This old heart clings to Alciphron, and throbs more quickly at the mere mention of its darling's name; but verily you have done little to win our affection.

Last autumn the harvest of new wine was more abundant than we expected.

We lacked skins, and when we asked you to help us with yours--" "We said no, because we ourselves did not know what to do with the harvest." "And who shamefully killed my gray cat ?" "It entered Phaon's dove-cote and killed the young of his best pair of cropper pigeons." "It was a marten, not the good, kind creature.

You are unfriendly in all your acts, for when our brown hen flew over to you yesterday she was driven away with stones.

Did Phaon mistake her for a vulture with sharp beak and powerful talons ?" "A maid-servant drove her away, because, since your master has been ill and no longer able to attend to business, your poultry daily feeds upon our barley." "I'm surprised you don't brand us as robbers!" cried Semestre.