Argument.
Of the necessity of destroying some beasts, and preserving others, for the use of man. Of breeding of hounds; the season for this business. The choice of the dog, of great moment. Of the litter of whelps. Of the number to be reared. Of setting them out to their several walks. Care to be taken to prevent their hunting too soon. Of entering the whelps. Of breaking them from running at sheep. Of the diseases of hounds. Of their age. Of madness; two sorts of it described, the dumb, and outrageous madness: its dreadful effects. Burning of the wound recommended, as preventing all ill consequences. The infectious hounds to be separated, and fed apart. The vanity of trusting to the many infallible cures for this malady. The dismal effects of the biting of a mad dog, upon man, described. Description of the otter-hunting. The conclusion.
Whate’er of earth is form’d, to earth returns,
Dissolved: the various objects we behold,
Plants, animals, this whole material mass,
Are ever changing, ever new: the soul
Of man alone, that particle divine,
Escapes the wreck of worlds, when all things fail.
Hence great the distance ’twixt the beasts that perish,
And God’s bright image, man’s immortal race.
The brute creation are his property,
Subservient to his will, and for him made.
As hurtful, these he kills; as useful, those
Preserves; their sole and arbitrary king.
Should he not kill, as erst the Samian sage
BOOK IV THE CHASE v. 14-37.
Taught, unadvised, and Indian Brachmans now
As vainly preach, the teeming ravenous brutes
Might fill the scanty space of this terrene,
Incumbering all the globe. Should not his care
Improve his growing stock, their kinds might fail:
Man might once more on roots and acorns feed;
And through the deserts range, shivering, forlorn,
Quite destitute of every solace dear,
And every smiling gayety of life.
The prudent huntsman, therefore, will supply
With annual large recruits, his broken pack,
And propagate their kind. As from the root
Fresh scions still spring forth, and daily yield
New blooming honours to the parent tree.
Far shall his pack be famed, far sought his breed;
And princes, at their tables, feast those hounds
His hand presents, an acceptable boon.
Ere yet the sun through the bright ram has urged
His steepy course, or mother earth unbound
Her frozen bosom to the western gale;
When feather’d troops, their social leagues dissolved,
Select their mates, and on the leafless elm
The noisy rook builds high her wicker nest;
Mark well the wanton females of thy pack,
BOOK IV THE CHASE v. 38-62.
That curl their taper tails, and, frisking, court
Their piebald mates enamour’d: their red eyes
Flash fires impure; nor rest, nor food, they take,
Goaded by furious love. In separate cells
Confine them now, lest bloody civil wars
Annoy thy peaceful state. If left at large,
The growling rivals in dread battle join,
And rude encounter. On Scamander’s streams,
Heroes of old with far less fury fought,
For the bright Spartan dame, their valour’s prize.
Mangled and torn, thy favourite hounds shall lie,
Stretch’d on the ground; thy kennel shall appear
A field of blood: like some unhappy town,
In civil broils confused, while discord shakes
Her bloody scourge aloft, fierce parties rage,
Staining their impious hands in mutual death.
And still the best beloved, and bravest fall:
Such are the dire effects of lawless love.
Huntsman! these ills, by timely prudent care,
Prevent: for every longing dame select
Some happy paramour; to him, alone,
In leagues connubial join. Consider well
His lineage; what his fathers did of old,
Chiefs of the pack, and first to climb the rock,
Or plunge into the deep, or thread the brake,