July 10 Thursday – The Clemens family left Paris at 7:20 AM for Brussels, which Sam called “a dirty, beautiful (architecturally), interesting town” [MTNJ 2: 328].
July 10 to 12 Saturday – The Clemens family spent two days in Brussels, then left in the afternoon of July 12 [MTNJ 2: 328]. Sam’s notebook:
July 12 Saturday – In the afternoon, the Clemens family went to Antwerp [MTNJ 2: 328].
July 13 Sunday – In the morning, Sam and the ladies attended high mass at the Cathedral of Antwerp. “There is nothing solemn or impressive about this exasperating mummery. Rubens masterpiece, the Ascent of the Cross—Christ seems to be an acrobat” [MTNJ 2: 328-9].
July 14 Monday – Sam took the family aboard the Trenton and breakfasted.
“Admiral Rowan arrived during the meal. I smoked on the Admiral’s side of the deck, not knowing it was sacred by naval etiquette” [MTNJ 2: 328].
July 15 Tuesday – The Clemens family left Rotterdam in the afternoon and went to Amsterdam, where they took rooms at the Hotel Doelen. From Sam’s notebook:
July 16 Wednesday – The Clemens family saw the sights in Amsterdam.
July 17 and 18 Friday – The Clemens family left Amsterdam in the afternoon and went to The Hague, “stopping off 2 or 3 hours at Harlaam & visiting farm house, dairy, & beautiful country seat.”
Livy wrote about the farm to her mother on July 20, mentioning young Fraulein Korthals:
July 19 Saturday – The Clemens family left The Hague at 6 PM For Flushing. In the late evening they crossed the channel by night boat (see July 20 entry). [MTNJ 2: 331, 333].
July 20 Sunday – The Clemens family arrived in London in the morning. Sam wrote in his notebook that the family arrived in London at 8 AM; that it was rainy and cold. They stayed at the Brunswick House Hotel, Hanover Square. “Have had a rousing big cannel-coal fire blazing away in the grate all day.
July 24 Thursday – Walter F. Brown, illustrator, wrote from Paris. “I have just received your check for £92.16.0 for which many thanks. I enclose receipted account in full. / You may depend on me to see Mr. St. Gaudens probably today. / I will send the remaining drawings very shortly…P.S. the three faulty drawings will be duly corrected” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Walter F. Brown receipts in full—about $700”.
July 26 Saturday – Sam met Lewis Carroll, who later wrote in his diary, “Met Mr. Clemens (Mark Twain), with whom I was pleased and interested” [Green 382]. Paine incorrectly indicates the meeting was in 1873, and uses Sam’s 1906 Autobiography for the recollection of the meeting:
July 28 Monday – The Clemens family traveled just over 70 miles to spend a week in Condover Hall, in North Shropshire on the west English coast. Paine: “For more than two years they had had an invitation from Reginald Cholmondeley to pay him another visit” [MTB 646]. From Sam’s notebook:
August – Sam’s notebook entry “New Pepys Diary,” shows he was reading Samuel Pepys’ Diary and Correspondence of Samuel Pepys, Esq., in 6 volumes (1875-79) [Gribben 539]. Paine writes that “Pepys’ Diary was one of the few books that [Sam] read regularly every year or two” [MTLP 489]. Sam jotted “Our Old Nobility” from articles in the Echo by Howard Evans which attacked hereditary aristocracy and also criticized the
August 1 Friday – Duckett cites Walter Blair’s Mark Twain & Huck Finn, p.114 for a notebook entry not found in MTNJ 2. Sam’s chief criticism of Bret Harte’s fiction at the time was that it “aroused in the ‘upper classes’ too much sympathy for ‘whore’ and ‘burglars.’ ” Blair cites Notebook #14, 18, MTP: “Harte’s saintly wh’s and self-sacrificing sons of b’s” [Duckett 191].
August 3 Sunday – The Clemens family ended their visit at Condover Hall and went to Oxford, arriving at about 6 PM. There they sent the children on to Brunswick House Hotel, London with Rosa and were shown the colleges by Edward Wyndham [MTNJ 2: 337&n93].
August 4 Monday – Sam and Livy traveled on to London.
August 6 Wednesday – Sam inscribed a copy of the National Gallery of London’s A Complete Illustrated Catalogue (1879): “S.L. Clemens / London, Aug. 6 ’79” [Gribben 417].
August 10 Sunday – Sam’s notebook:
“We still have to have fires every few days—had one to-night. We have had fires almost all the time, in Rome, Munich, Paris, Belgium, Holland, Condover Hall & London, from the 1st of last September (Florence) till the present time—nearly 12 months” [MTNJ 2: 337].
August 13 Wednesday – Henry Lee inscribed a copy of his book, The Octopus (1875) “To / Saml. L. Clemens / from his friend / The Author. / Henry Lee / Augt 13th 1879” [MTP].
August 14 Thursday – Sam went to the Royal Aquarium “with Rosa, J[ohn] & the ch[ildren]” and made notes of what he’d paid John the courier.
August 15 Friday – Bill paid to M. Fentum, wood turner and carver £5.12.6 for misc. [illegible items] [MTP].
August 17 Sunday – From Sam’s notebook about hearing the great Baptist preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892):
August 18 Monday – “Left London at 10.30 AM for Windermere—changed cars all day. Too much variety” [MTNJ 2: 339].
August 19 Tuesday – From Sam’s notebook:
Went up Windermere Lake in the steamer.—Talked with the great Darwin [MTNJ 2: 339]. Note: Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882). Windermere is over 80 miles north of Liverpool; Condover some 70 miles south of Liverpool.
August 21 Thursday – The Clemens party arrived in Liverpool. An hour later, Sam wrote from the Washington Hotel to Dr. John Brown, a letter of apologies for not being able to make the trip to Edinburgh to see him.