18 October 1875 • Hartford, Conn. (MS: UkCu, UCCL 11621)
In New York, on Friday, I learned of your presence at the Brevoort House,1explanatory note & made my plamns to call & pay my respects to you, but was persistently delayed until it was plainly too late to venture to intrude a visit at the hour that at last offered, so I was forced to give up the idea, greatly to my regret & my wife’s. We had to return home the next morning, & so lost all opportunity of seeing you.
We do greatly wish that you may be moved to come to Hartford & give us the opportunity to testify how much your kindnesses & courtesies contributed to the pleasure of our sojourn in London.
I am right glad to see by your speech that you seem to have been enjoying your visit to our country.2explanatory note
The Brevoort House, on Fifth Avenue at Washington Square, was “a quiet and aristocratic hotel that has long been in favor with English tourists. The cuisine of the Brevoort has always been considered one of its attractions” (Moses King, 230).
The New York Tribune of 18 October reported that Houghton attended a breakfast at the Century Club on Saturday, 16 October, to meet a number of “authors, artists, publishers, and men of professional reputation.... Moncure D. Conway, who has returned to this country after more than thirteen years of absence from his native land, was also present, by special invitation.” In response to a toast to his health, Houghton expressed his “pleasure in being among you” and his “regret at not having been here before,” and talked about the importance of fostering literary talent:
There is no better preservative than the exercise of the poetic faculty from religious hallucinations, from political delusions, and I would say even from financial extravagances. Therefore through the whole vast range of this new world be on the watch to look out for and to encourage this great gift to man.
his delight in being once more at home, his wonder at the signs of progress in all directions which strike him after so long an absence, and closed with a warm acknowledgement of Lord Houghton’s liberal views as an English statesman, and his generosity toward all forms of struggling merit. (“Lord Houghton’s Visit,” 5)
References
- University of Cambridge, Trinity College Library, Cambridge, England
- Machlis, Paul, ed. Union Catalog of Clemens Letters. Edited by Paul Machlis. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press. [In some cases, UCCL catalog numbers cited in this volume supersede those assigned in 1986 and reflect corrections or additions to the catalog since publication. An updated version of the catalog can be consulted via the Letters Search page at MTPO.] 1986
- SLC (Samuel Langhorne Clemens). Mark Twain’s Letters, Volume 6: 1874–1875. Edited by Michael B. Frank and Harriet Elinor Smith. The Mark Twain Papers. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Also online at MTPO[bib32371]. 2002
- King, Moses. King’s Handbook of New York City: An Outline History and Description of the American Metropolis. 2d ed. Boston: Moses King. 1893
MS, Houghton Papers, Wren Library, Trinity College, Cambridge University (UkCU). Published courtesy of the Master and Fellows of Trinity College.
L6 , 558–559.
The Houghton Papers were donated by the widow of the second Marquess of Crewe in 1959.
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.