HUNTING SONGS 



VII 



How his portrait sketch'd for " Baily " 



Would the sporting world enchant, 

 By the pen of a Whyte-Melville, 



Or the pencil of a Grant ! 

 An Adonis, scarlet-coated ! 



A glorious field Apollo, 

 May we have pluck and the rare good luck, 



When he leads the way, to follow ! 



VIII 



So intense my admiration 



(What I thought I dare not say). 

 But I felt inclin'd in my inmost mind, 



To wish for a blank day, 

 Lest a piece of such rare metal. 



So elaborately gilt. 

 Should expose its polish'd surface 



To a scratch by being spilt. 



IX 



Sad to think, should such a get-up 



By a downfall come to grief; 

 That a pink of such perfection 



Should become a crumpled leaf ! 

 Sad to think this bird of Paradise 



Should risk its plumage bright 

 By encounter with a bullfinch, 



Or a mud-stain in its flight ! 

 1-48 



