194 HUNTING THE HARE 



had been pui suing her fur nearly as many hours. The 

 pace must have been slow indeed for a hare to be 

 alive at all after such a prolonged chase. In another 

 old book, entitled ' Of the Hunting of an Hare,' the 

 huntsman is enjoined to mark carefully the first 

 bendings and circles oi his quarry, for ' she will all 

 day long hold the same wayes ' ; so that our forefathers, 

 when they had once found their hare, managed to get 

 a considerable amount of sport out of her, and 

 probably after all enjoyed it as much as the more im- 

 patient sportsman of modern times, who thinks that 

 twenty minutes without a check is the most desirable 

 form the chase can take. 



Packs of harriers, too, were kept on very different 

 lines ; country gentlemen and even substantial yeomen 

 farmers kept a few couple of hounds with which the)' 

 went out whenever they felt inclined, for their own 

 amusement and that of a few immediate neighbours. 

 There are probably few parishes in England or Wales 

 where a small pack of harriers or beagles has not been 

 kept at some time or other. Other times, other 

 manners ; the country gentlemen of moderate estate 

 have sadly diminished in numbers, and the substan- 

 tial yeoman farmer may be said to have practically 

 disappeared • their private little packs are gone with 

 them, and the chase of the hare is now carried on in 



