236 Exhibition of Horses in leaping. 



ment is only of recent date. The general face 

 and state of the country, he observed, was en- 

 tirely altered, and bore no resemblance to what 

 it was in his early youth, when the lands were 

 unenclosed, and little grain of any description 

 was produced. The noise and bustle of the 

 place precluded my obtaining that extent of 

 valuable information, which this venerable gen- 

 tleman was so competent and obligingly ready 

 to afford ; I became, however, perfectly sa- 

 tisfied, that little attention was formerly paid to 

 the objects connected with the husbandry of the 

 country. 



This day and the succeeding are the horse 

 fairs. The ability of the Irish horses in leaping 

 is surprisingly great. The custom here is to 

 leap the horses shown for sale into the pound, 

 which is surrounded by a stone wall, five feet 

 high on the upper, and six on the lower side. 

 Many went over the lower part, and in some 

 instances over both. Were I to communicate 

 the feats I saw performed, I might hazard a 

 similar reproof to that of the late Bishop of 

 Killala, Dr. Law, to Lord D , who in speak- 

 ing of his alert regiment of volunteer cavalry, 

 asserted that he had brought them to such per- 

 fection, that in charging and clearing a six foot 

 wall, the line would not be put into the least 



