206 IRISH SPORT AND SPORTSMEN. 



the turf and the chase. The subject of this brief 

 notice was a clergyman of the then Established Church, 

 and Rector of Sylvoe, county Kilkenny. He was 

 always fond of horses and hounds, and from his boy- 

 hood kept race-horses, and, under the assumed name 

 of Montgomery, ran several while he resided in Kil- 

 kenny. He was a true sportsman ; loved racing for 

 its own sake, and never bet a shilling. He had a 

 passion for field-sports, ample means at his command 

 to enable him to enjoy them, and, it may be said, 

 that he steered his course honourably amongst the 

 quicksands which surround those who pursue similar 

 pleasures, and are, alas ! too often tempted to lose 

 that sense of honour so essential to true happiness. 

 Lord De Freyne was *' one in a thousand," and showed 

 an example worthy of imitation. He did not visit 

 many race-meetings until after he went to reside at 

 French-Park, which he did in 1835. He then increased 

 his stud ; and from that time he attended every im- 

 portant Irish meeting. In 1846, it was thought that 

 he had a promising candidate for Grand National 

 honours in Clansman. But this good chaser nipped 

 the hopes of his backers in the bud by falling early in 

 the contest, and breaking his back. The great Aintree 

 race was an unlucky one for his Lordship in more than 

 one instance, for, in 1862, his horse, O'Connell, fell, 

 when running well for the Liverpool, and killed poor Joe 

 Wynne, a fine horseman, and very popular jockey. 

 Lord De Freyne did much to improve the breed of 

 horses in Ireland, by importing good sires from Eng- 

 land ; and he never was without a large and well- 

 selected lot of stud matrons of the best strain of 

 equine blood. Amongst the many celebrities he had 



