26 November 1873 • London, England (MS: CU-MARK, UCCL 00989)
Livy darling, old sweetheart, tomorrow will be the birth-day of my own sweet wife;1explanatory note & I shall think of her over & over & over again, all thro’ the day & till the last thing at night; & shall bless her with all my heart all the whole time & wish that the day may speed along which shall bring me to her again.
The enclosed is from Charles Kingsley.2explanatory note I have written & told him how greatly I regret that you did not see him. And I told him not to come all the way here again, but appoint a day & I would go to the Abbey.3explanatory note He don’t know what he has missed in not seeing my darling old wife.
The Cloisters Nobr 26/73
Westminster
My dear Sir
I tre triedⒶemendation in vain, when you were last in London, to have the great pleasure of introducing myself to you. I called—hearing that you had returned—at the Langham Hotel today: but was too meek to intrude on you—even had you been at home.
But will you kindly let me know when I may have a chance of seeing you: I shall be absent from Town from next Monday to next Thursday.
Before & after that I am at your service. And may I say, that if you care to make a closer acquaintance than the multitude can make with our English Pantheon the old Abbey here—it would give me—& mine for my ladies 4explanatory note are even more fond of your work than I—extreme pleasure to act as cicerones to some strange & remote spots in our great Stone Mausoleum. 5explanatory note
Believe me with sincere respects
Mrs. Samℓ. L. Clemens | Hartford | Conn. in upper left corner: America. | flourish postmarked: london • w 7 no28 73Ⓐemendation and l 28 11 1873 and new york dec 10 paid allⒶemendation
Olivia was twenty-eight years old on 27 November.
Charles Kingsley (1819–75) was the canon of Westminster and the author of numerous historical novels, political pamphlets, poems, sermons, and essays. He had been a precocious child, writing poems and sermons at age four. After attending Cambridge University he was ordained a minister in 1842; in addition to his church positions, he held a professorship in history at Cambridge from 1860 to 1869. As a Christian Socialist, he was greatly concerned with social justice and the responsibilities of the wealthy. Clemens had tried to read Kingsley’s Hypatia in 1869, and pronounced it “one of Kingsley’s most tiresomest books” ( L3 , 413).
Clemens’s letter of 26 November to Kingsley is not known to survive. Kingsley replied on 28 November:
Many thanks for your cordial letter. Will you & Mr. Stoddard give me the pleasure of coming to luncheon tomorrow at 1 P.M.? I am sorry—& so will Mrs. Kingsley be—that she is out of town. After our luncheon & our cigarette—we can look at the Abbey or not, as you may like. (CU-MARK)
Kingsley married Fanny Grenfell in 1844. The couple had four children, of whom two were “ladies”: Rose Georgina (b. 1845) and Mary St. Leger (b. 1852).
In 1903 Stoddard recalled accompanying Clemens to lunch with Kingsley:
My friend and I, by appointment, were in search of Canon Kingsley at the cloisters, Westminster. We passed out of the Abbey toward the chapter-house in a kind of dream. . . .
With many a turn we come at last to a row of modest dwellings. Entering one of these we were welcomed by Miss Kingsley, and ushered at once into a pleasant room where the table was laid for dinner. There was a blessed absence of formality, a simple and hearty welcome. Canon Kingsley’s table-talk sparkled with lively anecdotes, chiefly personal. A man of nervous organisation, animated, personally interested in the topics of the time, he glowed with enthusiasm and struck fire repeatedly, though he was then in ill-health and burdened with many cares. He looked forward with delight to his anticipated tour in America; wondered what sort of lecture the Americans would prefer. . . .
After the wholesome English dinner we lighted cigars; Canon Kingsley was confined to the medicated cigarette, which is supposed to discourage the bronchial disorder from which he was a sufferer. We entered a small garden by the bow-window of the dining-room. . . . Here we walked up and down, to and fro, under leafless trees—for it was winter,—smoking placidly, stopping now and again to hear the veritable tale of some monk or abbot who distinguished himself centuries ago on the very spot where we stood. . . .
When we left the cloisters it was sunset. The canon led us again into the Abbey, where the nave was flooded with that weird light which seems not of the earth and is but momentary. The long, low thunders of the world without broke at the sacred doors, which were at that moment closed to all save ourselves. We had indeed found sanctuary, but only for a little season. We hastened forth, and were instantly swallowed up in the eddies of the ceaseless tide of London life. (Stoddard 1903, 152–55, 160)
On 17 February 1874 Clemens introduced Kingsley when he lectured on Westminster Abbey to a Boston audience. Kingsley fondly recalled “wandering through Westminster Abbey” with Clemens the previous fall, and hearing him speak eloquently of his earlier “night visit there” (Reed, 692–93; and see Mark Twain’s 1872 English Journalsclick to open link).
MS, Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley (CU-MARK), is copy-text for the letter and envelope. MS, Charles Kingsley to SLC, 26 Nov 73, CU-MARK ( UCLC 31896), is copy-text for the enclosure.
L5 , 485–87; LLMT , 364, brief paraphrase of letter only.
see Samossoud Collection (letter) and Mark Twain Papers (enclosure) in Description of Provenance.
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.