The miscellaneous works of N.P. Willis - Softcover

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1847 Excerpt: ...following drinks (copied from the bill of fare of a new restaurant in Boston):--"Plaiu mint-julep, fancy do., mixed do., peach do., orange do., pineapple do., claret do., capped do., strawberry do., arrack do., racehorse do. Sherrycobbler, rochelle do., arrack do., peach do., claret do., Tip-and-Ty, fiscal agent, veto, 1. O. U., Tippe-NaPecco, moral suasion, vox-populi, ne-plus-ultra, Shambro, pig-and-whistle, citronella jam, egg-nog, Sargent, silver-top, poor-man's punch, arrack-punch, iced punch, spiced punch, epicure's punch, milkpunch, peach-punch, Jewett's fancy, deacon, exchange, stone-wall, Virginia fancy, Knickerbocker, smasher, floater, sifter, soda-punch, soda, mead, mulled wines of all descriptions." After this array of compounds, I think the vexed question of the ingredients of Falstaffs sack must sink into insignificance. I understand that a shop is opened in the Strand, London, for the sale of these potations--one instance, at least, of a vice of civilization going eastward. We must wear it for our feather--since our drinks are the only feature of our country for which Dickens gives us unqualified praise. The " life-preserving coffin," lately exhibited at the fair of the Institute, is so constructed as to fly open with the least stir of the occupant, and made as comfortable within as if intended for a temporary lodging. The proprietor recommends (which, indeed, it would be useless without) a corresponding facility of exit from the vault, and arrangements for privacy, light, and fresh air--in short, all that would be agreeable to the revenant on first waking. Not being, myself, a person wholly incapable of changing my mind, I felt, for the first time in my life, some little alarm as to the frequency of trance or suspended an...