BOOK I THE CHASE v. 386-399.
Rich with the wise remarks of heroes old.
Converse familiar with the illustrious dead;
With great examples of old Greece or Rome
Enlarge thy free-born heart; and bless kind Heaven,
That Britain yet enjoys dear liberty,
That balm of life, that sweetest blessing; cheap,
Though purchased with our blood. Well bred, polite,
Credit thy calling. See! how mean, how low,
The bookless, sauntring youth, proud of the skut
That dignifies his cap, his flourish’d belt,
And rusty couples gingling by his side.
Be thou of other mould; and know, that such
Transporting pleasures, were by Heaven ordain’d
Wisdom’s relief, and Virtue’s great reward.
[a/]Argument.
Of the power of instinct in brutes. Two remarkable instances in the hunting of the roebuck, and in the hare going to seat in the morning. Of the variety of seats or forms of the hare, according to the change of the season, weather, or wind. Description of the hare-hunting in all its parts, interspersed with rules to be observed by those who follow that chase. Transition to the Asiatick way of hunting, particularly the magnificent manner of the Great Mogul, and other Tartarian princes, taken from Monsieur Bernier, and the History of Gengis Cawn the Great. Concludes with a short reproof of tyrants and oppressors of mankind.