298 THE BEST OF THE FUN 



education in itself as to how to cross Tipperary, so varied 

 and so fair were the fences, and so sound the ground. I 

 am not sure though, by the way, whether it will invariably 

 pay to prepare a Tipperary horse for Northamptonshire 

 by instructing him over strong timber in the middle of a 

 run. He has a natural contempt for a stick across his 

 path, and will try to break through it, however thick. 

 What say you on the subject, my young and gallant 

 friend ? 



On the fun of the next gallop, with a fresh fox from 

 the gorse of Knockinglass, I must not dilate at any length. 

 It commenced leisurely, our fox being bothered by foot- 

 people, and hounds bothered by his consequent dodging. 

 But of a sudden it warmed up, the pace quickened, and 

 the country grew big. On a twisting line that embraced 

 Lismortagh, Mortlestown, and the outskirts of Killinaule, 

 we galloped till scarcely a horse could gallop more, the 

 first check coming after thirty-five minutes, and the scream 

 over the earths at Springhill at forty-five. The completed 

 hour saw a dozen thirsty souls reviving life at Mr. Hemp- 

 hill's most opportune and hospitable sideboard. How 

 that gentleman with his weight rode one horse to the end 

 of that afternoon is to me almost as marvellous as his per- 

 formance of the Friday previous, or as the success of Mr. 

 J. Phelan to-day in negotiating a most extraordinary com- 

 pound of bank, double ditch, and hedge into the wood of 

 Lismortagh — a jump that sent his next follower rolling 

 backward whence he came. In Tipperary, where one 

 man goes, others generally can, and will, follow. But if 

 my own experience, acquired some fifteen minutes after 

 the last-named incident, be worth anything, I can con- 

 scientiously recommend the line to be drawn at Mr. 

 Phelan's ventures. It so happened that, in struggling to 

 gain upon the flying pack, the gentleman in question flew 

 up into the midst of a high, overgrown bank, and in a 

 moment afterwards was to be seen forcing his way along 

 to the accompaniment of some mild objurgations that 

 might be taken to apply to his position, or to his horse, or 

 to any unwelcome aspect of affairs. On the principle that 

 it never does to listen to what the man in front has to 



