At one of her breakfasts I recollect Emerson, who often visited there, Bryant, Bayard Taylor, and Grace Greenwood.  At another, John Fiske, President Andrew D. White, and other men interested in their line of thought.  I must mention a lady who in the midst of their inspiring conversation broke forth in a loud tone to Mrs. Botta:  “I found a splendid receipt for macaroni; mix it, when boiled, with stewed tomatoes and sprinkle freely with parmesan cheese before baking.”

One evening Whitelaw Reid brought John Hay.  He beckoned to me to come to him, and presenting Mr. Hay said:  “I want to make a prediction in regard to this young man.  If you live long enough you will hear of him as the greatest statesman and diplomat our country has ever had.”  A few evenings after, at a Dramatic Club of great talent, I saw Mr. Hay figuring as Cupid in Mrs. Jarley’s wax-work show.  He looked and acted his part, turning gracefully on his toes to show his wings and quiver of arrows.  And Mr. Reid, mounted on a step-ladder behind a draped clothes-horse, represented the distressed Lord Ullin whose daughter was seen eloping in a boat with her Highland chief, the tossing waves being sheets in full motion.

For years it seemed as if this were the one truly cosmopolitan drawing-room in the city, because it drew the best from all sources.  Italy and England, France and Germany, Spain, Russia, Norway and Hungary, Siam, China, India, and Japan sent guests hither.  Liberals and Conservatives, peers and revolutionists, holders of the most ancient traditions, and advocates of the most modern theories—­all found their welcome, if they deserved it, and each took away a new respect for the position of his opponent.

Madame Ristori, Salvini, Fechter, Campanini, and Madame Gerster were honoured with special receptions.  Special receptions were also given in honour of George P. Marsh, on the occasion of his appointment as Minister to Turin in 1861, and to the officers of the Royal Navy of Italy when they came to this country to take possession of two frigates built by an American ship-builder for the Italian Government.

  [Illustration:  MRS. ANNE C. LYNCH BOTTA]

Emerson appreciated Mrs. Botta as a hostess.  He enjoyed being in her home, saying it “rested him.”  “I wish that I could believe that in your miles of palaces were many houses and house-keepers as excellent as I know at 25 West 37th Street, your house with the expanding doors.”  He speaks of her invitation as “one of the happiest rainbows.”  “Your hospitality has an Arabian memory, to keep its kind purpose through such a long time.  You were born under Hatem Yayi’s own star, and like him, are the genius of hospitality.” (Haten Yayi was a celebrated Oriental whose house had sixteen doors.)

And Mrs. Botta was greatly cheered by Emerson.  She wrote: