214 REMINISCKNCES OF A HUNTSMAN. 



to whom I had presented her ; and her competitor was 

 Vrayefroy, or his brother, I forget which, an animal 

 the size of a deer-dog, and as bold as a lion, who 

 pidled in the slips as if harnessed to a huckster's 

 cart. The timidity of my greyhound and the bold 

 resolute tugging of her gigantic adversary were in no 

 way lost on me nor on the Irishmen. I hoped we 

 might be an hour before we found a hare, for the 

 dog to pull himself weary ; and had the Irishman con- 

 fined the aid he wished to give his dog to a prayer 

 for an instantaneous start, no harm would have been 

 done ; but he did not do so. He seized his dog by the 

 stern, thinking that a better thing for him to draw 

 by than by his neck and windpipe, and at the same 

 time he showered on him a continuous score of 

 maledictions, which, though delivered as far as the 

 ears of my greyhound went, in an unknown tongue, 

 yet from their grufFness and tone of anger had the 

 effect of making her crawl, crouching timidly along 

 the ground, looking for anything else than the jump 

 of the hare. I soon stopped my friend of the Emerald 

 Isle, and forbade any interference with greyhounds 

 in the slips. Alas ! a hare was found in a few seconds, 

 and Vrayefroy had the Ladies' plate and my grey- 

 hound the odd sovereio;ns. I remember, at the 

 Greenway in 1851, on a day on which we lost the 

 services of our judge, Mr. Hodgson, who is, I think, 

 the best I ever saw, and who so good-naturedly vo- 

 lunteers his presence, and is so kind on all occasions, 

 being put up to decide the courses. Oh ! now, my dear 

 Mr. Plodgson ! if you read these Reminiscences, don't 

 think that I am this moment on the plan before-men- 

 tioned, on the first day's meet of a coursing club, and 

 about " to ask after your family," and " to invite you 

 to drink wine repeatedly," " hoping to see you at the 



