378 HUNTING. 



and the fox, place the objects clearly and beaiiti- 

 fully before our eyes, and show that the poet had 

 often witnessed with rapture the scenes to which 

 he devoted his muse. The following passage, de- 

 scriptive of the feelings of a master of hounds on a 

 hunting morning, is not merely truly natural, but 

 at the same time highly poetical : — 



" Hail, gentle dawn ! mild, blushing goddess, hail ! 

 Rejoiced I see thy purple mantle spread 

 O'er half the skies ; gems pave thy radiant way, 

 And orient pearls from every shrub depend. 

 Farewell, Cleora ! here, deep sunk in down, 

 Slumber secure, with happy dreams amused. 



Me other joys in\'ite ; 



The horn sonorous calls, the pack awaked 



Their matins chant, nor brook my long delay : 



My courser hears their voice : — See there ! with ears 



And tail erect, neighing, he paws the ground : 



Fierce rapture kindles in his redd'ning eyes, 



And boils in every vein." 



Although hunting songs are a species of ancient 

 lyrics, of which the specimens are rare, and in our 

 own country " the songs of the chase"" do not appear 

 to include any earlier than the middle of the seven- 

 teenth century, we hav^e some of a more modern 

 date that have been highly popular with the public, 

 and no doubt have given the original impulse to 

 many a good sportsman. The power and force of 

 national songs have never been disputed in any 

 age ; and he who said, that if he were allowed to 

 compose the ballads of a nation, he would soon alter 

 its form of government, uttered a boast not alto- 

 gether unfounded in the principles of human nature. 

 Compositions of this kind, then, that tend to en- 

 courage a love of manly pursuits and pastimes, and 



