arrivals and departures, accompanied by their several
staffs: the soup as an advance guard--of gumbo or clams--or both if you
chose; then a sheepshead caught off Cobb's Island the day before, just
arrived by the day boat, with potatoes that would melt in your mouth--in
gray jackets these; then soft-shell crabs--big, crisp fellows, with
fixed bayonets of legs, and orderlies of cucumber--the first served on
a huge silver platter with the coat-of-arms of the Temples cut in the
centre of the rim and the last on an old English cut-glass dish. Then
the woodcock and green peas--and green corn--their teeth in a broad
grin; then an olio of pineapple, and a wonderful Cheshire cheese, just
arrived in a late invoice--and marvellous crackers--and coffee--and
fruit (cantaloupes and peaches that would make your mouth water), then
nuts, and last a few crusts of dry bread! And here everything came to
a halt and all the troops were sent back to the barracks--(Aunt Jemima
will do for the barracks).

With this there was to follow a change of base--a most important change.
Everything eatable and drinkable and all the glasses and dishes were to
be lifted from the table--one half at a time--the cloth rolled back and
whisked away and the polished mahogany laid bare; the silver coasters
posted in advantageous positions, and in was to rattle the light
artillery:--Black Warrior of 1810--Port of 1815--a Royal Brown Sherry
that nobody knew anything about, and had no desire to, so fragrant was
it. Last of all the notched finger-bowls in which to cool the delicate,
pipe-stem glasses; and then, and only then, did the real dinner begin.

All this Todd had done dozens and dozens of times before, and all this
(with Malachi's assistance--Richard Horn consenting--for there was
nothing too good for the great poet) would Todd do again on this
eventful night.

As to the guests, this particular feast being given to the most
distinguished literary genius the country had yet produced,--certainly
the most talked of--those who were bidden were, of course, selected with
more than usual care: Mr. John P. Kennedy, the widely known author and
statesman, and Mr. John H. B. Latrobe, equally noteworthy as counsellor,
mathematician, and patron of the fine arts, both of whom had been Poe's
friends for years, and who had first recognized his genius; Richard
Horn, who never lost an opportunity to praise him, together with Judge
Pancoast, Major Clayton, the richest aristocr