insignificant height. To get well on to it horses have to jump some 

 ten to eleven feet, then, in about four feet and a-half, they " change," 

 which gets them to the top, from which, to clear the off grip, they have 

 to jump at least another seven feet, the whole performance occupying 

 three-quarters of a second. To fly the fence from field to field re- 

 quires a horse to cover at the very least twenty feet in an arc of from 

 twenty-five to twenty-six feet, which in itself is a very big jump indeed, 

 and if he takes off further than a foot from the near grip, as most of 

 them do, it is a pound to a penny that he comes a purler upon landing. 

 I may add to what I say at p. 147 that the width of the top, which is 

 formed on a slant, and must be viewed in connection with the depth 

 and width of the grip, either when approaching the fence or standing 

 •close, is what causes people to be deluded into the idea that the fence, 

 as it has to be jumped, is five or six feet high. 



Regimental Luncheons.— Owing to the MSS. having been lost by 

 my first publishers, what I had written about the regimental luncheons 

 at Punchestown has not appeared in Chap. ix. I am glad, however, to 

 he able to rectify the error, even though it be not [in the proper place, 

 for to have made no mention of these luncheons in a history of 

 Punchestown would indeed have rendered the work incomplete. For 

 the last thirty years it has been the custom of every cavalry regiment 

 stationed in Ireland at the time, and many of the infantry regiments, 

 to entertain their friends at luncheon during Punchestown, and this 

 they did in regal fashion with hospitality as lavish as it was genuine. 

 The space set apart for these entertainments is situated, as most people 

 know, at the back of the Stand, and, covering nearly an acre, is enclosed 

 with corrugated iron paling ten feet high. Within this space some 

 twenty marquees were usually pitched, and in them nearly everyone 

 who had Stand tickets got entertained upon both days, rendering it 

 quite unnecessary for those who were at all known to bring luncheon 

 to Punchestown. The generosity of our soldiers was, however, abused 

 of late years and tickets misappropriated, which, coupled with the 

 fact that the expense, which was enormous, fell heavily upon officers of 

 moderate means, an order came from the General that such broadcast 

 •distribution of invitations should be curtailed, and at the last meeting, 

 1895, he forbade the luncheons altogether — an order which was not 

 alone righteous, but was absohitely requisite. Thus, however, ended, 

 perhaps for ever, an institution which had for over a quarter of a 

 ■century become proverbial all over the world. Free luncheons are, 

 however, plentiful enough still at Punchestown for the members of the 

 Kildare Street Club, as well as the representatives of the great 

 Guinness family. Lords Ardilaun and Iveagh, erected years ago per- 

 manent houses of corrugated iron adjoining the enclosure, where they 

 entertain their friends by the hundred, and in style equal to that 

 adopted by the soldiers, but with better management. 



The Weather.— Of course we have had bad weather at Punchestown, 



