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.

292 SALMAGUNDI.
possible, laying him under the table with prime port, claret, or
London particular. The mansion appears to have been consecrated to the jolly god, and teems with monuments sacred to
conviviality. Every chest of drawers, clothes-press, and cabinet, is decorated with enormous China punch-bowls, which Mrs.
Cockloft has paraded with much ostentation, particularly in her
favorite red damask bed-chamber, in which a projector might,
with great satisfaction, practise his experiments on fleets, divingbells, and submarine boats.
I have before mentioned Cousin Christopher's profound veneration for antique furniture; in consequence of which the old
hall is furnished in much the same style with the house in town.
Old-fashioned bedsteads, with high testers; massy clothes-presses,
standing most majestically on eagles' claws, and ornamented with
a profusion of shining brass handles, clasps, and hinges; and
around the grand parlor are solemnly arranged a set of highbacked, leather-bottomed, massy mahogany chairs, that always
remind me of the formal long-waisted belles, who flourished in
stays and buckram, about the time they were in fashion.
If I may judge from their height, it was not the fashion for
gentlemen in those days to loll over the back of a lady's chair,
and whisper in her ear what —might be as well spoken aloud;
at least, they must have been Patagonians to have effected it.
Will Wizard declares, that he saw a little fat German gallant
attempt once to whisper Miss Barbara Cockloft in this manner,
but being unluckily caught by the chin, he dangled and kicked
about for half a minute, before he could find terra firma-but
Will is much addicted to hyperbole, by reason of his having been
a great traveller.
But what the Cocklofts most especially pride themselves upon,
is the possession of several family portraits, which exhibit as