CHAPTER IV. 



HARE-HUNTING. 



" Hast thou pursued the timorous flying hare ? 



Mark the poor wretch, to overshoot his troubles, 

 How he outruns the wind, and with what care 



He turns and crosses with a thousand doubles. 

 The very musets through the which he goes, 

 Are like a labyrinth to amaze his foes." 



From commencing the present chapter with the above 

 quotation, our readers will judge beforehand that we 

 are not in favour of hunting the hare, and with certain 

 exceptions, their judgment will be correct. To see puss 

 on her last legs, limping slowly along under a hedge, 

 while hounds are ringing her funeral knell in the field 

 above, is a sight to move the pity, and not the ardour, 

 of the sportsman. 



" Her very grief may be compared well 

 To one sore sick, that hears the passing bell." 



Most works on sport ignore this branch of hunting 

 altogether, but, as in the absence of fox or stag, a quiet 

 canter after harriers may be better than nothing at all 

 in the opinion of some of our readers, and as the 

 sport is undeniably a branch of hunting, we think 

 that a short account of it is indispensable in the present 

 volume. 



