52 



Select Suburban Residences. 



long did he continue to impart an interest to the scenery with 

 which he was in such excellent keeping, and the possession of 

 this bird suggested the idea of forming the small collection that 

 has followed. 



The following is the history of the gull : — He had long been 

 suspected of committing depredations on the pond, till at length 

 it was resolved to send him to a gentleman in Clapham Rise, 

 who had three sons quite of an age to appreciate such a present. 

 Consequently, a large hamper was procured, and a stock of fresh 

 haddocks for the voyage, which, with a congratulatory letter, 

 was committed to the charge of a seaman belonging to one of 

 the London smacks. Before sailing, Jack got strict orders to 

 attend conscientiously to the wants of the gull ; and was in- 

 structed, when he should arrive at the wharf, to call a vehicle, 

 and, like another charge d'affaires, drive alongside the mansion, 

 and deliver his despatches and present in true diplomatic style. 

 To this long yarn Jack listened with seeming attention, and, 

 after quaffing a glass of grog, took good-by'e in these charac- 

 teristic words : "Shiver my timbers, if I don't do my duty!" 

 The voyage proved tedious almost beyond precedent, and un- 

 commonly stormy : four times were they driven back to the Frith 

 of Forth, after having gained Flamborough Head. Our brave 

 seamen, it is well known, who face real danger unappalled, are, 

 nevertheless, superstitious to a proverb ; and the last time they 

 cast anchor in Burntisland Roads, flocks of white and grey gulls 

 floated high in air, and the sea-mews screamed around. A 

 cockney messmate, with ominous look, casting his eye aloft, and 



