 | Hunting Songs |  |
150
Riding to Hounds.
No inconsiderate rashness, or vain appetite
Of false encountering formidable things;
But a true science of distinguishing
Ben Jonson.
Of false encountering formidable things;
But a true science of distinguishing
Ben Jonson.
As when two dogs in furious combat close,
The bone forgotten whence the strife arose,
Some village cur secures the prize unseen,
And, while the mastiffs battle, picks it clean;
So when two horsemen, jostling side by side,
Heed not the pack, but at each other ride,
More glorious still the loftier fences deem,
And face the brook where widest flows the stream;
One breathless steed, when spurs no more avail,
Rolls o'er the cop, and hitches on the rail;
One floundering lies—to watery ditch consign'd,
While laughing school-boy leaves them both behind,
Pricks on his pony 'till the brush be won,
And bears away the honours of the run.
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