u 



Those riding under and up to, say, twelve stone we had : Lords 

 Charles, William, and Marcus Beresford, Captain Slacke, Wm. J. Paul, 

 Harry Courtenay, Robert and Charles Humble, the late Thomas Lalor, 

 Samuel Perry, and Thomas W. Anderson, eleven men whom I would 

 back to go to a pack of foxhounds against an equal number out of 

 any other Hunt in the kingdom. 



Good as those men undoubtedly were there are two whom I must 

 select as being the best of all, and in naming the late Mr. Tom Lalor 

 and the present Captain Slacke I don't think I can cause jealousy. 

 And still narrowing the limit, I shall put Captain Slacke as the 

 better man of the two, for he could go well on a strange and half- 

 trained horse, while Mr. Lalor could not go on any except what he 

 was accustomed to, and that was perfect and brilliant hunters, but 

 when mounted on one of them even Slacke could seldom get before 

 him. 



I have alluded only to those gentlemen whose portraits are given 

 in the Curraghmore picture, but we had many visitors, notably 

 officers quartered at Cahir, Carrick, and Waterford, who invariably 

 held their own with the Curraghmore, and among them I may 

 chronicle Colonel Tate, then a captain in the 12th Lancers ; Colonel 

 Wardrop, when he was a captain in the 3rd Dragoon Guards ; Colonel 

 Ward Bennett, then of the Inniskiiling Dragoons ; that best of good 

 fellows and deeply lamented, the late Capt. Clayton of the 9th 

 Lancers ; Mr. Elmhirst of the Carabineers ; Major Fred Amcotts of 

 the 5th Dragoon Guards, and others. Then from co. Tipperary 

 we had Captain Billie Quin, Hugh Baker, James Dobbyn, Willie 

 Riall, George and Tom Gough, Godfrey Philips, and others. Co. 

 Limerick sent us at times the Rev. William Gubbins and John 

 Gubbinp. From Kilkenny came Sir James Langrishe, the Smith- 

 wicks, Ralph Bunbury, Sir Richard Power, Major Connellan, Jerry 

 Nolan, Colonel Izod, and many others when the meet was at their 

 side of the Suir. Years ago strong contingents used to come from 

 Wexford, William Glascott and his son "Jim," Maurice Knox, 

 Henry Lambert, and Wat Breen. Latterly, however, few came from 

 there except when the meet was in the Ross country, and then 

 they were well represented by James Maconchy and the Deanes of 

 Stokestown. All those visitors whom I have named were nailing 

 good men to hounds. 



Visitors rented quarters and stabling in Waterford, Piltown, Port- 

 law, but principally in Carrick-on-Suir, which latter was quite a 

 little Melton in the hunting season. From these gentlemen it is 

 needless to say a great deal of lucrative employment was derived 

 by the poorer classes, and a vast deal of money was expended among 

 the car proprietors and tradespeople of the above towns. 



The last first-whip 1 recollect at Curraghmore was that most 

 excellent and thoroughly reliable servant. Will Rawle, whose father 

 was Master of the Berkhamsted Staghounds for years. When 



