Classic Poem

Thy care be first the various gifts to trace,
The minds and genius of the latrant race.
In powers distinct the different clans excel,
In sight, or swiftness, or sagacious smell.
By wiles ungen'rous some surprise the prey,
And some by courage win the doubtful day.
Seest thou the gazehound how with glance severe
From the close herd he marks the destined deer;
How ev'ry nerve the greyhound's stretch displays,
The hare preventing in her airy maze;
The luckless prey how treach'rous tumblers gain,
And dauntless wolf-dogs shake the lion's mane;
O'er all the bloodhound boasts superior skill
To scent, to view, to turn, and boldly kill,
His fellows' vain alarms rejects with scorn,
True to his master's voice and learned horn:
His nostrils oft, if ancient fame sing true,
Trace the sly felon thro' the tainted dew;
Once snuffed he follows with unaltered aim,
Nor odours lure him from the chosen game;
Deep-mouthed he thunders, and inflamed he views,
Springs on relentless, and to death pursues.


Some hounds of manners vile (nor less we find
Of fops in hounds than in the reas'ning kind)
Puffed with conceit run gadding o'er the plain,
And from the scent divert the wiser train,
For the foe's footsteps fondly snuff their own,
And mar the music with their senseless tone,
Start at the starting prey or rustling wind,
And, hot at first, inglorious lag behind.

Dost thou in hounds aspire to deathless fame?
Learn well their lineage and their ancient stem.
Each tribe with joy old rustic heralds trace,
And sing the chosen worthies of their race.
How his sire's features in the son were spied
When Di was made the vig'rous Ringwood's bride.
Less sure thick lips the fate of Austria doom,
Or eagle noses ruled almighty Rome.
Good shape to various kinds old bards confine—
Some praise the Greek and some the Roman line:
And dogs to beauty make as diff'ring claims
As Albion's nymphs and India's jetty dames.
Immense to name their lands, to mark their bounds,
And paint the thousand families of hounds.

Such be the dog I charge thou mean'st to train:
His back is crooked and his belly plain,
Of fillet stretched, and huge of haunch behind,
A tap'ring tail that nimbly cuts the wind,
Truss thighed, straight hammed, and fox-like formed his paw,
Large legged, dry soled, and of protended claw;
His flat wide nostrils snuff the sav'ry steam,
And from his eyes he shoots pernicious gleam;
Middling his head, and prone to earth his view,
With ears and chest that dash the morning dew:
He best to stem the flood, to leap the bound,
And charm the Dryads with his voice profound.
And now thy female bears in ample womb
The bane of hares, and triumphs yet to come,
No sport I ween, nor blast of sprightly horn,
Should tempt me then to hurt the whelps unborn.
Unlocked in covers, let her freely run
To range thy courts and bask before the sun.
Near thy full table let the fav'rite stand,
Stroked by thy son's or blooming daughter's hand.
Caress, indulge, by arts the matron bribe
T' improve her breed and teem a vig'rous tribe.