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 12 Saturday – Sam’s article, “The Shah Calls Upon the Queen,” printed in the New York Herald was reprinted in the Cleveland Herald.
Mansion House is the official residence of the Lord Mayor of London.
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 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 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 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 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 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.
The Paul Hamlyn Hall is a large iron and glass structure adjacent to, and with direct access to, the main opera house building [Royal Opera House or Covent Garden]. The hall now acts as the atrium and main public area of the opera house, with a champagne bar, restaurant and other hospitality services, and also providing access to the main auditorium at all levels.