COURSING. 49 



of March, upon Epsom Downs, amid whiskies, buggies, and 

 gingerbread carts, well might he have exclaimed 



' To this complexion am I come at last.' " 



That is how our sporting fathers viewed the effeminate 

 Cockney coursing so popular to-day. 



One of the greatest qualities the Greyhound could possess 

 in the estimation of past generations of coursing men was 

 staying power. In 1798 a brace of Greyhounds belonging 

 to a gentleman in Carlisle coursed a hare from the Swift, 

 and killed her at Clemmel, a distance of seven miles. 

 In 1800 a brace of Greyhounds in Lincolnshire ran a hare 

 four miles measured in a straight line, and the turns and 

 windings were calculated to make the entire ground 

 covered up to six miles ; and many other long courses, 

 from that time down, could be quoted. I contend that 

 to breed Greyhounds for coursing in enclosures of 

 half-a-mile in length is to take the most certain means 

 of destroying one of the most valuable qualities of the 

 breed; and, for that and other reasons referred to, I hold 

 this class of running degrading to the sport which, legiti- 

 mately followed, is eminently fair to pursuer and pursued, 

 and bracing and re-invigorating to mind and body of the 

 courser. 



It is evident that a dog capable of distinguishing 

 himself in such severe contests as coursing in the 

 open frequently entails must possess great speed, stamina, 

 cleverness, and courage. He must also be in a state of 

 very high training, so as to have his muscular powers 

 developed to the utmost, and all the important functional 

 organs and especially the lungs and heart in perfect 



