CHAPTER X. 



HUNTING AMONG THE ANCIENTS. 



/cat Sripuv aypiatv tOvtj 



(SoPH. Antig., 344.) 



ITH man, as among the lower animals, 

 neceflity led to the practice of hunt- 

 ing. Inftincl: bids them each purfue 

 what it can ftrike down, kill, and eat. 



" Say, will the falcon {looping from above, 

 Smit with her varied plumage, fpare the dove ? 

 Admires the jay the infeft's gilded wings ? 

 Or hears the hawk when Philomela fings ?" 1 



Hunting is a wide word, and embraces many 

 different quarries. Nimrod was the firft hunter, 

 and his prey was man. But here hunting will be 

 narrowed to the chafe of quadrupeds. And Izaak 

 Walton's huntfman mall eulogize his favourite 

 fport : " Hunting is a game for princes and noble 

 perfons ; it hath been greatly prized in all ages ; 

 it was one of the qualifications that Xenophon 

 1 Pope, " Eflay on Man," Ep. 3. 



