February 28 Friday – The Clemens family arrived in Paris with five trunks and took rooms at the Grand Hotel St. James in the rue Saint-Honoré, where they stayed until Mar. 4 [MTNJ 2: 292n7].

From Sam’s notebook

Feb. 29/79—Arrived at Paris at 5 P.M.

In ungraciousness of stranger to stranger we are exactly like the French—mannerless.

The cabman of Paris is exactly like the Irish hackman of New York—mannerless.

O how cold, & raw & unwarmable it was!

Sam had been reading Tom Jones by Henry Fielding and thought it “disgusting” [MTNJ 2: 292-4].