APPENDIX. 161 



fed both the inclination and the power of feeding upon li- 

 ving fubjects. 



By what accident this fmall eagle, who was not a car- 

 rion bird, came among thefe cowardly and unclean feeders, 

 is more than I can lay ; bur it met the fate very common 

 to thofe who afTort with bad company, and thofe of fenii- 

 ments and manners inferior to their own. One of thefe, 

 a kite, vulture, or raven, 1 know not which, ftruck the 

 poor eagle down to the ground juft before the door of the 

 king's tent, and hurt him fo violently, that he had fcarcely 

 urength to flutter under the canopy where the king was 

 fitting ; pages and officers of the bed-chamber foon feized 

 him. It was not long before they made the application that 

 the king was to be dethroned by a fubjecT:, and JFafil was 

 in everybody's mouth. The omen was of the kind too un~ 

 pleafant to be dwelt upon ; the fenfible people of the at- 

 tendants hurried it away, and it of courfe came to me with 

 all the circumftances of the accident, the moral of that tale, 

 and twenty prophecies that were current to confirm it. I 

 confefs my own weaknefs ; at firft it made a ftrong impref- 

 fion upon me. In the moment the pafTage of Shakefpeare 

 came into my mind,. 



a 



On Tuefday laft', 



" A falcon tow'ring in his pride of place, 



" Was by a mouiing owl hawk'd at and kiU'd."' 



And this recollection occupied my mind fo forcibly, that I 

 flood for a moment fpeechlefs, and as it wererivetted to the 

 ground. This behaviour, unufual in me, who ufed always 



to 



