422 HUNTING. 



auce at hand, to attempt giving an opinion on the 

 subject. The word ' harbour," however, is one of 

 common acceptation, and implies a place of refuge. 

 To unharbour a deer has long since been settled by 

 Pliny : ' Excutere feram cubili. The expression is 

 clear, and falls smoothly on the ear. Not so with 

 ' taking soil ;' it savours of filth, and is only appli- 

 cable, in this sense, to a hog delighting, in the 

 summer months, to wallow in mud or dirty water, 

 previously to going to his bed. To ' beat up and 

 down' is only another way of expressing to run to 

 and fro, and is found in Terence, in the word 

 cursito. The deer being ' set up,' can only be in 

 allusion to his having his throat cut ; for Cicero 

 speaks of a man being ' set up' to have that pleasant 

 operation performed : — ' In cervicibus imponere do- 

 minum." The stag roused from his lair has cer- 

 tainly a great superiority over unkennelling the 

 fox. The latter is tame and puny, whereas the 

 former is bold and classical, and quite in association 

 with the wildness of the forest, of Avhich this ani- 

 mal is the monarch. The lair is but another word 

 for the den ; as we read in VirgiFs celebrated con- 

 trast of a town and country life, in which he so 

 beautifully describes the manly pursuits of the lat- 

 ter ; and likewise in the hunting scene with Dido 

 and ^neas. The word feument I never heard 

 before, but conclude it is derived from the Greek 

 word ^ug^a, recrementumr 



The following is Nimrod's description of a full- 

 headed deer : — '' A perfect head, I find, consists of 



