386 RACING CAREER OF SIR W. H. GREGORY. 



Gully on the back of Mendicant. The latter ex- 

 claims, with his arms and legs hard at work — ' It's 

 all over, mend I can't ! ' As he speaks, Drinky's 

 horse forges ahead, and keeps sturdily in front. 

 In connection with Howth, and his beautiful home, 

 Howth Castle, I shall never forget the delightful 

 dinners there, at which I met the pleasantest men 

 in Ireland : Sir Philip Crampton, Chief-Justice 

 Doherty, Corry Connellan, Lord Clanricarde, and 

 his son, Lord Dunkellin. The dining-room was 

 quite unique, and I do not hesitate to say, the most 

 charming in the world. It was lined with polished 

 oak, quite black with age, while the vast fireplace 

 yawned like Virgil's gateway of Erebus ; and the 

 brazen dogs, across which logs of Irish bog-wood 

 were stretched, would have wrung tears of joy 

 from Sir Walter Scott. The claret, for which, ever 

 since the days of Mary Queen of Scots, Ireland and 

 her sister realm of Scotland have been famous, was 

 unparalleled in smoothness and flavour. You have 

 doubtless heard the leg-end which connects the 

 celebrated Graiia Uile, or Grannwail, better known 

 as ' Grace O'Malley,' with Howth Castle. This 

 Irish queen lived at a castle near Renvyle, in 

 Co. Galway, the ruins of which are still tolerably 

 well preserved. She invited her sister queen, 

 Elizabeth of England, to pay her a visit at 

 her Irish home. The proud daughter of Henry 

 VIII. and Anne Boleyn was, however, an ex- 

 tremely bad sailor, and had the greatest dread 



