SIR JOHN KENNEDY, 1814-1841 



nth, he " Left Dublin at half past six, breakfasted 

 at Blessington and met the hounds at Downshire 

 and had a sharp run to Elverstown; tried Bishops- 

 land and Russborough." This day was softened by 

 a dinner and bed at " Lynch's," but the four days, 

 which, it will be noticed, were all spent in hunting 

 much the same country, strike one as reasonably 

 strenuous. 



I may note, before leaving Baron de Robeck's 

 old diary, that there was evidently a private pack 

 of foxhounds kept by Lord Portarlington at Emo in 

 the year 1829. On March 26 of that year the Baron 

 made a note of hunting " with the Emo hounds on 

 the beautiful wooded hills above Stradbally and 

 Ballykilcavan, returned at two o'clock to Stradbally 

 Hall." 



Mr Hans Aylmer, of Kerdiffstown, has most 

 kindly placed at my disposal some old papers, 

 among which I find recollections of an officer 

 who hunted in Kildare during the middle period 

 of Sir John Kennedy's long Mastership, which 

 throw a most valuable light on the sport and some 

 of the personalities of that period. These recol- 

 lections are so interesting that I set them out at 

 length, merely noting that they relate to the seasons 

 about the year 1825. 



I now, as a rule, patronized the Kildares, as they 

 hunted in the more immediate vicinity of New- 

 12 115 



