THE KILDARE HOUNDS. 27 



its existence, it tended to improve the breed of 

 thoroughbred horses in Ireland very materially, and 

 many good ones first saw the light within the Palmer- 

 stown paddocks. His lordship's character as a 

 statesman is so well known that I need not dwell 

 on his wonderful ability. He sat for Kildare 

 from 1847 till 1852 ; for Coleraine, from '5 2-' 5 7 ; 

 and subsequently for Cockermouth, a borough in the 

 patronage of Lord Leconfield, whose daughter he 

 married in 1848. He was Chief Secretary for Ireland 

 for several years, and was, in 1868, appointed Governor- 

 General of India, and there, in 1872, he was basely 

 assassinated in his 50th year. Although his politics 

 were not those shared by the great majority of his 

 countrymen. Lord Mayo had won and deserved the 

 respect of all classes. His manly, straightforward 

 conduct even to his opponents, won the regard of the 

 bitterest of them ; and a certain strong-handed policy, 

 very intelligible, even if directed in unpopular chan- 

 nels, never alienated the affections of the many ad- 

 mirers who, knowing Lord Mayo, were forced to be 

 proud of him as an Irishman and sportsman. 



His funeral was one of the most splendid pageants 

 of its kind ever witnessed in this country. The Irish 

 people bore willingly their testimony as to the high 

 opinion they entertained of him ; and while I 

 am penning those lines artificers are engaged in 

 Palmerstown building a magnificent mansion, raised 

 by the subscriptions of his countrymen. It will be 

 a fitting monument erected to the memory of a 

 great man. He might have been interred in West- 

 minster Abbey, but his Lordship often expressed a 

 wish " that his remains should be laid at home." 



