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136 CHAPTER II

PUBLIC COURSING

coursing has been in existence for at least 120 years, as all the records tell us that Lord Orford founded the Swaffham Club, in Norfolk, in the year 1776. This Lord Orford was a most eccentric man according to all accounts, but he was a thorough sportsman, and no doubt he did much to improve the breed of greyhounds. My own opinion is that before his time no very great amount of attention had been paid to pace, and that in consequence it was found that the hare was more than a match for any dog that ran by sight and not by scent. This may be mere conjecture on my part; but I remember reading many years ago, in an old book which I have lost, and the name of which I have quite forgotten, that all sorts of endeavours were made in Yorkshire (the names of places in the North and East Riding were given) to improve the pace of the greyhound, so that he might be a match for the hare. Then Lord Orford's historian