2/2 THE PARROT. 



" More clamorous than a parrot against rain." As You 

 Like It, Act iv. Sc. I. i 



It is not quite clear when parrots were first introduced 

 as cage birds, but their attractive colours, and aptitude for 

 learning tricks and words, no doubt brought them into 

 notice at an early period. Shakespeare knew that to en- 

 sure success in teaching a parrot, the bird must be 

 rewarded : 



"The parrot will not do more for an almond." Troilus 

 and Cressida, Act v. Sc. 2. 



To talk " like a parrot," that is, without reason, is pro- 

 verbial. Lieutenant Cassio thus upbraids himself after a 

 drunken squabble : 



" I will rather sue to be despised than to deceive so good 

 a commander with so slight, so drunken, and so discreet an 

 officer. Drunk ? and speak parrot ? and squabble ? swag- 

 ger ? swear and discourse fustian with one's own shadow ? 

 Oh, thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no name to 

 be known by, let us call thee devil ! " Othello, Act ii. 

 Sc. 3. 



In a witty scene between Beatrice and Benedick, in 

 Much Ado about Nothing, the former is likened by the latter 

 to " a parrot-teacher" from her great talkative powers : 



" Bened. But it is certain I am loved of all ladies, 

 only you excepted : and I would I could find in my 



