that is placed in a Corner of my Room, and pleases me the more because it does every thing I require of it in the moft profound Silence. My Landlady and her Daughters are fo well acquainted with my Hours of Exercise, that they never come into my Room to disturb me whilst I am ringing. WHEN I was fome Years younger than I am at prefent, I used to employ my felf in a more laborious Diver fion, which I learned from a Latin Treatife of Exercises, that it is written with great Erudition: It is there called the Oxiouaxie, or the Fighting with a Man's own Shadow, and confifts in the brandifhing of two fhort Sticks grafped in each Hand, and loaden with Plugs of Lead at either end. This opens the Cheft, exercises the Limbs, and gives a Man all the Pleasure of Boxing, without the Blows. I could with that feveral Learned Men would lay out that Time which they employ in Controverfies and Difputes about nothing, in this Method of fighting with their own Shadows. It might conduce very much to evaporate the Spleen, which makes them uneafie to the Publick as well as to themselves. To conclude, As I am a Compound of Soul and Body, I confider my felf as obliged to a double Scheme of Duties; and think I have not fulfilled the Bufinefs of the Day, when I do not thus employ the one in Labour and Exercise, as well as the other in Study and Contemplation. N° TIẾ.. Friday, July 13. Vocat ingenti clamore Citharon, Taygetique canes TH Virg. L HOSE who have fearched into human Nature obferve that nothing fo much fhews the Nobleness of the Soul, as that its Felicity confists in Action. Every Man has fuch an active Principle in him, that he will find out fomething to employ himself upon, in whatever Place or State of Life he is pofted. I have heard of a Gentleman who was under clofe Confinement in the Baftile seven Years; during which Time he amused himsel in fcattering a few fmall Pins about his Chamber, gathering them up again, and placing them in different Figures on the Arm of a great Chair. He often told his Friends afterwards, that unless he had found out this Piece of Exercife, he verily believed he fhould have loft his Senfes. AFTER what has been faid, I need not inform my Readers, that Sir ROGER, with whofe Character I hope they are at prefent pretty well acquainted, has in his Youth gone through the whole Courfe of those rural Diversions which the Country abounds in; and which feem to be extreamly well fuited to that laborious Industry a Man may obferve here in a far greater Degree than in Towns and Cities. I have before hinted at fome of my Friend's Exploits: He has in his youthful Days taken forty Coveys of Partridges in a Seafon; and tired many a Salmon with a Line confifting but of a fingle Hair. The conftant Thanks and good Withes of the Neighbourhood always attended him, on account of his remarkableEnmity towards Foxes; having deftroyed more of those Vermin in one Year, than it was thought the whole Country could have produced. Indeed the Knight does not fcruple to own among his most intimate Friends, that in order to establish his Reputation this Way, he has fecretly fent for great Numbers of them out of other Counties, which he ufed to turn loose about the Country by Night, that he might the better fignalize himself in their Destruction the next Day. His HuntingHorfes were the finest and best managed in all thefe Parts: His Tenants are ftill full of the Praifes of a grey Stonehorfe that unhappily ftaked himself feveral Years fince, and was buried with great Solemnity in the Orchard. SIR ROGER, being at prefent too old for Fox-hunting, to keep himself in Action, has difpofed of his Beagles and got a Pack of Stop-Hounds. What thefe want in Speed, he endeavours to make amends for by the Deepness of their Mouths and the Variety of their Notes, which are fuited in fuch manner to each other, that the whole Cry makes up a compleat Confort. He is fo nice in this Particular, that a Gentleman having made him a Prefent of a very fine Hound the other Day, the Knight returned it by the Servant with a great many Expreffions of Civility; but defired him to tell his Mafter, that the Dog he had fent was indeed a moft excellent Bafe, but that at prefent he only wanted wanted a Counter Tenor. Could I believe my Friend had ever read Shakespear, I fhould certainly conclude he had taken the Hint from Thefeus in The Midsummer Night's Dream. My Hounds are bred out of the Spartan Kind, Was never hallow'd to, nor chear'd with Horn. SIR ROGER is fo keen at this Sport, that he has been out almost every Day fince I came down ; and apon the Chaplain's Offering to lend me his eafie Pad, I was prevail'd on Yefterday Morning to make one of the Company. I was extreamly pleafed, as we rid along, to obferve the generalBenevolence of all the Neighbourhood towards my Friend. The Farmers Sons thought themselves happy if they could open a Gate for the good old Knight as he paffed by: Which he generally requited with a Nod or a Smile, and a kind Enquiry after their Fathers or Uncles. AFTER we had rid about a Mile from home, we came upon a large Heath, and the Sports-men began to beat. They had done fo for fome time, when, as I was at a little Distance from the rest of the Company, I faw a Hare pop out from a fmall Furze-brake almoft under my Horfe's Feet. I marked the Way fhe took, which I endeavoured to make the Company fenfible of by extending my Arm ; but to no Purpofe, till Sir ROGER, who knows that none of my extraordinary Motions are infignificant, rode up to me, and asked me if Pufs was gone that Way Upon my anfwering Yes he immediately called in the Dogs, and put them upon the Scent. As they were going off, I heard one of the Country Fellows muttering to his Companion, That 'twas a Wonder they had not lost all their Sport, for want of the filent Gentleman's crying STOLE AWAY. THIS, with my verfion to leaping Hedges, made me withdraw to a rifing Ground, from whence I could have the Pleafure of the whole Chafe, without the Fatigue of keeping in with the Hounds. The Hare immediately threw them above a Mile behind her; but I was pleafed to find, that instead of running ftrait forward, or in Hunter's Lan guage, guage, Flying the Country, as I was afraid fhe might have done, the wheel'd about, and defcribed a fort of Circle round the Hill where I had taken my Station, in such manner as gave me a very diftin&t View of the Sport. I could fee her firft pafs by, and the Dogs fome time afterwards unravelling the whole Track fhe had made, and following her thro' all her Doubles, I was at the fame time delighted in obferving that Deference which the reft of the Pack paid to each particular Hound, according to the Character he had acquired amongst them: If they were at a Fault, and an old Hound of good Reputation opened but once, he was immediately followed by the whole Cry; while a raw Dog, or one who was a noted Liar, might have yelped his Hearr out, without being taken notice of. THE Hare now, after having fquatted two or three Times, and been put up again as often, came ftill nearer to the Place where he was at firft ftarted. The Dogs purfued her, and these were followed by the jolly Knight, who rode upon a white Gelding, encompaffed by his Tenants and Servants, and chearing his Hounds with all the Gaiety of Five and Twenty. One of the Sports-men rode up to me, and told me that he was fure the Chace was almoft at an End, because the old Dogs, which had hitherto lain behind, now headed the Pack. The Fellow was in the Right. Our Hare took a large Field juft under us, followed by the full Cry in View. I must confefs the Brightnefs of the Weather, the Chearfulness of every thing around me, the Chiding of the Hounds, which was returned up. on us in a double Eccho from two neighbouring Hills, with the Hallowing of the Sports-men, and the Sounding of the Horn, lifted my Spirits into a moft lively Pleasure, which I freely indulged because I was fure it was innocent. If I was under any Concern, it was on the Account of the poor Hare, that was now quite spent, and almost within the Reach of her Enemies, when the Huntsman getting forward, threw down his Pole before the Dogs. They were now within eight Yards of that Game which they had been purfuing for almoft as many Hours; yet on the Signal before mentioned they all made a fudden ftand, and tho' they continued opening as much as before, durft not once attempt to pafs beyond the Pole. At the fame Time Sir ROGER rode forward, and alighting, took up the Hare in his Arms; which he foon after delivered to one of his Servants with an Order, if she could be kept alive, to let her go in his great Orchard; where, it feems, he has feveral of thefe Prifoners of War, who live together in a very comfortable Captivity. I was highly pleafed to fee the Difcipline of the Pack, and the Good-nature of the Knight, who could not find in his Heart to murther a Creature that had given him fo much Diverfion. AS we were returning home, I remembred that Monfieur Pafchal in his most excellent Difcourfe on the Mifery of Man, tells us, That all our Endeavours after Greatness proceed from nothing but a Defire of being furrounded by a Multitude of Perfons and Affairs that may hinder us from looking into our felves, which is a View we cannot bear. He afterwards goes on to fhew that our Love of Sports comes from the fame Reason, and is particularly fevere upon HUNTING. What, fays he, unless it be to drown Thought, can make Men throw away fo much Time and Pain's upon a filly Animal, which they might buy cheaper in the Market? The foregoing Reflection is certainly juft, when a Man fuffers his whole Mind to be drawn into his Sports, and altogether lofes himself in the Woods; but does not affect thofe who propofe a far more laudable End from this Exercise, I mean, The Prefervation of Health, and keeping all the Organs of the Soul in a Condition to execute her Orders. Had that incomparable Perfon whom I laft quoted been a little more indulgent to himself in this Point, the World might probably have enjoyed him much longer; whereas, thro too great an Application to his Studies in his Youth, he contracted that ill Habit of Body, which, after a tedious Sickness, carried him off in the fortieth Year of his Age; and the whole Hiftory we have of his Life till that Time, is but one continued Account of the Behaviour of a noble Soul ftruggling under innumerable Pains and Diftempers. FOR my own Part, I intend to hunt twice a Week during my Stay with Sir ROGER; and fhall prefcribe the moderate ufe of this Exercife to all my Country Friends, as the beft kind of Phyfick for mending a bad Conftitution, and preferving a good one. I cannot do this better, than in the following Lines out of Mr. Dryden. THE firft Phyficians by Debauch were made; |