AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
45 
With a cloth which vies with April’s verdant 
Meads, when the blythe robin has begun to 
Carol in the woods. Near to the fire-place 
Is a mat, on which my faithful Pointer 
Takes repose when home returned, and weary 
From the chase. There, by the closet, stands my 
Double-barrel instrument of death, well 
Protected in its leathern coat. Not far 
From that, on hooks projecting from the 
Whiten’d wall, game-bags and shot-belts are 
Suspended. Hard by my wardrobe is; 
And over it, in not the most methodical 
Array, of books a small but choice collection. 
These serve to while away the hours when 
Sickness or foul weather keep me home. 
Snug in a corner is my cot, friendly 
Receiver of my jaded frame, when from 
The fields I come laden with spoils. A desk, 
A single table, two arm-chairs, (one for 
A friend,) complete the scanty list of goods 
And chattels that my room contains. And yet 
For unpretending bachelor like me 
These will suffice. As simple quite, the 
Ornamental part. Over the mantel- 
piece a portrait of my mother hangs, sketch’d 
By myself in boyhood, long ere the cares 
Of life had rais’d one wrinkle on my brow; 
Her full, dark eye is fixed on me in 
Tenderness, and her scarcely open mouth 
Is smiling, perhaps at the success of 
This my juvenile aspiring. Around 
The walls, promiscuously arranged, are 
Some few sporting pictures, painted in 
By-gone days, when shooting and the chase were 
Follow’d by a race of men such as the 
Fields and woods are not soon destined to 
Behold again; a hardy, free, and 
Jovial set of beings, who shot and 
Hunted for the love they bore to healthful 
Exercise and sylvan sports. The noble 
Art of hunting for the pot, was then but 
Little known; pecuniary thoughts and 
Culinary calculations, never 
Disturb’d their minds; their ammunition, game, 
And purse, were equally their comrades, and 
Their own. Then there was no anticipating 
Of the seasons: Game in their days was 
Unmolested left, till by the hand of 
Time matured, and quite prepar’d to use the 
Means that Nature had bestowed to escape 
Its numerous foes. These men my plates 
M 
Exhibit in various circumstances 
Of the day, as finding, killing, resting, 
And returning home; fatigued, but yet 
Invigorated by the sport. The modern 
Caricatures I despise: they prove 
Degeneracy in both the artists 
And admirers: a vitiated taste 
Alone can love to see those manly sports 
Thus ridiculed; and therefore I condemn 
Them all. On brackets here and there about 
The room, guarded from dust, and the rude touch 
Of people over curious, by cases 
Fac’d with glass, are some few specimens of 
Birds, stuff’d by my friend J. D******’s hand, the Wood- 
cock, 
Quail, and Snipe, in form and attitude so 
Well preserved, that even life itself is 
Scarce more natural. ’Tis birds alone I 
Hunt. The savage Panther and the surly 
Bear, I leave to hunters more robust; nor 
Now does even the timid Deer or 
Wily Fox decoy me from my home. 
Let the rough Rabbit-hunter go his rounds, 
And poke about ’midst rocks and roots of trees, 
With hound and ferret, to drive out the poor 
And worried quadruped, that for awhile 
Has taken shelter there; if pleasure he 
Can find in catching with his hand a 
Frighten’d coney when trying to escape 
His tutor’d vermin, I envy not his 
Taste, nor much admire the skill display’d in 
Such plebeian sport. For me, I love to 
Scale the hemlock-covered mountains, where the 
Proud Pheasant spreads his fan-like tail, droops low 
His wings, and full of vernal ardour, gives 
Intimation loud to all his wives that 
He (great Turk!) is ready to return their 
Annual loves, drumming them to enjoyment. 
There in the fall I find the full grown 
Families around the base, and on the 
Sides of hills abrupt, and joy to hear them 
Whirring through the woods. Or in the vales 
Below I beat the stubble fields for Quails; 
’Tis there our dogs show best, as ranging o’er 
The extended plains, they eagerly inhale 
Th’ autumnal breeze; a sudden start, and 
Added earnestness, demonstrate they have 
Struck the scent; assur’d of which, they draw with 
Steady, cautious step, up the full stream of 
Tainted air, till having reached the spot 
Beyond which it were dangerous to proceed, 
