.
Blumenthal is a Thalberg in small.--We have pleasant recollections of
certain clever Oxonians, "Double-Firsts," potential in the classics and
mathematics. A "Double-First" is the incarnation of Oxford, a
masterpiece of Art. All that he knows he knows profoundly, nor does it
require an Artesian bore to bring that knowledge bubbling to the
surface. His mastery over his intellect is as great as that of Liszt
over the piano-forte,--it is a slave to do his bidding. He is the result
of a thousand years of culture. A "Double-First" never gives way to
enthusiasms; his heart never gets into his head. Impulse is snubbed as
though it were a poor relation; and argument is carried on by clear,
acute reason, independent of feeling. Woe unto the American who loses
his temper while duelling mentally with a "Double-First"! Oxford phlegm
will triumph. Of course a "Double-First" is conservative; he disbelieves
in republics and universal suffrage, attends the Established Church, and
won't publicly deny the Thirty-Nine Articles, whatever maybe his _very_
private opinion of them. He writes brilliant articles for the "Saturday
Review," (familiarly known among Liberals as the "Saturday Reviler,")
and ends by being a learned and successful barrister, or a Gladstone, or
both. Genius will rarely subscribe to the Thirty-Nine Articles. With all
his conservatism and want of what the French call _effusion_, a
"Double-First" can be a delightful companion and charming man,--even to
a democratic American.

We well remember with what admiring curiosity the Italians regarded Mrs.
Stowe one evening that she passed at Villino Trollope. "_E
la Signora Stowe?_"--"_Davvero?_"--"_L'autrice di 'Uncle
Tom'?_"--"_Possibile?_"--were their oft-repeated exclamations; for
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" is the one American book in which Italians are
deeply read. To most of them, Byron and "Uncle Tom" comprehend the whole
of English literature. However poorly informed an Italian may be as
regards America in other respects, he has a very definite idea of
slavery, thanks to Mrs. Stowe. To read "Uncle Tom's Cabin" aloud in
Italian to an Italian audience is productive of queer sensations. This
office an American woman took upon herself for the enlightenment of some
_contadine_ of Fiesole with whom she was staying. She appealed to a
thoroughly impartial jury. The verdict would have been balm of Gilead to
long-suffering Abolitionists. So admirable an idea of justice had these
acute p