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.

WILL WIZARD. 251
NO. XIII.-FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 1807.
FROM MY ELBOW-CHAIR.
I- AS not a little perplexed, a short time since, by the
eccentric conduct of my knowing coadjutor Will Wizard.
For two or three days, he was completely in a quandary. He
would come into old Cockloft's parlor ten times a day, swinging his ponderous legs along, with his usual vast strides, clap
his hands into his sides, contemplate the little shepherdesses on
the mantel-piece for a few minutes, whistling all the while, and
then sally out full sweep, without uttering a word. To be sure
a pish or a pshaw occasionally escaped him; and he was
observed once to pull out his enormous tobacco-box, drum for a
moment upon its lid with his knuckles, and then return it into
his pocket without taking a quid.'Twas evident Will was full
of some mighty idea:-not that his restlessness was any way
uncommon; for I have often seen Will throw himself almost in
a fever of heat and fatigue-doing nothing. But this inflexible
taciturnity set the whole family, as usual, a wondering: as Will
seldom enters the house without giving one of his " one thousand
and one" stories. For my part, I began to think that the late
fracas at Canton had alarmed Will for the safety of his friends,
Kinglun, Chinqua, and Consequa; or, that something had gone
wrong in the alterations of the theatre-or that some new outrage at Norfolk had put him in a worry; in short, I did not