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.

VINDICTIVE FESTIVITIES. 331
Even the names of individuals, of unoffending fellow-citizens,
are sometimes dragged forth to undergo the slanders and
execrations of a distempered herd of revellers.* Head of
Mahomet! how vindictive, how insatiably vindictive, must be
that spirit which can drug the mantling bowl with gall and bitterness, and indulge an angry passion in the moment of rejoicing I " Wine," says their poet, "is like sunshine to the heart,
which, under its generous influence, expands with good will, and
becomes the very temple of philanthropy." Strange, that in a
temple consecrated to such a divinity, there should remain a
secret corner, polluted by the lurkings of malice and revenge,strange, that in the full flow of social enjoyment, these votaries
of pleasure can turn aside to call down curses on the head of a
fellow-creature. Despicable souls! ye are unworthy of being
citizens of this " most enlightened country under the sun:"rather herd with the murderous savages who prowl the mountains of Tibesti; who stain their midnight orgies with the blood
of the innocent wanderer, and drink their infernal potations
from the skulls of the victims they have massacred.
And yet, trust me, Asem, this spirit of vindictive cowardice
NOTE BY WILLIAM WIZARD, ESQ.
* It would seem that, in this sentence, the sage Mustapha had reference to a patriotic dinner, celebrated last 4th of July, by some gentlemen of Baltimore, when they righteously drank perdition to an unoffending individual, and really thought "they had done the state some service." This amiable custom of " eating and drinking damnation-" to
others, is not confined to any party:-for a month or two after the 4th
of July, the different newspapers file off their columns of patriotic toasts
against each other, and take a pride in showing how brilliantly their partisans can blackguard public character in their cups-'. they do but jest
-poison in jest," as Hamlet says.