The Denver Jewish news., 1920-08-11
Disraeli the Jew andDis-
raeli the Statesman
CONTINUED from Page One. !

He was every bit as vain as an Old
man as he was as young man, and
tho he was expert in winning other peo-
pie by flattery he was easily beguiled
by flattery himself. When he went tc
the Berlin Congress in 1878 he an
nounced his intention of addressing the
pienipotentiaries in French, tho he
spoke French atrOciOusly. Lord ODD
Russell came to the rescue. He told
DisraeIi that he was regarded as "the
greatest living master of English ora
tory" and that his fellow delegates
were looking forward to his speech In
English "as the intellectual treat of
their lives" And then the old man COLI
sented to speak in English.
He was careful in his old age to pre-
serve the curl on his forehead which
had been the ornament of his youth.
1t was kept in its place by being damp
ed and then a yellow bandanna tied
tightly around it in front, with the ends
down his back, till it was dry"
He was eminently witty, and wit in
an English public man has nearly al
ways been fatal. Mr.. Buckle tells
many stories of his humour. Once at
public dinner, which he had to at
tend. the food was particularly poor
and cold, and when Disraeli tasted his
champagne he remarked with fervOr,
Thank God, / have ut last got some
thing warm" His tendency to kind
of Oscar Wilde insolence is illustrated
by his excuse for not. being able to
recommend novel to his neighbor,
when l want to read novel / write
one."
But all this is the peacock side OF
him and there was also the primrose
side of him. After his death, Lytton
wrote of .'tlse warmth of his heart, his
domestic tenderness, his filial piety, his
loyalty to friends, his complete freedom
from malice and vindictivness." He
joycd in his Buckinghamshire home
and his devotion to his wife, who was
lNclNe yCuiS Ills SSiiioi, wac go Na'
qualified as it was rare. She died ut
the age of eighty after a married life
of thirty-three years. In his last let
ter to her he said: II have nothing
TO tell you except that love you.
which. i fear, you will think rather
dull" Aud in her last letter written
to him, written on the next day, she
replied, ~ miss you sadly. I feel CRATE.
ful for your constant tender love and
Kindness" Her death left him stunned
and inconsolable, and there is in his
references to his wife and to her death
an accent of sincerity not to be found
in any other of his papers.
Disraeli was the First Minister of the
Crown. from 1865 to 1881. During this
period, lie found time to write two
novels. "Lothair' was written in 1870
when he was siXty-fire, and "Endy-
at the polls in 1880, when he was II
man of seventy-siX. In addition he
left behind ten chapters of an unfinish
ell novel, which were first printed in
the ."Times" fifteen years ago. To his
cynicism, his wit, and his miraculous
success in politics this elf of a man GER
tainly added u most prodigious indus.
try.
10 the present writer, as to his, pre-
decessOr, looking back over the Victor
ian Age from the disintcrested stand
point of today, Disraeli appears II
grand and magnificent figure, standing
solitary, towering above his conteIn-
poraries; the man Of fervid imagina-
tion and vision wide and deep, amid
i. nation of narrow practical minds
Bhilistine-Puritan ridden; his life at
once II tragedy, but splendid tra2.
edy; himself the greatest of our states
men, since the days of Chatham and
Pitt