ON (OIHSINC;. 115 



grounds,^ steeps and inequalities of surface — both because she Chap. XVII. 

 is light, and because her feet, from their wooUiness, are not 

 liable to be lacerated by the roughness of the ground ; ^ and 



Praeteritura uotum, longo internodia ductu 

 Pes geril, in cueluin toUuntur acumiue bino 

 Auricula;, flexoque in la3via tergora gyro 

 Erecta; redeuni falcata volumina cauda;. 



Mr. Gay's " Rural Sports," Canto 2nd, afford the only poetical description of a 

 liare-course in the English language, with which I am acquainted, in addition to tliat 

 already cited from the Polyolbion of Michael Urayton : 



Yet if for sylvan sports thy bosom glow, Canto ii. 



Let thy fleet greyhound urge liis flying foe. 



With what delight the rapid course I view ! 



How does my eye the circling race pursue ! 



He snaps deceitful air with empty jaws. 



The subtle hare darts swift beneath his paws : 



She flies, he stretches : now with nimble bound 



Eager he presses on, but overshoots his ground : 



Slie turns, he winds, and soon regains the way. 



Then tears with gory mouth the screaming prey. 



5. Ol (peWewves. I have not met with this word elsewhere. Xenophon has to 

 <p4Wta, chsp. V. De Ven., to signify the same kind of stony ground. The Scholia on 

 the Acharnenses of Aristophanes, Act ii. sc. ii. explains (peWeiis as rocky ground, 

 stony beneati), with a superficial covering of earth — such as we see on the slopes of 

 hills, perhaps. ^eXXhs occurs in Hesychius : ffKXjjphs tottos koL Sv(rtpyi]s, Kcd i^ eiri- 

 ^oKrjs irerpiiSris. Possibly the English term " fell " may be derived from the Greek 

 <pe\Khs or (peWevs. 



6. TlSSas rovs irpScrOfv &Kpais vypovs, (TTivovs, opOovs- tovs 5e oiria'dei' arepfohs, ir\a- Xenophon. de 

 T6JS' iravras 8e oiiSeyhs rpax^os (ppovri^ovTas. ^ enal. c. v. 



rie'^u/ce yap Saavs tovs TT65as ko.) Stj Kal tu>v rpaxecov avexfTai. The term Safftnrovs yElian. de 



is evidently derived from the woolly covering of the hare's feet ; originally an adjective "J^^' Animal. 



expressive of this peculiarity, but subsequently used to designate the hare herself. 



To the same origin Junius refers the English term ra66e< — "cuniculus :" "Quotquot Franc. Jimii 



unquam observarunt Anglos, in linguas vernaculae pronuntiatione, o sonare ut a, facile ,.^ *, 



^ . . ghcan. a Lye. 



mecum credent oliru fuisse rohbet, quod nunc rabbet pronuntiant et scribunt. Atque 1743. 



ita robbet iilud fortasse corruptum fuerint ex roughfet, quod exprirait Gr. haavirovs." 



The English word hare is derived by the same Etymologist from the Anglo-Saxon 



