to Joseph H. Twichell
29 June 1873 • London, England
(MS: CtY-BR, UCCL 00936)
London, June 29.
Dear Old Joe—
I consider myself wholly at liberty to decline to pay Chew anything, & at the same time strongly tempted to sue him into the bargain for coming so [near ruining ]me. If he hadn’t happened to send me that thing in print, I would have used it the story (like an innocent fool) & would straightway have been hounded to death as a plagiarist. It would have absolutely destroyed me. I cannot conceive of a man being such a hopeless ass (hav (after serving as a legislative reporter, too,) as to imagine that I or any other literary man in his senses would consent to chew over a lot old stuff that had already been in print. If that man weren’t an infant in swaddling clothes, his only reply to our petition would have been “It has been in print.” It makes me as mad as the very Old Harry every time I think of Mr. Chew & the frightfully narrow escape I have had at his hands. Confound Mr. Chew, with all my heart! I’m willing he should have ten dollars for his trouble of warming over his cold victuals—[ cheerfully ]willing to {pay} that—but no more. If I had had him near when his letter came, I would have got out my tomahawk & gone for him. He didn’t tell the story half as well as you did, anyhow.1 I wish to goodness you were here this moment—nobody in our parlor but Livy & me,—& a very good view of London to the fore. We have a luxuriously ample suite of apartments in Langham Hotel, 3d floor, our bedroom looking straight up Portland Place & our parlor having a noble array of great windows looking out upon both streets (Portland Place & the crook that joins it on to Regent street.)
‸9 P.M. Full twilight—rich
sunset tints
lingering in the
west.‸
I am not going to write anything—rather tell it when I get back. I love you & Harmony,2 & that is all the fresh news I’ve got, anyway. And I mean to keep that fresh, all the time.
Lovingly
Mark.
‸Am luxuriating [ ◇l ]in glorious old Pepys’ Diary & smoking. 3
‸
Indeed it is fresh all the time, and we grow warm, and genial, and enthusiastic when we speak of Joseph or Harmony— Bless your dear old hearts we love you
Livy—
Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary
A man named Chew related to Twichell a most
entertaining occurrence. Twichell saw great possibilities in it, and
suggested that Mark Twain be allowed to make a story of it, sharing
the profits with Chew. Chew agreed, and promised to send the facts,
carefully set down. Twichell, in the mean time, told the story to
Clemens, who was delighted with it and strongly tempted to write it
at once, while he was in the spirit, without waiting on Chew.
Fortunately, he did not do so, for when Chew’s material
came it was in the form of a clipping, the story having been already
printed in some newspaper. Chew’s knowledge of literary
ethics would seem to have been slight. He thought himself entitled
to something under the agreement with Twichell. Mark Twain, by this
time in London, naturally had a different opinion. (MTL, 1:206) Neither Chew, nor the story, has been further identified.
It remains unclear whether Paine learned anything about the matter from
Clemens or Twichell that could not be inferred from the letter itself,
which Twichell lent to Paine for use in the official biography.
Source text(s):
Previous publication:
L5, 392–393; Paine, 109, excerpt; MTB, 1:483–84, excerpt; MTL, 1:206–7.
Provenance:It is not known when Twichell’s papers were deposited at Yale,
although it is likely that he bequeathed them to the university upon his
death in 1918 (L2, 570).
Emendations and textual notes:
near ruining • nearr ruining [false start ‘r’ partly formed]
cheerfully • cheer-|fully
◇l • [possibly ‘gl’]