HARE-HUNTERS OF THE PAST 29 



under any Concern, it was on the account of the poor 

 Hare, that was now quite spent and almost within the 

 Reach of her Enemies ; when the Huntsman, getting 

 forward, threw down his Pole before the Dogs. They 

 were now within eight yards of that Game which they 

 had been pursuing for almost as many Hours ; yet on 

 the Signal before mentioned they all made a sudden 

 stand, and tho' they continued opening as much as 

 before, durst not once attempt to pass beyond the 

 Pole. At the same Time Sir Roger rode forward, and 

 alighting took up the Hare in his Arms ; which he soon 

 after delivered to one of his Servants with an Order, 

 if she could be kept alive to let her go in his great 

 Orchard, where, it seems, he had several of these 

 Prisoners of War, who live together in a very com- 

 fortable captivity. . . . For my own part," con- 

 cludes the Spectator, in this admirable account, " I 

 intend to hunt twice a week during my stay with Sir 

 Roger ; and shall prescribe the moderate use of this 

 Exercise to all my Country Friends, as the best 

 kind of physick for mending a bad Constitution and 

 preserving a good one." 



It is extremely unlikely that many Queen Anne 

 Squires, save the renowned Sir Roger de Coverley, 

 preserved their hares at the finish of a long chase in the 

 manner described by Addison. For years, I am bound 

 to confess, I took the description of the jolly Knight's 

 Stop-Hounds as a pleasing fiction, invented for the 

 amusement of the readers of the Spectator. But re- 

 search has convinced me long since that Stop-Hounds 

 were really and truly employed by our ancestors. 

 "The Southern Hounds," says Daniel, "were recom- 

 mended for woodland and hilly countries, and used by 

 those hunters who went on foot and hunted, as it was 

 termed, under the Pole, by which is meant, that so 



