HUNTING DIRECTORY. 185 



The Fox Chase. 



The master's band, in modulated air, 

 Bids the loud organ breathe, and all the powers 

 Of music in one instrument combine. 

 An universal minstrelsy. And now 

 In vain each earth he tries, the doors are barr'd 

 Impregnable, nor is the covert safe ; 

 He pants for purer air ! Hark ! what loud shouts 

 Re-echo tlirough the groves ! he breaks away. 

 Shrill boms proclaim his flight. Each straggling hound 

 Strains o'er tbc lawn to reach the distant pack. 

 'Tis triumph all and joy. Now, my brave youths, 

 Now give a loose to the clean generous steed ; 

 Flourish the whip, nor spare the galling spur ; 

 But, in the madness of delight, forget 

 Your fears. Far o'er the rocky hills we range, 

 And dangerous our course; but in the brave 

 True courage never fails. In vain the stream 

 In foaming eddies whirls ; in vain the ditch 

 Wide gaping threatens death. The craggy steep, 

 Where the poor dizzy shepherd crawls with care, 

 And clings to every twig, gives us no pain ; 

 But down we sweep, as stoops the fakon bold 

 To pounce his prey. Then up th' opponent hill. 

 By the swift motion flung, we mount aloft. 

 What lengths we pass ! where will the wandering chase 

 Lead us bewildered ! smooth as swallows skim 

 The new-shorn mead, and far more swift, we fly. 

 See my brave pack ; how to the head they press, 

 Jostling in close array, then more diffuse 

 Obliquely wheel, while from their opening mouths 

 The voUied tli under breaks. Now far behind 

 The hunter crew, wide-straggling o'er the plain ! 

 The panting courser now with trembling nerves 

 Begins to reel ; urg'd by the goring spur, 

 Makes many a faint effort: he snorts, he foams. 

 The big round drops run trickling down his sides, 

 With sweat and blood distain'd. Look back and view 

 The strange confusion of the vale below, 

 M 



