274^ 



THE RAVEN. 



and thrice she held him to the fire, and thrice she 

 rubbed him well with brimstone. 



Terque senem flamma, ter aqua, ter sulphure lustrat." 



She then applied her lancet to his jugular, and having 

 let out all the old man's blood, she replaced it with 

 broth made from the ingredients which she had 

 stewed down for the operation. This did the job, 

 and up jumped her father ^son a spruce dashing 

 young fellow in the prime of life, with a fine black 

 beard in lieu of a white one. N. B. From this oper- 

 ation we might surmise, that transfusion of blood in 

 surgery is no modern invention. 



Pity it is that the raven, a bird of such note and 

 consequence in times gone by, should be exposed to 

 unrelenting persecution, in our own days of pro- 

 fessed philanthropy. His noble aspect, his aerial 

 evolutions, and his wonderful modulations of voice, 

 all contribute to render him an ornament to any 

 gentleman's park. He can scarcely be styled a bird 

 of rapine, in the strict sense of the word; for, in the 

 few inland parts of this country where he is still pro- 

 tected, we hear of no very alarming acts of depreda- 

 tion on his part. A stray chicken or so, during the 

 time that he is obliged to feed his young — a rickety 

 lamb which would never make mutton — a leveret 

 started from her seat by the village mole-catcher — 

 make up nearly the whole amount of the raven's 

 plunder. For my own part I would freely give him 

 these ; ay, and a dozen pheasants annually to boot, 

 if he would but visit us again, and once more attempt 

 to take up a permanent abode amongst us. 



