FOX-HUNTING 



rich joyful tenor : wild wistful alto ; and leaping up here and 

 there above the throng of sounds, delicate treble shrieks and 

 trills of trembling joy. I know not whether you can fit it into 

 your laws of music, any more than you can the song of that 

 Ariel sprite who dwells in the Eolian harp, or the roar of the 

 waves on the rock, or 



" Myriads of rivulets hurrying through the lawn. 

 And murmur of innumerable bees." 



But music it is. A madrigal ? Rather a whole opera of Der 

 Freischiitz — daemonic element and all — to judge by those red 

 lips, fierce eyes, wild hungry voices ; and such as should make 

 Reinecke, had he strong aesthetic sympathies, well content to 

 be hunted from his cradle to his grave, that such sweet sounds 

 might by him enrich the air. Heroes of old were glad to die 

 if but some " vates sacer " would sing their fame in worthy 

 strains : and shalt not thou too be glad, Reinecke ? Content 

 thyself with thy fate. Music soothes care ; let it soothe 

 thine, as thou runnest for thy life ; thou shalt have enough of 

 it in the next hour. For as the Etruscans (says Athenasus) 

 were so luxurious that they used to flog their slaves to the 

 sound of the flute, so shall luxurious Chanter and Challenger, 

 Sweet-lips and Melody, eat thee to the sound of rich organ- 

 pipes, that so thou mayest, 



"Like that old fabled swan, in music die." 



' And now appear, dim at first and distant, but brightening 

 and nearing fast, many a right good fellow and many a right 

 good horse. I know three out of four of them, their private 

 histories, the private histories of their horses ; and could tell 

 you many a good story of them : but shall not, being an 

 English gentleman, and not an American litterateur. They are 

 not very clever, or very learned, or very anything, except 

 gallant men : but they are good enough company for me, or 

 any one ; and each has his own specialitc, for which I like him. 

 That huntsman I have known for fifteen years, and sat many 



23 



