Hope gives them wings while she's spurr'd on by And each clean courser's speed. We scour along
fear.

In pleasing hurry and confusion tost;
The welkin rings, men, dogs, hills, rocks, and woods Oblivion to be wish'd. The patient pack
In the full concert join. Now, my brave youths, Hang on the scent unwearied, up they climb,
Stripp'd for the chase, give all your souls to joy! And ardent we pursue ; our laboring steeds
See how their coursers, than the mountain roe We press, we gore ; till once the summit gain’d,
More fleet, the verdant carpet skim, thick clouds Painfully panting, there we breathe awhile;
Snorting they breathe, their shining hoofs scarce Then, like a foaming torrent, pouring down
print

Precipitant, we smoke along the vale.
The grass unbruis'd; with emulation fir'd Happy the man who with unrivall'd speed
They strain to lead the field, top the barr'd gate, Can pass his fellows, and with pleasure view
O'er the deep ditch exulting bound, and brush The struggling pack; how in the rapid course
The thorny-twining hedge: the riders bend Alternate they preside, and jostling push
O'er their arch'd necks; with steady hands, by turns To guide the dubious scent; how giddy youth
Indulge their speed, or moderate their rage. Oft babbling errs, by wiser age reprov'd;
Where are their sorrows, disappointments, wrongs, How, niggard of his strength, the wise old hound
Vexations, sickness, cares? All, all are gone, Hangs in the rear, till some important point
And with the panting winds lag far behind. Rouse all his diligence, or till the chase

Huntsman! her gait observe ; if in wide rings Sinking he finds: then to the head he springs
She wheel her mazy way, in the same round With thirst of glory fir’d, and wins the prize.
Persisting still, she'll foil the beaten track. Huntsman, take heed; they stop in full career.
But if she fly, and with the favoring wind Yon crowding flocks, that at a distance gaze,
Urge her bold course ; less intricate thy task: Have haply foil'd the turf. See! that old hound,
Push on thy pack. Like some poor exil'd wretch, How busily he works, but dares not trust
The frighted Chase leaves her late dear abodes, His doubtful sense ; draw yet a wider ring.
O'er plains remote she stretches far away,

Hark! now again the chorus fills. As bells
Ah! never to return! For greedy Death

Sallied awhile, at once their peal renew,
Hovering exults, secure to seize his prey.

And high in air the tuneful thunder rolls.
Hark! from yon covert, where those towering oaks See, how they toss, with animated rage
Above the humble copse aspiring rise,

Recovering all they lost !—That eager haste
What glorious triumphs burst in every gale Some doubling wile foreshows.-Ah! yet once more
Upon our ravish'd ears! The hunters shout, They're check'd,—hold back with speed-on either
The clanging horns swell their sweet-winding notes,

hand
The pack wide opening load the trembling air They flourish round-ev'n yet persist—"Tis right,
With various melody; from tree to tree

Away they spring; the rustling stubbles bend
The propagated cry redoubling bounds,

Beneath the driving storm. Now the poor Chase
And winged zephyrs waft the floating joy Begins to flag, to her last shifts reduc'd.
Through all the regions near: afflictive birch From brake to brake she flies, and visits all
No more the school-boy dreads; his prison broke, Her well-known haunts, where once she rang'd
Scampering he flies, nor heeds his master's call;

secure,
The weary traveller forgets his road,

With love and plenty blest. See! there she goes,
And climbs th' adjacent hill; the plowman leaves She reels along, and by her gait betrays
Th' unfinish'd furrow; nor his bleating flocks Her inward weakness. See, how black she looks!
Are now the shepherd's joy! men, boys, and girls The sweat, that clogs th' obstructed pores, scarce
Desert th' unpeopled village ; and wild crowds

leaves
Spread o'er the plain, by the sweet frenzy seiz'd. A languid scent. And now in open view
Look, how she pants ! and o'er yon opening glade See, see, she flies ! each eager hound exerts
Slips glancing by! while, at the further end, His utmost speed, and stretches every nerve.
The puzzling pack unravel wile by wile,

How quick she turns! their gaping jaws eludes,
Maze within maze. The covert's utmost bound And yet a moment lives ; till, round inclos'd
Slily she skirts; behind them cautious creeps ; By all the greedy pack, with infant screams
And in that very track, so lately stain'd

She yields her breath, and there reluctant dies.
By all the steaming crowd, seems to pursue

So when the furious Bacchanals assail'd
The foe she flies. Let cavillers deny

Threïcian Orpheus, poor ill-fated bard!
That brutes have reason ; sure 'tis something more, Loud was the cry; hills, woods, and Hebrus' banks,
"Tis Heaven directs, and stratagems inspires Return'd their clamorous rage; distress'd he flies,
Beyond the short extent of human thought. Shifting from place to place, but flies in vain;
But hold, I see her from the covert break; For eager they pursue, till panting, faint,
Sad on yon little eminence she sits;

By noisy multitudes o'erpower'd, he sinks
Intent she listens with one ear erect,

To the relentless crowd a bleeding prey.
Pondering, and doubtful what new course to take, The huntsman now, a deep incision made,
And how t'escape the fierce blood-thirsty crew, Shakes out with hands impure, and dashes down
That still urge on, and still in volleys loud Her reeking entrails and yet quivering heart.
Insult her woes, and mock her sore distress. These claim the pack, the bloody perquisite
As now in louder peals the loaded winds

For all their toils. Stretch'd on the ground she lies
Bring on the gathering storm, her fears prevail, A mangled corse ; in her dim glaring eyes
And o'er the plain, and o'er the mountain's ridge, Cold Death exults, and stiffens every limb.
Away she flies ; nor ships with wind and tide, Aw'd by the threatening whip, the furious hounds
And all their canvas wings, scud half so fast. Around her bay; or at their master's foot,
Once more, ye jovial train, your courage try,

Each happy favorite courts his kind applause.

A

With humble adulation cowering low.

In compass round; woods, rivers, hills, and plains,
All now is joy. With cheeks full-blown they wind Large provinces ; enough to gratify
Her solemn dirge, while the loud-opening pack Ambition's highest aim, could reason bound
The concert swell, and hills and dales return Man's erring will. Now sit in close divan
The sadly-pleasing sounds. Thus the poor hare, The mighty chiefs of this prodigious host.
A puny, dastard animal, but vers'd

He from the throne high-eminent presides,
In subile wiles, diverts the youthful train. Gives out his mandates proud, laws of the chase,
But if thy proud, aspiring soul disdains

From ancient records drawn. With reverence low,
So mean a prey, delighted with the pomp, And prostrate at his feet, the chiefs receive
Magnificence, and grandeur of the chase ; His irreversible decrees, from which
Hear what the Muse from faithful records sings. To vary is to die. Then his brave bands

Why on the banks of Gemna, Indian stream, Each to his station leads; encamping round,
Line within line, rise the pavilions proud, Till the wide circle is completely formid
Their silken streamers waving in the wind ? Where decent order reigns, what these command,
Why neighs the warrior horse ? From tent to tent, Those execute with speed, and punctual care,
Why press in crowds the buzzing multitude ? In all the strictest discipline of war:
Why shines the polish'd helm, and pointed lance, As if some watchful foe, with bold insult,
This way and that far-beaming o'er the plain? Hung lowering o'er their camp. The high resolve,
Nor Visa pour nor Golconda rebel;

That flies on wings through all th' encircling line,
Nor the great Sophy, with his numerous host, Each motion steers, and animates the whole.
Lays waste the provinces ; nor glory fires So by the Sun's attractive power controllid,
To rob and to destroy, beneath the name The planets in their spheres roll round his orb:
And specious guise of war. A nobler cause On all he shines, and rules the great machine.
Calls Aurengzebe to arms. No cities sack'd, Ere yet the morn dispels the fleeting mists,
No mother's lears, no helpless orphan's cries, The signal given by the loud trumpet's voice,
No violated leagues, with sharp remorse

Now high in air th' imperial standard waves,
Shall sting the conscious victor : but mankind Emblazon'd rich with gold, and glittering gems,
Shall bail him good and just. For 'tis on beasts And like a sheet of fire, through the dun gloom
He draws his vengeful sword! on beasts of prey Streaming meteorous. The soldiers' shouts,
Full-fed with human gore. See, see, he comes! And all the brazen instruments of war,
Imperial Delhi, opening wide her gates,

With mutual clamor, and united din,
Pours out her thronging legions, bright in arms, Fill the large concave. While from camp to camp
And all the pomp of war. Before them sound They catch the varied sounds, floating in air,
Clarions and trumpets, breathing martial airs, Round all the wide circumference, tigers fell
And bold defiance. High upon his throne, Shrink at the noise, deep in his gloomy den
Borne on the back of his proud elephant,

The lion starts, and morsels yet unchew'd
Sits the great chief of Tamur's glorious race: Drop from his trembling jaws. Now all at once
Sublime he sits, amid the radiant blaze

Onward they march embattled, to the sound
Of gems and gold. Omrahs about him crowd, of martial harmony; fifes, cornets, drums,
And rein th' Arabian steed, and watch his nod: That rouse the sleepy soul to arms, and bold
And potent rajahs, who themselves preside Heroic deeds. In parties here and there
O'er realms of wide extent; but here submiss Detach'd o'er hill and dale, the hunters range
Their homage pay, alternate kings and slaves. Inquisitive ; strong dogs, that match in fight
Next these, with prying eunuchs girt around, The boldest brute, around their masters wait,
The fair sultanas of his court: a troop

A faithful guard. No haunt unsearch'd, they drive
Of chosen beauties, but with care conceal'd From every covert, and from every den,
From each intrusive eye; one look is death. The lurking savages. Incessant shouts
Ah, cruel eastern law! (had kings a power Re-echo through the woods, and kindling fires
But equal to their wild tyrannic will)

Gleam from the mountain tops; the forest seems
To rob us of the Sun's all-cheering ray,

One mingling blaze: like flocks of sheep they fly Were less severe. The vulgar close the march, Before the flaming brand : fierce lions, pards, Slaves and artificers; and Delhi mourns

Boars, tigers, bears and wolves; a dreadful crew
Her empty and depopulated streets.

of grim blood-thirsty foes; growling along,
Now at the camp arriv'd, with stern review, They stalk indignant; but fierce vengeance still
Through groves of spears, from file to file he darts Hangs pealing on their rear, and pointed spears
His sharp experienc'd eye; their order marks, Present immediate death. Soon as the Night
Each in his station rang'd, exact and firm, Wrapt in her sable veil forbids the chase,
Till in the boundless line his sight is lost. They pitch their tents, in even ranks, around
Not greater multitudes in arms appear'd

The circling camp. The guards are plac'd, and fires
On these extended plains, when Ammon's son At proper distances ascending rise,
With mighty Porus in dread battle join'd, And paint th' horizon with their ruddy light.
The vassal world the prize. Nor was that host So round some island's shore of large extent,
More numerous of old, which the great king* Amid the gloomy horrors of the night,
Pour'd out on Greece from all th' unpeopled East, The billows breaking on the pointed rocks,
That bridgid the Hellespont from shore to shore, Seem all one flame, and the bright circuit wide
And drank the rivers dry. Meanwhile in troops Appears a bulwark of surrounding fire.
The busy hunter-train mark out the ground, What dreadful howlings, and what hideous roar,
A wide circumference, full many a league Disturb those peaceful shades! where erst the bird

That glads the night bad cheer'd the listening groves
+ Xerxes.

With sweet complainings. Through the silent gloom

Oft they the guards assail ; as oft repell’d A strange promiscuous carnage, drench'd in blood, They fly reluctant, with hot boiling rage

And heaps on heaps amass'd. What yet remain Stung to the quick, and mad with wild despair. Alive, with vain assault contend to break Thus day by day they still the chase renew, Th'impenetrable line. Others, whom fear At night encamp; till now in straiter bounds Inspires with self-preserving wiles, beneath The circle lessens, and the beasts perceive The bodies of the slain for shelter creep. The wall that hems them in on every side. Aghast they fly, or hide their heads dispers’d. And now their fury bursts, and knows no mean; And now perchance (had Heaven but pleas'd) the From man they turn, and point their ill-judg'd rage

work Against their fellow-brutes. With teeth and claws of death had been complete; and Aurengzebe The civil war begins; grappling they tear. By one dread frown extinguish'd half their race. Lions on ligers prey, and bears on wolves : When lo! the bright sultanas of his court Horrible discord! till the crowd behind

Appear, and to his ravish'd eyes display
Shouting pursue, and part the bloody fray. Those charms but rarely to the day reveal'd.
At once their wrath subsides; tame as the lamb Lowly they bend, and humbly sue, to save
The lion hangs his head, the furious pard, The vanquish'd host. What mortal can deny,
Cow'd and subdu'd, flies from the face of man, When suppliant Beauty begs? At his command,
Nor bears one glance of his commanding eye. Opening to right and left, the well-train'd troops
So abject is a tyrant in distress!

Leave a large void for their retreating foes.
At last, within the narrow plain confin'd, A way they fly, on wings of fear upborne,
A listed field, mark'd out for bloody deeds, To seek on distant hills their late abodes.
An amphitheatre more glorious far

Ye proud oppressors, whose vain hearts exult Than ancient Rome could boast, they crowd in heaps, In wantonness of power 'gainst the brute race, Dismay'd, and quite appallid. In meet array, Fierce robbers like yourselves, a guiltless war Sheath'd in refulgent arms, a noble band Wage uncontrolld: here quench your thirst of Advance; great lords of high imperial blood,

blood : Early resolv'd t' assert their royal race,

But learn from Aurengzebe to spare mankind.
And prove by glorious deeds their valor's growth
Mature, ere yet the callow down has spread
Its curling shade. On bold Arabian steeds

Book III.
With decent pride they sit, that fearless hear
The lion's dreadful roar; and down the rock

Argument.
Swift shooting plunge, or o'er the mountain's ridge
Stretching along, the greedy tiger leave

Of king Edgar, and his imposing a tribute of wolves' Panting behind. On foot their faithful slaves heads upon the kings of Wales : from hence a With javelins arm'd attend; each watchful eye transition to fox-bunting, which is described in Fix'd on his youthful care, for him alone

all its parts. Censure of an over-numerous pack. He fears, and, to redeem his life, unmou'd

Of the several engines to destroy foxes, and Would lose his own. The mighty Aurengzebe, other wild beasts. The steel-trap described, and From his high-elevated throne, beholds

the manner of using it. Description of the pitHis blooming race; revolving in his mind

fall for the lion ; and another for the elephant. What once he was, in his gay spring of life,

The ancient way of hunting the tiger with a When vigor strung his nerves. Parental joy mirror. The Arabian manner of hunting the Melts in his eye, and flushes in his cheek.

wild boar. Description of the royal stag-chase Now the loud trumpet sounds a charge. The shouts at Windsor Forest. Concludes with an address Of eager hosts, through all the circling line,

to his Majesty, and an eulogy upon mercy. And the wild howlings of the beasts within, Rend wide the welkin; flights of arrows, wing'd In Albion's isle, when glorious Edgar reign'd, With death, and javelins lanch'd from every arm, He, wisely provident, from her white cliffs Gall sore the brutal band, with many a wound Launch'd half her forests, and with numerous fleets Gor'd through and through. Despair at last prevails, Cover'd his wide domain: there proudly rode When fainting Nature shrinks, and rouses all Lord of the deep, the great prerogative Their drooping courage. Swell'd with furious rage, Of British monarchs. Each invader bold, Their eyes dart fire; and on the youthful band Dane and Norwegian, at a distance gaz'd, They rush implacable. They their broad shields And, disappointed, gnash'd his teeth in vain. Quick interpose ; on each devoted head

He scour'd the seas, and to remotest shores Their flaming falchions, as the bolts of Jove, With swelling sails the trembling corsair fled. Descend unerring. Prostrate on the ground Rich commerce flourish'd ; and with busy oars The grinning monsters lie, and their foul gore | Dash'd the resounding surge. Nor less at land Defiles the verdant plain. Nor idle stand His royal cares; wise, potent, gracious prince! The trusty slaves; with pointed spears they pierce His subjects from their cruel foes he sav'd, Through their tough hides; or at their gaping mouths And from rapacious savages their flocks : An easier passage find. The king of brules Cambria’s proud kings (though with reluctance) paid In broken roarings breathes his last; the bear Their tributary wolves; head after head, Grumbles in death ; nor can his spotted skin, In full account, till the woods yield no more, Though sleek it shine, with varied beauties gay, And all the ravenous race extinct is lost. Save the proud pard from unrelenting fate. In fertile pastures, more securely graz'd The battle bleeds, grim Slaughter strides along, The social troops; and soon their large increase Glutting her greedy jaws, grins o'er her prey: With curling fleeces whitend all the plains. Men, horses, dogs, fierce beasts of every kind, But yet, alas! the wily fox remaind,

:

A subtle, pilfering foe, prowling around

Wide-gaping threatens death. The craggy steep, In midnight shades, and wakeful to destroy. Where the poor dizzy shepherd crawls with care, In the full fold, the poor defenceless lamb, And clings to every twig, gives us no pain ; Seiz'd by his guileful arts, with sweet warm blood But down we sweep, as stoops the falcon bold Supplies a rich repast. The mournful ewe, To pounce his prey. Then up th' opponent hill, Her dearest treasure lost, through the dun night By the swift motion slung, we mount aloft: Wanders perplex'd, and darkling bleats in vain : So ships in winter-seas now sliding sink While in th' adjacent bush, poor Philomel Adown the steepy wave, then toss'd on high (Herself a parent once, till wanton churls

Ride on the billows, and defy the storm. (Chase Despoil'd her nest) joins in her loud laments, What lengths we pass! where will the wandering With sweeter notes, and more melodious woe. Lead us bewilder'd! smooth as swallows skim

For these nocturnal thieves, huntsman, prepare The new-shorn mead, and far more swift, we fly. Thy sharpest vengeance. Oh! how glorious 'tis See my brave pack; how to the head they press, To right th' oppress'd, and bring the felon vile Jostling in close array then more diffuse To just disgrace! Ere yet the morning peep, Obliquely wheel, while from their opening mouths Or stars retire from the first blush of day,

The vollied thunder breaks. So when the cranes With thy far-echoing voice alarm thy pack, Their annual voyage steer, with wanton wing And rouse thy bold compeers. Then to the copse, Their figure oft they change, and their loud clang Thick with entangling grass, or prickly furze, From cloud to cloud rebounds. How far behind With silence lead thy many-color'd hounds, The hunter-crew, wide-straggling o'er the plain! In all their beauty's pride. See! how they range The panting courser now with trembling nerves Dispers'd, how busily this way, and that,

Begins to reel; urg'd by the goring spur, They cross, examining with curious nose

Makes many a faint effort: he snorts, he foams, Each likely haunt. Hark! on the drag I hear The big round drops run trickling down his sides, Their doubtful notes, preluding to a cry

With sweat and blood distain'd. Look back and view More nobly full, and swellid with every mouth. The strange confusion of the vale below, As straggling armies, at the trumpet's voice, Where sour vexation reigns; see yon poor jade! Press to their standard ; hither all repair, In vain th' impatient rider frets and swears; And hurry through the woods ; with hasty step With galling spurs harrows his mangled sides : Rustling, and full of hope ; now driven on heaps He can no more: his stiff unpliant limbs They push, they strive; while from his kennel Rooted in earth, unmov'd and fix'd he stands, sneaks

For every cruel curse returns a groan, The conscious villain. See! he skulks along, And sobs, and saints, and dies. Who without grief Sleek at the shepherd's cost, and plump with meals can view that pamper'd steed, his master's joy, Purloin'd. So thrive the wicked here below. His minion, and his daily care, well cloth'd, Though high his brush he bear, though tipt with Well fed with every nicer cate; no cost, white

No labor spar'd; who, when the flying Chase It gaily shine; yet ere the Sun declin'd

Broke from the copse, without a rival led Recall the shades of night, the pamper'd rogue The numerous train: now a sad spectacle Shall rue his fate revers'd, and at his heels Of pride brought low, and humbled insolence, Behold the just avenger, swift to seize

Drove like a pannier'd ass, and scourg'd along. His forfeit head, and thirsting for his blood. [hearts While these, with loosen'd reins and dangling heels,

Heavens! what melodious strains! how beat our Hang on their reeling palfreys, that scarce bear Big with tumultuous joy! the loaded gales Their weights: another in the treacherous bog Breathe harmony; and as the tempest drives Lies floundering, half ingulf’d. What biting thoughts From wood to wood, through every dark recess Torment th' abandon'd crew! Old age laments The forest thunders, and the mountains shake. His vigor spent : the tall, plump, brawny youth The chorus swells ; less various, and less sweet, Curses his cumbrous bulk; and envies now The trilling notes, when in those very groves, The short pygmean race he whilom kenn'd The feather'd choristers salute the Spring, With proud insulting leer. A chosen few And every bush in concert join; or when Alone the sport enjoy, nor droop beneath The master's hand in modulated air,

Their pleasing toils. Here, huntsman, from this Bids the loud organ breathe, and all the powers

height of music in one instrument combine,

Observe yon birds of prey; if I can judge, An universal minstrelsy. And now

'Tis there the villain lurks : they hover round, In vain each earth he tries, the doors are barr'd And claim him as their own. Was I not right? Impregnable, nor is the covert safe;

See! there he creeps along; his brush he drags, He pants for purer air. Hark! what loud shouts And sweeps the mire impure; from his wide jaws Re-echo through the groves ! he breaks away. His tongue unmoisten'd hangs; symptoms too sure Shrill horns proclaim his flight. Each straggling of sudden death. Ha! yet he flies, nor yields hound

To black despair. But one loose more, and all Strains o’er the lawn to reach the distant pack. His wiles are vain. Hark! through yon village now 'Tis triumph all and joy. Now, my brave youths, The rattling clamor rings. The barns, the cots, Now give a loose to the clean generous steed; And leasless elms, return the joyous sounds. Flourish the whip, nor spare the galling spur; Through every homestall, and through every yard But, in the madness of delight, forget

His midnight walks, panting, forlorn, he flies; Your fears. Far o'er the rocky hills we range, Through every hole he sneaks, through every jakes And dangerous our course; but in the brave Plunging he wades besmear'd, and fondly hopes True courage never fails. In vain the stream In a superior stench to lose his own. In foaming eddies whirls; in vain the ditch But, faithful to the track, th’unerring hounds

:

With peals of echoing vengeance close pursue. And avenue to Death. Hither he calls
And now distress'd, no sheltering covert near, His watchful bands; and low into the ground
Into the hen-roost creeps, whose walls with gore A pit they sink, full many a fathom deep.
Distain'd attest his guilt. There, villain, there Then in the midst a column high is rear’d,
Expect thy fate deserv’d. And soon from thence The but of some fair tree; upon whose top
The pack inquisitive, with clamor loud,

A lamb is plac'd, just ravish'd from Iris dam.
Drag out their trembling prize; and on his blood And next a wall they build, with stones and earth
With greedy transport feast. In bolder notes Encircling round, and hiding from all view
Each sounding horn proclaims the felon dead : The dreadful precipice. Now when the shades
And all th' assembled village shouts for joy. Of night hang lowering o'er the mountain's brow;
The farmer, who beholds his mortal foe

And hunger keen, and pungent thirst of blood, Stretch'd at his feet, applauds the glorious deed, Rouse up the slothful beast, he shakes his sides, And grateful calls us to a short repast :

Slow-rising from his lair, and stretches wide In the full glass the liquid amber smiles, His ravenous paws, with recent gore distain'd. Our native product; and his good old mate The forests tremble, as he roars aloud, With choicest viands heaps the liberal board, Impatient to destroy. O'erjoyed he hears To crown our triumphs, and reward our toils. The bleating innocent, that claims in vain

Here must th' instructive Muse (but with respect) The shepherd's care, and seeks with piteous moan Censure that numerous pack, that crowd of state, The foodful teat; himself, alas! design'd With which the vain profusion of the great Another's meal. For now the greedy brute Covers the lawn, and shakes the trembling copse. Winds him from far; and leaping o'er the mound Pompous encumbrance! A magnificence

To seize his trembling prey, headlong is plung'd Useless, vexatious! For the wily fox,

Into the deep abyss. Prostrate he lies Safe in th'increasing number of his foes,

Astunnd and impotent. Ah! what avail
Kens well the great advantage; slinks behind, Thine eyeballs flashing fire, thy length of tail,
And slily creeps through the same beaten track, That lashes thy broad sides, thy jaws besmear'd
And hunts them step by step: then views, escap'd, With blood and offals crude, thy shaggy mane
With inward ecstacy, the panting throng

The terror of the woods, thy stately port,
In their own footsteps puzzled, foild, and lost. And bulk enormous, since by stratagem
So when proud eastern kings summon to arms Thy strength is foil'd ? Unequal is the strife,
Their gaudy legions, from far distant climes When sovereign reason combats brutal rage.
They flock in crowds, unpeopling half a world : On distant Ethiopia's sun-burnt coasts,
But when the day of battle calls them forth The black inhabitants a pitfall frame,
To charge the well-train'd foe, a band compact But of a different kind, and different use.
of chosen veterans; they press blindly on,

With slender poles the wide capacious mouth,
In heaps confus'd by their own weapons fall, And hurdles slight, they close; o'er these is spread
A smoking carnage scatter'd o'er the plain. A floor of verdant turf, with all its flowers

Nor hounds alone this noxious brood destroy : Smiling delusive, and from strictest search The plunder'd warrener full many a wile Concealing the deep grave that yawns below. Devises to entrap his greedy foe,

Then boughs of trees they cut, with tempting fruit Fat with noctarnal spoils. At close of day, of various kinds surcharg'd; the downy peach, With silence drags his trail ; then from the ground The clustering vine, and of bright golden rind Pares thin the close-graz'd turf, there with nice hand The fragrant orange. Soon as evening grey Covers the latent death, with curious springs Advances slow, besprinkling all around Prepar'd to fly at once, whene'er the tread With kind refreshing dews the thirstý glebe, Of man or beast unwarily shall press

The stately elephant from the close shade The yielding surface. By th’indented steel With step majestic strides, eager to taste With gripe tenacious held, the felon grins, The cooler breeze, that from the sea-beat shore And struggles, but in vain: yet oft 'tis known, Delightful breathes, or in the limpid stream When every art has fail'd, the captive fox To lave his panting sides; joyous he scents Has shar'd the wounded joint, and with a limb The rich repast, unweeting of the death Compounded for his life. But, if perchance That lurks within. And soon he sporting breaks In the deep pitfall plung'd, there's no escape; The brittle boughs, and greedily devours But unrepriev'd he dies, and bleach'd in air, The fruit delicious. Ah! too dearly bought; The jest of clowns, his reeking carcass hangs. The price is life. For now the treacherous turf

Of these are various kinds ; not even the king Trembling gives way; and the unwieldy beast, Of brutes evades this deep devouring grave : Self-sinking, drops into the dark profound. But, by the wily African betray'd,

So when dilated vapors, struggling, heave Heedless of fate, within its gaping jaws

Th’incumbent earth; if chance the cavern'd ground Expires indignant. When the orient beam Shrinking subside, and the thin surface yield, With blushes paints the dawn; and all the race Down sinks at once the ponderous dome, ingulf’d Carnivorous, with blood full gorg'd, retire With all its towers. Subtle, delusive man! Into their darksome cells, there satiate snore, How various are thy wiles! artful to kill O'er dripping offals, and the mangled limbs Thy savage foes, a dull unthinking race! of men and beasts; the painful forester

Fierce from his lair, springs forth the speckled pard Climbs the high hills, whose proud aspiring tops Thirsting for blood, and eager to destroy ; With the tall cedar crown'd, and taper fir, The huntsman fies, but to his flight alone Assail the clouds. There 'mong the craggy rocks, Confides not: at convenient distance fix’d, And thickets intricate, trembling he views A polish'd mirror stops in full career His footsteps in the sand; the dismal road The furious brute : he there his image views ;