New York... Babylon-on-the-Hudson, sinful, extravagant, full of the nervous hilarity of the doomed.

What is subversive today, will almost certainly be patriotic tomorrow.

High blood pressure, cheeriness at breakfast, a mellowing political philosophy, and an inability to drink more than half a bottle of proof spirits at cocktail time without falling over the fire irons all suggest dark wings hovering overhead and the impending midnight croak of the raven.

A gourmet can tell from the flavor whether a woodcock's leg is the one on which the bird is accustomed to roost.