80 INTELLECTUAL AND IMITATIVE I 



runned away wi' the leg of carrion ; an' mounseer, 

 wi' the white nightcap, and t'other chap, wi' the 

 flour on his head, will ha' enough ado to catch un.'* 

 After such a denouement^ the catastrophe may be 

 conceived. 



Goldsmith says, that " the extreme sagacity and 

 docility of the bird, may be pleaded as the best 

 excuse for those who spend whole hours in teaching 

 their Parrots to speak ; and, indeed, the bird, on 

 those occasions, seems the wiser animal of the two. 

 He at first obstinately resists all instruction ; but 

 seems to be won by perseverance, makes a few 

 attempts to imitate the first sounds, and when it has 

 got one word distinctly, all the succeeding words 

 come with greater facility. The bird generally 

 learns more in those families where the master and 

 mistress have the least to do, and becomes more 

 expert, in proportion as its instructors are idly 

 assiduous. In going through the towns of France, 

 some time since, I could not help observing how 

 much plainer tlieir Parrots spoke than ours, and 

 how very distinctly I understood their Parrots 

 speak French, when I could not understand our 

 own, though they spake my native language. I 

 was at first for ascribing it to the different qua- 

 lities of the two languages, and was for entering 

 into an elaborate discussion on the vowels and 

 consonants ; but a friend that was with me solved 

 the difficulty at once, by assuring me that the 

 French women scarcely did any thing else, the 

 whole day, than sit and instruct their feathered 



