PREFACE. 



information as they possessed, or placed in his hands 

 such records as remained in their families. Amongst 

 these must be mentioned Lady Power, Mr. Robert 

 Watson of Ballydarton, the family of the late Lord 

 James Butler, and Mr. James Poe. 



The Compiler trusts that the matter, such as it is, 

 will prove of some interest not only to sportsmen 

 living within the precincts of the Hunt, but to Irish 

 hunting-men generally, as giving a chronicle, im- 

 perfect though it be, of the first County Hunt Club 

 established in Ireland. 



Whilst disclaiming the intention of posing only as 

 landator temporis actt, it has been the aim of the 

 Compiler to rescue from oblivion the circumstances 

 attendant on the establishment of the Kilkenny 

 Hunt, and the details of its earlier sport, rather than 

 to record the doings of later times a task which 

 can easily be carried out at any future time by 

 reference to files of sporting and local journals, which 

 contain ample and well-written material. He has, 

 therefore, passed over rapidly the last twenty years, 

 trusting that the sport which has been enjoyed 

 during that period ma}- be full}- chronicled by some 

 later and better historian of the fortunes of the 

 Hunt. 



In arranging the matter contained in the Memoir, 

 it has been deemed advisable to relegate to a series 



