308 BIRDS OF RAVIN 



LXXIX 



Artfully undraping before her judges, Phryne secured a 

 Birds of verdict in her favour ; but that was long ago, 

 Ravin and aesthetic considerations weighed much with 



Athenian juries ; whereas modern British law-courts must 

 be deemed proof against any such influence. Neverthe- 

 less, physical beauty has not lost its spell over the general 

 public ; else how comes it that each succeeding year pro- 

 duces a fresh crop of books about Mary Queen of Scots ? 

 And for what reason, save her exceeding loveliness, has 

 Lady Hamilton been given a place on the walls of our 

 Valhalla the National Portrait Gallery? Note, by the 

 way, that Romney's picture is not a portrait of Lady 

 Hamilton, but of that very naughty girl, Emma Hart, 

 painted long before she had either met Nelson or married 

 the elderly diplomat. So truly did Theophile Gautier 

 write 



' II se fait d'ailleurs d'etranges revirements dans les reputa- 

 tions, et les aureoles changent souvent de tetes. Apres la mort 

 des fronts obscurs s'allument. Pour les uns, la posterite c'est 

 la nuit : pour les autres c'est 1'aurore ! ' 



As with men and women, so with the lower animals, 

 especially birds, comeliness is no warrant of character. 

 Some of the most beautiful and interesting creatures 

 have earned an evil reputation, proscribed under early 

 Scottish statutes as 'birds of ravin,' depredators upon 

 preserves required by greedy, omnivorous man for his 

 own profit, pride, or pleasure. The lively jay, with 

 exquisite tones of azure and roseate gray, broadly flashed 

 with white as he takes wing; the intellectual magpie, 



