horned cattle into aldermen and commoncouncil-men; cuckoos into cuckold-mak ers, from their laying their eggs in other birds' nests; parrots into gossips and idle prattling fellows; and owls into a species of men who pass for men of abilities, because they put on a formal wise look, and speak little; bees into beautiful women, from their stings and their honey; wasps into old maids; drones into bishops; locusts into placemen and pension

ers.

The old woman, breaking off from her Pythagorean dissertation, said to me, I dare say you have seen, in various parts

should feel for the pain thou wouldst suffer, my pride would suffer a mortal wound to see the parent of my lovely Ægyptia shamefully disgraced and tied to the tail of a cart,"

of London, six or seven young girls, from fifteen to twenty, in one house, under the care of an elderly lady: they formerly were all young pullets; ruffs, and rees, and ottelans; and are as greedily sought after by people of a certain appetite as the birds are by epicures, and bear as high a price at their first appearance, when young, plump, and tender. There are also women, says she, (like birds of passage,) of a migratory nature, who remove, after a certain time, from St. James's and Mary-le-bone end of the town, to Covent-garden, then to the Strand, and from thence to St. Giles's and Wapping; from which latter places they frequently migrate much further, even to New Wales. I asked her, if they, like some birds, come back at certain seasons? She answered, Some few in

seven years, some in fourteen, and some not at all.

She also informed me, with her usual gravity, that, during their stay here, like birds, they made their nests upon feathers, some higher and some lower than others: at first they generally built them on the first floor, afterwards on the second, and then up in the cock-loft and garrets; from whence they generally took to the open air, and became ambulatory and noctivagous; and as their price grows less, their wandering increases, when many perish from the inclemency of the weather, and others take their flight abroad.

"Mother," said I," with sorrow have Į viewed many of these unfortunate wo

men, but never knew before that they had formerly been of the feathered race.' "They have, my son, and gay and gawdy in their plumage, hopping from twig to twig; enjoying the present moment of pleasure, and never looking to the following day." Continuing her instructive discourse; says she, My son, let us

walk to the neighbouring village, and, at the first butcher's shop, I will shew thee my powers and knowledge of future events by inspecting the entrails of beasts. "Mother, I doubt not the powers of thy wondrous art: and, oh kind parent, I pray thee, instruct me in them!" To which she affectionately replied—“ I will, my son:" so coming to the first slaughter-house, where an ox was newly dissected, she began to examine the entrails: fixing her eye directly on the liver of the animal, she thus unfolded her predictions:-" Son, by the entrails of this animal I plainly

see that the next Lord Mayor for the city of London will be chosen from the fishmongers' company." Turning up the hyde of the ox, I found the animal had no horns, for it was a poled bullock. "Mother," said I," the animal has no horns; and can this have any reference to the Lord Mayor?" She replied, “ Undoubtedly, my son; though I must acknowledge it is a very uncommon case. This event happened very early in October, before any common-hall had been called; and some time afterwards, on inquiry, I found that the Lord Mayor for that ensuing year had been elected from the fishmongers' company, and that he never had been married; which made it the more singular, and verified my mother's skill in omens.

I must here relate to you' another wonderful proof of the knowledge and fore