354 THE BEST OF THE FUN 



point to point, five up to the first check — the whole done 

 in fifty minutes, to the check upon Kihiochin Hill in forty ! 

 Riding home, as I did on Thursday, along the ridge over- 

 looking the Peppardstown valley, it was easy to realise 

 how glorious a line had been taken a month before. And, 

 believe me, if you would fill your eyes and feed imagination 

 with sweeping views of wild grass country, all rideable but 

 everywhere varying, take your stand on any of the hilltops 

 of undulating Tipperary ! Then there was the thirty-five 

 minutes' gallop of Saturday a week ago, the ground dry 

 and the heat oppressive, from Ballylennan Gorse {via 

 Killaghy and Drangan to the hill covert of Rathkenny), 

 a finer run than even the two I had been privileged to 

 see from the first-named charming covert. Add to this a 

 tremendous burst of some forty minutes from Garranacole's 

 yellow furze dell to Kilcooly, in the far north of the country, 

 during which gallop most of the field had the ill-luck to 

 enclose themselves hopelessly within the demesne walls of 

 Coalbrook, and you have at all events three of the gems 

 with which spring has been decorated in Tipperary. The 

 loss of a number of hounds last summer was a sore handi- 

 cap until the young entry, chiefly from Belvoir and Lord 

 Fitzhardinge, came into capable work. The pack then 

 showed excellent form, and being now still further re- 

 cruited by the young drafts of the Grafton and the 

 Pytchley, it will do full credit to the sunny new kennels 

 the Master has recently erected at Grove. 



If Wednesday was as of October, Thursday might well 

 have belonged to November. And November we made it, 

 forgetful of the near end, and imagining as best we could 

 that fox-hunting was still in full flood. A wholesome rain 

 beat down while we drove the ten miles northward to 

 Ballingarry ; it enveloped us during the day, and plied us 

 heavily on the way home. Already the ground was wetter 

 than perhaps during the season now closing. But, wet 

 though it may sometimes become, can Tipperary ever be 

 called deep ? I have not yet known it deserving that title. 



The meet was for Garranacole ; but, after ten responses 

 in succession through the season, this pretty glen (to-day 

 exposed to the south-westerly storm) had nothing to say for 



