THE HARE AND ITS WAYS 45 



three pets, was of a totally different nature, and 

 although, like his companion, nursed tenderly through 

 an illness, was never anything but of a surly nature ; 

 if the poet took the liberty of stroking him, he would 

 grunt, strike out with his fore feet, spring forward, 

 and bite. " Bess," the third of this singular trio, 

 was, says Cowper, " a hare of great humour and 

 drollery ; he had a courage and confidence that made 

 him tame from the beginning." The poet always 

 admitted the three hares into the parlour after supper, 

 " when, the carpet affording their feet a firm hold, 

 they would frisk Jand bound and play a thousand 

 gambols, in which Bess, being remarkably strong 

 and fearless, was always superior to the rest, and proved 

 himself the Vestris of the party. One evening the 

 cat, being in the room, had the hardihood to pat Bess 

 upon the cheek, an indignity which he resented by 

 drumming upon her back with such violence, that 

 the cat was happy to escape from under his paws 

 and hide herself." 



Each of these hares had a distinct character of 

 its own. " Their countenances," says Cowper, " were 

 so expressive of that character that, when I looked 

 only on the face of either, I immediately knew which 

 it was. It is said that a shepherd, however numerous 

 his flock, soon becomes so familiar with their features 

 that he can, by that indication only, distinguish each 

 from all the rest. ... I doubt not that the same dis- 

 crimination in the cast of countenances would be 

 discernible in hares, and am persuaded that, among 

 a thousand of them, no two could be found exactly 

 similar." These animals noted instantly the smallest 

 alteration in their surroundings. " A small hole 

 being burnt in the carpet, it was mended with a patch, 

 and that patch in a moment underwent the strictest 



