With great examples of old Greece or Rome Enlarge thy free-born heart, and bless kind Heaven, That Britain yet enjoys dear Liberty,;
That balm of life, that sweetest bleffing, cheap
Though purchas'd with our blood. Well-bred, polite, Credit thy calling. See! how mean, how low,
The bookless fauntering youth, proud of the skut 393 That dignifies his cap, his flourish❜d belt,
And rufty couples gingling by his fide.
Be thou of other mold; and know that fuch
Transporting pleasures were by Heaven ordain'd
Wisdom's relief, and Virtue's great reward,
Of the power of inftinct in brutes. Two remarkable instances in the hunting of the roebuck, and in the hare going to feat in the morning. Of the variety of feats or forms of the hare, according to the change of the season, weather, or wind. Description of the hare-hunting in all its parts, interfperfed with rules to be observed by thofe who follow that chace. Tranfition to the Afiatick way of hunting, particularly the magnificent manner of the Great Mogul, and other Tartarian princes, taken from Monfieur Bernier, and the hiftory of Gengiskan the Great. Concludes with a short reproof of tyrants and oppreffors of mankind.
OR will it lefs delight th' attentive fage
T'observe that Instinct, which unerring guides The brutal race, which mimicks reafon's lore,
And oft tranfcends: Heaven-taught, the roe-buck swift
Loiters at eafe before the driving pack
And mocks their vain pursuit, nor far he flies,
But checks his ardour, till the steaming scent
That freshens on the blade, provokes their rage.
Urg'd to their speed, his weak deluded foes
Soon flag fatigued; strain'd to excess each nerve,
Each flacken'd finew fails; they pant, they foam;
Then o'er the lawn he bounds, o'er the high hills
Stretches fecure, and leaves the scatter'd crowd
To puzzle in the diftant vale below.
'Tis Instinct that directs the jealous hare
To chufe her soft abode : With step revers'd
She forms the doubling maze; then, ere the morn
Peeps through the clouds, leaps to her clofe recefs.
As wandering fhepherds on th' Arabian plains
No fettled refidence obferve, but shift
Their moving camp, now, on fome cooler hill
With cedars crown'd, court the refreshing breeze;
And then, below, where trickling streams distil
From fome penurious fource, their thirst allay,
And feed their fainting flocks: So the wife hares
Oft quit their feats, left fome more curious eye
Should mark their haunts, and by dark treacherous wiles
Plot their deftruction; or perchance in hopes
Of plenteous forage, near the ranker mead,
Or matted blade, wary and close they fit.
When spring shines forth, season of love and joy,
In the moist marsh, 'mong beds of rushes hid,
They cool their boiling blood: When fummer funs
Bake the cleft earth, to thick wide-waving fields
Of corn full-grown, they lead their helpless young: 35
But when autumnal torrents and fierce rains
Deluge the vale, in the dry crumbling bank
Their forms they delve, and cautiously avoid
The dripping covert: Yet when winter's cold
Their limbs benumbs, thither with speed return'd
In the long grafs they skulk, or fhrinking creep
Among the wither'd leaves, thus changing ftill,
As fancy prompts them, or as food invites.
But every season carefully observ'd,
Th' inconftant winds, the fickle element,
The wife experienc'd huntsman foon may find
His fubtle, various game, nor waste in vain
His tedious hours, till his impatient hounds,
With difappointment vex'd, each springing lark
Babbling purfue, far scatter'd o'er the fields.
Now golden Autumn from her open lap
Her fragrant bounties showers; the fields are fhorn;
Inwardly fmiling, the proud farmer views
The rifing pyramids that grace his yard,
And counts his large increase; his barns are stor'd
And groaning ftaddles bend beneath their load.
All now is free as air, and the gay pack
In the rough bristly stubbles range unblam'd;
No widow's tears o'erflow, no fecret curfe
Swells in the farmer's breaft, which his pale lips
Trembling conceal, by his fierce landlord aw'd :
But courteous now he levels every fence,
Joins in the common cry, and halloos loud,
Charm'd with the rattling thunder of the field.
Oh bear me, fome kind power invisible!
To that extended lawn, where the gay court
View the fwift racers, ftretching to the goal;
Games more renown'd, and a far nobler train,
Than proud Elean fields could boast of old.
Oh! were a Theban lyre not wanting here,
And Pindar's voice, to do their merit right!
Or to those spacious plains, where the strain'd eye
In the wide prospect loft, beholds at last
Sarum's proud fpire, that o'er the hills afcends,
And pierces through the clouds. Or to thy downs, 75
Fair Cotswold, where the well-breath'd beagle climbs
With matchlefs fpeed, thy green aspiring brow,
And leaves the lagging multitude behind..
Hail, gentle Dawn! mild blufhing goddess, hail! Rejoic'd I fee thy purple mantle spread
O'er half the skies, gems pave thy radiant way,
And orient pearls from every fhrub depend.
Farewel, Cleora; here deep funk in down
Slumber fecure, with happy dreams amus'd,
Till grateful steams shall tempt thee to receive
Thy early meal, or thy officious maids,
The toilet plac'd, fhall urge thee to perform
Th' important work. Me other joys invite,
The horn fonorous calls, the pack awak'd
Their mattins chaunt, nor brook my long delay.
My courfer hears their voice; see there, with ears
And tail erect, neighing he paws the ground;
Fierce rapture kindles in his reddening eyes,
And boils in every vein. As captive boys
Cow'd by the ruling rod and haughty frowns
Of pedagogues fevere, from their hard tasks
If once difmifs'd, no limits.can contain
The tumult rais'd within their little breasts,
But give a loose to all their frolick play:
So from their kennel rush the joyous pack;
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