BIRD, BEAST AND HUNTER. 27 



attempt at self-government. Thence came as well "the 

 pomp and circumstance" of tournaments and hunts, in which 

 " the civil com-teseys" of polished intercom-se was most deli- 

 cately defined, even amidst the stern collisions of opposing 

 forces, and from which all those beautiful amenities, named 

 politeness by modern civilization, had their truest source. 



Then the human chased the brute, surrounded by all the 

 regalia of a more exalted state, and the physical was culti- 

 vated through magnificence. Then " crested chiefs, and 

 tissued dames," were not above being thoroughly developed 

 men and women. Animals now arose to a more correct esti- 

 mation, and under the proper culture, soon became rather the 

 companions and subjects of our hilarious sports, than abject 

 slaves and enemies, or objects of alimentive lust. Then the 

 fleet and fire-eyed barbs were transported from their desert 

 homes, with all the appointments of a ducal progress, to lend 

 their game and tireless speed to the ambition of our rural 

 sports. Then the boar was left to whet his tusks and strength 

 together in his native and inviolated solitudes, until his savage 

 energies came to him, and he was fitted to add that hardy 

 attraction to the chase which danger gives. So was the stag 

 noui'ished in those solemn forest haunts where its antlered 

 pride grew and was matured for the noble struggle of its 

 chase. Even the falcon, with its steel-hinged wings, and in- 

 domitable wildness, was brought down from its crag-eyrie to 

 serve our pastimes ; and falconry became the most graceful 

 of all the sports in which the two sexes elegantly united. 

 Then came the manly fox hunt, in which sly Reynard's cun- 

 ning was made to increase the joviality and excitement of 

 the pursuit, and from which this creature has made itself 

 associate with the lusty habitudes and ruddy cheeks of the 

 English gentry. 



But the free and courteous indications thus nourished, 

 soon opened for the race a new field, as well as novel sur- 

 roundings, in which their legitimate results would be wrought 



