12 The Chase 



Or with thy friends, the heart of all the year 



Divid*st, upon the lesser deer : 



And in the Winter, hunt'st the flying hare, 



More for thy exercise, than fare ; 



While all that follow, their glad ears apply 



To the full greatness of the cry : 



Thou dost with some delight the day outwear. 



Although the coldest of the year. 



The whilst the several seasons thou has seen 



Of flowery fields, of copses green. 



The mowed meadows, with the fleeced sheep, 



And feasts, that either shearers keep ; 



The ripen'd ears, yet humble in their height, 



And furrows laden with their weight ; 



The apple-harvest, that doth longer last ; 



The hogs return'd home fat from mast ; 



The trees cut out in log, and those boughs made 



A fire now, that lent a shade. 



Ben Jonson. 



Hunting a Boar ^o^ ^z^ ^o 



FORTH from the thicket rushed another boar. 

 So large he seemed the tyrant of the woods, 

 With all his dreadful bristles raised on high ; 

 They seemed a grove of spears upon his back : 

 Foaming, he came at me, where I was posted. 

 Whetting his huge long tusks, and gaping wide, 

 As he already had me for his prey ; 

 Till, brandishing my well-poised javelin high, 

 With this bold executing arm I struck 

 The ugly brindled monster to the heart. 



Thomas Otway (1651-1685). 



