there.

WARDER [_entering_].--What are your Majesty's commands?

KING.--O Raivataka! bid the General of the forces attend.

WARDER.--I will, Sire. [_Exit and reenters with the General_]
Come forward, General; his Majesty is looking towards you, and has some
order to give you.

GENERAL [_looking at the King_].--Though hunting is known to produce ill
effects, my royal master has derived only benefit from it. For
Like the majestic elephant that roams
O'er mountain wilds, so does the King display
A stalwart frame, instinct with vigorous life.
His brawny arms and manly chest are scored
By frequent passage of the sounding string;
Unharmed he bears the mid-day sun; no toil
His mighty spirit daunts; his sturdy limbs,
Stripped of redundant flesh, relinquish nought
Of their robust proportions, but appear
In muscle, nerve, and sinewy fibre cased.
[_Approaching the King_.] Victory to the King! We have tracked the wild
beasts to their lairs in the forest. Why delay, when everything is
ready?

KING.--My friend Mathavya here has been disparaging the chase, till he
has taken away all my relish for it.

GENERAL [_aside to Mathavya_].--Persevere in your opposition, my good
fellow; I will sound the King's real feelings, and humor him
accordingly. [_Aloud_]. The blockhead talks nonsense, and your Majesty,
in your own person, furnishes the best proof of it. Observe, Sire, the
advantage and pleasure the hunter derives from the chase.
Freed from all grosser influences, his frame
Loses its sluggish humors, and becomes
Buoyant, compact, and fit for bold encounter.
'Tis his to mark with joy the varied passions,
Fierce heats of anger, terror, blank dismay,
Of forest animals that cross his path.
Then what a thrill transports the hunter's soul,
When, with unerring course, his driven shaft
Pierces the moving mark! Oh! 'tis conceit
In moralists to call the chase a vice;
What recreation can compare with this?

MATHAVYA [_angrily_].--Away! tempter, away! The King has recovered his
senses, and is himself again. As for you, you may, if you choose, wander
about from forest to forest, till some old bear seizes you by the nose,
and makes a mouthful of you.

KING.--My good General, as we are just now in the neighborhood of a
consecrated grove, your panegyric upon hunting is somewhat ill-timed,
and I cannot assent to all you have said. For the present,