Shall we hear all this, nor assert the fair fame
That for ages long past has distinguished our name?--
Forbid it ye Dogs!--here behold me stand forth,
To proclaim to the world my deserts, and my worth!--
Keen and swift in the chace, I can boldly declare
From my speed, as I follow, in vain flies the Hare;
Nay, while like the wind, I bound over the course
My master comes lagging behind on his Horse.
'Twixt friends, I could laugh, at beholding the fuss
And boasting men make of success due to us;
The truth is so obvious 'tis scarce worth enforcing;
Without our assistance they could not go coursing."

[Illustration: "_Then the hound & the Grey-hound both flew at the
poodle_"]

"All you say," quoth the HARRIER, "dear coz, is most true,
Yet I think it but just, to give each Dog his due;
So don't be offended if _I_ dare disclose
That _you_ are not gifted, like me, with a nose."
When the POODLE heard this, he laugh'd out aloud,
And all the Curs grinned, who were mixed in the crowd:
Then the Hound and the Grey-hound both flew at the Poodle
And called him a curl-coated Cur, and a noodle--
Poor Poodle was frighten'd at what he had done,
But being himself much addicted to fun,
And having no notion of running by scent,
He could not conceive the Hound seriously meant
To say, that the Grey-hound had no nose at all,
When he'd one twice as long as his own, tho' 'twas small.
"Come have done with your jaw," said the FOX-HOUND in spleen,
"For how should a foreigner know what you mean?
May-hap he can dance, and I'm sure he can beg;
Let him run me a race, and I'll tye up a leg;
But in hunting, in truth, the HARRIER and BEAGLE,
No more equal us, than the Hawk does the Eagle;
Trotting after a Hare is mere childish play,
It may now and then serve, to kill a dull day.
But _we_, at sun rise, seek the Fox in the cover,
Drive him often before us, ten counties half over;
Sweep wild o'er the hill, or close at his brush
Unchecked thro' the gorse, and the river we rush,
And Phoebus once more must sink down to his nest,
E'er we slacken our chace, or betake us to rest;
So tempting our sport, Men think it atones
For the maiming of limbs and the breaking of bones."
Said the STAG-HOUND--"All rivalships here I disclaim,
Since for strength, and for speed, so well known is my fame,
That I justly am reckon'd the first amongst hounds:
Yet our chace like the FOX-HOUNDS, with danger abounds,
Nay, is sometimes attended with fatal effects,
As i