Till at last, finding its efforts ineffectual, quite tired and breathless, it lays itself down, and pants at the bottom of the cage, seeming to bemoan its cruel fate and forfeited liberty.  And after a few days, its struggles to escape still diminishing as it finds it to no purpose to attempt it, its new habitation becomes familiar; and it hops about from perch to perch, resumes its wonted cheerfulness, and every day sings a song to amuse itself and reward its keeper.

Now le me tell thee, that I have known a bird actually starve itself, and die with grief, at its being caught and caged.  But never did I meet with a woman who was so silly.—­Yet have I heard the dear souls most vehemently threaten their own lives on such an occasion.  But it is saying nothing in a woman’s favour, if we do not allow her to have more sense than a bird.  And yet we must all own, that it is more difficult to catch a bird than a lady.

To pursue the comparison—­If the disappointment of the captivated lady be very great, she will threaten, indeed, as I said:  she will even refuse her sustenance for some time, especially if you entreat her much, and she thinks she gives you concern by her refusal.  But then the stomach of the dear sullen one will soon return.  ’Tis pretty to see how she comes to by degrees:  pressed by appetite, she will first steal, perhaps, a weeping morsel by herself; then be brought to piddle and sigh, and sigh and piddle before you; now-and-then, if her viands be unsavoury, swallowing with them a relishing tear or two:  then she comes to eat and drink, to oblige you:  then resolves to live for your sake:  her exclamations will, in the next place, be turned into blandishments; her vehement upbraidings into gentle murmuring—­how dare you, traitor!—­into how could you, dearest!  She will draw you to her, instead of pushing you from her:  no longer, with unsheathed claws, will she resist you; but, like a pretty, playful, wanton kitten, with gentle paws, and concealed talons, tap your cheek, and with intermingled smiles, and tears, and caresses, implore your consideration for her, and your constancy:  all the favour she then has to ask of you!—­And this is the time, were it given to man to confine himself to one object, to be happier every day than another.

Now, Belford, were I to go no farther than I have gone with my beloved Miss Harlowe, how shall I know the difference between her and another bird?  To let her fly now, what a pretty jest would that be!—­How do I know, except I try, whether she may not be brought to sing me a fine song, and to be as well contented as I have brought other birds to be, and very shy ones too?

But now let us reflect a little upon the confounded partiality of us human creatures.  I can give two or three familiar, and if they were not familiar, they would be shocking, instances of the cruelty both of men and women, with respect to other creatures, perhaps as worthy as (at least more innocent than) themselves.  By my soul, Jack, there is more of the savage on human nature than we are commonly aware of.  Nor is it, after all, so much amiss, that we sometimes avenge the more innocent animals upon our own species.