That task concluded, that last ceremony of my
last welcome to you these halls duly performed, I join you once more in
your final homage to the deity of our social lives--the God of Wine!
'It is not unknown to you--learned as you are in the jovial antiquities
of the table--that it was, among some of the ancients, a custom for a
master-spirit of philosophy to preside--the teacher as well as the
guest--at their feasts. This usage it has been my care to revive, and,
as this four meeting is unparalleled in its heroic design, so it was my
ambition to bid to it one unparalleled, either as a teacher or a guest.
Fired by an original idea, unobserved of my slaves, aided only by my
singing-boy, the faithful Glyco, I have succeeded in placing behind that
black curtain such an associate of our revels as you have never feasted
with before, whose appearance at the fitting moment must strike you
irresistibly with astonishment, and whose discourse--not of human wisdom
only--will be inspired by the midnight secrets of the tomb.
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