278 



APPENDIX. 



Somerville's 

 Chace, B. i. 



Midsummer 

 Night's Dream. 



Somerville's 

 Cliace, B. i. 



strong, heavy, slow, but sure, 

 Whose ears down-hanging from his thick round head. 

 Shall sweep the morning dew ; whose clanging voice 

 Awake the mountain echo in lier cell, 

 And shake the forest : the bold Talbot kind 

 Of these the prime, &c. 



The hounds of Theseus would be correctly placed, from the de- 

 scription of our great dramatic poet, under the old English breed. 

 With it they have more points in common than with their fabled 

 progenitors ; 



My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind, 

 So flew'd, so sanded, and their heads are hung 

 With ears that sweep away the morning dew ; 

 Crook-knee 'd, and dew-lap'd, like Thessalian bulls; 

 Slow in pursuit ; but match'd in mouth like bells, 

 Each under each. A cry more tuneable 

 Was never halloo'd to, nor cheer'd with kom, 

 In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Thessaly. 



The vigorous and fleet Leverarius being a supposed representative 

 of some ancient types, I cite the masterly picture of Somerville for 

 the purpose of comparison with the classic poets of the Chase : 



See there with countenance blithe, 

 And with a courtly grin, the fawning hound 

 Salutes thee cowering ; his wide opening nose 

 Upwards he curls, and his large sloe-black eyes 

 Melt in soft blandishments, and humble J03' ; 

 His glossy skin, or yellow-pied, or blue, 

 In lights or shades by nature's pencil drawn, 

 Reflects the various tints ; his ears and legs 



Xenophon 

 De Venat. 



C. VI. 



necessity of keeping hounds, when once entered, steady to their particular game. 

 Plutarch (ir«pl iroKvirpayixoavvTis) alludes to the attention they paid to this point of 

 field discipline : ol Kwrjyol Toits c/cvAa/cas ovk itcaiv iKxpetreffOai ko2 StdKeiv iracrav 

 oS/AT/f, aWa Tois pyrripcriv 'd\Kov(n Kal avaKpovovai, KaQaphv aiiToiv koX &KpaTov (pvKar- 

 Tovies th ala6r}pLov (Trlrh uiKelov epyov, Xenophon, passionately enamoured of the 

 hare-chase, would not allow his harriers to turn aside, and run riot, after foxes — 

 Sia<p6opa yap ^eyiWij, Kal iv T<f ^i6vTi 06 ttots irdpiiaiv — it is fatal to their steadi- 

 ness. 



