POULTRY. 381 



Having made their tour of inspection along the whole line of 

 coops, penetrating with no little difiiculty the dense mass 

 which thronged around admiring the committee, (N. B. — The 

 comma after "committee" should be after "admiring!") 

 unanimously agreed to recommend that a premium be awarded 

 / to S. Southwick, of Danvcrs, for his seven well-prepared 

 coops of excellent fowls, containing specimens, " in good 

 order and well conditioned," of Brahmapootras, Red Shang- 

 haes, Black Spanish, and Black Bantams, White Poland ducks 

 and China ducks, all in first-rate keeping, and fully justify- 

 ing the wish of the committee that they could be present 

 with sharp teeth and sharper appetite, and, hearing what Byron 

 calls 



" the all- soft' ning, overpowering knell, 

 The tocsin of the soul — the dinner-bell," 



sit down at the " festive board," with 



" clang of plates, of knife and fork, 

 And merciless fall, like tomahawk to work," — Peter Pindar, 



on just such samples, " done brown on both sides " — claws 

 uppermost, and bellies all dilate with a spicy compound of 

 bread and sweet marjoram. Your committee, believing them- 

 selves fully adequate to such an occasion, would do the feast as 

 ample justice as did the Trojans in Italy when their ravenous 

 appetite carried them to such an extreme that their youthful 

 leader, Ascauius, exclaimed, — 



"Heus, etiam mensas consumimus." — Virgil. 



"Which one of your committee, an old pedagogue, interprets to 

 mean, — 



" Halloo, my lads ! your appetites, so rare, 

 Eolt meats and bread, nor e'en the tables spare." 



Also to Charles Barker, of Andover, a premium for his 

 half-breed wild geese. These were as splendid birds as ever 



" gabbled o'er the pool, 

 When noisy children are let loose from school." 



— Goldsmith transposed. 



