300 



THE BEST OF THE FUN 



or dachshund — all of which know as well as the parish 

 priest when the seventh day comes round. 



But the loth Hussars have this year an exceedingly 

 pretty little pack, chiefly dwarf foxhounds, that can drive 

 a hare straight or bustle an outlying fox in very different 

 form from what Mr. Jorrocks anathematised as " currant- 

 jelly dogs." Lord William Bentinck carries the horn, with 

 Mr. Brand as his usual whipper-in. On the pleasant 

 afternoon I saw them in the Clonmell neighbourhood they 

 doubled up a brace of hares, one after a very interesting 

 hunt, and this upon ground almost too freely stocked with 

 hares for harrier purposes. And on Saturday last in the 

 Cahir district they had two good runs (one a point of 

 about three miles), and killed both hares. Oftentimes 

 there will be seen with the harriers as large a field as with 

 the foxhounds, every man who has a horse to school or to 

 show and sell (and who has not in Tipperary ?) taking 

 advantage of the occasion, while the country people delight 

 in a sport in which upon foot they can take so much more 

 prominent a part. 



A feature of no little interest to a stranger, whether 

 hunting in Tipperary or elsewhere in Ireland, is found in 

 the squads of young horses he sees galloping the pastures 

 whenever hounds are about. They by no means invariably 

 confine themselves to a single field, but often go for miles, 

 seldom meeting with any harm on the way. But then an 

 Irish horse is born to take care of himself. Often a colt 

 may be seen wandering of his own free will about a farm 

 homestead beside a road, into which he may saunter 

 whenever he chooses. From his foalhood he is likely to 

 be as familiar with man and his surroundings as are the 

 chickens and the pig. It is his freedom to roam and his 

 freedom from fear that helps to make him so valuable and 

 so sensible. And the appreciation he thus finds at the 

 hands of the foreign buyer keeps Ireland comparatively 

 denuded of horses over the age of mere colts. With few 

 exceptions— the property of men who can afford to retain 

 something good for their own use — there remain of what 

 we term sizeable horses chiefly the infirm and the rejected. 

 It happened to be my fate at a certain covertside not long 



