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they know their Seasons, and they follow as Nature leads; chaste and reserved when the Streams of Nature abate, hot and furious when the Animal Spirits return; in a word, they come when Nature calls, and not before.
But Man! ungoverned Man! neither influenced by the Laws of God, or of Nature, gives himself a loose to his corrupted Desires, and subjects Nature, Reason, and even Religion it self, to his Appetite; in short, to a corrupted and depraved Appetite, a furious outrageous Gust; his Will governs his Understanding, and his Vice governs his Will; the brutal Part tyrannizes over the Man, and his Reason is over-ruled by his Sense.
It is observed of the Deer, that whereas it is a mild, quiet, gentle Creature; tame, even by its own Disposition, pleasant and inoffensive, and this through almost all the Seasons of the Year, yet, in its Season, that is what they call its Rutting-time, they are the most furious of all Creatures; and though they do not, like the ravenous and voracous Kinds, such as the Lyon or Bear, fall upon other Creatures for their Food, and to satisfy their Hunger, which, as is observed, is a Reason for their being so dangerous: Yet, on the other hand, the Stag, or the Buck, at that particular time, flies upon Man or Beast, and will kill and trample under its Feet whatever comes near him, or, at least, offers to come near its Female.
No Park-Keepers, Rangers of Forests, or others, how bold and daring, or however familiar among them, will dare to come near them in their Rutting-time, unless very well armed and attended; that is, with Dogs and Guns;even
