AN OBLIGING COMMUNICATION. 283 



regular system of thinning out the poultry 

 ouses. 



Having rather a large assortment at that time 

 of the fashionable Cochin China fowls, which wxre 

 tall enough nearly to feed oif the dining-table, 

 without sitting up in an arm-chair, it was politely 

 intimated to me that these higgling gentry in- 

 tended to try their flavour upon the first oppor- 

 tunity ; to which obliging communication I 

 replied that not having the pleasure of their ac- 

 quaintance, and to prevent any mistake as to 

 identity of person, I would endeavour to set my 

 mark on them, and should communicate my inten- 

 tion of so doing by a double speaking-trumpet, 

 whose language they would not require an inter- 

 preter to explain. Two large dogs also were com- 

 missioned to give intelligence of their arrival, 

 should their visits be made in the night season. 

 This is not a very favourable state of things in 

 the nineteenth century, but it was rather an out- 

 of-the-way part of the country, and where the 

 blue jackets had not yet made their appear- 

 ance. 



Fuss enough is made about the light-fing-ered 

 gentry in the civiHsed haunts of men, Great Baby- 

 lon, and all the minor Babylons ; and should aa 

 alderman lose an old pocket-handkerchief, worth 



