Our Belgians. 49 



a beauteous sight. Agnes was at once all eyes, whilst 

 I was in raptures of delight ! This bird excelled in 

 form, that in the richness of his colour, a third had a 

 finer carriage, a fourth a greater development of tht 

 shoulder, a fifth is more animated in his movements, 

 whilst a sixth is more lengthy and taper in his body. 

 How shall we decide? Among such a profusion of 

 charms, how make a selection ? Agnes goes for elegance 

 of figure. I am captivated with the colour. She pleads 

 for a tapering figure. I insist upon squareness of head 

 and development of shoulder. Minutely do we scan 

 their respective beauties, and canvass their various 

 charms. At length we compromise the matter by 

 choosing a very lengthy hen and a deep golden-coloured 

 cock with a beautiful snake-formed head, high shoulders, 

 and deep body, for which we give the comparatively small 

 sum of fifteen shillings the two. Home we carry them, 

 highly pleased at the success of our mission and the 

 cheapness of our bargain. Of all the Christmas shows 

 we had yet seen this eclipsed all ; nothing in the way of 

 feathers, we thought, could ever come up to it. To 

 transfer them to their new abode was but the work of a 

 few minutes on arriving at home : the next thing was 

 to cast about for names befitting their high dignity and 

 station. Towering far above all others, and excelling 

 them in the gorgeous richness of their yellow plumage 

 as much as do the beams of the morning sun the calmer 

 rays of the queen of night, we at once placed them in 

 the regal rank. There being no others to dispute their 

 possession to the royal throne, they were at once ad- 

 mitted to their new palace, amidst a general chorus of 



4 



