Those who have searched into human nature observe
that nothing so much shows the nobleness of the soul as
that its felicity consists in action. Every man has such
an active principle in him that he will find out something (15)
to employ himself upon, in whatever place or state of life
he is posted. I have heard of a gentleman who was under
close confinement in the Bastile seven years; during
which time he amused himself in scattering a few small
pins about his chamber, gathering them up again, and
placing them in different figures on the arm of a great
chair. He often told his friends afterwards, that unless
he had found out this piece of exercise, he verily believed (122: 5)
he should have lost his senses.
After what has been said, I need not inform my readers
that Sir Roger, with whose character I hope they are at
present pretty well acquainted, has in his youth gone
through the whole course of those rural diversions which (10)
the country abounds in, and which seem to be extremely
well suited to that laborious industry a man may observe
here in a far greater degree than in towns and cities. I
have before hinted at some of my friend's exploits: he
has in his youthful days taken forty coveys of partridges (15)
in a season, and tired many a salmon with a line consisting
but of a single hair. The constant thanks and good wishes
of the neighbourhood always attended him on account
of his remarkable enmity towards foxes, having[80] destroyed
more of those vermin in one year than it was thought the (20)
whole country could have produced. Indeed, the knight
does not scruple to own, among his most intimate friends,
that in order to establish his reputation this way, he has
secretly sent for great numbers of them[81] out of other
counties, which he used to turn loose about the country (25)
by night, that he might the better signalize himself in their
destruction the next day. His hunting horses were the
finest and best managed in all these parts: his tenants
are still full of the praises of a gray stone-horse[82] that
unhappily staked himself[83] several years since, and was
buried with great solemnity in the orchard.
[80] Correct the English.
[81] Friends or foxes? Correct the sentence.
[82] Stallion.
[83] Killed by impaling himself on a fence which he was trying to leap.
Sir Roger, being at present too old for fox-hunting, to (123: 5)
keep himself in action has disposed of his beagles and
got a pack of stop-hounds.[84] What these want in speed
he endeavours to make amends for by the deepness of their
mouths and the variety of their notes, which are suited in
such manner to each other that the whole cry makes up (10)
a complete concert. He is so nice in this particular that
a gentleman having made him a present of a very fine
hound the other day, the knight returned it by the servant
with a great many expressions of civility, but desired him
to tell his master that the dog he had sent was indeed a (15)
most excellent bass, but that at present he only wanted
a counter tenor. Could I believe my friend had ever read
Shakespeare, I should certainly conclude he had taken
the hint from Theseus, in the _Midsummer Night's
Dream_: (20)
[84] Hounds trained to stop at a word--as they are said to have done in
the following paragraph.
"My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind,
So flew'd,[85] so sanded,[86] and their heads are hung
With ears that sweep away the morning dew:
Crook-knee'd and dew-lapp'd[87] like Thessalian bulls;
Slow in pursuit, but match'd in mouths,[88] like bells,
Each under each.[89] A cry more tuneable
Was never holla'd to, nor cheer'd with horn."
[85] Flews are the chaps or overhanging upper lips of a dog.
[86] Of such a sandy colour.
[87] The dew-laps are the folds of skin hanging under the neck in some
animals, especially cattle.
[88] Incorrectly quoted for "mouth," meaning bark or voice.
[89] _I.e_. at proper musical intervals, like a chime of bells.
Sir Roger is so keen at this sport that he has been out (124: 5)
almost every day since I came down; and upon the chaplain's
offering to lend me his easy pad, I was prevailed
on yesterday morning to make one of the company. I
was extremely pleased, as we rid along, to observe the
general benevolence of all the neighbourhood towards (10)
my friend. The farmers' sons thought themselves happy
if they could open a gate for the good old knight as he
passed by; which he generally requited with a nod or a
smile, and a kind inquiry after their fathers and uncles.
After we had rid about a mile from home, we came (15)
upon a large heath, and the sportsmen began to beat.[90]
They had done so for some time, when, as I was at a little
distance from the rest of the company, I saw a hare pop
out from a small furze-brake almost under my horse's feet.
I marked the way she took, which I endeavoured to make (20)
the company sensible of by extending my arm; but to
no purpose, till Sir Roger, who knows that none of my
extraordinary motions are insignificant, rode up to me,
and asked me if puss was gone that way. Upon my
answering, "Yes," he immediately called in the dogs and
put them upon the scent. As they were going off, I heard
one of the country fellows muttering to his companion
that 'twas a wonder they had not lost all their sport, for (125: 5)
want of the silent gentleman's crying "Stole away!"
[90] _I.e_. to beat the bushes or undergrowth in order to rouse any
game hidden there.
This,[91] with my aversion to leaping hedges, made me
withdraw to a rising ground, from whence I could have
the pleasure of the whole chase, without the fatigue of
keeping in with the hounds. The hare immediately threw (10)
them above a mile behind her; but I was pleased to find
that instead of running straight forwards, or, in hunter's
language, "flying the country," as I was afraid she might
have done, she wheeled about, and described a sort of
circle round the hill where I had taken my station, in (15)
such manner as gave me a very distinct view of the sport.
I could see her first pass by, and the dogs some time
afterwards unravelling the whole track she had made, and
following her through all her doubles. I was at the same
time delighted in observing that deference which the rest (20)
of the pack paid to each particular hound, according to
the character he had acquired amongst them: if they
were at fault, and an old hound of reputation opened[92] but
once, he was immediately followed by the whole cry;
while a raw dog, or one who was a noted liar, might have (25)
yelped his heart out without being taken notice of.
[91] What?
[92] Bayed.
The hare now, after having squatted two or three times,
and been put up again as often, came still nearer to the
place where she was at first started. The dogs pursued
her, and these were followed by the jolly knight, who
rode upon a white gelding, encompassed by his tenants
and servants, and cheering his hounds with all the gaiety
of five-and-twenty. One of the sportsmen rode up to me, (126: 5)
and told me that he was sure the chase was almost at an
end, because the old dogs, which had hitherto lain behind,
now headed the pack. The fellow was in the right. Our
hare took a large field just under us, followed by the full
cry "in view." I must confess the brightness of the (10)
weather, the cheerfulness of everything around me, the
chiding of the hounds, which was returned upon us in a
double echo from two neighbouring hills, with the hollowing
of the sportsmen, and the sounding of the horn, lifted
my spirits into a most lively pleasure, which I freely indulged (15)
because I was sure it was innocent. If I was
under any concern, it was on the account of the poor
hare, that was now quite spent, and almost within the
reach of her enemies; when the huntsman, getting forward,
threw down his pole before the dogs. They were (20)
now within eight yards of that game which they had been
pursuing for almost as many hours; yet on the signal
before mentioned, they all made a sudden stand, and
though they continued opening as much as before, durst
not once attempt to pass beyond the pole. At the same (25)
time Sir Roger rode forward, and, alighting, took up the
hare in his arms, which he soon after delivered up to one
of his servants with an order, if she could be kept alive, to
let her go in his great orchard, where it seems he has
several of these prisoners of war, who live together in a
very comfortable captivity. I was highly pleased to see
the discipline of the pack, and the good-nature of the
knight, who could not find in his heart to murder a
creature that had given him so much diversion. (127: 5)
As we were returning home I remembered that Monsieur
Pascal, in his most excellent discourse on the
_Misery of Man_, tells us that all our endeavours after
greatness proceed from nothing but a desire of being surrounded
by a multitude of persons and affairs that may (10)
hinder us from looking into ourselves, which is a view we
cannot bear. He afterwards goes on to show that our
love of sports comes from the same reason, and is particularly
severe upon hunting. "What," says he, "unless
it be to drown thought, can make men throw away so (15)
much time and pains upon a silly animal, which they
might buy cheaper in the market?" The foregoing
reflection is certainly just when a man suffers his whole
mind to be drawn into his sports, and altogether loses
himself in the woods; but does not affect those who propose (20)
a far more laudable end from this exercise,--I
mean, the preservation of health, and keeping all the
organs of the soul in a condition to execute her orders.
Had that incomparable person, whom I last quoted, been
a little more indulgent to himself in this point, the world (25)
might probably have enjoyed him much longer; whereas
through too great an application to his studies in his
youth, he contracted that ill habit of body which, after
a tedious sickness, carried him off in the fortieth year of
his age; and the whole history we have of his life till
that time, is but one continued account of the behaviour
of a noble soul struggling under innumerable pains and
distempers.
For my own part, I intend to hunt twice a week during (128: 5)
my stay with Sir Roger; and shall prescribe the moderate
use of this exercise to all my country friends, as the best
kind of physic for mending a bad constitution and preserving
a good one.
I cannot do this better than in the following lines out (10)
of Mr. Dryden:
"The first physicians by debauch were made;
Excess began, and sloth sustains the trade.
By chase our long-lived fathers earned their food;
Toil strung the nerves, and purified the blood; (15)
But we their sons, a pamper'd race of men,
Are dwindled down to threescore years and ten.
Better to hunt in fields for health unbought
Than fee the doctor for a nauseous draught.
The wise for cure on exercise depend: (20)
God never made his work for man to mend."
X.