would produce a strain
incomparably higher than Somerville's. Wilson, at least, as we know from
his "Christopher in his Sporting Jacket," and many other articles in
_Maga_, was qualified, in part by nature and in part by extensive
experience, to have written such a poem. Indeed, one sentence of his
is superior to anything in the "Chase." Speaking of the charge of the
cruelty of chasing such an insignificant animal as a fox, he says, "What
though it be but a smallish, reddish-brown, sharp-nosed animal, with
pricked-up ears, and passionately fond of poultry, that they pursue?
After the first tallyho, reynard is rarely seen till he is run in
upon--once, perhaps, in the whole run, skirting a wood, or crossing a
common. It is an _idea that is pursued_ on a whirlwind of horses, to a
storm of canine music, worthy both of the largest lion that ever leaped
among a band of Moors sleeping at midnight by an extinguished fire on the
African sands." We do not answer for the humanity of this description,
but it certainly seems to us to exhaust the subject of the chase, alike
in its philosophy and its poetry.[1]

SOMERVILLE'S CHASE.

* * * * *

BOOK I.

THE ARGUMENT.

The subject proposed.--Address to his Royal Highness the Prince.--The
origin of hunting.--The rude and unpolished manner of the first
hunters.--Beasts at first hunted for food and sacrifice.--The grant
made by God to man of the beasts, &c.--The regular manner of hunting
first brought into this island by the Normans.--The best hounds
and best horses bred here.--The advantage of this exercise to us, as
islanders.--Address to gentlemen of estates.--Situation of the kennel
and its several courts.--The diversion and employment of hounds in
the kennel.--The different sorts of hounds for each different chase.--
Description of a perfect hound.--Of sizing and sorting of hounds.--The
middle-sized hound recommended.--Of the large, deep-mouthed hound
for hunting the stag and otter.--Of the lime-hound; their use on the
borders of England and Scotland.--A physical account of scents.--Of
good and bad scenting days.--A short admonition to my brethren of
the couples.

The Chase I sing, hounds, and their various breed,
And no less various use. O thou Great Prince![2]
Whom Cambria's towering hills proclaim their lord,
Deign thou to hear my bold, instructive song.
While grateful citizens with pompous show,