"It seems as if there was nothing that a cultivated Englishman
could not and would not go through with," he said. I mentioned Humboldt.
"Yes," he replied, "Humboldt certainly accomplished wonderful things,
but the Germans are generally more cautious and prudent. A cultivated
Englishman seems to be equal to anything." Among modern travellers
however, Vambery, the Hungarian, takes the highest rank.
At a later period, I was journeying through the White Mountains and
reached West Ossipee one afternoon tired with travelling and weary from
a sleepless night. I hastened to my room and threw myself upon the bed,
but had scarcely closed my eyes when there was a knock at the door and
there stood Mr. Whittier,--the pleasantest of all apparitions for some
years. The next few days were like dwelling in the islands of the blest,
compared with the ordinary current of human life. It was a holiday
within a holiday. He was surrounded by charming ladies, among them his
niece Mrs. Caldwell, and as it was late in the season we had the Bear
Camp House--a place that now ought to be historic--almost to ourselves.
We had never known Whittier to be so friendly and companionable before.
We walked under the elms, talked about books, and our absent friends,
gazed at the mountains, and admired the sunsets which just at that time
were remarkably brilliant. There was one, I remember, composed largely
of luminous clouds, and a general translucent effect of the atmosphere,
which Whittier could not remember he had ever seen the like of.
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