THE FUTURE OF HARE-HUNTING 321 



ever known to the lover of the chase. These sights 

 and sounds, these exercises, so dear to the follower 

 of hare-hunting, are destined, I fully believe, to endure 

 in British fields for many and many a winter day yet 

 to come, and to cheer the heart, clear the brain, and 

 toughen the fibres of many a sportsman of the right 

 British blood. 



Bearing these things in mind, I do not think that 

 I can close this volume more fittingly than with a 

 motto taken from an old translation from the third 

 Georgic of Virgil : 



" Hark away, 

 Cast far behind the ling'ring cares of life. 

 Cithaeron calls aloud, and in full cry 

 Thy hounds, Taygetus. Epidaurus trains 

 For us the generous steed ; the hunter's shouts, 

 And cheering cries, assenting woods return." 



