ENGLISH DAYS: III
Mrs. Hawthorne's letter to Miss Elizabeth P. Peabody describes Wordsworth's country. The family visit Southport for the winter, for Mrs. Hawthorne's health. A trip to Manchester, for the Exhibition, includes a glimpse of Tennyson and his family. Mrs. Hawthorne carefully describes them. She refers to slavery with contempt. Hawthorne writes to Miss Elizabeth P. Peabody about her anti-slavery essay with frankest honesty and distaste, being importuned for his opinion. His estimate of Goodrich. A visit to Kenilworth by the family is portrayed in a letter of Mrs. Hawthorne's. English days in Leamington are quiet and economical, but always suggestive to imagination. A visit to a genuinely palatial hotel in Bath described by Mrs. Hawthorne. Redcar and Hawthorne's enjoyment of it reproduced by descriptions and diaries. "The Marble Faun" worked out and finished in this seaport town.
CHAPTER XII
ITALIAN DAYS: I
Rome has a superlative effect upon the family. Hawthorne's manner in the midst of the richest scene in history. A host of friends happen to congregate, at Carnival time. Miss Maria Mitchell, Miss Harriet Hosmer, and Miss Elizabeth Hoar described. Una's illness proves the true friendship of lifelong and new acquaintances. C. G. Thompson and his studio sketched. Rome's lasting charm for a little girl evident.
CHAPTER XIII
ITALIAN DAYS: II
Six months in Florence. Mrs. Hawthorne's letters continue to catch and imprison the atmosphere of every scene. The castle of Montauto fascinates the family. Catholicity penetrates the heart of both husband and wife, in spite of much armor. Stella humbly and silently expresses religious gentleness. Spiritualism introduces its clumsy morbidness to Mrs. Hawthorne in the presence of the Brownings. Mr. and Mrs. Browning described from the enthusiastic memory of a child. Motley's letter about "Monte Beni" is given.