and this had belonged
to some nobleman whose name was greater than that of monarchs.

Mr. Wornum spoke of his treasures with an enthusiasm which
no worshipper at the throne of any Saint or Divinity could
surpass. That day was among the few chiefest delights of
my life.

CHAPTER XX
VISITS TO ENGLAND
1892

My next visit to England was in the spring of 1892. The
winter before, I had a severe attack of iritis, which left my
eyes in a very demoralized condition. I did not find much
relief in this country, not, I suppose, because of want of
skill in our ophthalmic surgeons, but because of the impossibility
of getting any rest anywhere where I could be reached by telephone
or telegraph. To a person who can bear an ordinary voyage
there is no retreat like an ocean steamer. Telephone, telegraph,
daily paper; call or visit of friend, client, or constituent;
daily mail--sometimes itself, to a busy public man, enough
for a hard day's work--all these are forgotten. You spend
your ten days in an infinite quiet like that of Heaven. You
sit in your deck-chair with the soft sea breeze on your forehead,
as the mighty ocean cradle rocks you, and see the lace of
an exquisite beauty that no Tyrian weaver ever devised, breaking
over the blue or purple waves, with their tints that no Tyrian
dye ever matched. Ah! Marconi, Marconi, could not you let
us alone, and leave the tired brain of humanity one spot
where this "hodge-podge of business and trouble and care"
could not follow us and find us out?

On this journey I visited England, France and Switzerland.
It so happened that I had had a good deal to do with the appointment
of our Ministers to these three countries. Colonel John D.
Washburn, a very accomplished and delightful gentleman, now
dead, had been a pupil of mine as a law student. He lived
in Worcester and had been a very eminent member of the Massachusetts
Legislature. I think he would have been Governor of the State
and had a very brilliant career but for a delicacy of organization
which made him break down in health when under any severe
strain of responsibility, especially such as involved antagonism
and conflict. He was of a very friendly, gentle disposition,
and disliked to be attacked or to attack other men. I told
Mr. Blaine, the Secretary of State when Mr. Harrison's Administration
came in, that I had but one favor to ask of it; that was,
that he should send Washburn as Minister to Switzerland. I
ha