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Chapter 19: last trip to Europe
On May 27, 1868,
Longfellow sailed from New York for
Liverpool in the steamer
Russia, with a large family party, including his son and his son's bride, his three young daughters, his brother and two sisters, with also a brotherin-law, the brilliant
Thomas G. Appleton.
On arrival they went at once to the
English lakes, visiting
Furness Abbey, Corby Castle, and Eden Hall, where he saw still unimpaired the traditional goblet which
Uhland's ballad had vainly attempted to shatter.
At
Morton, near
Carlisle, while staying with a friend he received a public address, to which he thus replied, in one of the few speeches of his life—
‘
Mr. President and Gentlemen,—Being more accustomed to speak with the pen than with the tongue, it is somewhat difficult for me to find appropriate words now to thank you for the honor you have done me, and the very kind expressions you have used.
Coming here as a stranger, this welcome makes me feel that I am not a stranger; for how can a man be a stranger ’