IN a party of wits an argument took place as to the definition of a
reasonable animal. Speech was principally contended for; but on this Dr.
Johnson observed, that parrots and magpies speak; were they therefore
rational? "Women," he added, "we know, are rational animals; but would
they be less so if they spoke less?" Jamie Boswell contended that
cookery was the criterion of reason; for that no animal but man did
cook. "That," observed Burke, "explains to me a proverb, which I never
before could understand--_There is reason in the roasting of eggs_."