46 COWPER'S THREE TAME HARES 



him always after breakfast into the garden, where he 

 hid himself generally under the leaves of a cucumber 

 vine, sleeping or chewing the cud till evening : in the 

 leaves also of that vine he found a favourite repast. 

 I had not long habituated him to this taste of liberty, 

 before he began to be impatient for the return of the 

 time when he might enjoy it. He would invite me 

 to the garden by drumming upon my knee, and by 

 a look of such expression as it was not possible to eo 

 misinterpret. If this rhetoric did not immediately 

 succeed, he would take the skirt of my coat between 

 his teeth, and pull at it with all his force. Thus Puss 

 might be said to be perfectly tamed, the shyness of 

 his nature was done away, and on the whole it was 

 visible, by many symptoms which I have not room to 

 enumerate, that he was happier in human society 

 than when shut up with his natural companions. 

 Tiney. Not so Tiney. Upon him the kindest treatment 

 had not the least effect. He too was sick, and in his 70 

 sickness had an equal share of my attention ; but if, 

 after his recovery, I took the liberty to stroke him, 

 he would grunt, strike with his fore feet, spring 

 forward and bite. He was, however, very entertain- 

 ing in his way; even his surliness was matter of 

 mirth, and in his play he preserved such an air of 

 gravity, and performed his feats with such a solemnity 

 of manner, that in him too I had an agreeable 



* O 



companion. 



Bess. Bess, who died soon after he was full grown, and so 

 whose death was occasioned by his being turned into 

 his box (which had been washed) while it was yet 

 damp, was a hare of great humour and drollery. Puss 

 was tamed by gentle usage ; Tiney was not to be 



