620 The Dog Book 



object with certainty as we see by an engraving of a picture by Dodds, of the 

 date of about 1780. It will be well to note the terrier in this engraving as 

 being an earlier illustration than we gave previously of old terriers. It is 

 also illustrative of the custom of taking a pointer or spaniel to find the hare 

 in its "form," and then getting the greyhounds ready for the course. 



The courser whom all writers of those early days placed at the head 

 was Lord Orford, who established the first coursing meeting in England, 

 the SwaflFham Club in Norfolk, which started in that memorable year, 1776. 

 The following sketch of this nobleman's connection with the sport is from 

 Goodlake's "Courser's Manual" published in 1828: 



" His extensive property and his influence as Lord Lieutenant of Nor- 

 folk gave him the greatest means of accomplishing his favourite object. He 

 could command such an immensity of private quarters or walks, as they 

 are generally called, for young greyhounds, that he bred largely and few 

 possessed the same advantages of selection. He is recorded as having at 

 one time fifty brace of greyhounds, and it was his fixed rule never to part 

 with a single whelp till he had had a fair trial of his speed, consequently he 

 had chances beyond almost any other individual of having a very superior 

 collection of dogs. Intent on obtaining as much perfection in the breed as 

 possible he introduced every experimental cross, from the English lurcher 

 to the Italian greyhound. He it was who first thought of the cross with the 

 English bulldog, in which he persevered in opposition to every opinion, 

 until after breeding on for seven removes he found himself in possession of 

 the best greyhounds at the time ever known, and he considered the cross 

 produced the small ear, the rat tail, the fine, silky coat, together with that 

 innate courage which the high-bred greyhound should possess — preferring 

 death to relinquishing the chase." Lord Orford eventually went out of 

 his mind and met his death through escaping from his attendants to see his 

 bitch Czarina run a match and while following the course on his pony, he 

 was supposed to have had an attack of apoplexy, expiring almost imme- 

 diately. 



The next coursing meeting to be established was that at Lambourn, 

 known as the Ashdown Park meeting, the first gathering being held in 1780 

 and one of the original members was the Earl of Sefton, a time-honoured 

 name in connection with the sport, as the Waterloo Cup is annually decided 

 over property of the Earl of Sefton at Altcar, near Liverpool. With such 

 staunch supporters of coursing as Colonel Thornton and Major Topham 



