Sam’s notebook:
For two days we have been doubting Dittura’s reliability as a news gatherer—but to-night I heard a news- man crying a paper—understood “Count Bismark” & bought a copy—spelled out the fact that 2 days ago, Carlo Conti di Bismark, a citizen of Venice, committed suicide by shooting himself through the head with a revolver. So D.[ittura] was 2 days ahead of the newspaper [MTNJ 2: 223].
Stabilimento Salviati, Venice, sent a statement for items purchased/shipped [MTP].
Sam’s notebook:
Belli Arti—It is not possible that anybody could take more solid comfort in martydom that St. Sebastian did….The Old Master’s horses always rear after the fashion of the kangaroo….500 Last Suppers—they all have new table cloths with the fold wrinkles sharply defined.
The fig leaf & private members of statues are handled so much that they are black & polished while the rest of the figure is white & unpolished. Which sex does this handling?
Left for Florence. Good by, Dittura Agostino! [MTNJ 2: 223-5].
Livy wrote from Florence to her mother:
This evening Mr & Mrs Chamberlain were in for an hour & we sat about a wood fire & chatted—then Mr Clemens read to us—then to bed—where I am now—Florence is much more restful than Venice, because we have no social demands—and one ought to know no one when they are visiting picture galleries—The Chamberlains are a perfect delight, they never tax us in the least they are helpful to us and are bright beyond expression [MTNJ 2: 226n19].
Joe Twichell wrote to Sam.
I have been thinking of you all the morning. This is one of those golden, perfect autumn days when ones desire to off somewhere among trees, mounts to a passion… Now, Mark, let’s make a vow, that when we are once more together we will use these heavenly days as they were meant to be used and as we shall wish we had when we come to look back on life [MTP]. Note: there is much more and more depth to this letter, but space here does not allow it all.
Sam’s notebook:
In Santa Croce to-day a well dressed young woman followed us, begging for centimes.
An old frowsy woman watched where I laid my cigar, then approached us with it as Chamberlain & I came out & said she rescued it from some boys (who had found it in the dark!) & wantd 5 cents for her trouble. She followed us into the street & finally cursed us & called down sudden death upon us [MTNJ 2: 229].
Sam wrote to Valentine Besarel, letter not extant but mentioned in Besarel’s Oct. 27.
Sam’s notebook:
Uffizzi Gallery, Sunday (free day,)
What a shamed look people have who go along with a guide—they nod annoyedly at every statement he makes, & they scarcely look at the object he points at; often not at all; neither look they to one side or the other, or at anybody; they seem to have but one desire: to get through with this painful trial & go free again [MTNJ 2: 234].
The Clemens family left Florence for Rome. The trip took 8 hours and they arrived at 4:30 PM [MTNJ 2: 235]. The party stayed at the Hotel d’Allemania. Sam noted the cost of the rooms, three coffees, one beefsteak and three “table d’hotes” (communal table, full-course meal) totaling 48.25 francs, paid at 5 PM [281].
In his notebook, Sam concluded that the “Immaculate Conception has ceased to be a wearying & worrisome question.” What the Ecumenical Council should “decide once & forever” was, “who was it that struck Billy Patterson?” (From Wm. Porter’s collection, The Big Bear of Arkansas and Other Sketches) [MTNJ 2: 235]. More from Sam’s notebook:
It is the more ridiculous spectacle to see a Virgin or a copper Aristotle stuck on top of every stately monument of the grand old “pagan” days of Rome.
Sam visited the Sistine Chapel, commenting on work by Raphael. He counted 25 courtyards in the Vatican. He noted the Tom of the Virgin and wrote “How she would draw in N.Y.” [MTNJ 2: 237].
Gustavo Sarfatti wrote to Sam (Sept. 29 from Sarfatti enclosed) [MTP].
Sam received letters from Will Sage and Joe Twichell about payments required and red tape needed to get the “two boxes of Clocks” through customs. He made a note to do a chapter in his book about “this most scoundrelly & infernal custom house system” [MTNJ 2: 237].
Sam’s notebook:
– Sam’s notebook:
“Great festa-day—shops all closed. Attended High Mass in a chapel of St. Peters. Heaps of people of all ages sexes & professions kissing (& scrubbing) St Peter Jupiter’s toe. He looks like a black negro & has short crisp hair” [MTNJ 2: 239].
November – In Sam’s notebook there’s an entry “Little Pedlington” which refers to John Poole’s 1839 book, Little Pedlington and the Pedlingtonians. Gribben quotes E. Cobham Brewer, calling this “an imaginary place, the village of quackery and can’t, egotism and humbug, affectation and flatter” [553].
Sam noted “Turganieff’s Visions” and “Visions, a Phantasy, by Tourganieff—in the Galaxy” in his notebook [MTNJ 2: 244, 247].
– Sam wrote from Rome, Italy to Joe Twichell. After discussing the matter of a clock Sam had purchased, sending it home through Will Sage, which caused all sorts of red tape, Sam sent compliments on Joe’s letters.
– Sam’s notebook:
“…spent all day in Vedder’s lofty studio & the evening with him & another artist spinning yarns & drinking beer in a quiet saloon. Big row in the street but no bloodshed.”
Elihu Vedder was an American artist who kept a studio in Rome. Sam visited the studio several times [MTNJ 2: 242]. (See Nov. 9 entry.)
– Sam’s notebook:
“Visited the Catacombs. One mummy (shapeless) & one slender young girl’s long hair & decaying bones— both in stone coffins & both between 15 & 1600 years old.”
– U.S. Consulate sent Venetian Bills of Lading for things purchased [MTP].
– Sam viewed the painting “Bambino” at Ara Coeli.
It is always safe to say a thing was mentioned by Pliny. He was the father of reporters—he mentioned everything.
Suit of clothes in Heidelberg, $18; in Milan (slop-shop) $9; in Rome (fancy tailor, $25 & $38—both very fine—the latter half dress. At home, $65 to 90 [MTNJ 2: 246].
– “Cooks agent gone off junketing—for a few days—can’t get any tickets” [MTNJ 2: 245].
In a letter dated Nov. 10, Livy wrote to her mother:
We have enjoyed Rome immensely & wish so very much that we were going to spend three months here.
– Livy wrote from Rome to her mother (see Nov. 9 entry).
– The Clemens family left Rome at 10:50 AM, and returned to Florence, Italy at 6:50 PM, where they spent the night at the Hotel de New York [MTLE 3: 97; MTNJ 2: 248]. They were headed north to spend the winter in Munich, a 600 mile trip with 36 hours on slow trains, and four overnight hotel stops to make the journey more bearable for Livy [Rodney 115]. Sam’s notebook:
“… saw splendid torchlight processions crossing the 2 Arno bridges to see the King, at the Pitti palace.
– The Clemens family stayed a day and another night in Florence [MTLE 3: 97].
– The Clemens family left Florence at 10:45 AM and reached Bologna, Italy at 4:15 PM [MTLE 3: 97; MTNJ 2: 249]. Sam made a notebook entry that he stopped here to see Guiseppe Mezzofanti (d.1849), “because he knew 111 languages, but he was dead” [MTNJ 2: 266].
– The Clemens family left Bologna at noon and traveled until 10:30 PM to reach Trent in the Austrian Tyrol, by way of “Modena, Mantua, & Verona.” Sam was acting as the courier for the group and thought himself “a shining success…so far” [MTNJ 2: 249; MTLE 3:97].
– The Clemens family was up at 6 AM and traveled all day. After twelve hours they arrived in Munich, Germany. At 7 PM they arrived, in “drizzle & fog at the domicil which had been engaged for us ten months before” [MTLE 3: 94].