202 THE BEST OF THE FUN 



Wallis — or, as he is better known the country through, 

 Johnny — has had great success for many years in bringing 

 off sport for the United. Beginning his career as an 

 earth-stopper and runner with terriers, he gradually crept 

 into the saddle, and eventually was promoted to the horn 

 by Mr. Murphy — one English servant after another 

 having failed to meet the requirements of an Irish country. 

 The latter gentleman — then the most popular of Masters, 

 and who was able even to continue hunting during the 

 worst of the " agitation " — can, unfortunately, only view 

 the chase from wheels, a bad accident having put an end 

 to his Mastership and his riding. The Hunt is now 

 managed by Mr. James Russell, with a tact and courtesy 

 to which I may be allowed to testify, by hearsay and by 

 passing experience. The packs have their best material 

 in drafts from the Bramham Moor. 



I will now conclude my very sketchy remarks upon 

 the United by giving such few names as I could gather 

 of the field of the day, viz. : Mr. Russell, Lord and Lady 

 Listowel, Captain and Mrs. Leetham, Captain and Mrs. 

 Hopkins, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Murphy, Mrs. Hegan, Mrs. 

 Sadler, Mrs. Warren-Jackson, Miss Grey, Miss Murray, 

 Miss G. Gubbins, Major Luttman-Johnson, Captains 

 Phillips, Beamish, Scholes, N. Johnson, Cooper, Messrs. 

 D. Hare, Nicholson, Clare, C. Murphy, O'Brien, 

 Cholmondeley, and Barry. 



Two sharp, good days with the Tipperary offer me so 

 much field that I hardly dare venture astride old Pegasus 

 with a view to riding it over again. Nor would I, but 

 that a railway journey has given me opportunity of re- 

 calling it, item by item, mile by mile, even fence by fence. 

 I do not propose to inflict all this upon you ; but here is 

 the outline, before it shall be blurred by a dart with the 

 Ward and half a new week in Northamptonshire, where, 

 I understand, they are again hard at work, and where on 

 Monday they will doubtless tell me of many a wonderful 

 thing that has happened. 



But of Wednesday, January 25. I had seen some of 

 Tipperary before, I was to see the best of it now. And, if 

 the runs did not come off according to expected lines, I 



V 



