"
The summer of 1859 found Mrs. Stowe again on her way to Europe, this
time accompanied by all her children except the youngest.
CHAPTER XV.
THE THIRD TRIP TO EUROPE, 1859.
THIRD VISIT TO EUROPE.--LADY BYRON ON "THE MINISTER'S WOOING."--SOME
FOREIGN PEOPLE AND THINGS AS THEY APPEARED TO PROFESSOR STOWE.--A
WINTER IN ITALY.--THINGS UNSEEN AND UNREVEALED.--SPECULATIONS
CONCERNING SPIRITUALISM.--JOHN KUSKIN.--MRS. BROWNING.--THE RETURN TO
AMERICA.--LETTERS TO DR. HOLMES.
Mrs. Stowe's third and last trip to Europe was undertaken in the
summer of 1859. In writing to Lady Byron in May of that year, she
says: "I am at present writing something that interests me greatly,
and may interest you, as an attempt to portray the heart and life of
New England, its religion, theology, and manners. Sampson Low & Son
are issuing it in numbers, and I should be glad to know how they
strike you. It is to publish this work complete that I intend to visit
England this summer."
The story thus referred to was "The Minister's Wooing," and Lady
Byron's answer to the above, which is appended, leaves no room for
doubt as to her appreciation of it. She writes:--
LONDON, _May_ 31,1859.
DEAR FRIEND,--I have found, particularly as to yourself, that if I did
not answer from the first impulse, all had evaporated. Your letter
came by the Niagara, which brought Fanny Kemble, to learn the loss of
her _best_ friend, that Miss Fitzhugh whom you saw at my house.
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