THE VERTRAGAL GROUP. 721 



award to the dog that manifests the power of speed in the 

 highest degree. Hence, the heading of the hare, and turn- 

 ing it, is reckoned so much in the game, a wrench or half- 

 turn so much, and so on. These courses, since their institu- 

 tion, have ever been in great favour, and numerous clubs are 

 established in different parts of the country, which have their 

 stated meetings, where the prizes are cups, collars, and the 

 like, heavy betting, besides, taking place on the rival matches. 

 It is to this system of matches in an especial degree, and to 

 the general practice of coursing by the gentry of the country, 

 since the destruction of the larger game, that the English 

 Greyhound has attained the high perfection at which it has 

 arrived. The principles of breeding applied to its improve- 

 ment are the same as in the case of the Race-Horse and 

 other animals, and the pedigrees of greyhounds are recorded, 

 and large sums given for those of superior blood. The names 

 of Snowball, Major, and others, are as familiar to the fol- 

 lowers of this class of sports, as those of Matchem, Herod, 

 and Eclipse, are to the breeders of the horses of the Turf. 

 By the system of breeding so assiduously pursued in the 

 case of these animals, the British Greyhound has acquired, 

 in an eminent degree, the conformation which suits him for 

 the kind of chase to which he is appropriated, and become 

 the most beautiful and swift of all this class of dogs. But, 

 exclusive attention having been devoted to the property of 

 speed, other faculties have become impaired. He has lost 

 the hardihood and boldness of the older greyhound ; his 

 muzzle having been narrowed, the space for the extension of 

 the nasal membrane has been lessened, and his sense of 

 smell impaired, and, with the diminution of the cranial 

 cavity, his general intelligence and aptitude to receive in- 

 struction. Yet the greyhound, even thus changed, is not the 

 stupid and insensible creature which he is generally repre- 

 sented to be. When bred up in the kennel, indeed, and used 

 solely as an instrument of the chase, his finer faculties are 

 not developed. But when reared up in companionship with 



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