i66 COURSING THE HARE 



In the Midlands things are a httle better, with 

 good meetings still held at Lichfield, Sleaford, Wap- 

 penbury, and elsewhere ; in Essex, too, there has 

 recently been something like a revival, the meetings 

 being numerous and well arranged, and in many 

 places first-rate coursing ground is placed at the 

 service of the three or four clubs which are in 

 existence. If things have improved in Essex, it is, 

 however, just the reverse with Kent, and probably 

 the many coursers who used to foregather on the 

 Cliffe Marshes not more than five or six years ago, 

 now utilise the north side of the Thames as their 

 running ground. It is hardly my business to inquire 

 why this change has come about ; but I may mention 

 tliat the original Secretary of the Cliffe Club migrated 

 to Essex some five years ago, and that as soon as he 

 was settled in his new quarters he set about estabhsh- 

 ing the 'Eastern Counties Club,' which has its head- 

 quarters at Witham, and is now the only enclosed 

 coursing meeting in the kingdom. 



Here I must interpolate a few remarks about en- 

 closed coursing, which for at least a decade was all 

 the rage with the gambling school of coursers, but 

 was really a poor form of sport when compared with 

 the legitimate business. Not that I for a moment 

 am going to suggest that it savoured of cruelty. 



