PUBLIC COURS/NC 175 



somewhat lowly placed in the social scale. Still, the 

 spirit of sport is the same, and there never were such 

 fellows as the Durham miners for preserving hares. 

 In a coursing neighbourhood every miner is ex officio 

 a gamekeeper, and not many years ago I saw thirteen 

 courses from five acres of turnips in a field which 

 adjoined a 'pit heap,' the summit of which was 

 crowned with a crowd of men, women, and children, 

 probably two thousand strong. 



In Yorkshire, the North Riding and the northern 

 part of the East Riding have plenty of coursing 

 meetings. In the first-named locality the North of 

 England Club rules the roast, but farther south the 

 \'orkshire Club does duty, and seems to be a most 

 flourishing institution. The best ground I ever coursed 

 over in the county was the Seamer estate of Lord 

 Londesborough, near Scarborough ; but Rainton is 

 very good, too, and the beats are so managed that 

 most of the running is over grass. There used to be 

 important meetings at Market ^^'eighton (very flinty 

 wold country), but they have fallen off of late years, 

 and I imagine that very little coursing now takes place 

 in the East Riding. 



Nor are the Scotch meetings what they were, as 

 Carmichael alone puts forth a big programme nowa- 

 days. But in Ireland there seems to be little change ; 



