" As
for Burton himself, he took no part in this agitation, except to thank
his friends and the press generally for their exertions on his behalf.
They went down to Oxford at Commemoration to visit Professor Jowett and
others. At Oxford they met with an ovation. In London they passed a
very pleasant season, for private personages seemed anxious to make up
for official neglect. Among other celebrated people whom they met was
Mr. Gladstone, at Lord Houghton's. Of Burton's meeting with Mr.
Gladstone Isabel relates the following: "Very late in the evening
Mrs. Gladstone said to me, 'I don't know what it is; I cannot get Mr.
Gladstone away this evening'; and I said to her, 'I think I know what
it is; he has got hold of my husband, Richard Burton, and they are both
so interested in one another, and have so many points of interest to
talk over that I hope you will not take him away.'"
The season over, Burton started on another trip to Iceland; and Isabel
was left alone, during which time she paid some visits to the Duke and
Duchess of Somerset at Bulstrode, always kind friends of hers, and to
Madame von Bulow at Reigate. Madame von Bulow was the wife of the
Danish Minister in London, and one of Isabel's most intimate friends--
a friendship which lasted all her life.
When Burton returned from Iceland, he went off to Vichy for a cure, and
rejoined his wife in London in the autumn; and they went out a great
deal, chiefly in scientific, literary, and artistic circles.
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