COURSING 



another son of Ewesdale, and we could not forbear leaving our 

 post to see the beautiful blood-red Lady Lyons rubbed down 

 after winning. But the twilight draws on, and at last the 

 hare supply begins to fail. 



' Not a beater can be seen, as they are far away, quietly 

 stirring up the hares, and sending them stealing over the 

 fallows, towards the big sough, which has been such a city of 

 refuge to them time out of mind. We stand waiting for 

 minutes while Raper has Bab and Sir William in the slips. 

 " Sporting Eagle 'Umbugs — niver see it noe moor," indicate the 

 last registered winner and break the reverential silence which 

 falls on all good coursers, when such a prima donna as Bab is 

 coming once more on to the stage. At last the word is passed 

 that a hare is in sight ; Bab is ready for her, and a beautiful 

 course, ending with a rattUng kill, carries the bonnie Scotch 

 lassie through her second round. 



' Such was the opening day, and the next night found the 

 puppies all beaten off, and England and Ireland each with one, 

 and Scotland with two champions. Ireland and Scotland 

 fought it out at last, and Lord Lurgan's dog could only beat 

 Bab about a length for speed, and get very little the best of the 

 working. Perhaps two such flyers never met before, as the 

 winner has never been beaten, and the loser, we believe, only 

 once. Bonfires were lighted on Friday night on the hills near 

 Belfast, to tell of the second Waterloo victory of their black 

 dog. At Waterloo it created such enthusiasm in the bosom 

 of one Celt, that having flung away his own hat, he rushed at 

 Lord Lurgan, plucked off his lordship's wideawake, flung it 

 wildly into the air, and kicked it when it came down again.' 



We do not hear much of long courses nowadays. At the 

 end of the eighteenth and early in the nineteenth century the 

 Flixton meeting in Yorkshire was notable for the distances 

 run. ' The Flixton Hares,' says Daniel, ' are so stout that the 

 course is extended sometimes to the length of five and six 

 miles : they are generally found on the side of a hill to the 

 North, which they invariably ascend : at the top they have 



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