"We went with the extream of Violence from Tailings Wood to ye small
Coppice at Nap Hill where a Fellow put him from his Point, which gave
Occasion to Sir Anthony to correct him. Ye little magpie Hound made it
out in ye bog at ye back of ye Coppice, when again Hounds went at head
through Long Stone Pastures as far as Tainton. Here we was delayed in ye
Dear Park, the effluvia of ye Dear being extream strong and doubtless
puzzling to the Noses of ye Hounds. And here I cannot but remark the
skill with which ye Hounds worked it out till they had hit it off, a
sight, as Mr. Jarvis remarked to me, worthy of the Admiration of an
antient Philosopher, and of the eloquence of a most elegant Wit, or
Poet. Leaving ye Dear Park, He made for Norton Cross, which he left on
his left Hand, as though deciding for ye Hill. Crossing ye Hill, in
Spite of ye Sheep, he was a little staggered by his being run by one of
ye Shepherd's Doggs, a part of Creation that should not be tolerated,
except in ye vision of ye Poet, as in a Pastoral or so. Here Joe
Phillips, our Huntsman, made unavailing Casts, but by lifting to the
Vineyard recovered him, when Hounds run him to Cow's Crookham, on your
Lorp's Aston Estate.
"By this Time, your Lorp will understand our Distress. Dick Fancowe was
in ye Brook at Norton, Mr. Jarvis' grey Horse had cast a Shoe, and one
of ye Red Coats had broak his Liver in falling at a Fence. For a time we
went about to recover him:--
"Now with attentive Nose the restless Hound
Endeavours on the Scent, now here, now there,
Scorning adulterat scents of lesser Prey.
Now gloomy care invades the Huntsman's Face;
And Sportsmen (jovial erst) on weary steeds
Sit pensive."
Here might well be seen the Advantages of a judicious Breeding in
Hounds, that neglects not the intellectual Part, but aims rather at a
complete Animal than alone at Sinews and Corporeal Structure. That Blood
of the Old Berkshire Glorious, which your Lorp's Father was wont to
observe, was what he most stood by, next to our Constitution and the
Protestant Succession, here stood us in good stead, for it was to
Glorious ye Ninth, as well as to Growler and Glider (all of ye same
royal strain) that we was indebted to ye happy Conclusion. They pushed
him out of ye Stubbings at Cow's Crookham, where it seems he had taken
Refuge in the Hollow of a decayed Tree. We chac't him thence upon ye
Grass to Shepherd's Hey. Here he began to run short, being not a little
apprehensive, lest his Foes should triumph, and snatch from him that
Life, which he had so long nefariously pampered.
On courtly Cock with all his household Train
Of Hens obsequious, by the Hen Wife mourned.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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