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Longfellow was everywhere treated with the distinction of a famous poet; and his fine appearance and dignified bearing increased the reputation which had already preceded him. His meeting with Tennyson was considered as important as the visit of the King of Prussia to Napoleon III., and much less dangerous to the peace of Europe.
It was talked of from Edinburgh to Rome.
Longfellow, however, hated lionizing in all its forms, and he avoided ceremonious receptions as much as possible.
He enjoyed the entertainment of meeting distinguished people, but he evidently preferred to meet them in an unconventional manner, and to have them as much to himself as possible.
Princes and savants called on him, but he declined every invitation that might tend to give him publicity.
His facility in the different languages was much marvelled at. While he was in Florence a delegation from the mountain towns of Tuscany waited upon him and he conversed with them in their own dialect, greatly to their surprise and satisfaction.
From a number of incidents in this journey, related by Rev. Samuel Longfellow, the following has a permanent interest:
When the party came to Verona in May, 1869, they found Ruskin elevated on a ladder, from which he was examining the sculpture on
1905. E. P. DUtton and Co. Boston,.
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