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.

208 SALMAGUNDI.
The amusements of the Philadelphians are dancing, punning,
tea-parties, and theatrical exhibitions. In the first, they are far
inferior to the young people of New York, owing to the misfortune of their mostly preferring to idle away time in the cultivation of the head instead of the heels. It is a melancholy fact
that an infinite number of young ladies in Philadelphia, whose
minds are elegantly accomplished in literature, have sacrificed
to the attainment of such trifling acquisitions, the pigeon-wing,
the waltz, the Cossack dance, and other matters of equal importance. On the other hand they excel the New Yorkers in punning, and in the management of tea-parties. In New York
you never hear, except from some young gentleman just
returned from a visit to Philadelphia, a single attempt at punning, and at a tea-party, the ladies in general are disposed close
together, like a setting of jewels, or pearls round a locket, in all
the majesty of good behavior-and if a gentleman wishes to
have a conversation with one of them, about the backwardness
of the spring, the improvements in the theatre, or the merits of
his horse, he is obliged to march up in the face of such volleys
of eye-shotI such a formidable artillery of glances I If he
escapes annihilation, he should cry out a miracle! and never
encounter such dangers again. I remember to have once heard
a very valiant British officer, who had served with great credit
for some years in the train-bands, declare with a veteran oath,
that sooner than encounter such deadly peril, he would fight his
way clear through a London mob, though he were pelted with
brick-bats all the time. Some ladies who were present at this
declaration of the gallant officer, were inclined to consider it a
great compliment, until one, more knowing than the rest,
declared, with a little piece of a sneer, "that they were very