PREFACE. 



THE title of this work should pretty well explain 

 its nature. " Sirloin" speaks with ponderous 

 emphasis for itself, and " Saddle" has a triple bear- 

 ing on horses, sheep, and pigs. It is, in fact, simply 

 the record of what I have seen and heard during the 

 last eleven years in the course of my summer rambles 

 from Cumberland to Cornwall. My business among 

 the leading breeders was in connexion with The 

 Herds and Flocks of Great Britain for The Mark 

 Lane Express, and sundry Prize Essays in The Royal 

 Agricidtural Society's Journal, the main points of 

 which are briefly reproduced. A large share of 

 attention has been given to coursing ; but racing and 

 foxhunting have been passed somewhat lightly over, 

 as I have already devoted three books to them. 



Looking back on the friendships of the last 

 eighteen years, I remember sadly that hardly three 

 of the older generation with whom I then began to 

 take counsel as to "the brave days of old" are left 

 among the living. To have known them, and to 

 have in a measure travelled over their minds, is no 



