LITERARY AND DOMESTIC LIFE. 393 



found no difficulty in expressing. Two of the birds fell sick, and 

 change of air was considered necessary for their restoration to 

 health. A happy thought suggested to the Professor, that an hos- 

 pital might be found for the invalids in a room of the attic story, 

 where boxes and various unused articles of the menage were kept, 

 in short, the lumber-room, not unfrequently, however, a repository 

 for very valuable articles — so far belying its name. In this apart- 

 ment, for more than a week, walked in undisturbed quiet the two 

 invalids, tended, fed, and visited many times during each day by 

 their watchful patron. Health by those means was restored, and 

 nothing now remained but to remove the pets to their old abode in 

 the back-green, where they crowed and strutted more insolently 

 than ever. . A few days after the lumber-room had been evacuated 

 by its feathered tenants, the Professor's daughters ascended to the 

 said apartment, happy in the possession there — secure in a well- 

 papered trunk — of certain beautiful ball-dresses to be worn that 

 very night in all the freshness of unsullied crape and ribbons. 

 What sight met their eyes on opening the door of the room ! Hor- 

 rible to say, the elegant dresses were lying on the floor in a corner, 

 soiled, torn, and crumpled, in fact useless. The box in which they 

 had been so carefully laid, had been, on account of its size, at once 

 secured by the Professor as an eligible coop for his birds. The 

 dresses were of no value in his eyes ; probably he did not know 

 what they were ; so tossing them ruthlessly out, he left them to 

 their late. It was quite evident, from the appearance they pre- 

 sented, that along with the empty trunk — according to the caprice 

 of the fowls — they had been used as a nest. To imagine the feel- 

 ings of the young ladies at the sight of their fair vanities, " all tat- 

 tered and torn," is to call up a subject which, even at this distant 

 date, causes a natural pang. It was a trial certainly not borne with 

 much patience, and no doubt, in the hour of disappointment, called 

 forth expressions of bitter and undisguised hatred towards all ani- 

 mated nature in the shape of feathers. The a viary was after a 

 time shut up, and all its inhabitants were sent off in various direc- 

 tions. The following note to Dr. Moir will show how they were 

 disposed of: — 



" 6 Gloucester Place, Monday. 

 "My dear Sir: — I have a game-cock of great value which I 

 wish to walk (as it is technically termed) for a i'^w months. Can 



