1 88 IRISH SPORT AND SPORTSMEN. 



were read by many with great interest, I republish 

 them : — 



" I have read with much interest, from time to time, in the 

 Irish Sportsman a history of the packs of foxhounds in some of the 

 celebrated hunting districts of this country, and I have been 

 rather surprised that no one has undertaken the task of laying 

 before your readers the various phases through which the Limerick 

 Hunt (now and for years back so celebrated) has passed. It may 

 be considered presumptuous on my part to undertake the task, but 

 as those who knew it in its pristine days of glory are now fast 

 passing away, I hope I will be excused for trying to leave a record 

 of some of the many scenes of intensely deep interest to the 

 sportsman that I have a recollection of, and in many of which I 

 was a participator. My first recollection of the pack dates from a 

 very early period, as I was very little more than a boy when the 

 kennels at Croom were built, before which time the hounds were 

 kept at Riddlestown Park, the residence of the then worthy 

 master, Mr. Gerald Blennerhassett. The first huntsman I can 

 remember was Ryan, who, in a very short time after his arrival at 

 Croom, fell a victim to the first visitation of that dreadful scourge, 

 Asiatic cholera, and he, poor man, was, I believe, the very first 

 that succumbed to it. The hounds were then managed by the 

 late lamented Mr. George Fosbery, who, though a little rough in 

 manner, was as popular a master as ever carried a horn. During 

 the time that he was proprietor of the Castle Oliver property he 

 always took the hounds there for cub-hunting, and the value of 

 the locality for such purposes is proved by the fact that the pre- 

 sent worthy master, Sir D. V. Roche, has rented Darah, quite 

 near Castle Oliver, for the same sporting purposes. Dan Ward 

 was whip to the hounds at Riddlestown, and for some time after 

 their arrival at Croom ; and when hunted by Ryan, John Frawly 

 was whip. Ryan was succeeded by Pat Connell, than whom a 

 better man never threw in a pack ; the whip was Thomas Herlihy, 

 stepbrother to Pat. Pat had a happy knack of knowing when 

 there was to be a good thing, as by a signal with which some of 

 his friends were acquainted, he indicated that they were to look 

 sharp, and take and keep, if possible, a* good'place. This signal 

 consisted in the simple act of wearing the peak of his hunting-cap 

 in a different style from that usually adopted, its position being 



