HISTORY OF THE KILDARE HUNT 



consistent sport throughout his six seasons, was a 

 very good houndsman and spent freely in improv- 

 ing the pack. When his time came to retire he 

 handed over a country teeming with foxes, a first- 

 rate huntsman, and a pack of hounds which enabled 

 his successor to show capital sport from the begin- 

 ning. 



I shall here give an account from the Irish Times 

 of a typical first meet near the end of Sir Edward 

 Kennedy's Mastership. The writer gives an in- 

 teresting glance at the personnel of the Hunt at 

 this period, and writes very appreciatively of the 

 sport in the country usually associated with the 

 opening meet of the season. 



" Johnstown Inn may have been quite a place, 

 as the Yankees say, in the old posting days, but it 

 looks now played out. The hounds have already 

 arrived, and the bitch pack, of which Kildare is so 

 proud, are out to-day. Level as if turned out by 

 a machine, every couple almost as like as Girofle 

 and Girofla, yet each with an individuality of its 

 own, muscular and strong as many a dog pack, 

 with the prevailing shade of Belvoir tan to attest 

 their origin and pedigree. Will Freeman the hunts- 

 man, a light man on Prima Donna, is said to fill 

 right worthily the office which Stephen Goodall 

 illustriously filled for so many years, and William 

 Nevard and George Smart, his lieutenants, are 



344 



