[Manchester—Friday, 28 August 1868]
Friday August 29 [sic]. Jamie was in town all day yesterday. Two Chinese students, Charlotte Cushman & Miss Stebbins, Anna Dickinson & Judge Russell were among his visitors. In the evening he amused us hugely by telling the story of his encounter in England with Samuel Lover (who has just now died, and his literary and artistic merits canvassed in the journals) whom he had known twenty years in this country. Lover had changed but little, he had grown a beard and had materially altered and when he went up to speak to Mr. Lover after one of his songs, at a party given by Mrs. S.C. Hall, he was received with every Irish expression of delight which tongue could express, while the eyes were vacant and said plainly “who in the devil are you.” After bothering Lover for a long time J. said—Why it’s your old friend Meadows. At which Lover again burst forth with renewed expressions and then tried to escape from his puzzling acquaintance. It was of no use F. held him fast and bothered the poor little man terribly before he told him actually who he was. The whole scene acted out was irresistibly comical but the whole aroma of such things disappears when we try to take them down at the point of the pen. They are truly taken down then.
