174 REMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN 



of whom was a queer Irish lad employed by the person to whom 

 the dog was lent. Wide awake were the Irishmen, and so was 

 I. My greyhound was a beautiful little timid thing, the best 

 of her size that ever ran, a pet, belonging to a lady to whom I 

 had presented her; and her competitor was Vi-ayefroy, or his 

 brother, I forget which, an animal the size of a deer-dog, and as 

 bold as a lion, who pulled in the slips as if harnessed to a 

 huckster's cart. The timidity of my greyhound and the bold 

 resolute tugging of her gigantic adversary were in no way lost 

 on me nor on the Irishmen. I hoped we might be an hour 

 before we found a hare, for the dog to pull himself weary ; and 

 had the Irishman confined the aid he wished to give his dog to 

 a prayer for an instantaneous start, no harm would have been 

 done ; but he did not do so. He seized his dog by the stern, 

 thinking that a better thing for him to draw by than by his 

 neck and windpipe, and at the same time he showered on him a 

 continuous score of maledictions, which, though delivered as far 

 as the ears of my greyhound went, in an unknown tongue, yet 

 from their gruffness and tone of anger had the effect of making 

 her crawl, crouching timidly along the ground, looking for any- 

 thing else than the jump of the hare. I soon stopped my 

 friend of the Emerald Isle, and forbade any interference with 

 greyhounds in the slips. Alas ! a hare was found in a few 

 seconds, and Vrayeft-oy had the Ladies' plate and my greyhound 

 the odd sovereigns. I remember, at the Greenway in 1851, on 

 a day on which we lost the services of our judge, Mr. Hodgson, 

 who is, I think, the best I ever saw, and who so good-naturedly 

 volunteers his presence, and is so kind on all occasions, being 

 put up to decide the courses. Oh ! now, my dear Mr. Hodgson ! 

 if you read these Reminiscences, don't think that I am this 

 moment on the plan before-mentioned, on the first day's meet 

 of a coursing club, and about " to ask after your family," and 

 " to invite you to drink wine repeatedly," " hoping to see you 

 at the Greenway next November," for I am not on that plan I 

 can assure you. You deserve all the praise, and were I never 

 to run a dog again, you should have it. But to return to my 



