HISTORY OF THE KILDARE HUNT 



one hound from another. The third Duke of Rut- 

 land, who succeeded in 1721 and was still alive in 

 1777, was a great foxhunter. It was he who brought 

 the pack from Haddon, and it was under his direc- 

 tion that hounds were bred for fox-hunting and that 

 the Belvoir pack took to the fox. He died in 1779, 

 and under the fourth duke the fortunes of the hunt 

 somewhat declined. But during the minority of his 

 successor the pack was managed by Sir Carnaby 

 Haggerston and Lord George Cavendish. Later 

 Mr Perceval, brother of the Prime Minister, was 

 associated with the management, and in his hands 

 the pack was brought to a perfection which it has 

 since maintained. 



Mr Conolly 's well-known patronage of the Turf is 

 reflected in several letters of this period. It is evi- 

 dent that the Curragh was already a great racing 

 centre in Ireland, and there are numerous allusions 

 to trials and matches there during the last quarter 

 of the eighteenth century. In June, 1777, Lord 

 Farnham wrote congratulating Mr Conolly on the 

 success of a horse called Friar, and in concluding 

 a letter which has many references to horse breed- 

 ing and racing he adds the following interesting 

 paragraph: 



" I will send for two or three cast staunch fox- 

 hounds to attack the martens; they have increased 

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