SIR FENTON AYLMER AND MR A. HENRY 



tence records the end of the Leinster Harriers 

 after a career of just fuve years. 



I think we see in Sir Fenton Aylmer's Master- 

 ship the first recognized organization of fox-hunt- 

 ing in Kildare on a quasi-public basis, and that 

 before his time hunting had been conducted by 

 private packs both on the large and small scale, 

 all over Ireland, and particularly in what is now 

 the Kildare country. Such establishments as those 

 at Bishopscourt and Castletown had always been 

 maintained with much pomp and circumstance — 

 they were indeed the natural expression of the love 

 of sport and of the hospitality which have always 

 been characteristic of the Irish gentleman of large 

 means. But there were many other smaller packs 

 kept by the smaller gentry, whose position, with 

 some distinct differences, was analogous to that 

 of the minor squires and more substantial yeomen 

 of the English shires. These smaller men were 

 also great nurses of the sport in Ireland in its 

 earlier development, and foxhunters of to-day owe 

 them a great debt on that account, if only from the 

 fact that they helped to establish the general popu- 

 larity of fox-hunting among the country people. 



Of these Irish sportsmen, it is more than prob- 

 able that the Mr Graydon of the original list of 

 1804 is a type. The Nineteen Mile House on the 

 Kilcullen and Naas Road was long the scene of 



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