160 PEOSB HALIEUTICS. 



tiling to multiply needlessly specimens of captive crea- 

 tures which are not to be tamed ; but, besides the gene- 

 ral indefensibility of such a practice, the eagle makes 

 special claims on man^s forbearance, which cannot be 

 repudiated without an effort. She whose stirring of her 

 nest has been held out for man's admonition by a holy 

 prophet; that 'most perfect of winged creatures,' who 

 has supplied the muse of Homer and all the poets with 

 some of their loftiest similes, the chosen messenger be- 

 tween earth and Olympus, who soaring heavenward on 

 unflagging pinion, and with undazzled eye could hold in 

 unscathed talons the hot thunderbolts of Jove ; the im- 

 personation of freedom, the type of military glory; whose 

 flight, portentous in result, was watched by anxious 

 augurs, adopted when favourable by an undivided senate, 

 and hailed by every citizen of Rome ; on the strength of 

 which victory was already anticipated, and invincible 

 legions poured forth to the overthrow of distant dynas- 

 ties ; — is this, proh pudor ! the bird to coop in solitary 

 confinement, — to feed on the bread of affliction and the 

 water of affliction ? 



Man is not naturally cruel to birds ; all show respect 

 to the robin and the wren, and we should deem him a 

 churl who could tear the twittering swallow from his 

 eaves ; the king of birds only is treated with callous 

 indifference and stolid cruelty; on his nobler nature 

 alone fall unprovoked every species of lese-majesty, in- 

 jury, and insult. The loss of liberty is quite irreparable; 

 to man it is the heaviest of afflictions, and to every other 

 sentient creature not a light one ; it is understood by all 

 animals, and is painfully felt by the tiaiest and most 

 domestic that creeps upon the face of the earth. 



Give me again my hollow tree, 

 My crust of bread, and liberty, 



is no doubt the fervent aspiration of every free-born 

 mouse ; and ' I can't get out,' the expression of a plight 



