Pars pedibus plaudunt choreas, et carmina dicunt. Pascere equos, eadem sequitur tellure repostos. VIRG. NEID VI. Part on the grassy cirque their pliant limbs Their chief their arms admires, their empty cars, I hope, therefore, I may be indulged (even by the more grave and censorious part of mankind) if, at my leisure hours, I run over in my elbow-chair some of those Chases which were once the delight of a more vigorous age. It is an entertaining, and (as I conceive) a very innocent amusement. The result of these rambling imaginations will be found in the following poem, which, if equally diverting to my readers as to myself, I shall have gained my end. I have intermixed the perceptive parts with so many descriptions and digressions in the Georgic manner, that I hope they will not be tedious. I am sure they are very necessary to be well understood by any gentleman who would enjoy this noble sport in full perfection. In this at least I may comfort myself, that I cannot trespass upon their patience more than Markam, Blome, and the Other prose writers upon this subject. It is most certain that hunting was the exercise of the greatest heroes in antiquity. By this they formed themselves for war, and their exploits against wild beasts were a prelude to their future victories. Xenophon says, that almost all the ancient heroes, Nestor, Theseus, Castor, Pollux, Ulysses, Diomedes, Achilles, &c. were μαθηται κυνηγεσίων, disciples of hunting, being taught carefully that art, as what would be highly serviceable to them in military discipline. Xen. Cynege'ic. And Pliny observes, those who were designed for great captains were first taught certare cum fugacibus feris cursu, cum audacibus robore, cum callidis astu; to contest with the swiftest wild beasts in speed, with the boldest in strength, with the most ⚫ cunning in craft and subtilty. Plin. Panegyr. And the Roman emperors, in those monuments they erected to transmit their actions to future ages, made no scruple to join the glories of the Chase to their most celebrated triumphs. Neither were their poets wanting to do justice to this heroic exercise. Beside that of Oppian in Greek, we have several poems in Latin upon hunting. Gratius was contemporary with Ovid, as appears by this verse, Aptaque venanti Gralius arma dabit. Lib. iv. Pont. Gratius shall arm the huntsman for the chase. But of his works only some fragments remain. There are many others of more modern date; among these Nemesianus; who seems very much superior to Gratius, though of a more degenerate age: but only a fragment of his first book is preserved. We might, indeed, have expected to have seen it treated more at large by Virgil, in his third Georgic, since it is expressly part of his subject; but he has favoured us only with ten verses, and what he says of dogs relates wholly to greyhounds and mastiffs. Veloces Sparta catulos, acremque Molossum. Georg.iii. The greyhound swift, and mastiff's furious breed. And he directs us to feed them with butter-milk, Pasce sero pingui. He has, it is true, touched upon the Chase in the 4th and 7th books of the Æneid. But it is evident that the art of hunting is very different now from what it was in his days, and very much altered and improved in these latter ages. It does not appear to me that the ancients had any notion of pursuing wild beasts by the scent only, with a regular and well-disciplined pack of hounds, and therefore they must have passed for poachers amongst our modern sportsmen. The muster-roll given us by Ovid, in his story of Actæon, is of all sorts of dogs, and of all countries. And the description of the ancient hunting, as we find it in the antiquities of Pere de Montfaucon, taken from the Sepulchre of the Nasos, and the Arch of Constantine, has not the least trace of the manner now in use. Whenever the ancients mention dogs following by the scent, they mean no more than finding out the game by the nose of one single dog. This was as much as they knew of the odora canum vis. Thus Nemesianus says, Odorato noscunt vestigia prato, Atque etiam leporum secreta cubilia monstrant. They challenge on the mead the recent stains, Oppian has a long description of these dogs in his first book, from ver. 479 to 526. And here, though he seems to describe the hunting of the hare by the scent, through many turnings and windings, yet he really says no more than that one of those hounds, which he calls 'ixEUTnges, finds out the game: for he follows the scent no further than the hare's form; from whence, after he has started her, he pursues her her by sight. I am indebted for these two last remarks to a reverend and very learned gentleman, whose judgment in the belles lettres no body disputes, and whose approbation gave me the assurance to publish this poem. Oppian also observes, that the best sort of these finders were brought from Britain, this island having always been famous (as it is at this day) for the best breed of hounds, for persons the best skilled in the art of hunting, and for horses the most enduring to follow the Chase. It is therefore strange that none of our poets have yet thought it worth their while to treat of this subject, which is, without doubt, very noble in itself, and very well adapted to receive the most beautiful turns of poetry. Perhaps our poets have no great genius for hunting; yet I hope my brethren of the couples, by encouraging the first, but imperfect, essay, will shew the world they have at least some taste for poetry. The ancients esteemed hunting not only as a manly and warlike exercise, but as highly conducive to health. The famous Galen recommends it above all others, as not only exercising the body, but giving delight and entertainment to the mind; and he calls the inventors of this art wise men, and well skilled in human nature. Lib. de parva pila exercilio. |