174 REMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN 



of whom was a queer Irish lad employed by the person to whom 

 the dog was lent. Wide awake were the Irishmen, and so was 

 I. My greyhound was a beautiful little timid thing, the best 

 of her size that ever ran, a pet, belonging to a lady 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 pulled 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 confined 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 any- 

 thing 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 greyhound 

 the odd sovereigns. I remember, at the Green way 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 

 volunteers his presence, and is so kind on all occasions, being 

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

 if you read these Reminiscences, don't think that I am this 

 moment on the plan before-mentioned, 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 Greenway next November," for I am not on that plan I 

 can assure you. You deserve all the praise, and were I never 

 to run a dog again, you should have it. But to return to my 



