October 3 Thursday – Sam wrote from London to Livy. Sam had received word that “poor old faithful Riley” had died. Isabella Beecher Hooker had supposedly retired from public life (she hadn’t), and Sam expressed how lovely Oxford struck him during a visit there [MTL 5: 188].
October 1 Tuesday – Bill paid for The Farmington Creamery Co., $9.50 for milk & cream deliveries made Sept. 6, 13, 20, 27 [MTP].
Magdalen College (/ˈmɔːdlɪn/, MAWD-lin)[4] is a constituent college of the University of Oxford.
September 29–October 3 Thursday – Sam visited Magdalen College in Oxford sometime between these dates. The college was founded in 1458 and was remarkable for its 145-foot tower [MTL 5: 614n64]. (See Oct. 17, 1874 entry for article, “Magdalen Tower” that Sam wrote for The Shotover Papers, Or Echoes from Oxford.)
The Freemasons' Tavern was established in 1775 at 61-65 Great Queen Street in the West End of London. It served as a meeting place for a variety of notable organisations from the 18th century until it was demolished in 1909 to make way for the Connaught Rooms.
September 28 Saturday – Sam spoke at the Sheriff’s Dinner, at the Freemasons’ Tavern, Guildhall, London in response to a toast “Success to Literature” [Schmidt]. The dinner was given by the new sheriffs of London to the city guilds and liverymen. When one of the sheriffs proposed the health of Mark Twain, he was applauded, then Sam responded to the toast. The London Times, Sept. 30, 1872, called it “an amusing speech” [LLMT 178-79].
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London.
September 25 Wednesday – Sam attended a performance of Handel’s Messiah, featuring the well-known Hungarian soprano, Teresa Titiens and a chorus of 700 at the Royal Albert Hall.
September 23 Monday – Sam wrote from London to Thomas B. Pugh, declining his offer to lecture in Philadelphia during the next season. Pugh had arranged past lectures there for Sam [MTL 5: 178].
September 22 Sunday – Sam wrote from London to Livy that he was “making tolerably fair progress” sightseeing and collecting notes for a book.
“This is no worn out field. I can write up some of these things in a more different way than they have been written before” [MTL 5: 169].