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were too disgusting. ... How painful is much of the news from home!
Violence, vulgarity, degrading practices and sentiments,—these come on every wind.
But surely there must be a change.
I hear of Hillard here, but see him not. God bless you!
On his way from
Paris,
Sumner stopped at
Amiens to see the cathedral; and passing the night in
Lille was in
London October 10, where he took lodgings again at Maurigy's, Regent Street. Society had left the metropolis, and during the rest of the month he passed his time at the British Museum, and in collecting old books and manuscripts; making visits for the day or for a night to friends living in the country, within easy distance from the city; and his last days in
England were passed at seats in the
North.
He gave this summary in a letter from
Liverpool, November 5, to
Mr. Gordon:—
Perhaps it will interest you to know how I have passed my last days in England,—thanks to that generous hospitality of which I have enjoyed so much.
Here it is: Seven days in London at the British Museum; a day with the poet-laureate Tennyson at the Isle of Wight;1 two days with Lord Stanhope at Chevening Park, where I slept in the room which was occupied for three years by Lord Chatham; one day at Argyll Lodge with the duke, where I met Gladstone; one day with Dr. Lushington at Ockham Park in Surrey; one day with my countryman Motley, the historian of the Dutch commonwealth, at Walton-on-Thames; one day with Lord Clarendon at the Grove; one day with Lord Spencer2 at Althorp; one day with Lord Belper at Kingston Hall; one day with Lord Hatherton at Teddesley Park;3 and here I am4. . . . Mr. Gladstone was full of hope for Italy.
Lord Clarendon was very pleasant and gay.
Shirley Brooks,
5 sending him a souvenir, wrote, October 23:
Let it serve as a memorandum of a pleasant meeting,—to me an honor.
I do not use the term of compliment.
The mode in which I have spoken of you in various newspapers with which I am connected, at and after the time your name came prominently before English readers as that of the champion of a noble cause, may witness for me. With hope that your European
