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and left there his card and the letter of introduction.
In return a note was soon sent, inviting us to take tea that evening with Mr.Wordsworth and Mrs. Wordsworth.
Our visit was a very disappointing one.
The widowed daughter of our host had lost heavily by the failure of certain American securities.
These losses formed the sole topic of conversation not only between Wordsworth and Dr. Howe, but also between the ladies of the family, my sister, and myself.
The tea to which we had been bidden was simply a cup of tea, served without a table.
We bore the harassing conversation as long as we could.
The only remark of Wordsworth's which I brought away was this: ‘The misfortune of Ireland is that it was only a partially conquered country.’
When we took leave, the poet expressed his willingness to serve us during our stay in his neighborhood.
We left it, however, on the following morning, without seeing him or his again.
A little akin to this experience was that of a visit to the Bank of England, made at the invitation of one of its officers whom I had known and entertained in America.
Another of the functionaries of the bank volunteered his services as a cicerone.
He showed us among other things the treasure recently received from the Chinese government, in payment of a war indemnity.
It was
Houghton and Mifflin Company, 1899.
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