ing, hung a setting net adroitly between the pile and 

 the house, into which the caitiff dashed, and was en- 

 tangled. Resentment suggested the law of retalia- 

 tion ; he therefore clipped the hawk's wings, cut off 

 his talons, and, fixing a cork on his bill, threw him 

 down among the brood-hens. Imagination cannot 

 paint the scene that ensued ; the expressions that 

 fear, rage, and revenge inspired were new, or at least 

 such as had been unnoticed before: the exasperated 

 matrons upbraided, they execrated, they insulted, 

 they triumphed. In a word, they never desisted 

 from buffeting their adversary till they had torn him 

 in a hundred pieces. 



Selborne, Sept. 9, 1778, 



LETTER LXXXVI. 

 To THE Honourable Daines Harrington. 



" — — — — — — — monstrent 



Quid tantum oceano properent se tingere soles 

 Hyberni : vel quse tardis mora noctibus obstet." 



(ViRG. Georg. ii. 477-482.) . 



" How winter suns in ocean plunge so soon, 

 And what belates the tardy nights of June." 



Gentlemen who have outlets might contrive to 

 make ornament subservient to utility ; a pleasing 



115 



