July – Sam noted eighteen lines of a memorial poem at the grave of James Thomson (1700-1748), author of The Seasons (poems, 1730) [Gribben 702]. Sam also wondered why Pepys failed to mention the great Shakespeare [540]. Sam also noted the title, translator and publisher of Comte de Hezecques’ Recollections of a Page to the Court of Louis XVI (1873) [312].
July 1 Tuesday – Sam’s first of five letters on the Shah of Persia appeared in the New York Herald. The letters were collected as “O’Shah” in Europe and Elsewhere (1923) [MTNJ 1: 537n28]. Sam wrote from the Langham to Moncure Conway.
July 2 Wednesday – Sam finished the letter to Joaquin Miller, asking if he would drop by his hotel at half past ten or quarter to eleven.
In the evening, Sam and Livy dined with George and Phoebe Smalley in Hyde Park Square. Benjamin Moran (1820-1886), secretary of legation to U.S. Minister Robert C. Schenck, was also at the dinner and noted the guests:
July 4 Friday – Sam prepared a speech for the Meeting of Americans, London. (published in Fatout, MT Speaking 74-76) but was unable to give it [Welland 63].
Sam’s second of five letters on the Shah of Persia appeared in the New York Herald [MTNJ 1: 537n28].
July 5 Saturday – Sam enjoyed the last Floral Hall concert of the season at 2 PM. The Royal Italian Opera performed with Adelina Patti [MTNJ 1: 549n39].
Sam wrote a short acceptance note to Henry Lee to stop at the Whitefriars Club, but only for a half hour, as he had to take Livy to a concert [MTL 5: 398].
July 6 Sunday – Sam wrote from London to Mary Mason Fairbanks, his letter full of people talk. He wrote about English social life, meeting so many “pleasant people” and “we seem to find no opportunity to see London sights.” Sam’s list of those met: Tom Hughes, Herbert Spencer, Joaquin Miller, Hans Breitmann (Charles Godfrey Leland 1824-1903) William Gorman Wills, Anthony Trollope, Wilkie Collins, Edmund H.
July 7 Monday – Anthony Trollope threw a dinner party in honor of Joaquin Miller. Sam attended, as well as Thomas Hughes; Edward Levy, editor of the London Telegraph; Granville George Levenson-Gower, the second Earl Granville and leader of the House of Lords; and Edward Levy [MTL 5: 406-7n11].
July 8 and 9 Wednesday – Sam and Livy visited Charles E. Flower (1830-1892) , mayor of Stratford-upon-Avon. Sam and Moncure Conway played a trick on Livy, a great fan of Shakespeare, telling her they were going to “Epworth” instead of Stratford.
July 9 Wednesday – Sam’s third of five letters on the Shah of Persia appeared in the New York Herald. The letters were collected as “O’Shah” in Europe and Elsewhere (1923) [MTNJ 1: 537n28].
July 10 Thursday – Sam wrote a short note from London to Elisha Bliss:
“Publish if you want to [the Herald letters], or leave it alone, just as seems best. I am tired of the Shah & shall not write any more” [MTL 5: 413].
July 11 Friday – Sam’s fourth of five letters on the Shah of Persia appeared in the New York Herald. Sam referred to the Shah as “the long expected millennium,” and “this splendid barbarian,” so bejeweled that “he shone like a window with the westering sun on it” [Fatout, MT Speaks 83].
July 12 Saturday – Sam’s article, “The Shah Calls Upon the Queen,” printed in the New York Herald was reprinted in the Cleveland Herald.
July 14 Monday – Sam wrote from the Langham his thanks to Charles E. Flower for the stay at their home. “I may add here, that having learned all about how ale is made, I now take a new & ferocious interest in consuming it” [MTL 5: 416].
July 16 Wednesday – Sam dictated from London to Elisha Bliss, information about coordinating publishing dates simultaneously with Routledge & Sons. The English version was typeset from proofsheets provided by Bliss, but lacked as many illustrations [MTL 5: 416].
July 19 Saturday – Sam’s fifth of five letters on the Shah of Persia appeared in the New York Herald. The Clemenses left London for Edinburgh, Scotland. They stopped for several days in York, England.
July 20 Sunday – Sam wrote from York, England to Livy’s mother, Olivia Lewis Langdon. Sam’s letter was a delightful description of York.
“All of which is to say, we have been 24 hours out of London, & they have been 24 hours of rest & quiet. Nobody knows us here—we took good care of that. In Edinburgh we are to be introduced to nobody, & shall stay in a retired, private hotel, & go on resting” [MTL 5: 419].
July 25 Friday – By this date Sam’s entourage had arrived in Edinburgh. They stayed at Veitch’s Hotel [MTL 5: 420n1]. Livy wrote to Alice Hooker Day who evidently had asked if Sam would lecture solely for Hartford, and allow her to handle the performance. Livy kindly explained it was a “great labor” to prepare a lecture and that she didn’t know if Sam would lecture at all next season.
July 26 Saturday – The inserted cartoon ran in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper for this day, “The New Heathen Chinee / Mark Twain Teaches the Shah the American Game of Draw Poker” [MTJ Spring/Fall 2011; Vol. 49 p.111]. See cartoon in June 22 entry.
July 27 Sunday – Sam wrote from Edinburgh, Scotland to Elisha Bliss. English law required that publication in England precede that in other countries, thus the agreement Sam had with Routledge provided a three-week window; Sam expected The Gilded Age to be out in England before his planned departure on Oct. 25. Sam was pressing Bliss for the proofs [MTL 5: 420-1 & n2].
July 28 Monday – Sam’s reply letter of March was printed in Josh Billings’ column in the New York Weekly. The Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax had sold hundreds of thousands of copies since 1869 [MTL 5: 306n1&3].
July 30 Wednesday – In Edinburgh, Clemens wrote to an unidentified man. “I have some idea of lecturing in New York,—& possibly in Boston; but shall not be able to do more than that. With thanks for the invitation, I am / Ys Truly …” [MTP].
July 31 Thursday – From Veitch’s Hotel in Edinburgh, Sam wrote to an unidentified autograph seeker asking for Sam’s help in securing the autograph of William Cullen Bryant [MTL 5: 422].
August – John Moffat of Edinburgh made a formal group photograph of Sam, Livy, Susy, Clara Spaulding and Dr. John Brown [MTL 5: 662].
August 2 Saturday – Sam telegraphed and then wrote from Edinburgh to Elisha Bliss, telling him to stop the publication of the pamphlet containing the Herald letters. Paragraphs had been added at the paper causing Sam grief and a desire not to have them reprinted by Bliss, something he feared might harm the sale of The Gilded Age [MTL 5: 425].
August 4 Monday – Sam wrote from Edinburgh to Edmund H. Yates of the New York Herald objecting to an offensive insertion made into Sam’s Shah letter published July 1. Yates had been at Ostend; was in London on Aug. 2, and then went to Vienna [MTL 5: 430].