October 27 Wednesday – In Vienna, Sam wrote to an unidentified person:

I thank you very much for the book—notwithstanding the fact that it kept me up, last night, when I ought to have been in bed. I had the good & bad luck to stumble upon the Chapter regarding Sir James Lachaita [sic Lacaita] & of course was obliged to read it. I knew Sir James well, in 1892, and [the rest of the note is missing] [MTP] Note: Sir James Lacaita (1813-1895; born Giacomo Filippo Lacaita) was an Anglo-Italian politician and writer, an authority on Dante. Best known for his part in the diplomatic maneuvers surrounding Garibaldi’s 1860 expedition to liberate Naples and Sicily from Bourbon rule. He was active in several English companies doing business in Italy, and Sam would have met him during the family’s 1892 stay in Florence; he is mentioned in biographies of Janet Duff Gordon Ross (1842-1927), who also first met Clemens in 1892 in Florence, through the neighbor Daniel Willard Fiske. (See AMT 1: 541n244.29) The book referred to is not known.