58 IRISH SPORT AND SPORTSMEN. 



frequently asked to adjudicate over the hunter class at 

 horse shows. He always looks to the blood, bone, and 

 quality in that animal, as he does in his hounds ; and 

 when he has bought a horse to his liking, can't he ride 

 him though ! None of your bullying, bustling fellows, 

 who are always in a hurry, and never where they ought 

 to be, except when they are in a ditch, but quiet and 

 steady, with the motto, " be with them I will." And 

 such an eye as he has for a country ! 



Now comes the greatest of all qualifications in a 

 M. F. H., and this he has, if possible, to a greater 

 degree than any of the others. The way he keeps his 

 field in order, and the way he manages the women, old 

 and young, who come for damages or loss of fowls ! 

 His hearty good humour, and continued propensity for 

 cracking jokes (never practical or ill-natured onesj, 

 made him such a favourite that we always did what he 

 told us, and if, by chance, we did not, his shrill-noted 

 rate, sometimes emphasised with a strong word or two, 

 would very soon bring us back. Then the women, 

 with their fowl claims, devil a rap he'd give half of 

 them, yet they would all go away contented and pre- 

 serve the foxes for him for a kind or joking confab, 

 better than they would for others who would pay 

 double their claim without the same cheerfulness. 

 He knows every man, woman, and child in the coun- 

 try, and has a kind word and joke for them, so they 

 all like him, and would do anything for Mr. *' Hinry." 



I ought to have told you when speaking of " the 

 Marquis's" days, that we used to have terrible hard 

 and jealous riding between the Waterford and 

 Kilkenny men. About the years 1857-8, some letters 

 appeared in one of the Kilkenny papers contrasting 



