SIR EDWARD KENNEDY, 1868-1874 



in the country, no one can have good hounds with- 

 out breeding them. Puppies, Hke every other young 

 animal, must have milk. How many cows have been 

 kept at the kennels.? If any, who have seen the pups 

 get the new milk? To breed successfully there must 

 be knowledge, trouble and expense, and no one in 

 Ireland ever took so much trouble, ever expended 

 a tithe of the money or had a hundredth part of 

 the knowledge of my late friend Wm La Touche. 

 No wonder that without him, our hounds have 

 become what they are." 



This is a very pessimistic reflection not only 

 upon fox-hunting in Kildare, but also upon fox- 

 hunting in the abstract. The only logical deduc- 

 tion to be drawn from it is that without a man of 

 Mr W. La Touche 's exceptional gifts to look after 

 the hounds and devote his whole life to the care and 

 improvement of the pack that pack must deteriorate 

 and the quality of the sport decline. That is a 

 proposition which would be very hard to maintain 

 either in Kildare or elsewhere. It occurred to me 

 to send a copy of Mr Kennedy's remarks to Mr 

 Percy La Touche, Mr Wm La Touche's nephew, 

 and ask his opinion upon them. Every member of 

 the Hunt will know that I could consult no better 

 authority. He has been good enough to send me the 

 following notes. 



" During my uncle's life the relations between 



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