THE LIFE OF A SPOBTSMAN 



had taken tlie oaths and his seat. The summer, however, 

 was not wasted b}^ him in the doubly-heated atmosphere of 

 London ; but, by the first day in July, he was comfortably 

 settled again at Farndon Hall, ^^■ith a select party of friends, 

 enjoying the pleasures of the coach-box, together with fishing 

 and cricket, until he took his departure for the Highlands, as 

 he had done in preceding years. On his return, in addition 

 to tlie usual pastime of the trigger during the months of 

 September and October, he entered upon another pursuit, 

 though it did not prove to his liking. Having what he con- 

 sidered a fair kennel of greyhounds, he became a member of 

 a coursing meeting, and contended for some of the prizes. 

 Neither was he unsuccessful ; his dog, Champion, having par- 

 ticularly signalised himself in several severe courses, and was 

 the winner of two cups. But coursing was not to his taste, 

 sufficiently so, at least, as to induce him to enter into it as a 

 science, and without doing so he considered it must be time 

 thrown away in following it, unless for the sake of what is 

 called the parson's course — namely, ' the hare at the end of 

 it.' This, however, his keeper was able to provide for him. 

 But he had objections to coursing on several grounds. First, 

 the prodigious number of rules and regulations to be observed 

 — at least considered necessary to be observed — in the 

 running of each course, naturally causes disputes, by the 

 difficulty of observing them — to the satisfaction of the loser 

 especially. All emulative pursuits, he said, produce excite- 

 ment ; but he contended that he witnessed more anxiety in 

 the owners of greyhounds, when the contest has been for a 

 cup, than in those of race-horses running for the Derby or 

 St. Leger. The difficulty of having the course fairly decided is 

 the chief cause of this excitement; and a more trying situa- 

 tion than that of the tryer or judge of a first-rate coursing 

 meeting is not often experienced. Secondly, the system of 

 breeding and training greyhoimds is so refined that, to excel 

 in each, a man's whole attention should be given to it. At 

 the end of the third year, then, of his keeping greyhounds, 

 he had a sale of them at Tattersall's, where they fetched as 

 good prices as could be expected from the kennel of so young 

 a sportsman as our hero. The history of Champion, however, 

 proved remarkable. He became the sire of more good grey- 

 hounds than any other dog of those days ; indeed, it was 



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