I 1 2 IRISH SPORT AND SPORTSMEN. 



Coventry, Poltimore, Fitzwilliam, Spencer, Yar- 

 borough, Fitzhardinge, Scarborough, Sir Watkin 

 Wvnn, &c. — in fact, from all the best establishments 

 in Europe. Our ancestors had a greater love for hunt- 

 ing and hounds than we have. Many go out now to 

 have a gallop across the country, many to *' show off" 

 in faultless costume, others to escort some fair friend, 

 and carry on a flirtation, in the absence of pater 

 and mater /amilias, but few to enjoy the working 

 of the hounds ; and several members of our hunt clubs 

 — perhaps the majority of them — do not know the 

 name or pedigree of a single hound in their pack, and 

 unless the "beauties" race "heads up and sterns 

 down," declare the sport bad, and feel called 

 upon to grumble, find fault with the master, the 

 huntsman, or his aides, although, perhaps, they them- 

 selves would have been macadamising on the high- 

 ways and byways, whether the pace was funereal or 

 express. Fortunately, in the state progressive in 

 which the world at large rejoices, it is not to be 

 expected that our sylvan pleasures should remain 

 where they were, or that the horse and hound should 

 escape the onward march of improvement ; neverthe- 

 less, a quiet, patient, judicious huntsman is seldom 

 seen in the present hark-holloa, helter-skelter genera- 

 tion, when few seem to bear in mind the important 

 fact that hounds should hunt by scent and view and 

 not help and horn- 

 It is not my intention to write an essay on hounds 

 or hunting, but I think that the few remarks I have 

 written cannot be considered out of place when dealing 

 with the subject which now occupies my mind. 



It was with feelings of pleasure that I started on 



