2,2 2 The Poets Beasts. 



and a long dissertation on hydrophobia, elaborately horrible, 

 leads the poem to its conclusion. But 



" One labour yet remains, celestial maid ! 

 Another element demands my song ; " 



and a spirited description of an otter-hunt closes " The 

 Chase." 



For fairness sake, and to strike the balance equally be- 

 tween the enthusiasts in praise and denunciation, Thomson's 

 " Autumn," where (plagiarising as he goes) he condemns 

 the " falsely-cheerful, barbarous game of death," should be 

 read, especially the delightful account of the tipsy fox- 

 hunters up at the Hall — 



" The table floating round 

 And pavement faithless to the fuddled foot ; 

 Thus as they swim in mutual swill, the talk, 

 Vociferous at once from twenty tongues, 

 Reels fast from theme to theme ; from horses, hounds, 

 To church or mistress, politics or ghost. 

 In endless mazes, intricate, perplexed. 



Their feeble tongues 

 Unable to take up the cumbrous word 

 Lie quite dissolved. Before the maudlin eyes 

 Seen dim and blue, the double tapers dance, 

 Tlien sliding soft — they drop." 



This is a counterblast of course to Somerville's "short 

 repast and temperate," to which the grateful farmer invites 

 the avengers of his hen-roosts. Nor less pointed is Thom- 

 son's reproof to ladies in the hunting ground, that com- 

 mences — 



" Let not such horrid joy 



E'er stain the bosom of the British fair ; 



Far be the spirit of the chase from them ! " 



Taken togetiier, the poems arc excellent illustrations of 



