2^6 Somervi/e's [third 



And hunts them ftep by ftep ; then views efcap'd^ 



With inward extafy, the panting throng 



In their own footfteps puzzled^ foil'd, andlofl. 



So when proud Eaftern kings fummon to arms 



Their gaudy legions, from far diflant climes 



They flock in crowds, unpeopling half a world : 



But when the day of battle calls them forth 



To charge the well-train*d foe, a band compaft 



Ofchofen vet'rans, they prefs blindly on. 



In heaps confus'd, by their own weapons fall, 



A fmoking carnage fcatter'd o'er the plain* 



Nor hounds alone this noxious brood deftroy : 

 The plunder'd warrener full many a wile 

 Devifes to entrap his greedy foe, 

 Fat with nod:urnal fpoils : at clofe of day. 

 With filence drags his trail ; then from the ground 

 Pares thin the clofe graz'd turf, there with nice hand 

 Covers the latent death, with curious fprings 

 Prepar'd to fly at once, whene'er the tread 

 Of man or beaft unwarily fliall prefs 

 The yielding furface. By th' indented fleel 

 With gripe tenacious held, the felon grins. 

 And ftruggles, but in vain: yet oft 'tis known. 

 When ev'ry art has fail'd, the captive fox 

 Has fliar'd the wounded joint, and with a limb 

 Compounded for his life. But if perchance 

 In the deep piifall plung'd, there's no efcape; 

 But iinrepriev'd he dies, and bleach'd in air 

 The jefl of clowns, his reeking carcafs hangs. 



Of 



