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EPITAPH ON A HARE.

ERE lies, whom hound did ne'er pursue,
Nor swifter greyhound follow,

Whose foot ne'er tainted morning dew, Nor ear heard huntfman's halloo;

Old Tiney, furliest of his kind,
Who, nurfed with tender care,
And to domeftic bounds confined,
Was still a wild Jack hare.

Though duly from my hand he took
His pittance every night,

He did it with a jealous look,

And, when he could, would bite.

His diet was of wheaten bread,
And milk, and oats, and straw;

Thiftles, or lettuces instead,

With fand to fcour his maw.

On twigs of hawthorn he regaled,
On pippins' ruffet peel,

And, when his juicy falads fail'd,
Sliced carrot pleased him well.

A Turkey carpet was his lawn,
Whereon he loved to bound,
To skip and gambol like a fawn,
And swing his rump around.

His frisking was at evening hours,
For then he lost his fear,
But most before approaching fhowers,
Or when a storm drew near.

Eight years and five round rolling moons

He thus faw fteal away,

Dozing out all his idle noons,

And every night at play.

I kept him for his humour's fake,
For he would oft beguile

My heart of thoughts that made it ache,
And force me to a smile.

But now beneath his walnut shade
He finds his long last home,
And waits, in fnug concealment laid,
Till gentler Pufs fhall come.

He, still more aged, feels the shocks,
From which no care can fave,
And, partner once of Tiney's box,
Muft foon partake his grave.

EPITAPHIUM ALTERUM.

IC etiam jacet,

Qui totum novennium vixit,
Pufs.

Sifte paulifper,

Qui præteriturus es,

Et tecum fic reputa

Hunc neque canis venaticus,
Nec plumbum miffile,
Nec laqueus,

Nec imbres nimii,

Confecêre:

Tamen mortuus eft

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The following Account of the

TREATMENT OF HIS HARES

Was inferted by Cowper in the Gentleman's Magazine.

N the year 1774, being much indisposed both in mind and body, incapable of diverting myself either with company or books, and yet in a condition that made fome diverfion neceffary, I was glad of any thing that would engage my attention without fatiguing it. The children of a neighbour of mine had a leveret given them for a plaything; it was at that time about three months old. Understanding better how to tease the poor creature than to feed it, and foon becoming weary of their charge, they readily consented that their father, who faw it pining and growing leaner every day, should offer it to my acceptance. I was willing enough to take the prisoner under my protection, perceiving that, in the management of fuch an animal, and in the attempt to tame it, I should find just that sort of employment which my case required. It was soon known among the neighbours that I was pleased with the present, and the confequence was, that in a fhort time I had as many leverets offered to me as would have stocked a paddock. I undertook the care of three, which it is neceffary that I should here diftinguish by the names I gave them-Pufs, Tiney, and Befs. Notwithstanding the two feminine appellatives, I must inform you, that they were all males. Immediately commencing carpenter, I built them houses to fleep in; each had a separate apartment, so contrived that their ordure would pass through the bottom of it; an earthen pan placed under each received whatfoever fell, which being duly emptied and washed, they were thus kept perfectly sweet and clean. In the daytime they had the range of a hall, and at night retired each to his own bed, never intruding into that of another.

Pufs grew presently familiar, would leap into my lap, raise himself upon his hinder feet, and bite the hair from my temples. He would fuffer me to take him up, and to carry him about in

my arms, and has more than once fallen fast asleep upon my knee. He was ill three days, during which time I nursed him, kept him apart from his fellows, that they might not moleft him (for, like many other wild animals, they perfecute one of their own species that is fick), and by constant care, and trying him with a variety of herbs, restored him to perfect health. No creature could be more grateful than my patient after his recovery; a fentiment which he moft fignificantly expreffed by licking my hand, first the back of it, then the palm, then every finger separately, then between all the fingers, as if anxious to leave no part of it unfaluted; a ceremony which he never performed but once again upon a fimilar occafion. Finding him extremely tractable, I made it my cuftom to carry him always after breakfaft into the garden, where he hid himself generally under the leaves of a cucumber vine, fleeping or chewing the cud till evening; in the leaves also of that vine he found a favourite repast. I had not long habituated him to this tafte of liberty, before he began to be impatient for the return of the time when he might enjoy it. He would invite me to the garden by drumming upon my knee, and by a look of such expression, as it was not poffible to misinterpret. If this rhetoric did not immediately fucceed, he would take the skirt of my coat between his teeth, and pull it with all his force. Thus Pufs might be faid to be perfectly tamed, the fhynefs of his nature was done away, and on the whole it was visible by many symptoms, which I have not room to enumerate, that he was happier in human fociety than when shut up with his natural companions.

Not fo Tiney; upon him the kindest treatment had not the leaft effect. He too was fick, and in his sickness had an equal share of my attention; but if after his recovery, I took the liberty to ftroke him, he would grunt, ftrike with his fore feet, spring forward, and bite. He was however very entertaining in his way; even his furliness was matter of mirth, and in his play he preferved fuch an air of gravity, and performed his feats with fuch a folemnity of manner, that in him too I had an agreeable companion.

Befs, who died foon after he was full grown, and whose death was occafioned by his being turned into his box, which had been wafhed, while it was yet damp, was a hare of great humour and drollery. Pufs was tamed by gentle ufage; Tiney was not to be tamed at all; and Befs had a courage and confidence that

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