1 94 ^-^^ Pytchley Hunty Past and Present, 



^ievances to become champions of order, and the 

 agitators do not distinguish between real and iSctitious 

 evils. I am satisfied, however, that patience and per- 

 severance in doing justice and acting with impartiality 

 will eventually bear their fruit. Those who have to deal 

 with all this have their equanimity sorely tried, and must 

 wear a thick sMn/^ The writer then g-oes on to say : '^ I 

 have had some gallops with the Ward Stag'-hounds to 

 keep me going. A sharp ride to covert and a good 

 thirty minutes have saved me from collapsing. There is 

 nothing like a good gallop across country, even to stag- 

 hounds, to drive dull care away. Three hours^ for- 

 getfulness of a worry gives one a new start. We had a 

 very good run two days ago, fifteen miles from start to 

 take. I had the satisfaction of being" in first ; only five 

 others up at all.^^ 



Here we see what hunting can eff*ect for the care-worn 

 and thoughtful statesman, and may learn to pity the 

 Viceroy, to whom the pleasure and excitement of a 

 gallop after hounds are unknown. 



On a later occasion the Lord-Lieutenant was quite 

 alone when the stag was captured after a good run. The 

 Dublin journals loudly proclaim the feat of one man, and 

 that man no other than the Viceroy himself, beating the 

 whole Field, and that Field a '' Ward Union '' one. The 

 news of this performance having elicited some inquiries 

 from a Pytchley friend. Lord Spencer replied as follows : 

 " My stag-hunting adventure was very funny. After carry- 

 ing me well up to the hounds for about twelve minutes or so, 

 my horse fell into a blind ditch attached to a fence, which 

 would have staggered any field unaccustomed to Irish 

 ^ obstacles.^ I lost a little time in getting my horse out. 



