DISRAELI'S EARLY CAREER. 57 



scribe the effect of this cHmax, as his hearers were wonder- 

 ing, as they intently listened, what explanation he could 

 give for his anxiety to find him a Parliamentary seat. 



There have been several versions of his great break- 

 down, the failure of his first speech in Parliament. One 

 of the reporters of The T lines ^ who was present in the 

 House of Commons at the time, told mc what he vouched 

 to be the true version. He had begun his speech in a 

 mock heroic style, and alluded to the departure of a 

 beloved monarch, — meaning the death of William IV., — 

 and the House, which was the first Parliament of Queen 

 Victoria, and for which I think he was returned the first 

 time for Maidstone, began to titter. He then got angry, 

 and his audience bursting out into loud laughter, he 

 turned savagely on them, and said, " You won't hear 

 me now ; but the day will come when you shall hear 

 me." He was 3. pfotege o{ Lord Lyndhurst, and there is 

 no doubt that on his first entering into public life he was 

 rather bombastic. When he tried for the borough of 

 Taunton, and was defeated, he said, " Recollect, the 

 author of Vivian Grey cannot remain long out of 

 Parliament." This, at the time considered vain and 

 conceited, was only giving voice to the feeling of natural 

 self-consciousness which he possessed in an eminent 

 degree ; and after all it is no more than what has been 

 recorded of Sheridan, after his equally conspicuous 

 failure in the House at the commencement of his after- 

 wards brilliant career. He was found in the dining- 

 room of the House of Commons, with his face buried in 

 his hands, and his friend said, " Cheer up, cheer up ; 

 others have failed before now;" and he replied, *' I 



