Page:Crotchet Castle - Peacock (1831).djvu/287

very safe from all such reformers as the learned friend. I vaticinate what will be the upshot of all his schemes of reform. He will make a speech of seven hours' duration, and this will be its quintessence: that, seeing the exceeding difficulty of putting salt on the bird's tail, it will be expedient to consider the best method of throwing dust in the bird's eyes. All the rest will be

Τιτιτιτιτιμπρό.
Ποποποί, ποποποί.
Τιοτιοτιοτιοτιοτιοτίγξ.
Κικκαβαῡ, κικκαβαῡ.
Τοροτοροτοροτορολιλιλίγξ.^[1]

as Aristophanes has it; and so I leave him, in Nephelococcygia.^[2]

 

1. Sounds without meaning; imitative of the voices of birds. From the Ὄπνιθες of Aristophanes.
2. "Cuckoo-city-in-the-clouds." From the same comedy.