PUBLIC COURSING 173 



served than speed. Activity, too, is necessary for a 

 dog to win at Southport ; and in proof of the softness 

 and depth of the going, I may state that the judge 

 gives his decisions from the top of a ladder, the ground 

 being too rotten to carry a horse. . 



Cumberland, I am sorry to say, is not what it once 

 was in the matter of coursing. The Border Union 

 Meeting, which takes place on the confines of Cum- 

 berland and Dumfriesshire, still holds its own, and is 

 without question second only to the Waterloo Cup as 

 a public coursing ; but Brougham and Brampton 

 have long since disappeared, and the West Cumber- 

 land Club, which flourished only a few years ago, now 

 makes no stir in the world, and may be defunct for 

 all I know to the contrary. The Border Union 

 ground is very good, the hares are excellent, and the 

 Graham family, of Netherby, together with their 

 tenants, are most assiduous preservers. The valuable 

 stakes attract the best class of greyhounds, and as the 

 meeting is held in mid-October, it rarely suffers from 

 postponement, often escaping with only one wet day 

 — a rather wonderful circumstance, seeing that the 

 district is one of the rainiest spots in the kingdom. 



Northumberland, which has recently sent out 

 great winners in Fullerton, Miss Glendyne, Bit of 

 Fashion, and the rest of that wonderful family de- 



