University of Virginia Library

Dated respectively, April 4, 1890, April 17, 1890, and April 8, 1891, this and the following two items were enclosed in letters to John Bartlett. The letters are part of a collection generously sent to me by Mr. Albert Frothingham of Lexington, Mass.; they are now in the Yale University Library. A fourth letter, dated May 11, 1890, contains this comment: “I had already got as far as the comparative of ‘delicious’ in thanking you for your kind remembrance of me. I should like to go as far as the superlative in thanking you again, but can think of no rhyme to deliciousest but viciousest which wouldn't please the ear as the fish did my palate.” John Bartlett was, of course, the compiler of the Familiar Quotations; he was a friend of many years standing and a faithful member of the “Whist Club.”