She
reminded me of some of the pictures one sees of Mary Stuart. I do
not think the resemblance ceased altogether with her personal appearance,
for her manners were always queenly and gracious; and when she became
interested in anything, her face would light up and her blue eyes would
brighten, and one could see something of the courage and spirit which she
shared in common with the ill-fated queen. She was a most accomplished
woman and a clever linguist. She could write and speak fluently French,
Italian, Arabic, and Portuguese. German she knew also, though not so
well, and she had more than a smattering of Yiddish. She was well-read
in the literature of all these (save Yiddish, of course), yet never was
a woman less of a "Blue-stocking." She was a brilliant talker, full
of wit and charm in her conversation, and there was nothing she liked
better than to relate, in her inimitable way, some of her many adventures
in the past. In fact, though singularly well-informed on all the current
questions of the hour, one could see that her heart was ever in the past,
and her thoughts seldom strayed far from her husband. Thus it came
about, after his death as in his life, she devoted herself wholly to
glorifying his name, and I do not think it is any disparagement to Sir
Richard Burton to say that his personality would never have impressed
itself upon the public imagination in the way it did, if it had not
been for the efforts of his wife.
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