5 May 1876 • Hartford, Conn. (MS: NNC, UCCL 01332)
Bliss says he will rushⒶemendation the pictures the tightest he can, & believes he can have them ready for shipment by May 14. Better call it May 30—& even then it will be the nearest he ever came to being on time with his word.
I’ve been playing Peter Spyk in “ t The Loan of a Lover” (I re-wrote the part, stupefying it a little more & making it unconsciously sarcastic in spots,) & we made a considerable success of it. Been invited to perform in New York, but declined, of course.
Read Smalley’s letter yesterday, & envied you your seat at the “Queen Mary” opening. It must have been a great occasion.2explanatory note
Susie escaped death by a hair last week. Diphtheria, of the worst form. She is well, now. Do not remember whether I sent you the new picture of the children—so I will enclose one. If you already have one, give this one to Mrs. Smalley, if she will take it. My own portrait came near appearing, in the right hand corner. I was behind a curtain, hi holding the children’s heads.3explanatory note
James T. Fields will be here in a moment—he lectures to-night—so I will prepare to receive him.4explanatory note
Goodbye—regards to you both.
Clemens answered the following postcard from Conway (CU-MARK):
For Conway’s “first long letter,” see 9 Apr 1876 to Conwayclick to open letter, n. 1; for Clemens’s telegram, see 16 Apr 1876 to Conwayclick to open letter. In a letter that has not been found, Clemens evidently asked Conway to inquire about English copyright on Colonel Sellers, the play based on The Gilded Age (SLC 1874c), which John T. Raymond eventually took to London. Conway, acting as Clemens’s agent, signed the agreement for Tom Sawyer with Chatto and Windus on 24 May (see the Appendix “Book and Play Contractsclick to open letter”). It stipulated a 23.3 percent royalty on both the 7s/6d edition and the 2s/6d edition (1s/9d and 7d, respectively). This was higher than the offer Conway had relayed in his letter of 24 March: 20 percent on the 7s/6d edition (1s/6d) and 10 percent (3d) on the 2s/6d edition (9 Apr 1876 to Conway, n. 1).
George Washburn Smalley, the New York Tribune’s London correspondent, had been acquainted with Clemens since 1873 (see 11 June 1873 to Miller, L5 , 377–78 n. 2). On 4 May 1876 the Tribune printed his 19 April account of the London performance the previous evening of Tennyson’s play, Queen Mary (Tennyson 1875). Smalley wrote that the play was essentially a series of tableaux, lacking plot and development, and that “in the two chief characters, who must for lack of others be called the hero and heroine, it is impossible for any human being to take a human interest.” Although Queen Mary was reputed to be “impossible to act,” Smalley had high praise for the actors, who included Kate Josephine Bateman as the queen and Henry Irving as Philip, and despite his reservations, he deemed the play an overall success. He reported that the distinguished audience, which included Robert Browning, George Eliot, and “Mr. Conway,” was enthusiastic (“Tennyson’s ‘Queen Mary,’” New York Tribune, 4 May 1876, 2).
The enclosed photograph does not survive with the letter. For the image, taken by Isaac White in late April, see 3 or 4 May 1876 to Kingsbury.
Fields lectured in Hartford’s Seminary Hall on “Literary and Artistic Life in London Twenty-Five Years Ago.” On 6 May the Hartford Courant reported: “At the close of the lecture an informal reception was held in the south hall. Mr. Samuel L. Clemens made one of his happy speeches” (Hartford Courant: “James T. Fields’s Lecture at Seminary Hall,” 5 May 1876, 2; “Lecture by James T. Fields,” 6 May 1876, 2).
MS, Conway Papers, NNC.
MicroPUL, reel 1.
The Conway Papers were acquired by NNC sometime after Conway’s death in 1907.