BRITISH SPORT PAST AND PRESENT 



More fleet, the verdant carpet skim, thick clouds 



Snorting they breathe, their shining hoofs scarce print 



The grass unbruis'd ; with emulation fir'd. 



They strain to lead the field, top tiie barr'd gate, 



O'er the deep ditch exulting bound, and brush 



The thorny-twining hedge : the riders bend 



0''er their arch'd necks ; with steady hands by turns 



Indulge their speed, or moderate their rage. 



Where are their sorrows, disappointments, wrongs, 



Vexations, sickness, cares ? All, all are gone, 



And with the panting winds lag far behind. 



Huntsman ! her gait observe; if in wide rings 



She wheel her mazy way, in the same round 



Persisting still, she'll foil the beaten track. 



But if she fly, and with the favVing wind 



Urge her bold course, less intricate thy task : 



Push on thy pack. Like some poor exiTd wretch. 



The frighted chace leaves her late dear abodes, 



Cer plains remote she stretches far away, 



Ah ! never to return ! For greedy death 



HovVing exults, secure to seize his prey. 



Hark ! from yon covert, where those towVing oaks 



Above the humble copse aspiring rise. 



What glorious triumphs burst in ev'ry gale 



Upon our ravisli'd ears ! The hunters shout. 



The clanging horns swell their sweet-winding notes. 



The pack wide-opening load the trembling air 



With various melody ; from tree to tree 



The propagated cry redoubling bounds. 



And winged zephyrs waft the floating joy 



Thro' all the regions near. Afliictive birch 



No more the schoolboy dreads ; his prison broke, 



Scamp'ring he flies, nor heeds his master's call ; 



The weary traveller forgets his road. 



And climbs the adjacent hill ; the ploughman leaves 



Th' unfinished furrow ; nor his bleating flocks 



Are now the shepherd's joy ; men, boys, and girls. 



Desert th' unpeopled village : and wild crowds 



Spread o'er the plain, by the sweet frenzy seized. 



Look how she pants ! and o'er yon op'ning glade 



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