LETTER XVIII. 125 



hand, as if a fly had dipped its legs in ink and then polkaed 

 over the pink satin paper till they were dry. As for the iron 

 pens of modern days, we leave them to the dun and the tax- 

 gatherer, to scratch their noxious circulars in characters of gall 

 and vinegar. 



To hear this concentration of all that is valuable, amiable, and 

 lovely, stigmatised — branded as a polygamist ! This scandalous 

 outrage on his domestic character makes all the down of his head 

 to stand on end ; and he puts into my hand the primest of his 

 wing primaries, to write and beg of you and his Glasgow friends 

 to do him justice. He can hardly be acquitted by a jury of his 

 peers ; as, besides their being themselves implicated in the case, 

 their dictum would not have sufficient weight with the public, on 

 account of the vulgar prejudice entertained as to their intellectual 

 faculties. Is he like the gallant, gay Lothario, who struts before 

 his harem of douce, brown-coated wives, or yet like his com- 

 patriot of the " Guse-dub," the domesticated and demoralised 

 Drake ? No ; he is the most constant, the most domestic of all 

 domestic fowl. If the sole choice of his heart happens to be 

 lying in the straw, how constant is his attendance at the entrance 

 of the nest ! In tender cacklings he diverts her confinement 

 with the latest gossip of the barn-yard, or with contemplation of 

 that bright day when from the lifeless-looking eggs shall burst 

 forth a beautiful family of downy goslings. How valiantly he 

 defends the nest from insult ! But the height of all his happi- 

 ness is reached if he be allowed to sit upon it himself, if only for 

 a minute or two. Then, when the delighted father first sees his 

 brood, immoderate is his joy ; with loud cries and outstretched 



