My First Acquaintance With Mr. Disraeli Was The Consequence Of My
Connection, As An Honorary Secretary, With The "Manchester Athenaeum,
" A
literary institute, originated in 1835 by Richard Cobden, on his return
from a visit to his brother in the
United States, a country at that
time on the rage for social clubs with classic names. The "Manchester
Athenaeum," owing partly to defective management and architectural
costliness, partly to some years of bad trade and deficient employment,
and partly to an unfortunate sectarian conflict, had fallen into debt
and difficulty; and a few of the younger members, who had profited by
the existence of the institution, came to the rescue, and by various
methods got rid of its debts, and set it fairly on the way again. One
method was, the holding of a great literary soiree in the Manchester
Free Trade Hall. The audience was more than 4,000. The President was
Charles Dickens.
On the morning of the day before the soiree, which took place on
Thursday, the 5th of October, 1843, I received a note, in these terms,
from Mr. Cobden: -
"MOSLEY St,
"Wednesday.
"Dear Sir,
"Mr. Benj'n Disraeli, the author of 'Vivian Grey,' is at the Mosely
Arms Hotel, with Mrs. Disraeli.
"I wish you would call and invite them to the soiree.
"Yours truly,
"R. COBDEN.
"Mr. E. Watkin,
"High St."
I print the note exactly as it was written.
It has appeared to me, since, that Mr. Cobden at that time considered
it necessary to identify Mr. Disraeli as Mr. "Benj'n" Disraeli, "the
author of Vivian Grey."
I called accordingly, without delay. Mr. Disraeli was out, but I found
Mrs. Disraeli at home. She was a little, plain, vivacious woman; one
who, like an india-rubber toy, you have only to touch, and it issues
sound. But she was obviously no common-place woman. Her comments upon
what she had seen already in Manchester were acute, and, at times,
decidedly humorous. They were those of a shrewd observer. We became
good friends. She promised, both for herself and her husband, to attend
the soiree; and, in answer to my further request that Mr. Disraeli
would speak, she said, she "could almost promise that he would." The
soiree of the next evening was brilliant. Dickens was at his very best;
and it must have been difficult indeed to follow so admirable a
speaker. But Mr. Disraeli certainly shared the honours and the applause
of this great meeting. His speech, in fact, created so decided a
sensation that I was asked to invite him to preside at the soiree of
the coming year of 1844, - which he did. Few, who heard it, will forget
the eloquent oration he delivered. I cannot forbear, out of place as it
may seem to some, here to quote the concluding portions of this
remarkable address; an address which I have never yet seen amongst the
published speeches of Lord Beaconsfield: -
"If my description of what this institution offers to us, if my view of
what it in some degree supplies, be just, what, I must inquire, is the
reason that an institution, the prosperity of which now cannot be
doubted, but so brief a time ago could have been apparently in the last
stage of its fortunes?
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