FOREWORD. 



correct when he designates that mighty hunter, Nimrod, a follower 

 of the timid hare as well as the noblest of great game, two thousand 

 years before the Christian era. He says of that kingly sportsman : — 



Bold Nimrod first the Lion's Trophies wore, 



The panther bound, and lanc'd the bristling boar ; 



He taught to turn the hare, to bay the deer, 



And wheel the courser in his mad career. 



Whether or not Nimrod occasionally descended to the 

 pursuit of the hare, it is certain that this form of chase is 



[From an Barly Hunting Picture. 



a sufficiently ancient one< Xenophon, who flourished three 

 hundred and fifty years before the birth of Christ, hunted 

 the hare with as much enthusiasm as our English squires of 

 the eighteenth century, and has left minute accounts of the 

 sport, describing the hare and her habits." 



We must travel through many centuries ere we find 

 Reynard occupying so important a place in the world of 

 sport. The term hunting, minus a qualifying prefix, 

 has now come to signify following foxhounds, but in 

 the early ages it had a much wider meaning, for then 



