--and a precedent might have been drawn from the case of the eagles
which were sent from Killarney to Colonel Montagu, before the duties
between England and Ireland were abolished, and detained at Bristol on the
plea that there was a duty on all singing-birds! The Genoese _doganieri_,
however, on Mr Waterton's assurance that the owls were not for the
purposes of traffic, and were, moreover, the native produce of _la
bellissima Italia_, (with the sly addition, that he "had reason to believe
they are common in Genoa, so that they can well be spared,") graciously
allowed them to pass duty-free; but at Basle an unexpected obstacle arose.
Mr Waterton's letter of credit had been lost in the Pollux; and in spite
of letters of recommendation from the Prince of Canino, and the Italian
Rothschild, Torlonia, "M. Passavant the banker, a wormwood-looking
money-monger, refused to advance a single _sous_," even on the deposit of
a valuable watch; and Mr Waterton, with his owls and his family, would
have stuck fast at Basle, but for the arrival of Mr W. Brougham, (brother
of Lord Brougham,) who furnished him with a supply; and the whole party
reached Aix-la-Chapelle safe and sound. But here Mr Waterton thought
proper, by way of cleansing his _proteges_ from the soils of their long
journey, to give them, as well as himself, the benefit of a warm
bath!--"an act of rashness" (as he himself terms it) which caused the
death of five of the number from cold the same night. Two others perished
afterwards from casualties, and the remaining five arrived safe at Walton
Hall. "On the 10th of May 1842, there being abundance of slugs, snails,
and beetles on the ground, at seven o'clock in the evening, the weather
being serene and warm, I opened the door of the cage, and the five owls
stepped out to try their fortunes in this wicked world. As they retired
into the adjacent thicket, I bade then be of good heart; and although the
whole world was now open to them, I said if they would stop in my park I
would be glad of their company, and would always be a friend and
benefactor to them." How the little strangers have sped--whether they have
increased and multiplied in the hospitable shades of Walton Hall, to
gratify their entomological tastes for the benefit of neighbouring
kitchen-gardens, or strayed from this asylum, and fallen victims as _rarae
aves_ to some ruthless bird-stuffer, we hope to be informed in the "more
last words" which we yet hope for on t