Europe and elsewhere, by Mark Twain [pseud.] [with an appreciation by Brander Matthews and an introduction by Albert Bigelow Paine]

EUROPE AND ELSEWHERE

opera boxes at Covent Garden Theater to-night
were able to get $250 for them. Had all the seats
been sold at auction the opera this evening would
have produced not less than one hundred and twentyfive thousand dollars in gold! I am below the figures
rather than above them. The greatest house (for
money) that America ever saw was gathered together
upon the occasion of Jenny Lind's first concert at
Castle Garden. The seats were sold at auction and
produced something over twenty thousand dollars.
I am by no means trying to describe the Guildhall
affair of last night. Such a crush of titled swells;
such a bewildering array of jeweled uniforms and
brilliant feminine costumes; such solemn and awful
reception ceremonies in the library; such grim and
stately imposing addresses and Persian replies; such
imposing processional pageantry later on; such depressing dancing before the apathetic Shah; such
ornate tables and imnperial good cheer at the banquet
-it makes a body tired to merely think of trying
to put all that on paper. Perhaps you, sir, will be
good enough to imagine it, and thus save one who
respects you and honors you five columns of solid
writing.
THE LUNATIC ASYLUM IS BLESSED WITH A GLIMPSE
As regards the momentous occasion of the opera,
this evening, I found myself in a grievous predicament, for a republican. The tickets were all sold
long ago, so I must either go as a member of the
royal family or not at all. After a good deal of
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