Today the "The Times" Modern Manners columnist Philip Howard begins
an article (page 57) re changed English spellings with
"Why doesn't somebody do something about spelling, best beloved? They
do, Molly."
Was Kipling the first to use the phrase "O best beloved"? My Oxford
Dictionary of Quotations does not list the phrase. Google mentions
the Just So Stories and no other literary source. Howard seems to
show that the phrase has entered common usage.
But who is Molly?
Bryan Diamond
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