June 28 Saturday – Sam wrote from the Langham to William Stirling-Maxwell (1818-1878) of London, who had invited Sam to visit the Cosmopolitan Club. The membership included: Lord Houghton, John Motley (1814-1877), Joaquin Miller, Thomas Hughes, Robert Browning, and Anthony Trollope [MTL 5: 391-2].
June 26 Thursday – Clara Spaulding left the Clemens family with her mother to tour Europe for six weeks. She returned on Aug. 9 [MTL 5: 404n1].
June 25 Wednesday – Sam and entourage moved to rooms at the Langham Hotel in Portland Place, where a billiards room was available [MTL 5: 372]. “It was a period of continuous honor and entertainment. If Mark Twain had been a lion on his first visit, he was little less than royalty now.
June 24 Tuesday – Sam was granted patent number 140,245 for his “Improvement in Scrap-Books.” The scrapbooks were manufactured but sales didn’t take place until 1877 and were handled by Sam’s New York friend, Dan Slote. This proved to be Sam’s only profitable patent [MTL 5: 145n4]. Note: Aug. 27, 1965 letter from General Services Admin.
June 23 Monday – From Livy’s diary:
Little Susy is very well indeed, she creeps all about the room, eats meat and potato for her breakfast every morning and is fat and hearty as possible—Nellie takes care of her now nights. I am out so much that I need my unbroken sleep [Salsbury 20].
June 22 Sunday – The Clemens family and Kate Field dined at the Dilkes [MTL 5: 375n1]. Kate Field, in a letter to the New York Tribune, wrote of the evening:
June 19 Thursday – Sam wrote from Edwards’ Hotel in London to George Fitzgibbon. His Shah letters, and the move to Langham Hotel the following Wednesday were among the reasons Sam gave for not being able to accompany Fitz to a session of Parliament, which Fitz reported on for the Darlington Northern Echo [MTL 5: 385].
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England.
June 18 Wednesday – Sam and Thompson returned from Ostend on the H.M.S. Lively. The pair traveled with some of the Shah’s family and several journalists who had accompanied the Shah on the train from Brussels [MTL 5: 384n1]. Once back in London, Sam wrote to Elisha Bliss that he had
Ostend is a coastal city and municipality, located in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium.