568 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE- VI 



dre Dumas. He was very tall and large, with an African 

 head, thick lips, and bushy, crisp hair. He evidently in- 

 tended to be seen. His good-natured vanity was as un- 

 disguised as when his famous son said of him in his 

 presence, "My father is so vain that he is capable of 

 standing in livery behind his own carriage to make people 

 think he sports a negro footman. ' ' 



Going southward, I stopped at Bourges, and was fas- 

 cinated by the amazing stonework of the crypt. How the 

 mediaeval cathedral-builders were able to accomplish such 

 intricate work with the means at their command is still 

 one of the great mysteries. There is to-day in the United 

 States no group of workmen who could execute anything 

 approaching this work, to say nothing of such pieces as 

 the vaulting of Henry VII 's Chapel at Westminster or of 

 King's College Chapel at Cambridge. 



Thence we went to the Church of Brou, near Lyons 

 exquisitely beautiful, and filled with monuments even 

 more inspiring than the church itself. But it was entirely 

 evident, from a look at the church and its surroundings, 

 that Matthew Arnold had written his charming poem with- 

 out ever visiting the place. Going thence to Nice, we 

 stopped at Turin ; and at the grave of Silvio Pellico there 

 came back to me vivid memories of his little book, which 

 had seemed to make life better worth living. 



At Genoa a decision had to be made. A mass of letters 

 of introduction to leading Italians had been given me, and 

 I longed to make their acquaintance ; but I was weary, and 

 suddenly decided to turn aside and go upon the Riviera, 

 where we settled for our vacation at Nice. There we 

 found various interesting people, more especially those 

 belonging to the American colony and to the ship-of-war 

 Trenton, then lying at Villefranche, near by. Shortly 

 after our arrival, Lieutenant Emery of the navy called, 

 bearing an invitation to the ship from Admiral Howell, 

 who was in command at that station; and, a day or two 

 later, on arriving in the harbor, though I saw a long-boat 

 dressed out very finely, evidently awaiting somebody, and 



