CHAPTER LIII 



FRANCE, ITALY, AND SWITZERLAND -1886 -1887 



NEW YEAR S day of 1886 found my wife and my 

 self again in Paris ; and, during our stay of nearly 

 a fortnight there, we met various interesting persons 

 among them Mr. McLane, the American minister at that 

 post, whom I had last seen, over thirty years before, when 

 we crossed the ocean together he then going as minis 

 ter to China, and I as attache to St. Petersburg. His 

 discussions both of American and French politics were 

 interesting; but a far more suggestive talker was Mme. 

 Blaze de Bury. Though a Frenchwoman, she was said 

 to be a daughter of Lord Brougham; his portrait hung 

 above her chair in the salon, and she certainly showed 

 a versatility worthy of the famous philosopher and states 

 man, of whom it was said, when he was appointed chan 

 cellor, that if he only knew a little law he would know a 

 little of everything. She apparently knew not only every 

 thing, but everybody, and abounded in revelations and 

 prophecies. 



On the way from Paris to the Riviera we encountered 

 at Lyons very cold weather, and, giving my wraps to my 

 wife, I hurried out into the station in the evening, bought 

 of a news-vender a mass of old newspapers, and, having 

 swathed myself in these, went through the night comfort 

 ably, although our coupe was exposed to a most piercing 

 wind. 



Arriving at Cannes, we found James Bryce of the Eng 

 lish Parliament, Baron George von Bunsen of the Ger- 



411 



