INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 5 



field may be, and sometimes is, made as interesting as the public 

 one, and may then be considered as exactly of the same character. 

 Without it, it degenerates into f pot hunting,' and though it may 

 suit the taste of many, it has no attractions for me. Still I have 

 no wish to interfere with its enjoyment. Even in the public 

 field I would scarcely care to see a course without some interest 

 directly or indirectly in the particular dogs engaged. But it 

 appears to me absurd to say that, viewed as a competition between 

 dogs, a good day's coursing at Altcar or Amesbury is less interest- 

 ing than a day's racing at Newmarket or Epsom. By many it 

 has been alleged that its excitements are not to be compared with 

 those of the race-course ; but in the contest between two high- 

 bred greyhounds, there are so many more points of interest than 

 in the race between horses, that I cannot subscribe to this opinion. 

 In the latter, speed is the only quality implicated, and though 

 there is the difference between speed for half a mile, and speed 

 for three or four, still it is, after all, that quality only which is 

 concerned. In the course, on the contrary, there are many more 

 points of interest to be considered, which every ardent courser 

 congratulates himself upon understanding, and the attainment of 

 which he is at great trouble to cultivate in his stud. 



Now these desirable points, which we all endeavour to com- 

 bine as much as possible in the same individual, are, not only 

 the speed and stoutness of the race-horse, but also what are 

 commonly called good working and killing powers, which imply 

 mental as well as bodily tact, hardihood, and honesty ; this last 

 quality, when analysed, is mainly dependent upon the amount 



