The Hunt in Literature g 



Uncouple at the timorous flying hare, 

 Or at the fox which lives by subtlety, 

 Or at the roe which no encounter dare : 

 Pursue these fearful creatures o'er the downs. 

 And on thy well-breath'd horse keep with thy 

 hounds. 



renus and Adonis^ 673. 



He is no woodman that doth bend his bow 

 To strike a poor unseasonable doe. 



Lucrece^ 580. 



Under an oak whose antique root peeps out 

 Upon the brook that brawls along this wood ; 

 To the which place a poor sequester'd stag, 

 That from the hunter's aim had ta'en a hurt, 

 Did come to languish, and indeed, my lord. 

 The wretched animal heaved forth such groans 

 That their discharge did stretch his leathern coat 

 Almost to bursting, and the big round tears 

 Coursed one another down his innocent nose 

 In piteous chase ; and thus the hairy fool, 

 Much marked of the melancholy Jaques, 

 Stood on the extremest verge of the swift brook. 

 Augmenting it with tears. 



As Tou Like It^ II. i, 31. 



A Defence of Hunting e> ^o 



" A yTERCY on me, what pleasure can you find, 

 J^VX^^y of ye all, in killing a poor beast that 

 never meant any harm ! " 



The Duke. " You are mistaken, Sancho ; hunting 

 wild beasts is the most proper exercise for knights 

 and princes ; for in the chase of a stout noble beast 

 may be represented the whole art of war, stratagems, 

 policy, and ambuscades, with all other devices usually 



