November 10 and 17 Monday – Sam wrote aboard the SS City of Chester en route to Livy—“3 days out from N.Y.” After a long description of how wonderfully the ship was appointed, Sam referred to Livy’s pregnancy (she was two months along) and expressed some guilt that he had left her “at a time when you cannot exert yourself without peril.” Sam promised to telegraph as soon as he reached Queenstown and look for an answer in Liverpool or London.
November 14 Friday – Sam wrote aboard the SS City of Chester en route to Livy—“7 day out.” Sam wrote of a half-gale and some rolling of the ship, an injury or two to passengers, a leaky dead-light in his cabin and of repairs to his clothing. “I have read all night during this [rough] weather—sleep would only tire me.”
November 15 Saturday – Harper’s Weekly ran an engraving, 11×15 entitled, “THE LYCEUM COMMITTEEMAN’S DREAM—SOME POPULAR LECTURERS IN CHARACTER,” which featured nineteen lecturers, including Charles Dickens, and Mark Twain in a jester’s outfit [eBay Oct. 6, 2009 by nls, Item 360061792731]. See insert.
November 17 Monday – The City of Chester arrived at Queenstown, Ireland at 6 PM. Sam telegraphed Livy [MTL 5: 476].
November 18 Tuesday – Sam arrived in Liverpool. Either Sam got a hotel room that night or took a train to London [MTL 5: 476; Powers, MT A Life 339].
November 19 Wednesday – Sam checked into his rooms at the Langham Hotel in London There he was joined by Charles Warren Stoddard. In an 1876 letter to Howells, asking him to recommend Stoddard for a consulship:
November 20 Thursday – Sam wrote from room 113 at the Langham to Livy. Sam was lonely, having breakfast but no one to share it with. His letter to Livy was wistful, resigned. His nickname for baby Susy was “Modoc,” coined by Joaquin Miller, Susy’s hair reminding him of the Modoc Indians he’d written about. Earlier, Sam had called her “Muggins” [MTL 5: 478].
November 21 Friday – Sam wrote from London to Livy. He’d gone shopping and purchased an overcoat, some meerschaum pipes, a “particularly nice” umbrella, a hat, a hatbrush, a couple of razors, and ordered “some patent leather shoes at a considerably higher price than one pays in Hartford for such things” [MTL 5: 480].
November 22 Saturday – From the Langham, Sam dictated a short note to Charles Warren Stoddard for Henry Lee. Sam was busy preparing for his lectures, which would begin Dec. 1 and could not promise to “go down to Croydon on Wednesday next” [MTL 5: 481].
November 23 Sunday – Sam wrote from London to Livy, of the “very sunny & bright & cheery” weather. He and Stoddard had walked through Regent’s Park and to the top of Primrose Hill and back. Stoddard had been spending time at Oxford University and brought Sam an invitation to speak there.
November 24 Monday – Sam wrote from London to Livy.
“Dolby is the same jolly good fellow, & says heaps of pleasant things about you & Clara—among the rest that you, in face & nature & everything, are the most perfect woman he ever saw or knew—which is simply what any one would say, & so it does not surprise me.”
November 25 Tuesday – Andrew Chatto’s letter to Clemens of this date introduced him as the successor to John Camden Hotten, who died on June 14. Chatto enclosed “a set of the sheets of a volume of your writings, in order that you may (as I understand you expressed a desire to do) correct certain portions of the contents” [Welland 31].
November 26 Wednesday – Charles Kingsley (1819-1875), the canon of Westminster and author of several historical novels and other works wrote to Clemens:
My dear Sir / I tried in vain, when you were last in London, to have the great pleasure of introducing myself to you. I called—hearing that you had returned—at the Langham Hotel today: but was too meek to intrude on you—even had you been at home.
November 27 Thursday – Livy’s 28th birthday.
November 28 Friday – Sam wrote from London to George H. Fitzgibbon. Sam thanked him for his “timely hints & suggestions,” and that he had written a ten-minute speech that he enclosed. Sam wrote the speech for a dinner on Monday, Dec. 1, attended after his lecture [MTL 5: 489].
November 29 Saturday – Sam spoke at St. Andrew’s Society, Salutation Tavern, London, replying to the toast of “The Guests” (see this reply MTL 5: 491). The speech was printed in the Hartford Daily Courant, Dec. 20, 1873, p2 as “Mark Twain on Scotland.” It may also be found in The Twainian, Nov.-Dec. 1957 p4 as “Mark Twain Toasts the Scotch.” Note: this is “that Scotch dinner” Sam referred to in his Nov.
November 30 Sunday – Sam’s 38th birthday.
Livy paid $198.40 to Madame Fogarty 149 East 21st street Gramercy Park, New York for the making a black silk costume, and a blue velvet costume, with linings, fringes, etc. [MTP].
December – In an Atlantic Monthly article, comparisons were made between recent California writers, including Sam Clemens, Bret Harte, Charles Warren Stoddard, Prentice Mulford (1834-1891), and Charles Webb.
“The greatest and most original of these is Twain, whose tone of “perpetual personal companionship” is the chief characteristic of the pure humorist.”
December 1 Monday – Sam gave his “Sandwich Islands” lecture at Queen’s Concert Rooms, Hanover Square, London. George Dolby arranged his English lecture tour. After the first night’s lecture, Sam gave his ten-minute speech, “The Ladies” for the Scottish Corporation, commemorating their 209th anniversary. The group provided assistance for needy Scots in London [See Sam’s speech: Fatout, MT Speaking 78-80].
December 2 Tuesday – Sam gave his “Sandwich Islands” lecture at Queen’s Concert Rooms, London [MTPO].
December 3 Wednesday – Sam gave his “Sandwich Islands” lecture at Queen’s Concert Rooms, London [MTPO]. Sam wrote a short note from London to Livy:
December 4 Thursday – Sam gave his “Sandwich Islands” lecture at Queen’s Concert Rooms, London [MTPO].
December 5 Friday – Sam gave his “Sandwich Islands” lecture at Queen’s Concert Rooms, London [MTPO]. These lectures were given to full and enthusiastic houses and were consistently successful. Stoddard wrote that after his lectures Sam “always felt amiable, and met the people who came to shake hands…and cheerfully gave autographs.” Stoddard observed that “Lecturing excited him and got him started and he would talk for hours.” Stoddard also saw a melancholy side of Sam
December 6 Saturday – In the afternoon, Sam gave his “Sandwich Islands” lecture at Queen’s Concert Rooms, London [MTPO]. Afterward, Sam wrote a short note to Livy.
“There was a mighty fine house there this afternoon, & I went through all right, but I am getting unspeakably sick of the Sandwich Islands as a topic to lecture on. I shall get tired of the new one in a week I expect” [MTL 5: 494].
December 7 Sunday – Sam wrote another short note from London to Livy. He’d rehearsed his “Roughing It” lecture and thought he’d enjoy it. He asked if she got his telegram from Queenstown, and said that Bliss needed to “hurry up the book” if he was to copyright it in England [MTL 5: 495].