FORMER DAYS^ATIASHDOWN 21 



was riding up to the meeting, and, being some- 

 what late, took the shortest route, unintentionally 

 passing close to the ground into which the super- 

 fluous hares had been driven. It really seemed 

 as if there were almost as many hares as turnips. 

 Nor will this appear to be any exaggeration to 

 those persons who may have had experience of a 

 Scotch hare drive, or a coursing meeting in the 

 days to which I refer. 



I am not particularly enamoured of coursing as 

 a sport, but the remembrance of those meetings is 

 very pleasant. The fresh, pure air of the down- 

 land, the ocean of grass, and the kindly hospi- 

 tality, all combined to render such outings most 

 enjoyable. Then there was the sport itself, 

 even to an outsider not without interest, which 

 deepened as the final ties approached. The 

 number of hares which were killed during the 

 four or five days the meeting lasted was very 

 great. The list of events was a lengthy one, and 

 the ' ties ' and ' byes ' very rapidly multiplied the 

 original number. 



I remember the then honorary secretary of the 

 meeting attracting my attention to the distance at 

 which, under favourable conditions, a hare was 

 visible on the hillsides of the downlands, and his 

 narrating how on one occasion, when riding over 

 the ground with one of the officials previous to a 

 meeting, they noticed what appeared strangely like 

 a hare, though the distance which intervened was 

 too great to admit of such a supposition being 



