HISTORY OF THE KILDARE HUNT 



seen, nor would it have been tolerated for a mo- 

 ment at his table. It was the Master's invariable 

 custom, no matter how late, to see his hounds fed 

 after each day's hunting, and Mr Robert Kennedy 

 well remembers as a child hearing a good deal of 

 grumbling at that excellent custom, especially on 

 the part of the ladies. During the hunting season 

 the Master would never allow the hounds flesh of 

 any sort, not even in the attenuated shape of 

 broth or soup. He firmly believed that it vitiated 

 their powers of scent, and their diet was confined 

 from September to April at least to the best old 

 oaten meal boiled in new milk in any quantity 

 necessary, as a large dairy at Johnstown was at the 

 disposal of the kennels. 



Mr Kennedy held gambling in equal abhor- 

 rence with intemperance, and card playing for 

 money was strictly forbidden at his house. Mr 

 Robert Kennedy, however, remembers a surrepti- 

 tious game in which Mr Cecil Lawless and Mr 

 St George Foley were engaged and which resulted 

 in a loss to the latter which at that time seemed very 

 considerable to young Robert, who as a boy was 

 watching the game. He probably expressed some 

 opinion in the matter, for his elder brothers at 

 once impressed him, with dire threats, with the 

 advisability of holding his tongue. They said, in 

 fact, they would " make Tom Kelly of him " if he 

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