put the
kettle on!" He also uttered a cluck like cork-drawing, a barking like a
dog, and a crowing like a cock. Barnaby Budge used to carry it about in
a basket at his back. The bird drooped while it was in jail with his
master, but after Barnaby's reprieve

It soon recovered its good looks, and became as glossy and sleek as
ever ... but for a whole year it never indulged in any other sound
than a grave and decorous croak.... One bright summer morning ...
the bird advanced with fantastic steps to the door of the Maypole,
and then cried "I'm a devil!" three or four times, with
extraordinary rapture ... and from that time constantly practised
and improved himself in the vulgar tongue.--C. Dickens, _Barnaby
Rudge_, ii. (1841).

_Raven_ (_The_), Edgar Allan Poe's poem bearing this caption is the best
known of his works, and one of the most remarkable in the English
language (1845).

=Ravens of Owain= (_The_). Owain had in his army 300 ravens, who were
irresistible. It is thought that these ravens were warriors who bore
this device on their shields.

A man who caused the birds to fly upon the host
Like the ravens of Owain, eager for prey.

Bleddynt Vardd, _Myvyrian Archaiology_, i. 365.

=Ravens once White.= One day a raven told Apollo that Coro'nis, a
Thessalian nymph whom he passionately loved, was faithless. Apollo, in
his rage, shot the nymph, but hated the raven, and "bade him prate in
white plumes never more."--Ovid, _Metam._, ii.

=Ravenswood= (_Allan, lord of_), a decayed Scotch nobleman of the royalist
party.

_Master Edgar Ravenswood_, the son of Allan. In love with Lucy Ashton,
daughter of Sir William Ashton, lord-keeper of Scotland. The lovers
plight their troth at the "Mermaid's Fountain," but Lucy is compelled to
marry Frank Hayston, laird of Bucklaw. The bride, in a fit of insanity,
attempts to murder the bridegroom, and dies in convulsions. Bucklaw
recovers, and goes abroad. Colonel Ashton appoints a hostile meeting
with Edgar; but young Ravenswood, on his way to the place appointed, is
lost in the quicksands of Kelpies Flow, in accordance with an ancient
prophecy.--Sir W. Scott, _Bride of Lammermoor_ (time, William III.).

[Asterism] In Donizetti's opera of _Lucia di Lammermoor_, Bucklaw dies
of the wound inflicted by the bride, and Edgar, heart-broken, comes on
the stage and kills himself.

The catastrophe in the _Bride of Lammermo