Lord Kennedy 



AMONG the wild band of madcap sportsmen who 

 " made things hum " during the first three decades of 

 the nineteenth century there was no bolder spirit and 

 no more brilliant Nimrod than Archibald Kennedy, 

 Earl of Cassillis, better known to fame as Lord Kennedy. 

 If you run your eye through the " Noctes Ambrosianae," 

 you will find that whenever Christopher North wishes 

 to describe the ne plus ultra of skill with the gun, it is 

 Lord Kennedy that he takes as his exemplar ; and 

 there were certainly few men of his day who were his 

 equals as a game- or pigeon-shot, and only two who were 

 his superiors the great Twin Brethren of Sport, Horatio 

 Ross and George Osbaldeston. 



The Kennedys, Earls of Cassillis and now Marquises 

 of Ailsa, are a fine old Scottish family who began to 

 make their mark in Scotland's history as far back as the 

 commencement of the thirteenth century. Most of them 

 were warriors, but there were some who wore the mitre 

 of bishop and abbot. Gilbert, the first Lord Kennedy, 

 received his patent of nobility in 1456. His son David, 

 first Earl of Cassillis, fell on Flodden's fatal field. 



