The peacock, too, at the opening of spring goes to a field at the time when the biossoms which it puts out are not only lovelier, but, in a manner of speaking, more blossomy and brighter of hue; spreading his wings and showing them to the sun, lifting his tail and surrounding himself with it, he, too, displays his blossoms and the April of his wings, as if the field were challenging him to vie with it. Atall events, he twists and turns and puts on airs with his beauty. Now and again he is a sight still more wonderful, when his colours change under the light, altering a little and turning to a different kind of loveliness. This happens to him chiefly in the circles that he has at the tips of his feathers, each of which is ringed with a rainbow. What was previously bronze has the look of gold when he shifts a little, and what was bright blue in the sun is bright green in shadow, so much does the beauty of his plumage alter with the light!

For you know without my telling you that the sea has power to invite and provoke longing when it is calm. At such a time, no matter how much of a landsman and a lubber a man may be, he wants at all costs to get aboard ship and cruise about and go far from land, above all if he perceives the breeze gently swelling the canvas and the vessel sweetly and smoothly gliding along, little by little, over the crest of the waves.