TEE EAGLE AND THE CANARY. 131 
which her instincts and faculties fit her, and which, 
alas ! can never more be hers. 
All this sounded very pretty, as well as true, 
and there was a pleased smile on every face in the 
audience. 
Then the rapid movements and gestures ceased, 
and the speaker was silent, A cloud came over 
his rough-hewn majestic visage; he drew himself 
up, and swayed his body from side to side, and 
shook his black gown, and lifted his arms, as their 
plumed homologues are lifted by some great bird, 
and let them fall again two or three times ; and 
then said, in deep measured tones, which seemed 
to express rage and despair, " But did you ever see 
the eagle in his cage ? " 
The effect of the contrast was grand. He shook 
himself again, and lifted and dropped his arms 
again, assuming, for the nonce, the peculiar aquiline 
slouch ; and there before us stood the mighty bird 
of Jove, as we are accustomed to see it in the 
Zoological Gardens ; its deep-set, desolate eyes 
looking through and beyond us ; ruffling its dark 
plumage, and lifting its heavy wings as if about to 
scorn the earth, only to drop them again, and to 
utter one of those long dreary cries which seem to 
protest so eloquently against a barbarous destiny. 
Then he proceeded to tell us of the great raptor 
in its life of hopeless captivity ; his stern, rugged 
