To Alfred Tennyson
15 December 1873 • London, England
(MS: Jacobs, UCCL 01006)

The Langham Hotel
Dec. 15.

Dear Sir:

You have better things to think of & to do, & so I do not expect you to come to a lecture of mine—but still I wanted to send you the enclosed, ‸(you to fill the blanks)‸ just as I might say to any man, “What you have done has been a benefit, a pleasure, a luxury to me, & so what I am trying to t do now is only homage, & therefore ought not to be [offensive.[”] 1

But ]I never would have ventured to do this thing, but that I saw my friend Moncure D. Conway last night & he said, “Do it—he probably won’t come, but it’s an inoffensive way of expressing your ‸a body’s‸ appreciation—therefore do it.”

[ Ad And] so, with all respect, I “do it.” 2

Very Truly

‸Samℓ. L. Clemens‸
Mark Twain.

Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary

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1 Clemens enclosed a complimentary ticket to his lecture, apparently valid for any date, which does not survive. For Tennyson’s response, see 16 Dec 73 to OLC, n. 3.

Description of Texts and Provenance

Source text(s):

MS, collection of Victor and Irene Murr Jacobs, on deposit at Roesch Library, University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio (ODaU).

Previous publication: L5, 519; Sotheby 1980, lot 363, facsimile of pages 3 and 4.

Provenance:The Jacobses purchased the MS from Sotheby’s in 1980; they deposited their collection at ODaU in 1984.

Emendations and textual notes:

offensive.[”] [¶] But • offensive.—| [¶] But

Ad And • Adnd