FACULTIES OF PARROTS. 77 



miles from Hampstead. The worthy man had 

 always enjoyed moderate comforts, whilst he could; 

 but it was his misfortune to marry a wife, who 

 made a point of ruling the roast, if she ever allowed 

 him to have such a thing. This lady had an only 

 daughter, by a former marriage ; and as her greatest 

 desire in life was to see the girl well settled in 

 the world, she spared neither pains nor expense 

 to effect her object. But this only whetted her 

 natural parsimony at all other times, — her maxim 

 being, to save all in secret, in order to be the 

 better able to spare nothing in public ; and this 

 she carried into practice, by setting her good- 

 natured husband daily down to fare of the humblest 

 possible description. One great economical scheme 

 of hers was, the establishment of a piggery. On 

 one celebrated occasion, she made a very profitable 

 sale to a butcher of some half dozen or so of the 

 fatted inhabitants of her styes ; and, that she might 

 make the most of every thing, she supplied her 

 husband's table, whilst it lasted, with little else 

 than fried pig's liver. As the good citizen was 

 generally pretty ready for his meal, on his return 

 from his daily business, the Parrot often heard, 

 and joined in the call which his master's arrival 

 produced, to " come away with the pig's liver," 

 which the lady vociferated over the stair to Re- 

 becca, her only domestic, a great red cheeked, 

 raw boned girl, fresh from the coimtry. But in 

 the midst of these daily commons, the lady was 

 sparing no expense for a grand dinner which 

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