THE HUGHENDEN PEACOCKS.
fro THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.")
Sin,—The late Earl had as much right to keep peacocks as King Solomon (II. Chronicles, ix. 21) or anybody else; but those- birds at the Manor-house seem to have got into the heads of the reporters, as Ixiou's mysterious report of the Queen of Mesopotamia's peacock's tail did into Juno's (a true Disraeli touch, that). Oue severely virtuous critic says that the late Earl "might have been seen ostentatiously feeding seven pea- cocks." Well, the peacock is supposed to be an ostentatious bird, but what is the ostentatious feeding of him ? Another gentleman tells us that on Tuesday the peacocks "were scream- ing, and displaying themselves without let or hindrance from any human being, for the house was strongly garrisoned by the county constabulary." But what does the " for " mean P Who wants to let or hinder a peacock ? Can it mean that London. roughs or others were known to have gone down intent on stealing the animals ? Pausing on these two quotations, I am,.
Sir, &c., PAVO CRISTAT1JS ET BEWILDERATUS.
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