Frank Preston Stearns, Cambridge Sketches

After this time he lived as much in Europe as he did in America. Before 1860 he had crossed the Atlantic nearly forty times. The marriage of his sister to Henry W. Longfellow was of great advantage to him, for through Longfellow he made the acquaintance of many celebrated persons whom he would not otherwise have known, and being always equal to such occasions he retained their respect and good will. One might also say, “What could Longfellow have done without him?” His conversation was never forced, and the wit, for which he became as much distinguished in social life as Lowell or Holmes, was never premeditated, often making its appearance on unexpected occasions to refresh his hearers with its sparkle and originality.

In the “Autocrat of the breakfast table” Doctor Holmes quotes this saying by the “wittiest of men,” that “good Americans, when they die, go to Paris.” Now this wittiest of men was Tom Appleton, as many of us knew at that time. He said of Leonardo da Vinci's “Last supper” that it probably had faded out from being stared at by sightseers, and that the same thing might have happened to the Sistine Madonna if it had not been put under glass,--these being the two most popular paintings in Europe. His fund of anecdotes was inexhaustible.