THE SECOND EDITION. vil 



the investments being confined to such sums as can be well 

 afforded by the owners of the dogs engaged and their friends. 

 Partly as a consequence of this, and to some extent also from the 

 careful supervision of the press, we no longer hear of the charges 

 of fraud which used to be constantly made against the judges. 

 That these officials do occasionally make mistakes is plain enough, 

 but that they are caused by bribery is never supposed by the most 

 suspicious. Contrasting this state of things with what used to 

 occur meeting after meeting, and with the existing state of the 

 turf, Coursers may well be satisfied with the progress of events in 

 their own sport, and they may, I think, hug themselves with the 

 conviction that it is conducted in as honest and sportsmanlike a 

 manner as is consistent with human nature. 



The formation of the National Coursing Club, and the new 

 rules which have emanated from that body, have not a little aided 

 in effecting this result. Having, in conjunction with the Earl of 

 Sefton and Mr. C. Jardine, had the honour of drawing up those for 

 the Decision of Courses, I may be naturally supposed to have a 

 partiality for them ; but putting this aside as far as is possible, 

 they will, I think, be found more simple and more just than the 

 old ones. To these I have appended the decisions of the Club on 

 the several questions submitted to them since the organisation 

 of that body by Mr. C. Jardine in 1858, and which must now be 

 considered as precedents for future guidance. 



It was my intention to have added the portraits of three of the 

 most successful stallions of the last ten years, and an equal 

 number of celebrated bitches, to the list included in the first 



