HARE-HUNTING 



Slips glancing by ; while, at the further end 

 The puzzling pack unravel, wile by wile. 

 Maze within maze. The covert's utmost bound 

 Slyly she skirts : behind them cautious creeps, 

 And in that very track, so lately stain'd 

 By all the steaming crowd, seems to pursue 

 The foe she flies. . . . 



Now the poor chace 

 Begins to flag, to her last shifts reduced. 

 From brake to brake she flies, and visits all 

 Her well-known haunts, where once she rang'd secure, 

 With love and plenty blest. See ! there she goes. 

 She reels along, and by her gait betrays 

 Her inward weakness. See, how black she looks ! 

 The sweat that clogs th' obstructed pores, scarce leaves 

 A languid scent. And now in open view 

 See, see, she flies ! each eager hound exerts 

 His utmost speed, and stretches evVy nerve. 

 How quick she turns ! their gaping jaws eludes, 

 And yet a moment lives; till round enclosed 

 By all the greedy pack, with infant screams 

 She yields her breath, and there reluctant dies.' 



Passages in Somerville's poem appear hardly in accordance 

 with his avowed principles. His field, unless poetic licence 

 set practical knowledge at naught, had to ride for all they were 

 worth to live with the pack ; though granting the presence of 

 thrusters, we need not imagine speed comparable to that of 

 the modern hunter. Somerville himself could not have ridden 

 very hard, as we are told that he used to pull out his favourite 

 hunter, Old Ball, three times a week : of this useful animal 

 his owner has left record that he ' would not hold out two days 

 together.' Old Ball was a ' real good English hunter standing 

 about 15 hands high, with black legs, short back, high in the 

 shoulders, large barrel, cropped ears, and a white blaze.' 



The Royal Harriers, which had been re-established in 1730,^ 

 seem to have been the first pack of hounds to advertise meets. 

 During the Regency they were kennelled at Brighton, then at 



' The pack had been given up in James ii.'s reign. 

 51 



