SOME ENGLISH COURSING CLUBS 219 



decessor, Mr. Percival, he found that these went no further back 

 than Mr. P.'s appointment in 1879. Prior to this Mr. James 

 Bake, of Bird's Cliff, Cheetham Hill, had been in office from the 

 March Meeting of 1854, exactly a quarter of a century, and doubt- 

 less his books contained a carefully kept record of the club's transac- 

 tions, possibly from its start. By some strange carelessness it would 



The game 



appear that no effort was made at his death to recover the books 

 and documents belonging to the club, and possibly it is too late to 

 make any effective attempt now. This is greatly to be deplored, 

 as the most contradictory reports exist as to its inception. 

 Goodlake, whose history of coursing was published in 1828, makes 

 no mention of the club, and as he appears to have taken great 



