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.

90 S ALIMAGUNDI.
[Good lack, my friends,'twould make you soon 1
laugh,
To see this jolter-headed moon-calf,
From Hudibras his honors steal
And break Sam Butler on the wheel.]'3
Is this poetic frenzy (alias idiotism), or is it turgid stupidity? Truly
it is as smooth as a pine-log causeway; it confirms the Doctor's right to
his sir-name, and can only be matched by a stave from the Doctor's contemporary bard and rival rhymester, Searson-videlicet:
From house to house soon took my departure,
And to the garden look'd for sweet nature.
The fishing very great at Mount Vernon,
When there with other scenes I look'd upon.
This pleasing seat hath its prospects so high, )
That one would think'twas for astronomy,' Twould answer for an observatory.
The reader will perceive the similarity in taste, style, and ear of these
rival poets. I have their works bound up together, and Minshull's into
the bargain. It shall go hard but they shall all descend the gutter of
immortality together.
1! His fac-similefamed Toney.] The Doctor's abusing poor Toney Pasquin, brought forcibly to our recollection the vulgar cant saying about
the pot and the kettle. Perhaps no two of the great poets of the day
are more alike, in most particulars, than Doctor Costive and honest Toney. The Doctor is a true poetic blackguard-and so is Toney. The
Doctor is an adept in the Billingsgate vocabulary-so is Toney. The
Doctor has bespattered many a poor devil who never offended him-so
has Toney. The Doctor has written a book-so has Toney. It may be
said of each of them:
" We will not rake the dunghill for his crimes,
Who knows the man will never read his rhymes."
The only particular in which they disagree is, that Toney has occasionally been convicted of saying a good thing-the gentle stupidity of the
Doctor being entirely innocent of anything of the kind.