Glowing with truth, sincerity, and ease,
Stamp'd with the surest attributes to please.
Intelligent and gay, the joyous smile
Speaking a bosom free from art or guile,
Pure as the consciousness of well-spent life,
Perfect as friend, as daughter, sister, wife."
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