The date "1690" was on the
lid. It is now used as a snuff-box, and wends its way, from guest to
guest, round the table. We had turtle, and, among other good things,
American canvasback ducks. . . . . These dinners are certainly a good
institution, and likely to be promotive of good feeling; the Mayor giving
them often, and inviting, in their turn, all the respectable and eminent
citizens of whatever political bias. About fifty gentlemen were present
that evening. I had the post of honor at the Mayor's right hand; and
France, Turkey, and Austria were toasted before the Republic, for, as the
Mayor whispered me, he must first get his allies out of the way. The
Turkish Consul and the Austrian both made better English speeches than
any Englishman, during the evening; for it is inconceivable what
shapeless and ragged utterances Englishmen are content to put forth,
without attempting anything like a wholeness; but inserting a patch here
and a patch there, and finally getting out what they wish to say, indeed,
but in most disorganized guise. . . . . I can conceive of very high
enjoyment in making a speech; one is in such a curious sympathy with his
audience, feeling instantly how every sentence affects them, and
wonderfully excited and encouraged by the sense that it has gone to the
right spot. Then, too, the imminent emergency, when a man is overboard,
and must sink or swim, sharpens, concentrates, and invigorates the mind,
and causes matters of thought and sentiment to assume shape and
expression, though, perhaps, it seemed hopeless to express them, just
before you rose to speak.
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