"
Then turning toward the culprit, he said mildly unto him, -
"Now why canst thou not apply thyself unto study? Why canst thou
not ask advice of thy superiors in rank and wisdom? In a few years,
under good discipline, thou mightest rise from the owlet unto the
peacock. I know not what pleasant things might not come into the
youthful head thereupon.
"He was the bird of Venus, {39b} goddess of beauty. He flew down (I
speak as a poet, and not in my quality of knight and Christian) with
half the stars of heaven upon his tail; and his long, blue neck doth
verily appear a dainty slice out of the solid sky."
Sir Silas smote me with his elbow, and said in my ear, -
"He wanteth not this stuffing; he beats a pheasant out of the
kitchen, to my mind, take him only at the pheasant's size, and don't
(upon your life) overdo him.
"Never be cast down in spirit, nor take it too 'grievously to heart,
if the colour be a suspicion of the pinkish,--no sign of rawness in
that; none whatever. It is as becoming to him as to the salmon; it
is as natural to your pea-chick in his best cookery, as it is to the
finest October morning,--moist underfoot, when partridge's and
puss's and renard's scent lies sweetly.
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