Schoolboy was of great celebrity; he was bred by Sir C. Bunbury, and got by Dr. Frampton's Fop, out of Sir Charles's Miss: he ran a great number of MATCHES for very considerable sums, particularly over Newmarket, and never was beat. Several of his get have been sold for twenty guineas each, as Troy, Traveller, and Lilly; all very good runners.
Mr. Daniel, who, in his "Rural Sports," has given most beautiful and admirably executed portraits of Czarina, Maria, Venus, and Claret, engraved by Scott, has also introduced the following, as a criterion of comparative speed between the race-horse and the greyhound. "A match was to have been run over Doncaster course, in the December of 1800, for one hundred guineas; but one of the horses having been drawn, a mare started alone, to make good the bet, and, after having gone the distance of about a mile, a greyhound bitch started from the side of the course, and ran with her the other three miles, keeping nearly head to head, which produced a singular race; and when they reached the distance post, five to four was betted on the GREYHOUND; when they came to the stand, it was even betting; but the mare won by about a head."
A variety of singular occurrences respecting the invincible ardour and velocity, as well as persevering fortitude, of greyhounds, might be introduced, but a few must suffice. In February, 1800, a brace of GREYHOUNDS coursed a hare upwards of four miles in a straight line from where she was found, (exclusive of turns,) when she ran herself dead before she was touched by the dogs.
A famous dog of the Reverend Mr. Corsellis, who chanced to be wind-bound at Dover, coursed a hare, who had beat a variety of pursuers in that neighbourhood, when the dog proved so superior to her in speed, and pressed her so close, that she ran immediately for the cliff, as her only chance of escaping; but the greyhound threw at, and caught her at the brink, going with her in his mouth to the bottom of the precipice, where they were literally dashed to pieces. In 1797, a brace of greyhounds coursed a hare over the edge of a chalk-pit, at Offham, in Sussex, and both hare and dogs were found dead at the bottom. In December, 1794, a company of gentlemen were coursing at Finchingfield, in Essex, when a hare was started, and a brace of greyhounds starting from two different points, ran against each other with so much violence that they both died on the spot.
The greyhound is always mild and inoffensive, and his fidelity cannot be better described than in the words of the unfortunate Charles I. who said, amidst his courtiers, during his troubles, that "the GREYHOUND had all the good-nature of the SPANIEL, without his fawning."
GRIPES
.—The disorder this term is meant to imply, is more properly distinguished by the appellation of INFLAMMATORY CHOLIC, and is much more painful and dangerous than that species of intestinal complaint known by the name of FLATULENT CHOLIC, or FRET. The inflammatory cholic, or GRIPES, proceeds from a painful obstruction in the intestines, occasioned by an accumulation of indurated excrement, which must be mollified, and removed, before EASE can be obtained. In cases of this kind, no time should be lost, the intestines being preternaturally distended beyond the original intention of Nature, the pain is most excruciating, the state of the animal dreadful; and, unless relief is very speedily procured, INFLAMMATION of the BOWELS immediately comes on, MORTIFICATION follows, and DEATH ensues.
GROGGY
—is a knowing term, peculiar to the lower order of stabularian and horse-dealing gentry, and implies a tenderness and defect in action, either from a CHEST or FOOT FOUNDER, or an injury sustained in the back sinews, as mentioned under the head Gorged. Horses of this description, although they come apparently crippled out of the stable, yet, when the circulation is increased by action, and the stiffness gone off as the perspiration comes on, their exertion is incredible, and their endurance of fatigue beyond conception. These are the kind of horses by which the inferior kind of JOBBERS obtain a livelihood, in supplying the POST-WORK upon the roads, and the HACKNEY COACH-MASTERS of the Metropolis.