TURKEYS. 309 



carved them was considered as honoured in the highest 

 degree. The feathers from the tail of the Peacock were 

 formed by the ladies of quality into a crown, for the 

 purpose of decorating their favourite troubadours or 

 minstrels. The eyes were considered to represent 

 the attention of the whole world as fixed upon them. 

 And in those days of chivalry, so constantly was the 

 Peacock the object of the solemn vows of the knights, 

 that its image was hung up in the place where they exer- 

 cised themselves in the management of their horses and 

 weapons; and before it, when roasted and dressed in its 

 plumage, and placed, with great pomp and ceremony, as 

 the top dish, at the most splendid feasts, all the guests, 

 male and female, took a solemn vow. The knights 

 vowing bravery, the ladies engaging to be loving and 

 faithful. It was, no doubt, in consequence of this 

 veneration, that Queen Elizabeth chose to have her 

 picture taken in a gorgeous robe, covered with Peacock's 

 eyes. 



If we are indebted to India for the Peacock (where, 

 in their wild state, they fly in coveys, glittering in the 

 sun, or may be seen roosting in trees, in such numbers, 

 that an author describes them as almost hiding the 

 foliage with their plumage), and to the Eastern countries 

 for our Pheasants, we have to thank the New World,, 

 for that more homely, but 

 more useful bird, the Turkey, 

 which, there is reason to be- 

 lieve, was never known in Eu- 

 rope, till about three hundred 

 years ago, when it was im- 

 ported from America; but 

 which has now been so widely 

 spread, that in some places, 

 as, for instance, in the neigh- Turkey. 



bourhood of the Black Sea*, they have nearly returned 

 to their originally wild state; and near Smyrna, such 



* See CTARKE'S Travels, vol. ii. 



