THE LIMERICK FOXHOUNDS. 1 89 



over his poll instead of over his forehead. This signal, whether 

 proceeding from Pat's superior knowledge of hunting or from mere 

 surmise, was very seldom a false one, and was intended more as a 

 gentle hint to those members of the hunt who stood highest in 

 his favour than as a display of superior knowledge, as for a long 

 time it was not known to the uninitiated. Poor Pat, after many 

 years of faithful service, unfortunately fell a victim to the baneful 

 influence of ' that destructive fluid' that has been the ruin of so 

 many of his class, and, indeed, of many other classes connected 

 with horse-flesh ; he had to forfeit his position, and after a few 

 years of hard struggling, depending for some time mainly on the 

 charity of those who knew him in better days, he died in the 

 Croom Workhouse. 



"I will not spin out this yarn to the length that would be 

 required in describing the history of the hunt during its course 

 subsequent to the death of Mr. Fosbery in the various stages 

 through which it has since passed, but will, as memory serves me, 

 give you the names of those members who were then not only 

 conspicuous for their position as supporters of the hunt but cele- 

 brated for the place they always took in the hunting-field. I 

 begin with the master of the pack, Gerald Blennerhassett ; his 

 brother John and his sons Gerald and William (both still alive), 

 the Knight of Glinn (grandfather to the present knight), and also 

 his son and successor to the title (and father to the present knight), 

 George Fosbery (subsequently master) and his cousin George, a 

 quondam resident in Kerry, or, as they were popularly called. Black 

 and Red George. There are feats of horsemanship on record in 

 connection with the names of these two gentlemen that are, I 

 believe, almost without parallel, and would appear incredible if 

 they were not well authenticated. 



•* If I did not confine myself to the names and residences of 

 the members I fear I would have to write to such a length as would 

 make you decline any communication from me, or, at least, abridge 

 it in such a way as would not leave it an o'er true tale. The list 

 may appear a matter of dry detail to those of the present day who 

 do not know what the position was, both territorially and in a 

 sporting sense, of the good men and true whose names I give. 

 Next after the Fosberys I will name Captain Hugh Massy, one of 

 the truest and most popular sportsmen connected with the hunt ; 

 he kept his hunting establishment at Ardagh, in the west of the 



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