Page:The poems of Emma Lazarus volume 1.djvu/44

30 glimpse of mellow England,&quot;—a surprise which is yet no surprise, so well known and familiar does it appear. Then Chester, with its quaint, picturesque streets, &quot; like the scene of a Walter Scott novel, the cathedral planted in greenness, and the clear, gray river where a boatful of scar let dragoons goes gliding by.&quot; Everything is a picture for her special benefit. She &quot; drinks in, at every sense, the sights, sounds, and smells, and the unimaginable beauty of it all.&quot; Then the bewilderment of London, and a whirl of people, sights, and impressions. She was received with great distinction by the Jews, and many of the leading men among them warmly advocated her views. But it was not alone from her own people that she met with exceptional consideration. She had the privilege of seeing many of the most eminent personages of the day, all of whom honored her with special and personal regard. There was, no doubt, something that strongly attracted and attached people to her at this time,—the force of her intellect at once made itself felt, while at the same time the unaltered simplicity and modesty of her character, and her readiness and freshness of enthusiasm, kept her still almost like a child.

She makes a flying visit to Paris, where she happens to be on the 14th of July, the anniversary of the storming of the Bastile, and of the beginning of the republic; she drives out to