24 FIELD AND FERX. 



tary^ was held there. It was open to one hundred 

 and twenty-eight dogs named by any member of a 

 coursing club in the United Kingdom. They were 

 ;first classed in eight sixteen-dog stakes^ each of 

 ■which was named after a celebrated painter. The 

 Snyders Stake and the Landseer Stake had each 

 two representatives among the last four. In the 

 former the struggle was between two black dogs, the 

 Marquis of Douglases Drift and Mr. Wardlaw Ram- 

 say's Rector, and in the latter, between Mr. Gib- 

 son^s Violet and Mr. G. Poliok's Hawthorn ; and 

 then the blue Violet, " the small, the pretty, the 

 strong," who was bred by Mr. Adam Carror, beat 

 Drift in the decider. Nothing was thought of Violet 

 at first, and till she had beaten two English dogs 

 handsomely, Mr. Nightingale " never noticed her 

 much." Mr. Gibson bought the renowned Sam spe- 

 cially for her, but she died in pupping. " Muirland 

 Meg," the Chief Justice adds, " fell on some grass, 

 when she had quite the pace of Drift in the Boat 

 Hoime." 



In connexion with Abington, Mr. Nightingale has 

 always a good word for Mr. Patterson^s Susan White- 

 head, when she won the Puppy Stakes against Bold 

 Enterprise ; and it was also the scene of one of the 

 finest courses between Barrator and Ladylike, who 

 afterwards divided the stake. Still, Barrator's se- 

 verest Scottish course was run with one of Toll 

 "Wife's pups, at Crawfurd John, close to the village, 

 through fold-yards and over wails, through gateways. 



