November 24 Monday – Sam wrote from London to Livy.
“Dolby is the same jolly good fellow, & says heaps of pleasant things about you & Clara—among the rest that you, in face & nature & everything, are the most perfect woman he ever saw or knew—which is simply what any one would say, & so it does not surprise me.”
Primrose Hill is a Grade II listed public park located north of Regent's Park in London, England, first opened to the public in 1842.[3]
November 23 Sunday – Sam wrote from London to Livy, of the “very sunny & bright & cheery” weather. He and Stoddard had walked through Regent’s Park and to the top of Primrose Hill and back. Stoddard had been spending time at Oxford University and brought Sam an invitation to speak there.
November 22 Saturday – From the Langham, Sam dictated a short note to Charles Warren Stoddard for Henry Lee. Sam was busy preparing for his lectures, which would begin Dec. 1 and could not promise to “go down to Croydon on Wednesday next” [MTL 5: 481].
November 21 Friday – Sam wrote from London to Livy. He’d gone shopping and purchased an overcoat, some meerschaum pipes, a “particularly nice” umbrella, a hat, a hatbrush, a couple of razors, and ordered “some patent leather shoes at a considerably higher price than one pays in Hartford for such things” [MTL 5: 480].
November 20 Thursday – Sam wrote from room 113 at the Langham to Livy. Sam was lonely, having breakfast but no one to share it with. His letter to Livy was wistful, resigned. His nickname for baby Susy was “Modoc,” coined by Joaquin Miller, Susy’s hair reminding him of the Modoc Indians he’d written about. Earlier, Sam had called her “Muggins” [MTL 5: 478].
November 19 Wednesday – Sam checked into his rooms at the Langham Hotel in London There he was joined by Charles Warren Stoddard. In an 1876 letter to Howells, asking him to recommend Stoddard for a consulship:
November 18 Tuesday – Sam arrived in Liverpool. Either Sam got a hotel room that night or took a train to London [MTL 5: 476; Powers, MT A Life 339].
November 17 Monday – The City of Chester arrived at Queenstown, Ireland at 6 PM. Sam telegraphed Livy [MTL 5: 476].
November 15 Saturday – Harper’s Weekly ran an engraving, 11×15 entitled, “THE LYCEUM COMMITTEEMAN’S DREAM—SOME POPULAR LECTURERS IN CHARACTER,” which featured nineteen lecturers, including Charles Dickens, and Mark Twain in a jester’s outfit [eBay Oct. 6, 2009 by nls, Item 360061792731]. See insert.