132 HUNTING THE FOX 



saying that " He that will understand Shakespeare 

 must not be content to study him in the closet, he 

 must look for his meaning sometimes among the 

 sports of the field." 



The official poet of the Chase in the eighteenth 

 century was William Somerville, constantly quoted 

 by many writers until about a hundred years after 

 his death, which took place in 1742. Doctor 

 Johnson is not so kind to Somerville as he is to 

 Shakespeare ; he says in his Lives of the Poets that 

 "To this poem" ("The Chase") "praise cannot 

 totally be denied . . . and though it is impossible 

 to interest the common readers of verse in the 

 dangers and pleasures of the chase, he has done all 

 that transition and variety could easily effect." 

 Although Somerville outlived this characteristic 

 criticism for some time, he has very few readers to- 

 day, possibly few more than those who come across 

 quotations from " The Chase " in Handley Cross. 



Of songs and verses about Fox-hunting there 

 are many. The late Mr. Bromley Davenport has 

 made two contributions which may not be very 

 widely known, but are, nevertheless, classics in 

 their own sphere. It is impossible for any Fox- 

 hunter to read the " Dream of an old Meltonian " 

 without a thrill : 



Last night in St. Stephen's so wearily sitting 

 (The Member for Boreham sustained the Debate), 

 Some pitying spirit that round me was flitting 

 Vouchsafed a sweet vision ray pains to abate. 



