COURSING
—is a species of sport that a celebrated writer has traced to great antiquity; "it having been treated on by Arrian, who flourished A. D. 150." The same author, the Rev. Mr. Daniel, in his elegant and truly entertaining publication upon "Rural Sports," says,
"In our country, during the reign of King John, greyhounds were frequently received by him as payment in lieu of money, for the renewal of grants, fines, and forfeitures, belonging to the Crown. The following extracts prove this Monarch to have been exceedingly partial to this kind of dogs. A fine paid A. D. 1203, mentions five hundred marks, ten horses, and ten leashes of greyhounds. Another, in 1210, one swift running horse, and six greyhounds."
"In the days of Elizabeth, when she was not disposed herself to hunt, she was so stationed as to see the coursing of deer with greyhounds. At Cowdrey, in Sussex, the seat of Lord Montecute, (now Lady Montague's,) A. D. 1591, one day after dinner, the Queen saw from a turret sixteen bucks, all having fair law, pulled down with greyhounds in a lawn before the house."
Coursing was formerly extended to the DEER, the FOX, and the HARE; and much ceremony was observed in park and paddock coursing with the former, even in the Royal presence. It is, however, now principally confined to the hare, (except in the season for fawn killing;) is not only universal in most counties, but particularly patronized and promoted in others. Clubs are composed of the most opulent and respectable members for the enjoyment of the sport, who have mostly two (some three) meetings in each season; the first established and principal of which is the "Swaffham Coursing Society," instituted in Norfolk by the late Earl of Orford in the year 1776, which is supported with true personal spirit and sporting energy; the Bradwell and Tillingham meetings, in Essex; the Flixton Wolds, in Yorkshire; and the Ashdown Park meeting, at Lambourn, in Berkshire.
The meetings at Swaffham are held on the second Monday in November, and the first Monday in February, unless prevented by frost or snow, in which case they are then held the first open Monday in or after November, and the first open Monday in February; and not later. The Ashdown Park meeting to be held at the Red Lion at Lambourn, annually, the second Monday in November.
The LAWS of COURSING were arranged in the reign of Queen Elizabeth by the Duke of Norfolk, and were sanctioned by the acquiescence of the nobility, gentry, and sporting world, who then followed the diversion; and have since been considered the fixed criterion for the decision of all bets, by which they are regulated and determined to the present day. The person appointed to let loose the greyhounds, was to receive into his slips (or thongs) those matched to run against each other so soon as he came into the field; and then to follow next the hare-finder, or him who was to start the hare, until he came to the form; and no horse or foot men were to go before, or on either side, but directly behind, for the space of about forty yards.
Rules.
—A hare never to be coursed by more than A BRACE of greyhounds.
The hare-finder to give the hare three soho's! before he put her from her form; to give notice to the dogs, that they may attend to starting.
The hare to have twelve score yards law before the dogs were loosed, unless the small distance from cover would not admit it without danger of immediately losing her.
The dog who gave the first turn, if there was neither cote, slip, nor wrench, during the course, WON.
A cote is when a greyhound goes endways by his fellow, and gives the hare a turn.
A cote serves for two turns, and two trippings or jerkins for a cote: if the hare did not turn quite about, she only wrenched, and two wrenches stand for a turn.
If there were no cotes given between a brace of greyhounds, but that one of them served the other at turning, then he that gave the hare most turns, won; and if one gave as many turns as the other, then he that bore the hare, won.
If one dog gave the first turn, and the other bore the hare, he that bore the hare, won.
A go-by, or bearing the hare, was equivalent to two turns.
If neither dog turned the hare, he that led last to the covert, won.
If one dog turned the hare, served himself, and turned her again, it was as much as a cote; for a cote was esteemed two turns.
If all the course was equal, the dog that bore the hare, won; if the hare was not borne, the course was adjudged dead.
If a dog fell in a course, and yet performed his part, he might challenge the advantage of a turn more than he gave.
If a dog turned the hare, served himself, and gave divers cotes, and yet in the end stood still in the field, the other dog, if he ran home to the cover, although he gave no turn, was adjudged the winner.
If by accident a dog was rode over in his course, the course was void; and he that did the mischief was to make reparation for the damage.
If a dog gave the first and last turn, and there was no other advantage between them, he that gave the odd turn, won.
He that came in first at the death, took up the hare, saved her from being torn, cherished the dogs, and cleansed their mouths from the fleak, was adjudged to have the hare for his trouble.
Those who were appointed judges of the course, were to give their decision before they departed from the field.
Exclusive of the county clubs and local societies established for the annual enjoyment of the diversion upon a larger scale, COURSING has its devotees, who are as energetic in its defence, as its most enraptured advocate can possibly be, for what he calls the inexpressible pleasures of the chase: taken, however, in a more extensive point of view, it is held in nearly an equal estimation with angling, when put in competition with the more attracting sports of the field; and seems much better calculated for the amusement of a cynical solitary disciplinarian, than a mind open to all the more noble and exhilarating sensations of the CHASE.