acting as his jailers, but experience
had given them wisdom, they swallowed their wrath, and the robber king
was given up to the robber Republic. If Schinderhannes had been in the
service of France, he would have been doing for the last ten years, on
its account, exactly what he had been doing on his own. But unluckily
for himself, he robbed in the name of Schinderhannes, and not in the
name of liberty and equality; and now, instead of having his name
shouted by all France, inserted in triumphant bulletins, and ranked with
the Bonapartes and Caesars, he will be called a thief, stripped of his
last rixdollar, and hanged.

* * * * *

An extraordinary instance of mortality has just occurred, which has
favoured the conversation of the clubs, and thrown the west end into
condolence and confusion for the last twenty-four hours. Colonel
O'Kelly's famous parrot is dead. The stories told of this surprising
bird have long stretched public credulity to its utmost extent. But if
even the half of what is told be true, it exhibited the most singular
sagacity. Not having seen it myself, I can only give the general report.
But, beyond all question, it has been the wonder of London for years,
and however willing John Bull may be to be deluded, there is no instance
of his being deluded long. This bird's chief faculty was singing, seldom
a parrot faculty, but its ear was so perfect, that it acquired tunes
with great rapidity, and retained them with such remarkable exactness,
that if, by accident, it made a mistake in the melody, it corrected
itself, and tried over the tune until its recollection was completely
recovered. It also spoke well, and would hold a kind of dialogue almost
approaching to rationality. So great was its reputation that the colonel
was offered L500 a-year by persons who intended to make an exhibition of
it; but he was afraid that his favourite would be put to too hard work,
and he refused the offer, which was frequently renewed. The creature
must have been old, for it had been bought thirty years before by the
colonel's uncle, and even then it must have had a high reputation, for
it was bought at the price of 100 guineas. Three remarkable bequests had
been made by that uncle to the colonel,--the estate of Canons, the
parrot, and the horse Eclipse, the most powerful racer ever known in
England; so superior to every other horse of his day, that his
superiority at length became useless, a