my friend now threw sticks of wood and dry chips upon the fire, and seeing it blaze like nebuchadnezzar's furnace, seized the champagne bottle, and drank two or three brimming bumpers, successively. the heady liquor combined with his agitation to throw him into a species of rage. he laid violent hands on the tales. in one instant more, their faults and beauties would alike have vanished in a glowing purgatory.