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.

400 S.LLMAAGUNDI.
try, which distinguished the days of king Arthur, and his valiant
knights of the Round-table. We cannot, therefore, leave the
lists where we have so long been tilting at folly, with giving a
farewell salutation to those noble dames and beauteous damsels
who have honored us with their presence at the tourney. Like
true knights, the only recompense we crave is the smile of
beauty, and the approbation of those gentle fair ones, whose
smile and whose approbation far excels all the trophies of honor,
and all the rewards of successful ambition. True it is, that we
have suffered infinite perils, in standing forth as their champions, from the sly attacks of sundry arch caitiffs, who, in the
overflowings of their malignity, have even accused us of entering the lists as defenders of the very foibles and faults of the
sex. Would that we could meet with these recreants hand to
hand; they should receive no more quarter than giants and
enchanters in romance.
Had we a spark of vanity in our natures, here is a glorious
occasion to show our skill in refuting these illiberal insinuations;
-but there is something manly, and ingenuous, in making an
honest confession of one's offences when about retiring from the
world; and so, without any more ado, we doff our helmets,
and thus publicly plead guilty to the deadly sin of GooD NATURE;
hoping and expecting forgiveness from our good natured readers-yet careless whether they bestow it or not. And in this
we do but imitate sundry condemned criminals, who, finding
themselves convicted of a capital crime, with great openness and
candor, do generally in their last dying speech make a confession of all their previous offences, which confession is always
read with great delight by all true lovers of biography.
Still, however, notwithstanding our notorious devotion to the
gentle sex and our indulgent partiality, we have endeavored, on