Page:Headlong Hall - Peacock (1816).djvu/155

 tinkling of triangles, and the beating of tambourines. Comus and Momus were the deities of the night; and Bacchus of course was not forgotten by the male part of the assembly (with them, indeed, a ball was invariably a scene of "tipsy dance and jollity"): the servants flew about with wine and negus, and the little butler was indefatigable with his corkscrew, which is reported on one occasion to have grown so hot under the influence of perpetual friction, that it actually set fire to the cork.

The company assembled. The dinner, which, on this occasion, was a secondary object, was dispatched with uncommon celerity. When the cloth was removed, and the bottle had taken its first round, Mr. Cranium stood up and addressed the company.

"Ladies and gentlemen," said he, "the golden key of mental phænomena, which has