"In the same way," added he, with a slight air of pedantry,
"we say a flight of doves or swallows, a bevy of quails, a herd of deer,
of wrens, or cranes, a skulk of foxes, or a building of rooks." He went
on to inform me, that, according to Sir Anthony Fitzherbert, we ought to
ascribe, to this bird "both understanding and glory; for, being praised,
he will presently set up his tail chiefly against the sun, to the intent
you may the better behold the beauty thereof. But at the fall of the
leaf, when his tail falleth, he will mourn and hide himself in corners,
till his tail come again as it was."
I could not help smiling at this display of small erudition on so
whimsical a subject; but I found that the peacocks were birds of some
consequence at the Hall, for Frank Bracebridge informed me that they
were great favourites with his father, who was extremely careful to
keep up the breed; partly because they belonged to chivalry, and were
in great request at the stately banquets of the olden time; and partly
because they had a pomp and magnificence about them, highly becoming
an old family mansion. Nothing, he was accustomed to say, had an air of
greater state and dignity than a peacock perched upon an antique stone
balustrade.
Master Simon had now to hurry off, having an appointment at the parish
church with the village choristers, who were to perform some music of
his selection. There was something extremely agreeable in the cheerful
flow of animal spirits of the little man; and I confess I had been
somewhat surprised at his apt quotations from authors who certainly
were not in the range of every-day reading.
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