THE CURRAGHMORE HOUNDS. 59 



the riding of the Kilkenny men with the Waterford, 

 extolling the one and depreciating the other, the 

 natural consequence of which was jealousy; and when 

 we met the Kilkenny men, as we always did when 

 Lord Waterford drew the Mullinavat or Castlemorris 

 district, there was " hammer and tongs " between us. 

 I well remember one day we met at Mullinavat, then 

 a very favourite trysting-place, and where excellent 

 eggflip w^as made and administered by Miss M'Donald, 

 the pretty daughter of the inn -keeper of the town. 

 Much rain had recently fallen and the country was 

 heavy and the rivers flooded. A very large num- 

 ber of horsemen met his lordship, such clinckers as 

 *Lord St. Laurence, Bryan of Jenkinstown, Mulhallen 

 Marum, the Smithwicks, Ralph Bunbury, Izod of 

 Chapel Izod, and a host of others representing Kil- 

 kenny ; while from our side came Glascott of Al- 

 derton, who, though a Wexford man, used always 

 hunt with us, Jephson, Sargent, Strangman, Larry 

 Dobbyn, the three brothers Malcomson, Johnny 

 Medlycott, Arthur Roberts, and others, all hard rid- 

 ing, determined men to go. 



Well, we found in Killeen, and the hounds got 

 a good start close to the fox ; they raced him at 

 terrific pace as if for Clonassy, but turned down to 

 the Mullinavat river opposite Earl's Rath. The 

 river was swollen nearly level with the fields, and 

 a rushing torrent it swept along. The hounds hesi- 

 tated for an instant on the bank, but the mass of 

 horsemen that came thundering down upon them left 

 them no alternative but to dash in and swim across. 



* The present Lord Howth, then master of the Kilkenny hounds. 



