INTRODUCTION.
THE following Eſſays were given me, many years ago, by a Gentleman, equally converſant with the ſtudy of Natural Hiſtory and the Diverſions of the Field, as a ſingular Curioſity, which had accidentally fallen into his hands, and which he had tranſcribed: the firſt from a MS. the other from a printed Pamphlet, but which was very ſcarce. Having ſhewn them to moſt of my ſporting Friends, I found them very deſirous of having copies; and imagining, as they give an account of a very popular and manly amuſement, and inveſtigate its nature and principles, many other Lovers of the Chace may be pleaſed with them, I am induced to lay them before the Public in this manner.
I know the literary and ſpeculative part of Mankind are apt to conſider theſe kind of country diverſions in a contemptible light; and, perhaps, they may be inclined to deſpiſe any perſon who ſhall devote his time to the writing, or even the reading, of a ſingle page, on a ſubject which they may think only deſerving the attention of Grooms, Country 'Squires, and Dog-boys. But this opinion is by no means founded on reaſon.
A healthy frame of body is to the full as neceſſary for our happineſs as a ſound diſpoſition of mind. The Roman Satiriſt joins them together in his prayer, and, indeed, the latter is never perfectly attainable without the former. Now to gain this in a compleat manner, more exerciſe is certainly requiſite than the taſked hour of walking or riding, which the Man of Literature or Buſineſs with difficulty perſuades himſelf to ſnatch from his favorite employments. This may, indeed, juſt ſuffice to keep off the dreadful conſequences which muſt inevitably attend an entirely ſedentary life; but will never give that ſtate of robuſt, and, if you will, of rude health, which no one who ever enjoyed will ever affect to deſpiſe.
Beſides, though the Middle-aged and the Phlegmatic may prevail on themſelves to take theſe regular airings, the Young and the Sanguine muſt have ſome active enjoyment to call them forth; for they never will quit the moſt trifling, or even vicious purſuit, that engages their attention within doors, unleſs they have ſome other equally intereſting to call them to the field.
But rural diverſions, when followed in a liberal manner, (for I do not wiſh to renew the almoſt extinguiſhed breed of mere hunting 'Squires,) are particularly uſeful in this iſland, where, from the nature of our Government, no man can be of conſequence without ſpending a large portion of his time in the country, and every additional inducement to this mode of life is an additional ſecurity to our freedom and independence. I much queſtion whether our morals, or even our manners, are greatly improved by that ſtyle of living, which empties our country feats to fill the metropolis, or the large provincial towns; and whether the manly character that once diſtinguiſhed the Engliſhman has not ſuffered more on the ſide of firmneſs and integrity, than it has gained on that of politeneſs and elegance, by ſacrificing the rough ſports of the Field to the ſofter amuſements of the Aſſembly and Card Table.
I know the laws which are in force to preſerve thoſe Animals which are the objects of this diverſion, are ſeverely attacked by the ſentimental Novel Writers of the preſent time: writers who, without invention, humour, or real knowledge of mankind, dreſs up ſome improbable tale with affected maxims of fine feeling, and exquiſite ſenſibility, and endeavour to weaken the hearts, enflame the paſſions, and miſlead the underſtandings of the riſing generation. Theſe abound with horrid ſtories of the young and ingenuous Peaſant torn from his weeping Parents, and his diſtracted Bride, and either hurried into a loathſome dungeon, or baniſhed to an unhealthy climate, only for the murder of a Hare or a Partridge. But I will venture to ſay, there is hardly a Day-laborer in the kingdom that may not, in a reaſonable manner, be indulged with the uſe of theſe animals by a proper application; and if he is fond of the diverſion they afford, and chuſes to be idly buſy rather rather, induſtriouſly ſo, he may perfectly ſatiſfy. himſelf by attending the Hounds or Greyhounds of the 'Squire, or aſſiſting the Game-keeper with his gun. But that Laws ſhould be made to prevent the man, whoſe family depends entirely on his labor for ſupport, from quitting his flail, his plough, or his ſpade, to range the woods for the deſtruction of animals, which afford a noble and manly diverſion to their Proprietor, I can conceive no more inconſiſtent with juſtice, than that he ſhould be prevented from entering the orchard or the hen-rooſt. Aſ the beaſts of the foreſt and the fruits of the foil are equally common in a ſtate of nature, ſo I ſee no reaſon why they may not be equally appropriated in a ſtate of civil ſociety, And I appeal to any perſon really converſant in theſe kind of facts, if he knows a ſingle inſtance of one of thoſe men, commonly called Poachers, whoſe profeſſion is a violation of the Game Laws, and againſt whom alone they are ever executed with any ſeverity, whoſe character and ſufferings could entitle him to a tear, even from that moſt ſentimental of all ſentimental Heroes[1], The Man of Feeling himſelf.
While I am thus defending the general principle of our Game Laws, I do not mean to ſtand forth as their Champion in every reſpect; they want great alteration as to the objects both of their penalties[2] and exemptions, exemptions, and I truſt the time is not far diſtant when they will receive it from the wiſdom and authority of Parliament.
But there are other perſons whoſe ſuffrages I am very deſirous of obtaining, that may be inclined to look with diſdain on a Work that treats chiefly of Hare-hunting, and ſeems to give it the preference to all the diverſions of the fame kind. I mean the noble fraternity of Fox-hunters. As a Sportſman, I would carefully deprecate the reſentment of ſo reſpectable a body, nor preſume to defend the Author of the following Letters, in queſtioning the allowed ſuperiority of Fox-hunting over the humbler
ſports of the Hare-chace. But, as the Author of the firſt of theſe Treatiſes juſtly obſerves, in many inſtances the various kinds of hunting are cloſely connected, and whatever be the game purſued, every Huntſman is equally intereſted in the breeding and education of the Hound, the nature of the ſcent, and the general rules of the chace. And, perhaps, both the Active and the Literary may pay ſome deference to opinions backed by the authority of ſo reſpectable a name as that of Xenophon, who did not diſdain to write a Treatiſe on Hunting. Though he conſiders that exerciſe as a proper ſchool for forming the warrior, he evidently gives the preference to Hare-hunting. Speaking of the Hare, he avows his attachment to the pleaſure of hunting her in theſe ſtrong expreſſions, which are yet ſtonger in the original[3]: This animal is ſo pleaſing, that who-ever ſees it, either trailed, or found, or purſued, or taken, forgets every thing elſe that he is moſt attached to.
I have been, indeed, aſtoniſhed in reading the Cynegeticos of Xenophon, to find the accurate knowledge that great man had of the nature of the Hare, and the method of hunting her, and to obſerve one of the fineſt Writers, the braveſt Soldiers, the ableſt Politicians, the wiſeſt Philoſophers, and the moſt virtuous Citizens of antiquity, ſo intimately acquainted with all the niceties and difficulties of purſuing this little animal, and deſcribing them with a preciſion that would not diſgrace the oldeſt Sportſman of Great Britain, who never had any other idea interfere to perplex his reſearches.
As I think no tranſlation of Xenophon's Treatiſe on Hunting has appeared in our language, the Reader may not be diſpleaſed to ſee that part of it which bears an immediate relation to the ſubject of theſe Eſſays. I ſhall, therefore, lay before him a Deſcription of the Greek manner of Hare-hunting[4] extracted from that Writer, which I am the more induced to, as it will confute the aſſertion of Mr. Somerville, in his Preface to the Chace, that the Antients had no notion of purſuing wild beaſts by the ſcent only. I readily agree with him, that they had no idea of a regular and well-diſciplined pack of Hounds; but though, as [5] he and his learned Friend remark, Oppian deſcribes a particular ſort of Dog, which he calls Ιχνευτηρες, as finding the Game only, and following the ſcent no farther than the Hare's feat; and ſays, that after he has ſtarted her, ſhe is purſued by the ſight; yet this extract from Xenophon will ſhew, that, much earlier than the time of Oppian, they not only [6] trailed to the Hare by the ſcent, but abſolutely depended on that alone to purſue her flight in caſe ſhe eſcaped the nets; for the death of the Game being the chief object of the chace in the woody and mountainous regions of Greece, it muſt be acknowledged that Xenophon adviſes means to accompliſh that end, which would ſubject him to the appellation of Poacher from the modern fair Sportſman. And, as the evidence of [7] Arrian confirms this, and proves that, in the time of Xenophon, Greyhounds were not known in Greece, I ſhall tranſlate ſo much of him as ſhews the mode of courſing among the Antient Gauls, which will be found nearly ſimilar to that practiſed at the preſent time.
In regard to my tranſlation, I muſt beg leave to diſſent from the Critical Review of this Work on its firſt publicatin. I am there cenſured for adopting the technical Hunting Language of the preſent day; but, beſides the curioſity of perceiving that the hunting phraſes, and even the hollows, of the Antient Greek ſportſman, exactly reſembled thoſe of the modern Engliſh one,it will be found impoſſible to render the original at all intelligible in a tranſlation by any other means. I think the notes on the following pages will fully ſhew, that it is very difficult for a general Greek ſcholar to tranſlate a Treatiſe on any particular Art, without being in ſome degree verſed in that Art himſelf. There is, however, perhaps, no nicer point in the purſuits of Literature, than to diſcriminate nicely between adopting or rejecting modern phraſes in tranſlations from the Antient Writers. It is what we can hardly lay down rules for, though perhaps we may feel the diſtinition. To draw inſtances from the Military Art. No tranſlator would give modern names to the diviſions and officers of the Roman armies; he would not call Legions and Cohorts, Brigades and Regiments, or Tribunes and Centurions, Colonels and Captains; but he would certainly, in deſcribing a battle, make uſe of all generally appropriated military words, as front, rear, march, halt, inſtead of the words uſually applied to the purpofes of ordinary life.
- ↑ This gentleman, drawn as a pattern of peculiar milkineſs of diſpoſition, is betrayed once into the following bitter imprecations:
"Curſes on his narrow heart, that could violate a right ſo ſacred! Heaven blaſt the wretch!
And from his derogate body never ſpring
A babe to honor him!"————And what are the ſacred rights whoſe cruel violation has drawn ſuch heavy curſes from ſo mild a boſom? Why the 'Squire of the pariſh "pulled down an old cottage, that had been a ſchool, to open his proſpect;" and "plowed up a green where the boys uſed to play, becauſe they hurt the fence on the other ſide of it."
- ↑ That a man of one hundred pounds a year may deſtroy the Game with impunity on any one's land, and that a perſon of ninety-nine ſhall be liable to pay five pounds for killing a hare on his own, is a ſoleciſm too evident to need a comment.
- ↑ See the Greek motto in the title-page. Mr. Somerville bears the fame teſtimony in favor of Hare-hunting, when he particularly applies the following lines to the enthuſiaſm of that ſport:
"Where are their ſorrows, diſappointments, wrongs,
Vexations, ſickneſs, cares? All, all are gone,
And with the panting winds lag far behind."
- ↑ Some quotations from Xenophon's Cynegeticos, the Reader will find in the notes on the ſubſequent Eſſays.
- ↑ See the Preface to Somerville's Chace, at the end of theſe Eſſays.
- ↑ Xenophon particularly diſtinguiſhes the trail of the Hare from the ſcent ſhe leaves when running; the firſt he calls εὐναια, the laſt δρομαια.
- ↑ Arrian was a military Officer under the Emperor Hadrian: being a follower of Epictetus, as Xenophon was of Socrates, he was fond of comparing himſelf to the illuſtrious Athenian, writing on the ſame ſubjefts, and calling himſelf, with no ſmall degree of preſumption, the Second Xenophon. He wrote a Treatiſe on Hunting, intended as a ſupplement to that of Xenophon, and which is, in fact, an account of the method of courſing uſed in his time, in which he ſays, "Xenophon, the ſon of Gryllus, has given an account of Hunting, particularly of Hare-hunting, and the uſe of that exerciſe to the art of war; but as he has taken no notice of Greyhounds, which were not then known in Greece, I ſhall ſupply that deficiency."