Salmagundi; or, The whim-whams and opinions of Launcelot Langstaff, esq. [pseud.] and others. By William Irving, James Kirke Paulding and Washington Irving. Printed from the original ed., with a preface and notes by Evert A. Duyckinck.

112 SXALMAGUNDI.
rice with chop-sticks; entered into a long eulogium on the succulent qualities of boiled bird's nests; and I made my escape at
the very moment when he was on the point of squatting down on
the floor, to show how the little Chinese Joshes sit cross-legged.
TO THE LADIES.
FROM THE MILL OF PINDAR COCKLOFT, ESQ.
T HOUGH jogging down the hill of life,
I Without the comfort of a wife;
And though I ne'er a helpmate chose,
To stock my house and mend my hose;
With care my person to adorn;
And spruce me up on Sunday morn;
Still do I love the gentle sex,
And still with cares my brain perplex,
To keep the fair ones of the age
Unsullied as the spotless page;
All pure, all simple, all refined,
The sweetest solace of mankind.
I hate the loose insidious jest
To beauty's modest ear addrest,
And hold that frowns should never fail
To check each smooth, but fulsome tale;
But he whose impious pen should dare
Invade the morals of the fair;
To taint that purity divine
Which should each female heart enshrine;