128 IRISH SPORT AND SPORTSMEN. 



his servants, and all that, and spent his money like the 

 Galway-men of his day. He expended a large sum on 

 the hounds, too, but bred more for stoutness than speed ; 

 he carried this too far by crossing with the blood- 

 hound and mastiff. Their courage and temper be- 

 came so high that they would hardly brook correc- 

 tion ; and the old huntsman, Nick Carolan, having 

 indulged too freely in his * beloved poteen,' went into 

 the kennel one night without his whip and they ate 

 him. 



" In 1803, the late Robert Parsons Persse formed 

 a pack, and it was principally from the kennel of the 

 present master's grandfather, ' the Irish Meynell,' that 

 he founded it, as he reduced his establishment then 

 and gave all his large hounds to him (he was his 

 nephew) ; but 'the Irish Meynell' kept until within 

 a few years of his death the small pack and the best 

 blood in his kennel, which the present master's father 

 kept up until he handed them over to him. So that 

 for considerably over one hundred years the best and 

 purest foxhound blood has been kept in these kennels 

 by the three generations." 



*' How long did R. P. Persse keep them, and did 

 he continue the orange plush uniform ?" 



•' He kept them till 1829. He resided at Castle- 

 Boy ; and they were known as the ' Castle-Boy 

 Hunt.' A club, composed of the aristocracy of Gal- 

 way, was formed ; and the uniform was scarlet, white 

 collar, and ' Castle-Boy Hunt ' on the buttons." 



" It was during Robert Parsons Persse's master- 

 ship that the cognoman 'Blazers' was invented, was 

 it not ?" 



" It was ; two reasons are assigned for the alias 



