"For self and partner"--as men associated in business sometimes conclude
their letters--I offer to you and all our friends who have obliged us
with their presence, the thanks of the firm which renews its articles
of partnership this evening. We welcome you heartily to our home, well
knowing that your kind wishes are not like--your useful and elegant tokens
of remembrance--_hollow-ware_. When Birnam Wood came to Dunsinane,
Macbeth was conquered, and it seems to me that you have come almost as well
provided with timber as Macduff and Malcolm were. Your articles, however,
although of wood, are not of the Burn 'em kind, and I am not such a Dunce
inane as to decline accepting them. Indeed, my wife, who, notwithstanding
her matrimonial vows, has a _single eye_--to housekeeping--would not
permit me to refuse them were I so inclined. She knows their value better
than I do, and with the assistance of her kitchen cabinet will, I have no
doubt, employ them usefully.
The speech closes with thanks and good wishes in return.