LETTER XLIV. 



dy, being prepared with the hottest spices, was 'again 

 covered with it; thus retaining all its plumage in full 

 display, uninjured by the preparation. The bird thus 

 prepared was often preserved for several years with- 

 out putrefaction, and served to add splendor to succes- 

 sive entertainments. 



The peacock is a native of India and the other ori- 

 ental countries of Asia, where it is yet found in its na- 

 tural state ; and numerous flocks of them are still to 

 be seen wild in the islands of Java and Ceylon. So 

 beautiful a bird was not, however, suffered long to re- 

 main concealed in its native retreats; and we find 

 that so early as the time of Solomon it was made an 

 article of commerce, and is numbered among those 

 which were imported by his fleets. That prince was 

 probably the first who introduced the peacock into 

 Judea; and the Tyrians, his partners in trade, un- 

 doubtedly imported it into their country; but it is 

 probable that it had been already brought to- Tyre, 

 and 110 doubt to Egypt also, previous to that period. 

 The Greeks also shewed a strong predilection for this 

 bird, and we are told that the first exhibition of a pea- 

 cock at Athens induced many persons to travel from 

 Lacedemon to that, city, to gratify their curiosity with 

 the sight of so beauiif n an object. Such a curiosity 

 indeed, my cleir Sir, wa^ lau/iuble ; for so njagnificent 

 a display of the work of the Civitor, especially when 

 accompanied with the sra'r. s ri?e cf npvefty, certainly 

 merited the contemplation of a , v '<r.soph.er. 



Of this curious bird there are stVerai varieties, but 

 the peacock of Thibet is universally allowed to be r.he 

 most beautiful of all the feathered race. Its colours 

 are blue, yellow, red, and green; all blended with 

 the most artificial exactness, and forming the most 

 pleasing combinations, in which nature seems to have 

 exerted all her skill, and exhibited all her beauties. 



THE PHEASANT, 



next to the peacock, holds the second rank in the 

 gradation of beauty amsng the feathered tribes. To 

 make a minute comparison betvreen the most beauti- 

 ful ,of each species, the admirer of nature's works, 



