2oo The Dog Book 



Both the Gordons, Regent and Crop, were wavy-coated. The sire of Beau 

 was even more curly-coated than his son, and Mr. Brown of Melton Mow- 

 bray, who bred both, tells me that he took after Mr. Coke's breed, in coat 

 which, though curly, was as soft as floss silk as well as in make, character 

 and goodness in the field, and it would be difficult to find a better." 



THE DUKE NOT CONSERVATIVE AS TO COLOUR 



Mr. John Fisher of Leeds tells of how the Duke used to send down to 

 Major Bower of Welham for greyhounds to run at the Scotch meetings: 

 "After Belle had won the Malton Cup I handed her and a setter dog 

 over to His Grace's trainer, who was sent from Scotland expressly for them. 

 The setter came from Ebberstone Lodge whether from Mr. Osbaldestone's 

 own kennel or not I cannot say, but he was brought to Welham by Mr. 

 Inman, his gamekeeper. This dog was black and white, no tan, with long 

 thin feather; not less than twenty-six inches at the shoulder; rather lathy 

 looking, with a grand head and stern, and had the appearance of great 

 courage. 



"His Grace's setters of that day were said to be black; but as John's 

 specialty was greyhounds rather than setters, it is quite possible they may 

 have been black and tan, and that he overlooked the latter. I believe 

 that His Grace was too thoroughly a sportsman to confine himself to shades 

 of colour or fancy markings even in his setters; and if on trial the Ebberstone 

 Lodge dog was found to be as good as his looks, he would not hesitate to 

 breed from him; and I think it not improbable that the white still found in 

 some of the pure Gordons may be the result of this very cross, for he was 

 a very likely dog to leave his mark in more respects than one." Mr. Adye, 

 in commenting on this statement, wrote that Mr. Brown had been told by 

 Mr. Coke himself that he often sent dogs to the Duke of Gordon and 

 received others in exchange, in order now and then to obtain fresh blood. 



Mr. Fisher might well have given the date of the transaction. "After 

 Belle had won the Malton Cup" is decidedly indefinite, even in England, 

 and is of course meaningless to Americans. But fortunately our library 

 contains Thomas Goodlake's "Coursing Manual," published in 1828, just 

 late enough to contain the entry of Major Bowers's black and white bitch 

 Belle as having run second for the cup at Malton in 1827 and getting a 

 goblet therefor. Whether this is the "win" referred to by Mr. Fisher 



