I 



IN COUNTY TIPPERARY 269 



off and on them without jar and without fear — none 

 more so than in the case of the famous brown pony, 

 once more the treat of Paddy the footman, again taking 

 his hoHday at the tail of hounds. And this reminds me. 

 No sketch of the Tipperary, its work and its estabHsh- 

 ment, would be half complete without allusion to John 

 Grady, Mr. Burke's veteran groom. Not a stud-groom in 

 Melton, Harboro', or Rugby could, I warrant, bring horses 

 out so often and so fit to go as the genius in question, 

 whose material, moreover, often comes to him in its 

 rawest state — not matured, seasoned, and conditioned like 

 most new arrivals to the large hunting-stables across the 

 water. 



Reaching Prout's Gorse a last time, the hounds marked 

 their fox to ground, and the sport of the day came to an 

 end. No, not altogether. There was yet a minor item, viz. 

 a toast of reconciliation to be drunk in milk provided by 

 Mr. Prout. It seems, as the late Master told, that during 

 the worst of the Land League agitation, some ten years 

 ago, a determined attempt was made to stop the Tipper.ary 

 Hounds when they were in the act of drawing the gorse 

 in question. Peasants and farmers trooped in from all 

 sides, and the covert was quickly surrounded with men, 

 women, and children, shouting, blowing horns, and other- 

 wise assisting to find a fox. The first whip at the moment 

 was on foot within the gorse, his horse being tied to the 

 fence outside, when young Prout, then quite a boy, 

 jumped into the saddle and rode off with it. Of course 

 this was more than the Master could stand, so the 

 marauder was pursued and the horse soon rescued. To- 

 day we have not only the Prout family jealously guarding 

 the gorse in the interests of the Hunt, but refreshing the 

 Master, the late Master, and their field with cool, welcome 

 bowls of milk. 



And if during the long ride home we were greeted 

 once with the cheery query, " Have you had a hoont to- 

 day ? " it must have been offered to us fifty times in various 

 degrees and inflections of good Tipperary brogue — in proof 

 of the hold of the sport on the popular mind, and in token 

 of appreciation of the Master conducting it. 



