]8 COVERT-SIDE SKETCHES. 



the members of the ring had taken the Dog Derby under their 



protection to the extent that they have since done, and by no 



means such heavy books were opened on the event then as now. 



How far coursing has improved as a national sport under the 



patronage of the betting-ring I leave my readers to imagine, 



merely reserving my opinion that the " festering sore " has not 



penetrated so deeply here as on the turf, and that there are 



men, ay many men, who still course in public from a love of 



sport alone, and only have trifling wagers on the events in 



which their dogs are engaged. Still the point of the poisoned 



arrow is driven in, and coursing can no longer be considered as a 



sport without taking the element of gambling into consideration. 



Looking at it from the other side, we may class it as a quiet, 



gentlemanly-style of amusement, and arrive at the conclusion 



that were every greyhound swept from the face of the earth 



to-morrow, save in the matter of mild but healthy exercise to 



some thousands of our feUow-citizens, we should be neither 



better or worse. 



Racing stands altogether on another foundation. No one 



can deny that if not the starting-point of the excellence of our 



breed of horses, it was for something more than a century the 



most important means of their perpetuation. Whether racing 



originated in England, as I suspect, first of all to decide 



questions of superior speed and endurance amongst hunters, 



or was handed down to us pure and simple from the games 



celebrated in Greece and Rome, matters not. To the turf we 



undoubtedly owe the speed and stamina of our modern hunters, 



hacks, and all horses beyond the mere slave of heavy draught. 



Herein we have an obligation which must cause every lover of 



horseflesh to look on racing with a feeling of veneration, if not 



respect, but 



" The old order changeth, yielding place to new, 

 * * * * 



Lest one good custom should corrupt the world." 

 And I fear the time has come when we must no longer look to 



