HUNTING DIRECTORY 211 



Every Hare has her particular Play. 



largeness of her heart and lungs, the strength of her 

 joints, the hardness of her little bones, the firm braces 

 of her back, the slenderness of her belly, the portable 

 shape of her paps or udders, the measure of her ears, 

 the firmness of her gaskins, the superior length of her 

 hinder legs, the obscurity of her colour, and the inimi- 

 table contexture of her feet ; and let him then declare 

 the causes and ends of this wonderful formation; let 

 him dare to say she could have been formed better in 

 any one part to qualify her for lying hid in her form, for 

 nimbleness of flight, for holding out against her foes, or 

 for giving pleasure to man. 



" We must never forget that every hare (as we say of 

 fencers) has her particular play ; that, however, that 

 play is occasionally changed, according to the variation 

 of wind and weather, the weight of the air, the nature of 

 the ground, and the degree of eagerness with which she 

 is pursued. Nor are we to be unmindful of the numerous 

 accidents she may meet in her way, to turn her out of 

 her course, to cover her flight, to quicken her speed, or 

 to furnish her with an opportunity for new devices. I 

 say, it is not enough to have a general knowledge of 

 these things before the game is started ; but in the heat 

 of action (when we are most tempted to be in raptures, 

 with the sound of the horns, the melody of the cry, and 

 the expectation of success) we must carry them in our 

 heads ; every step we make we must calmly observe the 

 alterations of the soil, the position of the wind, the time 

 of the year ; and no less take notice with what speed she 

 is driven — how far she is before — to what place she 

 tends — whether she is likely to keep on forward, or to 



