10 Skull of a Hare. 



The joy in life of these animals indeed, of almost 

 all animals and birds in freedom is very great. 

 You may see it in every motion : in the lissom bound 

 of the hare, the pla} T ful leap of the rabbit, the song 

 that the lark and the finch must sing ; the soft, loving 

 coo of the dove in the hawthorn ; the blackbird ruf- 

 fling out his feathers on a rail. The sense of living 

 the consciousness of seeing and feeling is mani- 

 festly intense in them all, and is in itself an exquisite 

 pleasure. Their appetites seem ever fresh : they 

 rush to the banquet spread by Mother Earth with a 

 gusto that Lucullus never knew in the midst of his 

 artistic gluttony ; they drink from the stream with 

 dainty sips as though it were richest wine. Watch 

 the birds in the spring ; the pairs dance from bough 

 to bough, and know not how to express their wild 

 happiness. The hare rejoices in the swiftness of his 

 limbs : his nostrils sniff the air, his strong sinews 

 spurn the earth ; like an arrow from a bow he shoots 

 up the steep hill that we must clamber slowly, halt- 

 ing half-way to breathe. On outspread wings the 

 swallow floats above, then slants downwards with a 

 rapid swoop, and with the impetus of the motion 

 rises easily. Therefore it is that this skull here, 

 lying so light in the palm of the hand, with the 

 bright sunshine falling on it, and a shadowy dark- 

 ness in the vacant orbits of the eyes, fills us with 

 sadness. ' As leaves on leaves, so men on men de- 

 cay ; ' how much more so with these creatures whose 

 generations are so short. 



If we look closely into the grass here on the 

 slope of the fosse it is animated by a busy throng 

 of insects rushing in hot haste to and fro. They 



