Chapter 16:
- Visit to Europe for the affairs of the Boston Public Library. -- London, Brussels, Dresden, Berlin, and Vienna. -- Verona. -- Milan. -- letters to Mr. Prescott, Mr. Everett, Mr.Dexter And Mrs. W. S. Dexter, and Mrs. Ticknor.
The motives and causes which led Mr. Ticknor to decide on a third visit to Europe have been set forth, as well as the nature of the work he did during the thirteen months it covered. The marriage of his younger daughter to Mr. William Sohier Dexter, which took place in May, 1856, preceded his departure by a few weeks, and he sailed on the 18th of June, accompanied by Mrs. Ticknor, with their eldest daughter and a niece. The facilities for every mode of travelling had been improving with extraordinary rapidity in the twenty years since his last visit, and these introduced novelty and comfort, beyond his expectations, into this journey. The steamer voyage shortened the miseries of the sea, which, for the first time, Mr. Ticknor escaped in great measure; and at Liverpool, before they left the deck of the steamer, letters of welcome and invitations were placed in his hands, casting a most delightful atmosphere of genial feeling over the arrival. This warm greeting was multiplied and continued wherever they went; the hands of old friends and new were extended to receive them at every point. In London a charming house in Knightsbridge was placed at their disposal—with servants and all appliances—in the absence of its owners, Mr.Twisleton and Mrs. Edward Twisleton,1 and from thence Mr. Ticknor wrote as follows:—
