CHAPTER I 

 INTRODUCTORY 



IT is probable that the traditions of hunting 

 stretch further back into the past in Ireland 

 than in any other of the three kingdoms. It 

 would be difficult, I think, to find an earlier record 

 of sport than the legend which preserves the fact 

 that in the first century of our era the hero Fraech 

 received from his aunt a present of seven hounds 

 which chased '' seven stags, seven foxes, seven 

 hares, seven boars and seven otters in the presence 

 of Ailill and Medb, King and Queen of Con- 

 naught, who watched them hunting till midday." 

 I know of no earlier mention of the fox as a beast 

 of chase, and that exploit of the legendary hero 

 may be claimed by Irishmen with some confidence 

 as the first record of a sport which has since become 

 national. 



It is at a date not much later, as history is reck- 

 oned, that the tradition of sport in Ireland is placed 

 firmly on an historical basis by a no less authorita- 

 tive personage than a Roman consul. Quintus 



B I 



