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CHAPTER VI
EUROPEAN INTERLUDE
1856
Little Has Survived of whatever Olmsted wrote describing his travels in Italy, Austria and Germany in the spring of 1856 and his residence in London during the summer and fall of that year. The first letter in this chapter gives some indication of his response to Italy, and particularly to the architecture of Rome. The letter to his partner Joshua A. Dix relates his experiences in the literary world of London, especially with William M. Thackeray and the circle of editors of Punch. The other letters in the chapter deal with concerns of longer standing. Those to the New-York Daily Times and to James Elliot Cabot reflect Olmsted’s continuing preoccupation with the question of the South and slavery, while the unusually personal letters to his half-sister Bertha reveal as much of his feelings about life and love as any he ever wrote.