the festivities, he frequently held with his more confidential friends;
I had loaded my astonishing memory with scraps of theology and of fun.
I could sing a French drinking song, taught me by the sub-prior Frere
Jacques, and intonate a "Gloria in Excelsis" with a true nasal twang.
I had actually learned the Creed in English;[3] and could call all the
brothers by their name. I had even learned the Savoyard's dance from
my friend Frère Jacques, and sung "Gai Coco" at the same time, like
Scaliger's parrot, from whose history Frère Jacques took the idea
of teaching me. I did this, it must be acknowledged, with great
awkwardness, turning in my toes, and often tumbling backwards in a
clumsy and ludicrous way. But this amused my religious friends more than
all the rest; for, like the great, they loved a ridicule as well as a
talent; and, provided they were amused, were not nice as to the means.
My fame soon began to spread on all sides, and the anecdotes told of the
macaw of the Propaganda soon reached the circles of the Governor of the
Brazils, who wrote to request the pleasure of my company for a few weeks
at the palace. This was a compliment which he had never paid to the
learned superior of the order, and my master was evidently hurt. He
declined therefore the invitation for me, on the plea that he would
soon visit Rio Janeiro himself, when I should accompany him into the
vice-regal presence.

This visit shortly took place, not for the object supposed by the
community, (who parted with me, even for a short time, with great
regret,) but for another purpose. The British ambassador, Lord ----, who
had recently arrived at Rio, was a countryman of Father Flynn's. He
enjoyed eminent literary celebrity, was a delightful poet, and well
acquainted with the Portuguese language. The superior had no doubt that
his own literary and theological merits were equally known to his
excellency, whom he visited with a view to negotiating a passage in the