of the modern opera" Addison says,

"As I was walking in the streets about a fortnight ago, I saw an
ordinary fellow carrying a cage full of little birds upon his
shoulder; and as I was wondering with myself what use he would put
them to, he was met very luckily by an acquaintance, who had the
same curiosity. Upon his asking what he had upon his shoulder, he
told him that he had been buying sparrows for the opera. 'Sparrows
for the opera,' says his friend, licking his lips, 'what! are they
to be roasted?' 'No, no,' says the other, 'they are to enter
towards the end of the first act, and to fly about the stage.'

"There have been so many flights of sparrows let loose in this
opera, that it is feared the house will never get rid of them, and
that in other plays they may make their entrance in very wrong and
improper scenes, so as to be seen flying in a lady's bedchamber, or
perching upon a king's throne; besides the inconvenience which the
heads of the audience may sometimes suffer for them. I am credibly
informed that there was once a design of casting into an opera the
story of Whittington and his Cat, and that in order to it there had
been got together a great quantity of mice; but Mr. Rich, the
proprietor of the play-house, very prudently considered that it
would be impossible for the cat to kill them all, and that
consequently the princes of the stage might be as much infested
with mice as the prince of the island was before the cat's arrival
upon it."

To a letter narrating country sports, and a whistling match won by a
footman, he adds as a postscript,

"After having despatched these two important points of grinning and
whistling, I hope you will oblige the world with some reflections
upon yawning, as I have seen it practised on a Twelfth Night among
other Christmas gambols at the house of a very worthy gentleman
who entertains his tenants at that time of the year. They yawn for
a Cheshire cheese, and begin about midnight, when the whole company
is supposed to be drowsy. He that yawns widest, and at the same
time so naturally as to produce the most yawns among the
spectators, carries home the cheese. If you handle this subject as
you ought, I question not but your paper will set half the kingdom
a-yawning, though I dare promise you it will never