THE HARES: A FABLE. YES, yes, I grant the sons of earth Are doom'd to trouble from their birth. We all of sorrow have our share; But say, is yours without compare? Look round the world; perhaps you'll find Each individual of our kind Press'd with an equal load of ill, And own your lamentable case In yonder hut that stands alone Or see, transfix'd with keener pangs, The beagle's breast with ardour burns, The bounding steed the champaign spurns, And Fancy oft the game descries Through the hound's nose, and huntsman's eyes. Just then, a council of the hares Had met, on national affairs. The chiefs were set; while o'er their head The furze its frizzled covering spread. 7 Long lists of grievances were heard, And general discontent appear'd. "Our harmless race shall every savage "Both quadruped and biped ravage? "Shall horses, hounds, and hunters still "Unite their wits to work us ill? "The youth, his parent's sole delight, "Whose pulse in every vein beats strong, "For youth, alas, nor cautious age, "Nor strength, nor speed, eludes their rage, "In every field we meet the foe, "Each gale comes fraught with sounds of woe; "The morning but awakes our fears, "The evening sees us bathed in tears. "But must we ever idly grieve, "Nor strive our fortunes to relieve? "Small is each individual's force: "To stratagem be our recourse; "And then, from all our tribes combined, "The murderer to his cost may find "No foes are weak, whom Justice arms, "Whom Concord leads, and Hatred warms. "Be roused; or liberty acquire, Swell in the wind. Now louder cries Forth from the brake, with beating heart, And, every straining nerve on wing, The hunting band, a signal given, Thick thundering o'er the plain are driven; O'er cliff abrupt, and shrubby mound, And river broad, impetuous bound; Now plunge amid the forest shades, Glance through the openings of the glades; Now o'er the level valley sweep, Now with short steps strain up the steep; While backward from the hunter's eyes High o'er the rest, by Nature rear'd, In barbarous luxuriance grew. No knife had curb'd the rambling sprays, Was loud, and roar'd the woods among; The sound of woe and war arose. The hares distracted scour the grove, As terror and amazement drove ; |