LITERARY EFFECT OF A BLACK DKAUGTrJ\ 211 



the other half: these are the men whose dogs have 

 been beaten. The judge's family by the offended 

 half of the party are supposed to be in rude health, or 

 are forgotten ; they seem to deem that the judge is no 

 longer dry, for the invitations to drink wine have 

 fallen off in a corresponding degree. Bets are not 

 made so freely as before ; and men, who decline prof- 

 fered wagers, mutter something about not " knowino- 

 what they are doing." 



The third day arrives ; the dinner party has consi- 

 derabty decreased, the judge appears with a black 

 eye, is cut by all save three or four who are amaz- 

 ingly fond of him, and these are the winners of the 

 stakes. 



In speaking of coursing, I must relate a curious 

 accident that happened to Mr. Goodlake, lamented 

 by us all at the time, but which ultimately proved a 

 public benefit. It chanced that the port wine and the 

 ink put by the side of his plate after dinner, were, as 

 I have said before, precisely of the same hue, and in 

 the same sized wine-glass. Mr. Goodlake was laying 

 down the law, as his great experience in matters of the 

 leash entitles him to do, when, on wishing to wash 

 doAvn his last clause with a glass of port, he took up 

 the wrong beaker and bolted the ink. Great was the 

 spluttering, great the consternation among surround- 

 ing friends ; but the ink was down and no blotting 

 paper, even were an arm-chair or his dressing-gown to 

 be lined with it, could absorb the black draught, and, 

 at the risk of dreaming of a printer's devil, on his ink 

 to bed Mr. Goodlake was obliged to go. Little did we 

 think what an effect this accident would produce, and 

 how fortunate for the elucidation of tlie mysteries of 

 the leash . For a time, perhaps, the patient was restless, 



p 2 



