HARE-PIPES
—were instruments so curiously constructed, to imitate the whining whimper of A HARE, that, being formerly found a very destructive nocturnal engine in attracting the attention of hares, and bringing them within the certain possession of the POACHER, their use was prohibited (by particular specification) in every Act of Parliament for the preservation of game, from the reign of Richard the Second, to the present time; although it is natural to conclude, there is not now such an article to be seen, or found in the kingdom.
HARRIERS
—are the species of hound appropriated solely to the pursuit of the HARE, and from thence derived their present appellation. The breeding experiments so long made, and the various crosses so repeatedly tried, by the best judges in the kingdom, seem at length to have centered between the old southern and the dwarf fox hound. Mr. Beckford, whose "Thoughts" no sensible man, or judicious sportsman, will presume to dispute, was entirely of this opinion, and proved it by his practice; for he says, "his hounds were a cross of both these kinds, in which it was his endeavour to get as much bone and strength, in as small a compass as possible. It was a difficult undertaking. He bred many years, and an infinity of hounds, before he could get what he wanted, and had at last the pleasure to see them very handsome; small, yet very bony: they ran remarkably well together; ran fast enough; had all the alacrity that could be desired, and would hunt the coldest scent. When they were thus perfect, he did as many others do—he parted with them."
Notwithstanding the criterion of excellence thus laid down, the same sort of hound (as a harrier) is by no means applicable to every soil: the southern hound will be always in possession of THE SWAMPS, as will the beagles of the mountainous and hilly countries. Those who delight in seeing hounds bred and drafted to a certain degree of uniformity, in size, bone, strength, and speed, strictly corresponding with the opinion of Mr. Beckford, will not find it time lost, to take the field with the harriers of his Majesty, kept at Windsor: they are, as they ought to be, the best pack, and the best hunted, this day in the kingdom. See the Frontispiece; where every MAN, HORSE, and HOUND, is individually a portrait.
HART
—is the sporting term synonimous with Stag, (which SEE,) and was, in all forest laws and records, constantly in use to signify the same. At present, however, it is considered almost obsolete, and never so expressed in sporting report, or conversation.
HART ROYAL
.—A stag hunted by KING or QUEEN, obtaining his perfect liberty by beating the hounds, was formerly called a hart royal; and proclamation was immediately made, in the towns and villages of the neighbourhood where he was lost, that he should not be molested, or his life attempted by any farther pursuit; but that he should continue in a state of unrestrained freedom, with power to return to the FOREST or CHACE from whence he was taken at his OWN FREE WILL. This ceremony is, however, discontinued, and bids fair to be buried in a perpetual oblivion; as two instances have recently occurred worthy recital: one in the neighbourhood of High Wycombe, where the STAG was killed before the hounds, by a rustic, during the heat of the chase, in which the King at the time was personally engaged. And another at Mapledurham, near Reading, where the deer was wantonly shot, as he lay in a willow bank near the Thames, two days after he had beaten the hounds; yet it is publicly known, that no steps were taken to prosecute the offenders, which probably originated in his Majesty's clemency.