recognising clearly enough, as he could hardly fail to do, in the
gathering around him, there in Freemasons' Hall, on the evening of the
2nd of November, 1867, one of the most striking incidents in a career
that had been almost all sunshine, both from within and from without,
from the date of its commencement. It was there, in the midst of what
he himself referred to, at the time, as that "brilliant representative
company," while acknowledging the presence around him of so many of his
brother artists, "not only in literature, but also in the fine arts," he
availed himself of the opportunity to relate very briefly the story of
his setting out once more for America. "Since I was there before," he
said, "a vast, entirely new generation has arisen in the United States.
Since I was there before, most of the best known of my books have
been written and published. The new generation and the books have come
together and have kept together, until at last numbers of those who have
so widely and constantly read me, naturally desiring a little variety
in the relations between us, have expressed a strong wish that I should
read myself. This wish at last conveyed to me, through public channels
and business channels, has gradually become enforced by an immense
accumulation of letters from individuals and associations of
individuals, all expressing in the same hearty, homely, cordial,
unaffected way a kind of personal interest in me; I had almost said a
kind of personal affection for me, which I am sure you will agree with
me, it would be dull insensibility on my part not to prize." Hence, as
he explained, his setting forth on that day week upon his second visit
to America, with a view among other purposes, according to his own
happy phrase, to use his best endeavours "to lay down a third cable of
intercommunication and alliance between the old world and the new."
The illustrious chairman who presided over that Farewell Banquet,
Lord Lytton, had previously remarked, speaking in his capacity as a
politician, "I should say that no time could be more happily chosen
for his visit;" adding, "because our American kinsfolk have conceived,
rightly or wrongfully, that they have some cause of complaint against
ourselves, and out of all England we could not have selected an envoy
more calculated to allay irritation and to propitiate good will." As one
whose cordial genius was, in truth, a bond of sympathy between the two
great kindred nationalities