9O MEMOIR OF THE KILKENNY HUNT. 



tions had now greatly fallen off, and it seemed in- 

 evitable that the affairs of the Hunt must be wound 

 up, and the pack dispersed, in order to meet outstand- 

 ing liabilities. In fact a portion of the pack was 

 actually sold, and went to England, and the remainder 

 was in process of being disposed of to Mr. Burke, 

 Master of the Tipperary Hounds, when Mr. Edmond 

 Smithwick of Kilcreene, to his honour be it spoken, 

 came forward just in time, and bought back twenty 

 couple of hounds, to which Mr. Burke very sportingly 

 waived his right, remarking that " if he could help it, 

 Kilkenny should never be without a hound." Thus 

 was the Hunt saved from dissolution. 



The difficulty of mastership was solved by Captain 

 Chaloner Knox agreeing, at the request of some 

 members of the Hunt, to hunt the hounds two days 

 a week for the ensuing season, confining himself to 

 coverts on the western side of the River Nore. Mr. 

 Robert Watson very sportingly undertook to hunt 

 the other side of the country in order to keep it open, 

 and showed good sport for the season. Amongst 

 other runs, he had a rare gallop in the teeth of a gale 

 of wind and rain from Castlewarren to Ballysalla to 

 ground, and a very fine hunting run from Gowran, 

 with a kill in the open. 



At the beginning of the season, Captain Knox 

 procured George Mulhall as kennel huntsman from 

 the Queen's County, where he had long filled a 

 similar post under Colonel Garden and Mr. Hamil- 

 ton Stubbcr, and, by permission of Lord Desart, 

 moved the hounds from Blunden Villa to Desart 

 Court, where he fitted up temporary kennels. Capt. 



