s. Aldrich and the twins are away from home, and the
thing is to be _sans ceremonie_. Costume prescribed: Sack
coat, paper collar, and celluloid sleeve buttons. We shall
be quite alone, unless Henry James should drop in, as he
promises to do if he gets out of an earlier engagement.

Suppose you drop in at my office to-morrow afternoon about
5 o'clock and I act as pilot to Charles Street.

Yours very truly,
T. B. Aldrich.

[1] From "Many Celebrities and a Few Others--A Bundle of Reminiscences,"
by William H. Rideing. Copyright, 1912, by Doubleday, Page & Co.

And one from James Russell Lowell to Henry W. Longfellow:[2]

Elmwood, May 3, 1876.

Dear Longfellow:

Will you dine with me on Saturday at six? I have a Baltimore
friend coming, and depend on you.

I had such a pleasure yesterday that I should like to share it
with you to whom I owed it. J. R. Osgood & Co. sent me a copy
of your Household Edition to show me what it was, as they
propose one of me. I had been reading over with dismay my own
poems to weed out the misprints, and was awfully disheartened
to find how bad they (the poems) were. Then I took your book
to see what the type was, and before I knew it I had been
reading two hours and more. I never wondered at your
popularity, nor thought it wicked in you; but if I _had_
wondered, I should no longer, for you sang me out of all my
worries. To be sure they came back when I opened my own book
again--but that was no fault of yours.

If not Saturday, will you say Sunday? My friend is a Mrs.
----, and a very nice person indeed.

Yours always,
J. R. L.

[2] From "Letters of James Russell Lowell," edited by C. E. Norton.
Copyright, 1893, by Harper & Bros.

George Meredith ("Robin") accepting an informal dinner invitation from
his friend, William Hardman ("Tuck"):[3]

Jan'y 28, 1863.

Dear "at any price" Tuck:

I come. Dinner you give me at half-past five, I presume. A
note to Foakesden, if earlier. Let us have 5 ms. for a pipe,
before we go. You know we are always better tempered when this
is the case. I come in full dress. And do the honour to