indly spare
Thy sleeping pack, in their warm beds of straw
_370
Low-sinking at their ease; listless they shrink
Into some dark recess, nor hear thy voice
Though oft invoked; or haply if thy call
Rouse up the slumbering tribe, with heavy eyes
Glazed, lifeless, dull, downward they drop their tails
Inverted; high on their bent backs erect
Their pointed bristles stare, or 'mong the tufts
Of ranker weeds, each stomach-healing plant
Curious they crop, sick, spiritless, forlorn.
These inauspicious days, on other cares
_380
Employ thy precious hours; the improving friend
With open arms embrace, and from his lips
Glean science, seasoned with good-natured wit.
But if the inclement skies and angry Jove
Forbid the pleasing intercourse, thy books
Invite thy ready hand, each sacred page
Rich with the wise remarks of heroes old.
Converse familiar with the illustrious dead;
With great examples of old Greece or Rome
Enlarge thy free-born heart, and bless kind Heaven,
_390
That Britain yet enjoys dear Liberty,
That balm of life, that sweetest blessing, cheap
Though purchased with our blood. Well-bred, polite,
Credit thy calling. See! how mean, how low,
The bookless sauntering youth, proud of the scut
That dignifies his cap, his flourished belt,
And rusty couples jingling by his side.
Be thou of other mould; and know that such
Transporting pleasures were by Heaven ordained
Wisdom's relief, and Virtue's great reward.
_400

* * * * *

BOOK II.

THE ARGUMENT.

Of the power of instinct in brutes.--Two remarkable instances in the
hunting of the roebuck, and in the hare going to seat in the morning.--Of
the variety of seats or forms of the hare, according to the change of the
season, weather, or wind.--Description of the hare-hunting in all its
parts, interspersed with rules to be observed by those who follow that
chase.--Transition to the Asiatic way of hunting, particularly the
magnificent manner of the Great Mogul, and other Tartarian princes, taken
from Monsieur Bernier, and the history of Gengiskan the Great.--Concludes
with a short reproof of tyrants and oppressors of mankind.

Nor will it less delight the attentive sage
To observe that instinct, which unerring guides
The brutal race, which mimics reason's lore
And oft transcends: heaven-taught, the roe-buck swift
Loiters at ease before the driving pack
And mocks th