350 On Hunting , Shooting , &c. 
buffering death, will not only be no objection to 
the diverfions we fpeak of, but will furnifh rea- 
fons of confiderable weight in their favour. 
The tie of natural affection, it hath already 
been obferved, is not weak among# brute ani¬ 
mals; but it may be remarked, that though in 
many cafes it is fo ftrong in parents towards 
their progeny, the refle&ed attachment feems to 
fubfift, only whilfl the young offspring are in¬ 
capable of providing for themfelves. When 
they attain to maturity, the connection is, in mod 
cafes, diffolved, and the relationfhip forgotten. 
How pitiable then mull be the fituation of that 
animal, whom age, with its attendants, weaknefs 
and difeafe, hath reduced to a feeble and lielp- 
lefs ftate, incapable of providing for itfelf the 
neceffary fubfiflence, a prey to continual appre- 
henfion from thofe animals whofe attacks it is 
unable to fly from or repel ; and at length lan- 
guifhing to the period of its exiftence, confumed 
by famine and wafted by difeafe ? Compare with 
the fate of fuch an animal, that of the timid 
hare. She meets the opening morn in health 
and vigour, and with playful frolic wantons on 
yon upland hill, enlivened by the beams of the 
rifingfun. No feeble pulfe, or languid eye, in¬ 
dicate a dilordered frame; no anticipation of her 
approaching fate infpires her with apprenenfion. 
All is gay and lively, like the profpeCl around 
her. On a iudden, however, the fcene is changed, 
the 
