A great sorrow and disappointment. Court of Appeals decides the Fiske suit, June, 1888. Reasons for going abroad. Scotland revisited. Memorable sermon at St. Giles in Edinburgh. Cathedral towns revisited. Sermons at Lichfield. The House of Commons; scene between the Irish leaders and Mr. Balfour. A political meeting in Holborn. Excursions to Rugby; to the home of Gilbert White; to the graves of Gray, Thackeray, and others. A critic of Carlyle at Brighton. Cambridge; interesting papers regarding the American Revolution. Lord Aberdare's story of Frederick the Great and a British minister. Hermit life in London; work at the British Museum. Journey through Italy and Egypt with Willard Fiske; effect of Egyptian and other Eastern experiences on me; five weeks on the Nile; Brugsch Bey's account of his discovery of the royal mummies; my visit to Artin Pasha and the great Technical School of Cairo. Dinner with the Khedive; my curious blunder. American and English missionaries in Cairo and Alexandria; Dr. Grant's lecture on the Egyptian Trinities. Mr. Nimr; bis scientific and other activities in Egypt. My enjoyment of Saracenic architecture. Revelation to me of the connection between Egyptian and Greek architecture. Disappointment in the work of missionaries in Mohammedan countries. Stay in Athens. Professor Waldstein. The American School of Archaeology. Excursions with Walker Fearne and Professor Mahaffy. A talk with the Greek prime minister. A function at the cathedral. Visit to Mars Hill on Good Friday. To Constantinople. Our minister, Mr. Straus. Discussions of art by Hamdi Bey and of literature by Sir William White. Revelations of history and architecture in Constantinople. St. Sophia. Return to Paris. The Exposition of 1889. The American "commission of experts"; its good and bad sides. Great improvement in American art. Sargent and Melchers. Tributes, in Paris, to Lafayette and Camille Desmoulins. Walks and talks with Senator Gibson; our journey together to Homburg and Belgium.
CHAPTER LV. MEXICO, CALIFORNIA, SCANDINAVIA, RUSSIA, ITALY, LONDON, AND BERLIN—1892-1897
My stay of two years in America. Lectures at the University of Pennsylvania. Archbishop Ryan's Latin pun. The Mohonk Conference and President Hayes. Excursion with Andrew Carnegie to Mexico, California, and Oregon. Meetings with Cornell students. Cathedral of Mexico. Our reception by President Porfirio Diaz and his ministers. Beauty of California in spring. Its two universities. My relations with Stanford; pleasure in this visit to it; character of its buildings; my lectures there. Visit to Salt Lake City. To the Chicago Exposition buildings. The University of Chicago and its work. My appointment as minister to St. Petersburg. My arrival there on November 4, 1892. A vacation visit to the Scandinavian countries. The University and Cathedral of Upsala. Journey through the Swedish canals and lakes. Gothenburg. Swedish system of dealing with the sale of intoxicating liquors; its happy results. Throndheim; cathedral; evidences of mediaeval piety and fraud. Impression made by Sweden and Norway New evolution of human folly in Norway. The Ethnographic Museum at Copenhagen. Moscow revisited. Muscovite ideas of trade. My visit to Tolstoi. Resignation of my legation at St. Petersburg. Italy revisited. Stay in Palermo The Church of St. Josaphat; identity of this saint with Buddha; my talk regarding him with the Commendatore Marzo. Visit to the Cathedral of Monreale. The media val idea of creation as revealed in its mosaics. The earthquake at Florence; our experiences of it; its effects in the town. Return to America. Conversation with Holman Hunt in London. Visits to sundry American universities; my addresses before their students; reasons for publicly discussing "The Problem of High Crime" in our country. The Venezuelan Commission. My appointment in May, 1897, as ambassador to Germany.
PART VII-MISCELLANEOUS RECOLLECTIONS
CHAPTER LVI. THE CARDIFF GIANT: A CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF HUMAN FOLLY—1869-1870
Twofold characteristics of the central route from New York to Niagara. The lake country of western New York. The Onondaga Valley; characteristics of its people; their agitation in the autumn of 1869. Discovery of the "petrified giant." My visit to it; my skepticism; its causes. Evolution of myth and legend. General joy in believing in the marvelous origin of the statue. Gradual growth of a skeptical view. Confirmation of suspicions. Desperate efforts to resist skepticism. Clear proofs of a swindle. Attempted revival of belief in it. Alexander McWhorter; he declares the statue a Phenician idol, and detects a Phenician inscription upon it. View of Dr. Schlottmann, Instructor in Hebrew at Leipsic. My answer to his inquiry. Be persists in his belief. Final acknowledgment and explanation of the whole thing as a swindle. Sundry later efforts to imitate it.
CHAPTER LVII. PLANS AND PROJECTS, EXECUTED AND UNEXECUTED—1838-1905
My early reverence for authors. Youthful tendency toward literary studies. Change in this respect during my stay at Yale. Difference between the Yale and Harvard spirit. Senator Wolcott's speech on this. Special influence of Parker and Carlyle upon my view of literature. My purpose in various writings. Preparations for lectures upon the French Revolution and for a book upon its causes; probabilities of this book at present. "Paper Money Inflation in France," etc. Course of lectures upon the history of Germany. Resultant plan of a book; form to be given it; reasons for this form; its present prospects. My discussion of sundry practical questions. Report as Commissioner at the Paris Exposition of 1878; resultant address on "The Provision for Higher Instruction in Subjects Bearing Directly on Public Affairs." Happy progress of our universities in this respect. Civil-service reform; speeches; article in the "North American Review." Address at Yale on "The Message of the Nineteenth Century to the Twentieth." Some points in the evolution of my "History of the Warfare of Science with Theology." Projects formed during sundry vacation journeys in Europe. Lectures on the evolution of humanity in criminal law; growth of torture in penalty and procedure; collection of material on the, subject. Project of a small book to be called "The Warfare of Humanity with Unreason." Vague project during sundry stays at Florence of a history of that city; attractive points in such a history. Project of a Life of Father Paul Sarpi formed at Venice; its relinquishment; importance of such a biography. Plan for a study on the Life of St. Francis Xavier; beauty of his life; lesson taught by it regarding the evolution of myth and legend. Project of a brief biography of Thomas Jefferson; partly carried out; how formed and why discarded. Bibliographical introduction to O'Connor Morris's short history of the French Revolution. Project of a longer general bibliography of modern bi story transferred to President Charles Kendall Adams. Project of book, "How Can Wealthy Americans Best Use Their Money"; Deed of such a book in the United States. Lectures given and articles projected on "The Problem of High Crime in the United States"; reasons for taking up this subject. Two projects of which I have dreamed; A brief History of the Middle Ages as an introduction to Modern History; desirable characteristics of such a book; beginnings made of it in my lectures: "A History of Civilization in Spain"; reasons for such a book; excellent material accessible: general characteristics of such a history; recommendation of this subject to historical scholars. Characteristics of American life in the latter half of the nineteenth century unfavorable to the carrying out of many extended projects. Distractions. An apologia pro vita mea.