^^HMABB
 
 ' 
 
 MEMINI 
 
 OR 
 
 REMINISCENCES OF 
 IRISH LIFE 
 
 BY 
 
 M. O'CONNOR MORRIS 
 
 AUTHOR OF "DUBLIN CASTLE," "PASSING PKEPS AT PORTUGAL 
 &.C. &C. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 HARRISON & SONS, 59 PALL MALL 
 1892
 
 v - 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 '-' The ancienl Persians taught three useful things : 
 
 To ride, to draw the bow, to speak the truth. 
 Such was the mode of Cyrus, best of kings, 
 
 A mode adopted since by modern youth. 
 Bows have they, generally with two strings ; 
 
 Horses they ride without remorse or rulh; 
 At speaking truth perhaps they're not so clever, 
 
 But draw the long bow better now than ever." 
 
 SUCH was the metrical comment of Lord Byron on 1 
 Herodotus' sentence as to the bringing up of the 
 youth of Persia : and we find his lordship very severe 
 subsequently on the Milesian modes and methods of 
 drawing the long bow ; but surely the Aryan Irish are 
 more or less privileged par droit de naissance to adopt 
 this toxophilitish trope, for they are said to be kinsmen 
 to the Persians, whose chief bard, Firdousi, tells us that 
 after a ruction between themselves and the Scythians a 
 treaty was signed between the belligerents, one of the 
 articles of which declared that the Persians were to 
 have all the country to the north-east, over which 
 an arrow could be shot from Demavend, and that a 
 bowman, named Arish, ascended the mountain at sun 1 
 rise, and shot an arrow to the banks of the Oxus, which 
 did not fall till noon ! If this tale were credited in 
 Persia, I hardly think it would be in Ireland fin (1% 
 
 A 2 
 
 2061362
 
 IV 
 
 , credulous as are its people, and given to abundant 
 amplification. In these little sketches and narratives 
 1 have endeavoured to avoid national characteristics, to 
 which I might be supposed to have an hereditary bias, 
 and to follow rather the last of the Persian precepts. 
 No brochure nowadays ought to be issued without some 
 pendent moral, for the British public loves to think 
 itself highly moral, and the British public is the judge, 
 jury, and court of appeal all rolled into one in the case 
 of these little literary ventures 
 
 " There's a moral, oil yes ; 
 But it's hard to be seen 
 As morals go, now the sight must be keen," 
 
 and perhaps the first moral is that something more is 
 required for success in our complicated existence than 
 the qualifications that satisfied Persian papas, when 
 the world was far younger, and the pressure of popula- 
 tion on the means of life and sources of supply were far 
 less than now ; but in the days I write about they 
 formed a great part of the stock-in-trade of a county 
 gentleman's son in Ireland, who, as a rule, knew as 
 little of the business of life as a bird. 
 
 Moral No. 2 is somewhat akin to the Psalmist's 
 injunction not to put faith in Princes, with the varia- 
 tions of statesmen, heads of departments, officials, d hoc 
 (jenus omne, for I confess to having thrown away a vast 
 deal of time and a good deal of money in the belief in 
 their wish to act up to their promises without the 
 screw of compulsion being applied ; indeed, I regret to 
 say I have more to complain of than unfulfilled pro-
 
 raises, for I find it officially stated, and in print, that I 
 resigned my appointment as Deputy Postmaster-General 
 of Jamaica, which is not only untrue, but the contradic- 
 tory to the truth (vide Appendix). 
 
 Moral No. 3 is more or less involved in No. 1, and 
 suggests the propriety of making all arrangements, con- 
 tracts, &c., on a business-like footing, about which, 
 looking at my own many laches in that respect, I 
 feel inclined to quote the lines 
 
 " Video meliora proboque 
 Deteriora sequor." 
 
 These reminiscences should have come out a year or 
 two ago, but, sooth to say, part of the MS. was lost or 
 went astray, and last season I met with a couple of 
 rather severe accidents, which put me hors de combat 
 for some time. So many take an interest in hounds 
 and horses that I trust there is no need to apologise for 
 having dwelt upon them so long, and perhaps the same 
 indulgence may be craved for having attempted to focus 
 some of the flotsam, jetsam, and gup of the hunting 
 held and the guild of foxhunters; to some they may 
 possibly have the salt of freshness. From the lying by 
 of the MS., some vaticinations made from a comparison 
 of probabilities have received the seal of verification, for 
 instance, the foxhunting forecast that Mr. John Wat- 
 son might succeed Lord Fingall in Meath, or some 
 master of a first-class pack of hounds. 
 
 It was impossible to ignore the official part of my 
 life in an autobiographical sketch. I have tried to set 
 down naught in malice, though I feel acutely the hard-
 
 VI 
 
 ship, injustice, and duplicity with which I was treated 
 in the matter of my office in Jamaica. The case is, I 
 believe, wholly unparalleled and unprecedented in the 
 Civil Service, and one Postmaster-General to whom I 
 appealed acknowledged its harshness, and said it could 
 not have happened in his time, but he took rei'uge 
 under the old plea, "quod fieri non debet id facturu 
 valet," a plea that has justified much wickedness in the 
 world. 
 
 I have not meant to be unduly severe on the officials 
 in the Secretarial branch of the General Post Office. 
 There were a few shining lights among them in my 
 time, but the majority of the senior clerks wanted 
 a good deal, so far as I could judge ; but of course 
 the judgment of a junior, and a neophyte, is not worth 
 much. I hardly think that any private enterprise con- 
 ducted as that was could have lasted long. It is some- 
 thing, even in this democratic age, to have a friend at 
 headquarters : while Lord Clanricarde was in office 
 everything I did was approved ; when he fell officially 
 nothing seemed right, nor did I care to stoop to 
 the meanness of conciliating the official powers by small 
 presents of Jamaica produce, in which course I was 
 told I was singular. Lord Clanric.arde was rather dis- 
 liked in the office because he insisted on governing ag 
 well as riding. If anyone cares to look over the corre- 
 r.oondence in the Appendix, he can judge for himself. 
 I trust the men who could equivocate so grossly in 
 official correspondence would in private life prove more 
 truthful. I believe the service to be in a better state 
 by far at present, nor would habitual drunkenness,
 
 vu 
 
 I think, be tolerated in high places. It anyone con- 
 ceives that departmental jobbery has been, uprooted 
 because its source has been changed, he is grievously 
 mistaken. Special merit is an elastic term, and here, as 
 at Home 
 
 " Principibus placuisse viris non ultima laus est." 
 
 The private secretaries who blossom so quickly into 
 comrnissionerships must have a double dose of " special 
 merit." It was reserved for Dublin to see an. official 
 dismissed from one berth, and in a few months trans- 
 lated to a far better one, or to see, not long ago, 
 an official allowed to walk off with his full pension, 
 though utterly disgraced and discredited as a man 
 as well as an official ; but Dublin is somewhat excep- 
 tional, as government by bribery, or the reward of 
 party services (in one shape or another), has long been 
 a rule there, though latterly splendid exceptions have 
 been made. It is allowed by experts that an enormous 
 sum could be annually saved to the revenue, i.e., the 
 taxpayers, by reducing the superabundant officials in 
 Dublin within the limits of practical efficiency. The 
 only department that is not overmanned in Ireland, 
 is the Police, who, though they seem ridiculously 
 redundant at times, are all wanted in great crises, 
 ever liable to recur so long as agitation is allowed to be 
 a profitable profession, and a gullible audience likes, to 
 have its ears titillated with treason more or less diluted 
 and disguised. 
 
 I should have liked to have drawn a comparison 
 between the feats of modern and mediaeval sportsmen,
 
 Vlll 
 
 but space suggests contraction rather than expansion, 
 and I will only allude to Colonel McCalmont's ride 
 from Newbridge to Dublin, twenty-six miles, on a bad 
 road, in an hour and twenty minutes, on two mounts of 
 his own ; and Captain De Winton's ride from New Castle 
 to Kingston, Jamaica, sixteen miles, within the hour 
 six miles, however, were down a semi-precipitous steep. 
 
 Colonel McCalmont's hunters weie generally very 
 highly bred, and one of them, " Richard the Second," 
 who was tried with my little horse, " Call," proved 
 a good winner, and was, I think, capable of securing 
 the blue riband of chasing. I recollect, many years 
 ago, his lending me a little horse of his who was not a 
 favourite in the stable, to hack about and look at 
 hounds. On bringing him back, he asked me how the 
 little horse behaved. I said, " Very well, and I think 
 he might win a minor chase." The guess was a good 
 one, and was fulfilled. The potentialities of highly 
 bred Irish horses are really almost limitless. 
 
 For instance, the horse whose style under weight 
 across country pleased me most of late years was a bay 
 son of " Delight," owned by Mr. Fox-Goodman, Field 
 Master of the Ward Union Hounds. That horse, per- 
 fectly sound though slightly blemished and 5 years old, 
 cost 16 in open market or fair; he next fetched 46, 
 then rose to the sublimities of " centuries." He raced re- 
 spectably, too, when half trained. It is not so many 
 years ago when a hard riding man was seen mounted 
 on a rather good-looking horse. " How much did you 
 give for him ?" said a friend. " Eighty-five." " What ! 
 pounds?" "No! shillings."
 
 IX 
 
 That order and sequence are wanting in these pages, 
 I am painfully aware, but they emanate from a country 
 of topsy-turveydom, and my literary life was rather 
 topsy-turveyed by a couple of untoward accidents last 
 year, and a prostrating attack of influenza, and bron- 
 chitis subsequently, for the cure of which I am indebted 
 to the climate of Portugal, vide a little brochure indited 
 on my return, called " Passing Peeps at Portugal." It 
 will be evident that in marshalling the names of men 
 who, iii my opinion, have b^en benefactors of Ireland in 
 various ways and capacities, the names of Bianconi, 
 Lords How th and Drogheda, Father Matthew, Peter 
 Purcell, Sharman Crawford, and Horace Plunkett should 
 have been placed alongside of those of Sir liobert Peel, 
 O'Connell, Lord Derby, &c. The error was made in 
 pageing. In the matter of building houses for masters 
 of hounds, I find that Galway has actually proved her- 
 self a pioneer in this matter, and that the master and 
 his men now have their lodgings provided by the 
 county, while Mr. J. Watson has cut the Gordian knot 
 by building kennels at his own place at Bective, so that 
 master and pack may be together. In the few observa- 
 tions I have made about the warring factions of Ireland 
 I have not wished to write with the pen of a partisan. 
 The landlords have been badly beaten, but their resistance 
 was weak, their cohesion infinitesimal. If Ireland 
 owes them little else, it is indebted to them mainly for 
 the improvement of the horse and the cow, through the 
 instrumentality of such men as Lord Sligo, Mr. Chris- 
 topher St. George, and Mr. Chaloner ; and the cow and 
 the horse represent much of the wealth of the land.
 
 Business seems the desideratum of the country. There 
 is plenty of talent, little business faculty ; yet business 
 capacity won the campaign for the tenant farmers plus 
 steadiness of purpose. 
 
 Through the welter of a decade of political and 
 agrarian strife, supplemented by murder, maimiiigs, 
 and mutilations, by perjury, by political prostitution, 
 by sacerdotal terrorism and tyranny, by anarchy and 
 confusion, the dawn of a better era is seen the 
 auspicium melioris cevi. Not indeed that the elements 
 of strife are wanting, but the veil of ignorance has been 
 partially rent, and the people have begun to realise that 
 they were being exploited to gratify the ambitions of 
 self-seeking men who preached patriotism, but rarely 
 practised it, and who tickled their vanity to secure their 
 votes. " It's a money game," is an expression often 
 heard, used by soured cynics. 
 
 Sacerdotal supremacy, for which the hierarchy are 
 contending so fiercely just now, is only possible under 
 the <&yis of the British Constitution. No Catholic 
 countries tolerate it for a moment, and even in Ireland 
 eacerdotal sway is tottering fast. The educated classes 
 have in a great measure rebelled against it and repudi- 
 ated it, and its hold is mainly on the credulous and con- 
 fiding who believe that the Priest has superhuman power, 
 and can work miracles both in this world and the next. 
 
 " What is the richest farm in creation ?" is a conun- 
 drum now in vogue. " Do you give it up ? " " Why, an 
 acre in Purgatory ! "* That the priests in Ireland have 
 
 The writer means to imply nothing for or against the doctrine 
 of Purgatory, but refers to its abuse as a sort of spiritual screw.
 
 XI 
 
 done much good is undeniable. They have been 
 spiritual dictators ; have often proved discreet despots ; 
 but they weakened their immense influence by lending 
 themselves to agitation and spoliation. Lord John 
 Eussell clothed a political precept in a single felicitous 
 quotation in the House of Commons : 
 
 " Urbem quam dicunt Rornam Melibcee putavi, 
 Huio no8ti'Ee similem." 
 
 But Ireland out-Homed Rome. When I talk of sacer- 
 dotal supremacy I refer only to temporal power. The 
 divine element is, of course, unassailable. 
 
 If Ireland is not lovely in the light of politics as a 
 home of sport and a field for sport it is supreme within 
 Her Majesty's dominions. The blood-like horses of the 
 Irish Chiefs astonished their Norman allies and conquer- 
 ors ; and the latter set equal store by Irish falcons and 
 Irish wolfhounds. In fact it seems the manifest destiny 
 of the Green Isle to become not the cockpit or battlefield 
 for warriors, but the arena for the sportsmen of the 
 Empire and the woild. I believe I may make some claim 
 to having thrown a little new light on the hunting re- 
 sources of Ireland, for the outer world knew compara- 
 tively little about them till " The Field " made them 
 patent through its columns; since then their quality 
 has been said and sung in scores of weeklies and 
 dailies, who have universally adopted the moulds and 
 the actual terms orgiuated by myself. The work was 
 pleasant and healthful, and brought one into contact 
 with the best of good fellows generally, whether 
 civilians or soldiers ; of course it was not a profitable
 
 Xll 
 
 pursuit as an accident or two would swallow up all 
 your earnings and far more ; besides it was hard work 
 and very engrossing but I persevered at it as I had 
 every reason to believe that my strong claims for re- 
 employment in the Civil Service would be recognised, 
 as indeed they were ; and promises were made, only to 
 be broken. Since my advent to Ireland I have seen 
 vast changes in her condition, social, political, and 
 venatic. The old order has completely changed and 
 botli racing and hunting have greatly lost their aris- 
 tocratic tone and became democratised. This perhaps 
 is all for the best. I only state the alteration in the 
 centres of power and standards of taste. 
 
 Liberal and just as is the common law of the Empire, 
 there can be little doubt, I think, that it rather leant 
 towards feudality in its licence to hunting and hunting 
 men and the interpretation by judges of the rights con- 
 nected with the chase. English precedents are the 
 guiding lights, for such questions were rarely raised in 
 Ireland, nor did any Irish M.F.H., so far as I can 
 gather, arrogate to himself the privilege of flogging a 
 peccant whip, as in Scotland ; indeed a fracas in the field 
 in Ireland hardly ever occurred, though a lunatic once 
 fired off the chambers of his revolver at a brother 
 pursuer for some fancied slight. As a rule, masters of 
 hounds have got on very well with the farming and 
 working classes, though every now and then some 
 rough retorts may have been made, as when once a very 
 little M.F.H. used words minatory to " a country boy," 
 the latter laughed and remarked " You ! why if the 
 coiisate was taken out of you you'd be no bigger than
 
 Xlll 
 
 a green gooseberry." Many have read Lever's ad- 
 mirable tale of the Connaught coachman who desired 
 the footman to announce his mistress's " convaniency " 
 as at the door. A pendant to it in more modern times 
 when those abominations, hight "inside cars" repre- 
 sented cabs in Dublin, may be found in the announce- 
 ment by a footman, at a ball in Dublin, that Lady 
 Shamrock's " inside " stopped the way. Lady S. being 
 a grande dame de par le monde. 
 
 In attempting to jot down a few samples of native 
 wit, the embarrassment of choice was great. Wit is 
 cosmopolitan and the patent right of no country or 
 coterie. No Irishman was ever wittier than Sydney 
 Smith (who combined it with wisdom), Theodore 
 Hook, or Lord Alvanley, whose advice to Gunter, the 
 celebrated caterer, who was riding a hot " handful " of 
 a horse, " Ice him, Gunter Ice him." was a counsel of 
 perfect wit. But the difference between Ireland and 
 other countries in the matter of wit is, I think, in the 
 more general diffusion of the genial gift. Lord Nor- 
 bury's memoirs have not, I believe, been written, but 
 few men uttered more bon mots, ill-timed and cruel as 
 many of them were. Thus, in his last illness, when 
 writing to a brother judge, also nearly in extremis, he 
 sardonically remarked that they would about make " a 
 dead heat of it," and, on another occasion, when a 
 shilling subscription was being made to defray the 
 funeral expenses of an attorney who (rare event) had 
 died impecunious, he said " Here's a sovereign, and pray 
 go and bury twenty of them ! " Captain Armit's mot 
 when presented to William the Fourth, who in an.
 
 XIV 
 
 absent way said "Armit, yes, son of Armit and 
 Burroughs," is still quoted. " No, Sire, the son of Armit, 
 an it please your Majesty Armit only." 
 
 The late Mr. Vincent Scully never posed as a wit in 
 the House of Commons, but what could be neater than 
 Iris reply to a member (in a debate on the American Civil 
 War) who asked him if he proposed to rend in twain 
 the national banner of America ! " Bend it ! why, of 
 course I would rend it. Let the North have the Stars, 
 the South the Stripes" What could be happier than 
 the nickname given to a well-known man who every 
 clay took fresh root in the bay window of his club in 
 Dublin, " The winder (window) pest ;" or the reply of 
 a well-known wit to a philanthropic Lord Lieutenant 
 who proposed to introduce reformed ticket-of-leave 
 men as servants into his house, " Why, Sir, you'll soon 
 be the only spoon left in the place." 
 
 Two servants were indulging in day dreams (only it 
 was at night) in an hotel in Ireland, and one imagined 
 himself a squire with an income, and all the concomit- 
 ants of his station ; " but," said the other, " even if ye 
 had these things, you never could mix with the 
 quality." " Arrah, why not ! what do they all talk of 
 over their wine but horses and dogs and sport, ain't I 
 their aqual at all three ? " There was some truth in it, 
 and, perhaps, in the matter of "wit" he could give 
 many of his betters points. 
 
 I have tried to point out the extraordinary racial and 
 religious antipathies still existing in Ireland that con- 
 stitute, along with local poverty and female fecundity, 
 the great difficulty of the statesman. A story will
 
 XV 
 
 illustrate this better than a column of print. In a 
 canvass for the representation of the county of London- 
 derry, the candidate was introduced to a Presbyterian 
 voter who had the local reputation of being a " Crom- 
 wellian " in other words, a Puritan. The visitor 
 praised the city of " no surrender " freely, but still the 
 Crorawellian listened impassively and made no sign. 
 Then he turned to the laud of Cromwell, who had con- 
 fiscated the lands of " the Irish enemy " and banished 
 many of them to " Hell or Connaught," adding, that he 
 was " something like a man." Upon this the Puritan 
 broke out with, " I'm nae sae sure of that, ye, see. he gied 
 'em the choice" The idea of Jews and Canaanites was 
 present to his mind, as it is still to not a few fanatics. 
 In turning over the annals of Ireland one is constantly 
 reminded of the Pagan prolusion 
 
 " Tantum Religio potuit suadere raalorum." 
 
 Eeligion was too often perverted into a slogan or war- 
 cry, and a key to the good things of this world rather 
 than those of the next ; and if Protestant ascendancy is 
 a thing of the past, the evil that it did lives after it in 
 many ways. 
 
 I had intended to have given illustrations of sundry 
 classes of men one has come across in life such as the 
 men of one idea, who are often the most successful 
 the men of confidence in their star ; such a gallant war- 
 rior I foregathered with, whose means were small, but 
 who always had the best of everything, and ultimately 
 came right financially, and was not too much " the 
 slave of the ring " either. " How did you manage it T
 
 
 X.V1 
 
 said a friend horses, carriages, &c., &c. "Why, I 
 ordered them." Of the man who has the exaltation of 
 his official position on the brain, as was illustrated by 
 a stipendiary magistrate in Jamaica, who, in an access 
 of feverish delirium, would pray aloud for " Magnus 
 Mulligan, Esquire, J.P., President of such and such 
 Courts, &c." The staff man, who proposed for one of 
 his chiefs daughters, but, when asked about settle- 
 ments, hummed and hawed about his well-known skill 
 at billiards and his share in a famous chaser. Of the 
 man who has faith in and veneration for lords of 
 the cheeseparing M.F.H., and the lavish M.F.H. ; but 
 the limits of space forbade an excursion into these 
 regions. 
 
 It is impossible to live in Ireland without taking 
 some interest in political parties, though it must be 
 owned politics are the bane of the country, the Irish 
 vote being a bait that unprincipled politicians, both in 
 England and Ireland, seem unable to resist. Men, 
 however, in Ireland are beginning to grow less hopeful 
 of American aid. Is it not America, that has wrought 
 such cruel woe to Irish industries, especially to the 
 nascent wool trade, and that has caused the shrinkage 
 in the prices of Irish produce ? Nor are the Irish of 
 much more account in the States than in England, 
 notwithstanding their services to the country. Ballads 
 are the straws that show whence political breezes come, 
 and here is the end of one that used to be sung in New 
 York during the Civil War.
 
 XVI I 
 
 ' Now, if I were the President of the United States, 
 I'd frame my laws according ; 
 The niggers I'd sell, 
 The Dutch I'd send to h 1, 
 And the Irish to the other side of Jordan." 
 
 There is little love in these lines ! 
 
 If I have ventured to suggest business as the 
 panacea par excellence for Ireland, it is because busi- 
 ness produces thrift and economy as well as solid 
 comfort. The waste in Ireland is incredible, and this 
 makes it in some respects a very dear country to live 
 in. Thrift is voted meanness, comfort is imperfectly 
 understood. And every one who has spent a few 
 decades in Ireland must have seen whole properties din- 
 appear in the maelstrom of waste, in a very short time, 
 without assignable cause, save carelessness on the part 
 of masters, and waste and dishonesty on the part of 
 inferiors. Of miserliness there is plenty, and many of 
 the small farmers, whose squalor of existence shocks 
 sympathetic English visitors, have full " stockings," or 
 run bank receipts. Even so late as the famine men 
 perished with ample means if they would only have 
 used them. 
 
 I have lived long enough to see the balance of power in 
 Ireland shifted several times. In my youth " Church " 
 meant that amply endowed Establishment, the Church 
 of Ireland, while " State " meant " the people," but the 
 people were accounted the landlords. Since then 
 the Church has ceased to be a political factor, the 
 State has meant in a great measure the farmers of 
 Ireland, but by degrees the farmers are ceasing to be 
 
 B
 
 X V 1 1 1 
 
 ' the people " pure and simple, for there is a lower 
 stratum, the labourers, who have the votes and much 
 of the power. They helped to raise the farmers and 
 mulct the landlords, and feel that the farmers have not 
 shown proportionate gratitude. In Ulster this class 
 finds ample employment in town and country, in the 
 other provinces their state is more precarious and 
 shifty. The congestion question still remains an un- 
 solved problem. Parnell tried his prentice hand at it, 
 and failed signally. 
 
 The golden age of Ireland, according to patriotic 
 pundits, was prior to the Union. Those who assert such 
 a proposition can have read little of the literature of 
 the period, for Ireland is an Arcady now compared to 
 what it was one hundred years ago ; and the pictures 
 of each other drawn by past artists are not more beau- 
 tiful that those now limned in print and on platform 
 by the present painters ; in all cases it would seem 
 that ""the people" were generally better than their leaders, 
 but the Milesian mirage was a less phantasmal entity 
 then than now ! A few paragraphs since I spoke of the 
 wastefulness in Ireland, ecce signum ! a decade or two 
 ago ; a railway line of a few miles became bankrupt and 
 derelict, in a short time there was no vestige of metals, 
 sleepers, or fences, all were absorbed by the neigh- 
 bours ! 
 
 One of the commonly credited Milesian myths is 
 that metallic wealth abounds in Ireland, but that it is 
 left unworked through English jealousy ; for such 
 credulity on the part of a clever brainful race some- 
 body must be answerable, for it seems unaccountable
 
 XIX 
 
 and absurd. What an ecstacy of midsummer madness 
 to think that such men as the Duke of Devonshire and 
 Lord Londonderry, who are coal and iron kings in 
 England and Wales, would not gladly develop their 
 [rish estates if they thought similar wealth underlay 
 them ! Capital arid confidence, however, go hand-in-, 
 hand in England. They probably will do so in 
 Ireland when there is some surcease of agitation, for 
 even as it is there is a fine field for capital and enter- 
 prise in many branches of commerce ! But agitation will 
 not cease while just grievances are unredressed, so 
 sratesmen should endeavour above all things to give 
 justice to Ireland, recollecting always that agitation 
 would have fizzled out had not its legitimate fuel 
 existed to vitalise it. That the English flag is no 
 1 >light or bane, Ulster is a standing monument. It has 
 always surprised me that the English fosterers of 
 anarchy and resistance to law and landlords in Ireland 
 never invested one shilling in its sacred soil. They might 
 have shown landlords the more excellent way. 
 
 These pages will have been written in vain if English 
 men are not drawn more and more towards Ireland by 
 the cords of sport ! for its potentialities in many shapes 
 in the Green Isle are infinite, nor can any instances, I 
 think, be adduced of inhospitality or churlishness shown 
 to the stranger. Kilkenny is a very much better hunt- 
 ing county than Kent, Meath than Middlesex, and the 
 visitor's life and property will be as secure in one as the 
 other. The injection of such sporting capitalists would be 
 gladly welcomed ; and the increasing attention paid to 
 horse-breeding and horse-culture points in that direc- 
 
 B 2
 
 tion. I had intended to have said my little say about 
 breeding and racing, and the injury which the excess 
 of the latter element has caused to the former. Irish- 
 men love lotteries, which made the fortunes of some of 
 its " first families," and the lottery of breeding high- 
 class horses lias irresistible attractions for them ; but that 
 breeding is a comparative failure is proved by the irre- 
 futable fact that nearly one fourth of Irish-bred five- 
 year-olds are unsound. Roaring was a phenomenon in 
 the days of my boyhood, among horses, now it is pain- 
 fully common. Nor have the reams of correspondence 
 elicited by the return of " Ormonde" to England thrown 
 any light on the subject, save this, that to gain great 
 early speed and premature precocity, breeders, noble 
 and simple, will make any sacrifice as to soundness. In 
 Jamaica an unsound horse is a rarity, but there natural 
 laws were not tampered with recklessly. I find that 
 through " Portland," used as a sire by Lords Tredegar 
 and Greville, some Jamaica blood was infused into 
 England ; but Portland's pedigree was uncertain on one 
 side, as I have pointed out further on. 
 
 The proposition of some modern professors of poli- 
 tical science seems to be : Give Ireland autonomy. She 
 may imperil the Empire by hostile tariffs and con- 
 spiracies with England's enemies, or she may not ; but 
 give her the chance. Such a proposition needs only to 
 be stated in full for its confutation. Jt is about as 
 absurd as Parnell's plea for the rights of our race, a 
 race to which he had hardly any affinity. And one is 
 reminded of Victor Hugo's lines about the late 
 Emperor
 
 XXI 
 
 " Quelle triste chance, 
 Que cet.te enfant de France 
 
 N'etait pas tant soit peu Francais." 
 
 Englishmen do not propose to introduce autonomy 
 into Brittany or Gascony, yet if racial arguments are 
 worth anything, they should not be governed by Paris, 
 though she be la mile, lumUre. 
 
 Ancestral pride ivas a powerful factor in Irish 
 affairs. It is wearing out now, but Lady Morgan's 
 story of the entertainment, where the hostess made a 
 marked distinction between the descendants of the 
 Plantagenet Palesmen, the Elizabethan conquerors, 
 the Cromwellians, and the Wil Karaites, aptly illustrates 
 the proposition. Ireland is said to be a country where 
 " tuppence-ha'penny continually looks down on tup- 
 pence," and there is a germ of truth in the conceit, and 
 a recollection of it will enable the statesman to com- 
 prehend how the arrogance and superciliousness of these 
 new men who got the old acres, burnt into the hearts 
 of the defeated and disinherited, and made them long 
 through generations for the opportunity of turning 
 the tables. Even Grattan the Great is recollected 
 chiefly by his dictum that "England's calamity was 
 Ireland's opportunity." 
 
 A perfect National Handicap is, perhaps, as impossible 
 as an absolutely perfect Eacing Handicap, but there 
 seems to be a consensus that Ireland has been rather 
 crushed out in the past, and a growing disposition to 
 improve her chances. All honour to the men who, in 
 various ways and by divers methods, brought about such 
 a consummation.
 
 XX 11 
 
 THE KILKENNY HUNT, 1815. 
 
 Kilkenny ! Kilkenny ! the land of the chase, 
 
 Where men, hounds, and horses all <io the best pace, 
 
 The season is o'er, but we must not forget, 
 
 The good aport we have had, the good fellows we've met. 
 
 How oft have we stood by the wild bit of gorse, 
 Expectation alive in each man, in each horse 
 They've found! they're hard at him, he cannot delay, 
 " Johnny " doubles his horn. They're away, they're away. 
 
 Then ride, brothers, ride, do the best that you can, 
 To live with these hounds, sir, you must be a man, 
 For like lightning they come to tneir Master so dear, 
 Well they know the glad notes of his soul-stirring cheer. 
 
 See " Desart" in front, for the fear of a purl, 
 
 Or the pace of the hounds never stopped the good earl, 
 
 He goes all at ease like a bird in its flight, 
 
 Eut you won't find it easy to keep him in sight. 
 
 There's Rochfort all eager to shine in the burst, 
 
 He won't be far off if he is not the first; 
 
 yo matter what horse, he's well held and well crammed, 
 
 No refusing will do, " Take your lep and be d d." 
 
 Old Austin* with them, you'll certainly find 
 
 He's not behind hand, tuo' his hand is behind ; 
 
 And Clayton and Stamiard, who both know the trick, 
 
 Kow to blaze through a burst and come up with a nick. 
 
 And St. George and Ponsonby, both from the north, 
 And two better fellows there never came forth. 
 The Upper Court coverts oft give us a run, 
 And Woodsgift ne'er failed us for foies or fun. 
 
 Of all the hard riders that ever were seen, 
 I never met any like Johnnie Gurteen ; 
 Just look, and acknowledge it's hopeless to beat 
 So perfect a hand and so gripping a seat. 
 
 * Mr. Austin Butler, though a fine rider, had an ugly trick of 
 catching hold of the cantrel of his saddle at a fence.
 
 XXlll 
 
 See Congreve and Briscoe* from Waterford side, 
 Both ardent for sport, and both good ones to ride. 
 In each both the rider and sportsman are seen, 
 The steadiest in hunting, in racing most keen. 
 
 There's Shannon on Irishman, and, never fear, 
 Wherever the hounds you'll discover the peer. 
 I'd bet a large sum, be the run slow or fast, 
 He ne'er leaves the pack, and's well up at the last. 
 
 See another Corkadian close by his side, 
 On his striding bay, Diamond, so easily ride ; 
 And Kilkenny will e'er her best welcome afford 
 To so sporting a squire so gallant a lord. 
 
 See the brave little " Flood" streaming gallantly on, 
 And the Hindoostan hero our bold Captain John 
 And Mick, all alive, his assistance to yield 
 Mick, so careful in kennel, so keen in the field. 
 
 But they come to a check, and we're out of his place, 
 The " Kaffir "f pulls up and there's gloom on his face, 
 " Give them time now," he cries, " and be steady, I pray," 
 Information, oh Johnnie, oft leads you astray. 
 
 They've hit him again, he goes right up the hill, 
 Now, now is the time to show judgment and skill, 
 Each horse and each rider will shortly be known, 
 The bad will be stopped and the best will be blown. 
 
 Of many bold horsemen there started, but few 
 Could live witli the pack as they raced him in view, 
 But who went the best and who stopped in distress, 
 I could tell if I chose, but I leave you to guess. 
 
 No jealousy here mars the joy of the rue, 
 
 No jostling when going, no boasting when done, 
 
 Good sportsmen they all, whether cautious or bold, 
 
 Aud good fellowship reigns 'twixt the young and the old. 
 
 These lines were written by W. Frankland, a constant guest at 
 Desart. 
 
 * The late H. Briscoe, of Tenvane, M.F.H. of Curraghmore and 
 after of Kilkenny. 
 
 t Mr. Wade, nicknamed " the Kaffir," Sir John Power's brother- 
 in-law.
 
 XXIV 
 
 T don't know why it should be so, but there seems to 
 be little doubt that, in matters of sport, the Shakespearian 
 saw " Past, and to come seem best ; things present 
 worst," is not accepted : rivalry, vanity, and enthusiasm 
 may be factors in this formal praise of the present 
 period, but I think few will gainsay the fact, and, like 
 the Greeks, 
 
 TO* Trmepwf /le"/ /toi'e? 
 
 In numbers we certainly give our forbears the go by, 
 and perhaps, even in proportion, more modern men go 
 hard and straight ; whether our hounds and our horses 
 are better than those of our fathers, as claimed, must 
 remain a very moot point and an academic question : 
 for my own part, I think the hunters of fifty or sixty 
 years ago were probably quite as good, if not better, 
 than those of to-day, nor were they much cheaper: 
 600 guineas was bid for a hunter of Squire Nether- 
 cote's, of Moult-on Grange, in the first half of the 
 century, a sum that, perhaps, represents nearly DOO 
 now ; and Dymmok records how, in Queen Elizabeth's 
 day, the price of good Irish horses was very high, as it 
 is still. The best packs in the forties and fifties were 
 probably quite on a par with the best of to-day, but 
 there are far more good packs now than then perhaps 
 more bad hounds too ; but whatever may be thought of 
 modern men and modern horses and hounds, certain it 
 is that fifty ladies ride, and ride well, for one in the 
 twenties and forties of this century. When Mrs. 
 Villiers came over to hunt in Kildare her advent was 
 talked and gossiped about ad infinitum. Now, in either
 
 XXV 
 
 the shires of England or Ireland the fact would excite 
 little comment and no wonderment ; indeed, one of the 
 phenomena that quickly followed the emancipation of 
 lovely woman, was the distribution of habited houris 
 throughout our favourite hunting grounds, where, as 
 Major Whyte Melville wrote of Mrs. L. Morrogh, 
 
 " They'll meet us and beat us again and again." 
 
 The lady legion in Kildare numbers its fifties and 
 sixties ; but in what department of life does not lovely 
 woman take the lead and keep it ? Scholarship was 
 supposed to be the prerogative of the male plumeless 
 biped : Mrs. Butler (nee Miss Agneta Ramsay) soon dis- 
 pelled that dream, as I recollect writing at the time in 
 dubious doggrel 
 
 " In the tongues known as ' dead ' since poor Lady Jane Grey 
 The men styled as " scholars " have ever held sway ; 
 But the Fawcetts and Butlers have taught us since then 
 That in language and science they often beat men, 
 And have proved beyond nay, on the banks of the Cam 
 That the prowess of hobbedehoys is mere flam ; 
 But in languages living no distance, no weight, 
 Can bring men and women together of late, 
 For we learn from our histories, as [ have heard, 
 That in argument woman will have the last word." 
 
 Indeed, one of the phenomena of the second half of 
 the century is the female usurpation of the privileges 
 and prerogatives of men, and her general ascendency 
 over the stronger and stupider sex, who, according to 
 recent judicial decisions, have ceased to be "the head of 
 the wife," as laid down by authorities from whom there 
 used to be no appeal. In the days of my youth, Society 
 was much moved because a lady of position in Ireland
 
 XXVL 
 
 cliose to elope with her music master, who was eminent 
 in his line ; Society's verdict would be very different 
 now. Birth was everything then ; brains and gifts, 
 whether of fortune or nature, have taken its place. 
 Did not Moore write 
 
 " No ! man for his glory to ancestry flies, 
 But woman's bright story is told in her eyes ; 
 While the monarch but traces through mortals his line, 
 Beauty, born of the Graces, ranks next the divine." 
 
 It may be asked, Is the Irish question settled ? 
 Decidedly not ; nor will it probably be ever settled so 
 long as political patriotism pays, and whiskey and porter 
 can be made to circulate freely among the masses. 
 Will Home TJule settle it? Assuredly not, unless it 
 can be held that there was peace in the Marble City 
 after the Kilkenny cats had devoured one another, for 
 they pointed an eternal moral with their tails. What 
 do we see every day ? Political " chieftains" seeking 
 refuge under the British segis, and invoking that code 
 which a few mouths ago they denounced as " foreign law" 
 against each other. Mr. Morley, in a moment of alliter- 
 ative inspiration, talked about "Manacles and Manitoba," 
 in connection with Lord Salisbury's Government, but 
 there have been no manacles to speak of, and hardly 
 any Manitoba, whereas his panacea for the riots in 
 Belfast were bullets and buckshot ! 
 
 There has ever been a tendency in Ireland to run 
 with the hare and hunt with the hounds, and to have 
 two sides to the face, like Janus of old. Here is the 
 opinion of Hooker on the Lord Fitzmaurice of his day : 
 I'atricius Geraldinus qui Macmoris et Lacksnaae Baro
 
 xxvn 
 
 dicitur," "notwithstanding lie was trained up in the Court 
 of England, sworne servant unto Her Majestic, in good 
 favour and countenance at the Court and apparrilled 
 according to his degree, and dailie nurtured and brought 
 up in all civilitie, he was no sooner come home but 
 away with his English attires, and on with his brogs, 
 his shirt, and other Irish rags, being become as verie a 
 traitor as the veriest knave of them all ; and so. for the 
 most part, they are all, as dailie experience teacheth, 
 dissemble they never so much to the contrarie. For, 
 like as Jupiter's cat, let her be transformed to never so 
 faire a ladie, and let her be never so well attired and 
 accompanied with the best ladies, yet, if the mouse 
 come once in her sight, she will be a cat, and show her 
 kind." 
 
 Let me add a propos of large leps, styled " heavy leps " 
 and " horrid leps " in the vernacular, that tlie double of 
 Punchestown was " flown " without " the laying of an 
 iron on it " several times before it was cut down ; once 
 by a horse ridden by Mr. H. FitzWilliam ; and that at 
 the Punchestown meeting of 1892, Mr. Percy La 
 Touche's horse " Desmond," ridden by Mr. Lushington, 
 cleared it, though he fell on the far side and broke his 
 neck. 
 
 The late Lord Clanmorris is said to have ridden the 
 well-known hunter "Distiller" over a solid wall of 
 7 feet 2 inches for a bet. " Dorothy," a mare of Captain 
 Feilden's, of the Scots Greys, covered 30 feet at New- 
 bridge last April at the drop fence. She jumped too 
 soon to avoid a dog, and the effort killed her.
 
 XX VIII 
 
 I hardly think that Irish steeplechase horses can be 
 said to have improved much in jumping power during 
 the century, seeing that in 1810 (as may be read in the 
 " Irish Racing Calendar ") horses entered for a maiden 
 sweepstakes of 10 guineas at Roscommou were required 
 to " qualify " on the Saturday before the race by carry- 
 ing a horseman over a 4-foot wall and a 10-foot drain 
 to the satisfaction of the stewards. " The open ditch " 
 was not apparently so awesome a chasm as now. It may 
 be interesting too to notice that mains of cocks were 
 duly recorded in the racing calendars of Ireland early 
 in the century. Thus on the 3rd of April. 1809, a 
 grand main of cocks was fought between the gentlemen 
 of the King's County and the gentlemen of Armagh, 
 20 guineas a battle and 1,000 guineas the main. The 
 former won. 
 
 In the few remarks I made about shooting in Ireland, 
 I forgot to notice the almost total disappearance of 
 eagles from the western coasts. The late Colonel 
 Whyte, a famous all-round sportsman, told me he once 
 met seven, battening like turkey buzzards on the carcass 
 of a horse, on his return from shooting. I think he 
 killed a brace of them. In the days of the author of 
 " The Wild Sports of the West " they were very common. 
 
 Among records of long runs I should have recorded 
 one from Carnakelly, beyond Moyode, in Mr. Anderson's 
 mastership ; it was crowned by a kill on the banks of 
 Ijough Corrib, and was not, I believe, much under 
 twenty miles ; it killed or disabled several horses. 
 
 The Somerville run was on the 16th of December, 
 1840 ; in the fifties and the sixties the great gallops in
 
 XXIX 
 
 Meath were from Headfort, Shancarnon, Cultnullen, 
 Cohiltown Gorse, Barnewell's Gorse, and the Ruiske 
 Gorse. A man-eating tiger is a familiar form of speech. 
 A man-eating pack of hounds is, thank God, rarely 
 seen or heard of, but there is a tradition of a pack of 
 draghounds in Mayo having devoured the runner. In 
 consequence of some mistake in timing the start, the 
 poor fellow failed to reach his goal of safety, and seeing 
 a lake in front of him swam to an islet, but the hounds 
 followed, and the catastrophe occurred. 
 
 One ought to have said something about earthquakes 
 in connection with Jamaica and its latitudes, for one of 
 the severest seismic shocks ever known occurred at 
 Port Royal, where a second or counter-wave released 
 several who had gone down " quick " into the abyss, 
 and, I believe, released them alive. What experiences 
 must such have had ! What a pity it is they were not 
 garnered up, as who would not have wished to speak to 
 them, or to the folk who were restored to life in Jeru- 
 salem when the great sacrifice was consummate ? I 
 experienced several during my decade, but none 
 serious, and my recollection is of the terror, the pre- 
 monitory symptoms unperceived by mankind caused 
 to cattle on a thousand hills and plains. 
 
 I alluded to a few of the direct benefactors of Ire- 
 land ; among the indirect I would, without any desire 
 to speak paradoxically, name the Fenians, who intro- 
 duced some attempt at freedom of thought and speech 
 into Ireland, and to the opposition, whether Parnellite 
 or Anti-Parnellite, that certainly put a check on gross
 
 jobbing, and the more flagrant and frequent profligacy 
 in the. bestowal of patronage. A coroner was said to 
 have been appointed for a leading county who was 
 actually illiterate, and magisterial and official scandals 
 prevailed extensively. These have been curbed, nor 
 could a " removable " be now seen lashed to his cur to 
 prevent his justifying his title. 
 
 I have already confuted the charge that Irish land- 
 lords, of the ancien regime at any rate, were harsh to 
 their tenantry as a rule. On the contrary, they con- 
 stantly erred on the side of forbearance and laxity, 
 while farmers were a thousand times harder and more 
 exacting to those who held from them, and really 
 rack-rented them ; but the landlords' influence per- 
 meated the people in old times, and the rollicking 
 squire of last century who fought his neighbour a 
 duel on horseback with half a county looking on 
 was the real author of the ructions and faction fights 
 that obtained so largely. The Book of Jasher is 
 said to be missing from the canon of Scripture. The 
 book of " Ah sure " was the commonest volume in 
 general circulation, and proved an excuse for every 
 Idche. Thackeray bears testimony to the good manners 
 of the southern peasantry. No wonder ! qud birth, 
 they represent in many cases the autocthonfs or the 
 old territorial aristocracy, and inherit better traditions 
 than mere ex roto peers or shoddy senators. Nothing 
 can be much more absurd than the claims of the 
 National members to be representative Irishmen, the 
 "chiefs of our race" and the leaders of the Gael. Few 
 of them have any affinity to old Irish stock; hardly
 
 XXXI 
 
 one of them could make a speech in the vernacular. 
 Their pretensions, too, to be the patentees of patriotism 
 are, for the must part, equally unreal. For 
 
 " Nourri par la patrie, 
 C'esfc le sort plus cligne d'envie" 
 
 might well be their legend, as it is and has been their 
 practice. 
 
 The disestablishment of the Protestant Church puri- 
 fied it. Nor could a bishop now accumulate a fortune 
 of many hundred thousands of pounds ~bi/ the arts of the 
 money-changer. In England and Ireland, too, there is 
 far more earnestness of purpose in matters of faith, 
 and the sentence " the poor have the gospel preached 
 unto them " is no longer a figure of speech, nor yet the 
 precept to the rich man to sell all that he has and so 
 give to the poor. In all things there seems less sham 
 and more reality than in the days of my youth, when 
 delegation of duty was the almost universal rule. Now, 
 people of the best birth and breeding may be seen 
 trying to push their fortunes in some business or 
 other : men as trainers, jockeys, salesmen, dealers in 
 horses, dairymen, Pressmen, agents, &c., while women 
 prove they can compete in millinery -and confections 
 with the best professionals, not to speak of nursing 
 and teaching. 
 
 I am not a believer in the benevolence or philan- 
 thropy of Mr. Gladstone, who comes of a slave-driving 
 stock, and latterly has sacrificed principle to interest ; 
 policy to voting power. But no man ever offered such 
 good terms to the Irish landlords, who, if wise in their
 
 XXX11 
 
 generation, would have accepted them, though disliking 
 the donor, the Danauvi dona ferentem. 
 
 " Gladstone has been the landlords' friend, 
 
 Let truth be ever told ; 
 When patriots said, Let's give them lead, 
 The old man said, Give gold." 
 
 That quatrain I wrote years ago. Like the Sibyll's 
 books, such terms will not be repeated. 
 
 The central fact of the age as regards the relations 
 of England and Ireland is, I think, this, that after 
 centuries, the men of the former country have learnt 
 to recognise the cardinal fact that there was a great 
 deal of human nature in Irishmen. It took ages to 
 teach the arrogant Anglo-Norman that an individual 
 who rode stirrupless and saddleless (and perhaps better 
 than he did), wore his hair a trifle long, and preferred 
 a saffron shirt to broad cloth, might be entitled to the 
 same rights and immunities as himself. Since this 
 dawned on their prejudiced minds, Englishmen have 
 certainly, among a few evils, introduced multitudes of 
 benefits to Irishmen, amongst them the potato, the 
 Virginian weed, the blood of Barb and Arab, and the 
 " short horn," new implements of husbandry, new 
 methods of agriculture, the steam engine, &c. 
 
 For ages certain writers have inveighed about the 
 decline in male and female morality, and more espe- 
 cially the latter. Probably, if an average could be 
 struck, poor human nature would be found not to have 
 greatly degenerated, and if Diogenes with his lantern 
 had to make diligent search for an honest man iu his 
 day, Solomon was equally puzzled to find the virtuous
 
 XXX111 
 
 woman, whose price or value was " far beyond rubies," 
 and this polygamous potentate certainly had a vast 
 experience. Milesian Messalinas have decidedly not 
 been common, nor would it be easy in contemporary 
 history to parallel Pope's " Lady Shrewsbury," so that 
 the Spartan King's estimate of human nature being 
 much of a muchness in all ages must be accepted as 
 probably true ; perhaps one or two of the lady writers 
 who draw such painful pictures of the degradation of 
 society may have been like Moliere's heroine, who 
 
 " Voyant de ses yeux lea brillants baisser 
 Au monde qui la quite elle yeufc renoncer." 
 
 When I was a boy, my great-aunt, Lady Clanricarde, 
 was one of the chief hostesses of Dublin, and another 
 great-aunt, Lady Burke, had the credit of being the 
 handsomest woman of her day. Lady Blakeney, another 
 great Hibernian hostess of that period, was so given to 
 stealing not a few but many hours from the night to 
 lengthen her days, that on one occasion her maid had a 
 difficulty in finding a single bonnet amongst her myriad 
 caps. 
 
 The harvest of Irish beauty has never failed since 
 the great galaxy of Gunning girls, of whom, as Hoi ace 
 Walpole tells us, one became Lady Coventry, and 
 another was "double duchessed." In the sixties and 
 seventies, Miss Rose O'Hara, afterwards Mrs. Forbes, 
 the Ladies Scott, and the Misses Penthony O'Kelly, 
 represented the beauty and charm of their families, and 
 later on came the comely cousins of Beau Pare and Slane 
 Castle to keep up family traditions. 
 
 Here I may refer to a recollection of my youth. 
 
 c
 
 XXXIV 
 
 " Little pitchers have long ears," you know. An uncle 
 of mine, while making " the grand tour," was invited 
 to dine at Murat's palace, at Naples ; after dinner, games 
 were introduced " for divarshion," and amongst them 
 " magic music." To my uncle, in his turn, was assigned 
 the task of putting the object handed to him, a beautiful 
 bracelet, in its proper place by the guiding of music : 
 pianissimo when he was at fault, crescendo when he 
 neared the goal, fortissimo when he gained it. Now 
 the Queen, Napoleon's sister, had the loveliest of ancles, 
 which were not always relegated to the shade, and after 
 some blunderings and wrong casts, it struck him that 
 lie ought to obey his inspiration as to the fitness of 
 things ; the music confirmed him, and ultimately two 
 and two were put together. This anecdote is given to 
 show that in matronly friskiness fin de siecle does not 
 absolutely distance the earlier decades. 
 
 One of the duties of sponsors is to make those for 
 whom they become ipso facto spiritual trustees " hear 
 sermons." Now one of the few preachers of whom I 
 have a lively recollection still was Mr. Lever, the 
 brother of the versatile writer; most of the others 
 seemed in early days to belong to the guild of Bore 
 rather than Boanerges. Cardinal Newman was very 
 impressive. Father Burke was a Demosthenes and a 
 St. Chrysostom in a pulpit. The Bishop of Denver 
 preached a sermon at Central City that I can still recol- 
 lect ; and Dr. Perowne, the Bishop of Peterborough, 
 proved, to my thinking, equally impressive in the Temple 
 Church. 
 
 It is often said that in the present century Irishmen
 
 XXXV 
 
 have degenerated in mind, pith, and enterprise. I hardly 
 think this is true. Love and war were in old times 
 the great Milesian magnets. It was pseudo-Love that 
 mainly moulded the destinies of Ireland by introducing 
 an English jury to decide a love feud among the native 
 Kings, and love has been largely interwoven in the 
 national web ever since. Shane O'Neill, said to have 
 been a fancy of the Virgin Queen's, was almost an 
 Hibernian Henry VIII in action. Dean Swift was most 
 philogynous, as we know, so was Daniel O'Connell, so was 
 Isaac Butt, and "our chief" also worshipped at the 
 shrine of what Sophocles termed "Love (Eros) in- 
 vincible in battle," as did the mightiest of monarchs and 
 mortals from Pericles to Parnell. The historical lesson 
 taught by the conduct of the Romans to the Sabine 
 spouses was so well recollected and repeated in Ireland 
 that abduction became very common, and the law had 
 to intervene, and proclaim it a crime. Yet a Tip- 
 perary squire, remarkable for his coolness and intre- 
 pidity, risked all to gain an obdurate bride, and would 
 have succeeded in his abductional attempt, but for the 
 chivalry of a peasant who rushed to the rescue. So 
 much for erotic enterprise ; but will it be believed that 
 one of the leaders of English thought was surprised to 
 hear, not very long ago, that abduction as a matrimonial 
 method was now obsolete in Ireland ? 
 
 As for war, it is almost needless to remind the reader 
 that those " duo fulmina belli " Lord Wolseley and Sir 
 F. Eoberts are Irishmen, in spite of the dictum of 
 Mr. Biggar that 110 one but a Eoinan Catholic could be 
 called one. 
 
 c 2
 
 XXXVI 
 
 The " Patriot " phalanx in the House of Commons is 
 the best proof that neither brains nor energy have de- 
 generated in Ireland, while Captain O'Danne, lato of 
 the Prussian service, serves for an exemplar or replica 
 of the Barry Lyndons of a past period. In church and 
 state, in the forum and the mart, even in the groves of 
 Academia, Ireland still holds much pride of place. 
 
 Of the chivalry of the chase that I have seen " going " 
 ("spectamur eundo") I will name, for England and 
 Wales, the late Sir 0. Knightly, Charles Payne, J. Allgood, 
 A. Grace, S. Goodall, J. Press, R. Chapman, F. Gordon, 
 and the Honourable F. Morgan ; for Scotland, J. Trotter 
 and A. Me Bride ; for Ireland, Lords Howth, Clanricarde, 
 Desart, and Annaly, Sir J. Power, Burton Persse, the 
 Messrs. Watson, Geoffry Hone, Butson, Joyce, and 
 Baron de Kobeck. To me these seemed champions. 
 
 Perhaps nothing better illustrates the changes wrought 
 socially and politically in Ireland during the last thirty 
 years, than the lapsed condition of the Clanricarde 
 family, an almost princely house. The late Marquis 
 nearly held the representation of his county in his 
 hands, and could, t'was said, have returned his grey 
 mare, had he so willed it, as Caligula made his charger 
 a consul. His eldest son, Lord Dunkellin, was strong 
 enough to turn out a Government ; his brother the 
 present Marquis ha, as we know, the greatest difficulty 
 in recovering the very moderate rent of his farms, 
 while the campaigning " chiefs " who instigated the con- 
 spiracy against him are freely returned to the House 
 of Commons. A noble statue recalls Lord Dunkellin's 
 lineaments in the square of Galway. The present holder
 
 XXXV11 
 
 of the title would probably be hooted if he appeared 
 in one of his own towns. 
 
 To Mr. Smith-Barry a tardy tribute has at length 
 been paid. A good landlord and most forbearing, every 
 effort was made to ruin him, but his courage never 
 Jailed, and of him it might almost be said, as of Fabius 
 of old, 
 
 " Unus qui nobis cunctando restituifc rem." 
 
 The patriotism of Irishmen has always appeared to 
 me an ignorant hatred of England, stimulated by self- 
 seeking seditionists. The Pope knows, though many 
 may not, that in no Roman Catholic country have the 
 priests so much latitude, or enjoy so much freedom ; 
 all over the Continent men have revolted against the 
 coercion and a state of spiritual serfdom that had 
 become intolerable, and insinuated itself into all mun- 
 dsne matters. If Irishmen only entered into a solemn 
 league and covenant to abstain, for, say, ten years, from 
 alcoholic liquors and imported goods, they would be 
 masters of a sum that could nearly buy the fee simple 
 of the country, and could then make easy terms with 
 the arch enemy. Such a consummation is, however, 
 not likely, though, as Hamlet said, Ireland is a country 
 "that no revenue has save its good spirits." No 
 Government in my day has done so much for Ireland 
 as Lord Salisbury's, and with so little coercion. 
 
 Let me try and do a good turn to the waste places of 
 Ireland by saying that peat mould is, as far as my 
 experience goes, the best antiseptic to be found. It 
 serves to purify and deodorise all the waste from
 
 xxxvm 
 
 stables and kennels. I observed this result in the 
 King's County, and especially at the kennels of Mr. 
 Assheton Biddulph's. hounds (the Ormonde and King's 
 County), which, erected for a very modest sum, are as 
 wholesome and sweet as any in the world. 
 
 Let me also point out to owners of valuable hunters, 
 chasers, and racehorses what inestimable value they 
 may find in Barbados tar for incipient coughs that may 
 end in whistling. Honey and vinegar may be com- 
 bined with it a volonte. Here is a pendant to Bishop 
 Berkeley's craze as to tar water. 
 
 Few things have been more portentous than the 
 growth of racing and betting in Ireland. Thirty years 
 ago there were hardly a dozen bookmakers, now their 
 name is legion, and Dublin is the bettingist capital in the 
 kingdom, as well as cardriv ingest ; nor among the polloi 
 are politics of half the interest or account as the 
 popular favourite " Alea quando hos animos ?" 
 
 1 recollect a famous Presbyteifian preacher asking 
 me to come to his church in Jamaica on the following 
 Sunday to hear his denunciations of racing. My answer 
 was " Not so ! I should be, very properly, turned out 
 if I attempted to speak; give me the right to reply, 
 and I will come gladly." The colossal fortunes picked 
 up thirty years ago on the turf are hardly attainable now. 
 
 I am not aware that there is anything specially 
 exalting in the chase, but, whatever be the cause, those 
 counties in Ireland where the chase flourished were 
 singularly exempt from crime and outrage ; in Clare, a 
 n unity " cauibus negata " now, agrarian crime is still 
 rife.
 
 XXXIX 
 
 If we look at the history of Ireland we shall see 
 that religion never proved a solvent to racial antipathies 
 there, even when there was but " ung loi, ung foi, ung 
 roi," in the land ; for that reason business and sport 
 suggest themselves for the purpose, and have already 
 attained a partial success. 
 
 A considerable outcry is made about Eomish pre- 
 tensions and claims. There be Protestant popes, how- 
 ever, it would appear, from the following excerpt from 
 " Ireland's Gazette," in re an advertisement of the head 
 hotel of Listellan, a town in Fermanagh, wherein the 
 proprietor, after a catalogue of his luncheon delicacies, 
 proclaims that " No politics (are) allowed unless on the 
 right side. Conversation on current questions, with more 
 or less common sense, but always with good manners." 
 
 Ever since I began writing for the Press I endea- 
 voured to curb what I must suppose I inherit with my 
 nationality an inclination to exaggerate and hope I 
 have partially succeeded. That the habit of amplifica- 
 tion is common can be seen by a glance at " Forty-five 
 Years of Sport" in which some scenes are laid in Ireland. 
 Why Sam Reynell should be credited with fifty years 
 of mastership in Meath passes comprehension. He 
 was actually M.F.H. for twenty. 
 
 I have said nothing about the Jamaica Eebellion, as 
 it broke out very soon after my departure from the 
 island. Great, and perhaps necessary, vigour was cer- 
 tainly displayed in suppressing it, but it is hard to 
 think that all the atrocities were on one side. The 
 Baron von Kettleholdt, the first victim, was a friend of 
 mine, and was one of my last guests, and I recollect
 
 xl 
 
 giving him some curious books, of which I had been a 
 collector. He and his family represented Teutonic 
 blue blood at the King's House feasts. Here I may 
 remark that, coming to Jamaica soon after the abolition 
 of slavery, there were hardly any skeletons to be found 
 in the planters' cupboards, and there is no reason to 
 believe that the negroes were cruelly or tyrannically 
 treated, as a rule. There was only one remote tradition 
 extant (which may have been mythical) of a plantcress 
 who played the role of Catherine of Eussia on her 
 estates, and had oubliettes for her discarded favourites. 
 
 Appointments were made rather recklessly in the 
 island in my time. For instance, an ex-cavalry officer 
 was appointed Superintendent of Police for a district, 
 and, of course, had to distribute the men's pay quar- 
 terly through his pay-sergeant. For some time he 
 evaded the painful " parting " by producing a 50 note, 
 and asking for change, which naturally was not to be 
 had in rural regions. However, I think the remote 
 history of Jamaica tells of a certain Morgan, who was 
 made Governor of the island, turned pirate, and was 
 eventually hanged. I recollect travelling home with a 
 man who had just resigned the Presidency of Bolivia. 
 He inspired some awe among us passengers as we heard 
 that the last act of his constitutional reign was to crop 
 off the ears of a German merchant who had not saluted 
 him satisfactorily. 
 
 One of the best and truest apologues in Lever's 
 works, a propo* of British nescience of things Irish, 
 introduces an English capitalist, who had mortgages in 
 Ireland, and came to stay with his debtor. The latter
 
 xli 
 
 kept him in a constant state of muddle, fuddle, and 
 obscurity, and fully persuaded him that day was night, 
 and vice versd, in Ireland. He had his coverts beaten 
 for him in the dark, and assured him that he had made 
 a good bag, till the much bemused Briton confessed he 
 had never been in so charming a country, but that the 
 light was not quite favourable to English eyes. How 
 true is this, even now, in a mitigated form ! With the 
 exception of Lord Spencer, hardly a single Radical of 
 statesman standing has given himself an opportunity 
 of knowing anything about a country and people not 
 easily comprehended, and which, being " in the next 
 parish" to America, is as greatly influenced by that 
 continent as the satellite is by the planet to which it is 
 attracted by natural laws. This fact may account for 
 the manner in which Irishmen are drifting away from 
 some of their ancient moorings, and flinging off with 
 characteristic levity much of their servile submission to 
 their priests and bishops. A flagrant instance of this 
 has been seen during the course of the last general elec- 
 tion, when priests and peasantry took different sides, 
 and the former in several cases got wounded in the 
 political fray. I believe the act of assaulting a priest 
 is, ipso facto, punishable by excommunication, or rather, 
 submits the layer on of violent hands to that once 
 dreaded mediaeval penalty ; but in this case the spiritual 
 authorities exercised their punitory privilege, and 
 actually excommunicated their foes at Tuam. How- 
 ever, the banned politicians have paid no heed to the 
 sentence. There has been no divine interposition 
 against them, and as at Eome in Juvenal's time,
 
 xlii 
 
 " Contemmere fuhniua pauper 
 Creditur atque Deos, Diis ignoscentibus ipsis," 
 
 which may be roughly translated somehow thus : 
 
 " 'Tis believed that the poor man despises God's levin, 
 But the Gods seem to look on him kindly from heaven." 
 
 Certain it is that not a few of the patriots of 1892 
 look on the attempt to establish sacerdotal supremacy 
 in politics as "spiritual wickedness in high places." 
 During a couple of decades sacrilege has been quite a 
 common crime in Ireland, where it was once extremely 
 rare ; and it struck me as a curious thing to find in the 
 land of Sancta Brigida, Rigida, Frigida, a popular land- 
 lady who had just been divorced in open court drawn 
 home in triumph by the labourers and employes on her 
 Irish estate, who, taking out the horses, yoked them- 
 selves to her carriage. At the same time, though 
 these things show a certain protesting spirit, it would 
 not be wise to think that the priesthood of Ireland 
 have altogether lost power and influence, or bated their 
 pretensions ; the return of the Anti-Parnellites esta- 
 blishes a negative to such a notion. The chapel bell 
 was the signal for rallying to resist eviction or seizure, 
 just as the tolling of the bell of the church of St. 
 Germain L'Auxerrois, in Paris, knelled the fate of the 
 victims of the St. Bartholomew. Koine's charter is 
 unchangeableness (" Quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab 
 omnibus"), and it is well to recollect the lessons of 
 history. Protestant ascendency, with all its odious 
 features, was but the reaction from lloman Catholic 
 ascendency, which was only put down by the sword. 
 The cleric in Ireland should be relegated to his spiritual
 
 xliii 
 
 functions, as in such purely Catholic countries as Portu- 
 gal, where the priesthood lost its power, prestige, and 
 pelf, by espousing the cause of Miguelism. The late 
 elections in Dublin show that even Archbishop Walsh 
 is not omnipotent in his own diocese ; but in the country, 
 and especially among " the illiterates," who at election 
 times become " invincibly " ignorant, a different state of 
 things obtains. 
 
 There is no history of Ireland, though fragments have 
 been cleverly focussed by such writers as Macaulay, 
 Bagwell, and Froude, most of them writing from an 
 English standpoint, and therefore with conscious or 
 unconscious bias. The real history of Ireland is the 
 history of the devolution of property, and this remains 
 to be put together, and will probably never be un fait 
 accompli. The first great wave of territorial conquest is 
 represented by the Fitzgeralds, Dukes of Leinster ; the 
 St. Laurences, Earls of Howth ; the Earls of Kinsale, de 
 Courcys ; the Fitzmau rices, Marquises of Lansdowne; the 
 Butlers, Marquises of Ormonde; the de Burghs, Marquises 
 of Clanricarde, &c. The second, by the Elizabethan 
 generals and soldiers, among whom are Wingfields, 
 Lords of Powerscourt ; the Caulfields, Lords of Charle- 
 inont ; the St. Legers, of Doneraile ; the Moores, of Melli- 
 ibnt and Drogheda; arid the Parsons, Earls of Rosse. 
 The third, by the Cromwellian conquerors, among whom 
 may be found the Ponsonbys, Earls of Bessborough ; 
 the Cuffes, of Desart ; the Rowleys, the Stopfords, &c. 
 
 The Williamite invaders had to be rewarded with 
 titles and tenements. The plantation of Ulster intro- 
 duced Hamiltons, Stewarts, and Chichesters, represented
 
 xliv 
 
 by tho Abercorns, Londonderrys, and Donegals. Land 
 Commissioners, such as Sir Henry Petty and Mr. 
 Taylour, had then opportunities of acquiring large 
 landed estates, and used them. The Uesmond estate 
 was carved out into many seignories, represented by 
 the Dukes of Devonshire and Earls of Cork. This 
 sketch will account for a solid share of the lands of 
 Ireland ; marriage for much more (thus the Muckross 
 estate came from the McCarthymore family to the 
 Herberts), and it cannot therefore ba a matter of sur- 
 prise that the ancient lords of the soil, O'Briens, 
 O'Neills, O'Conors, O'Sullivaiis, O'Mores, have retained 
 so little of their avital acres. 
 
 In writing about dignities and high estates of the 
 realm, it is sometimes hard to steer a, juste milieu between 
 the fulsomeness of flattery and the equally objection- 
 able extreme of intemperate abuse or invective. I 
 think I sinned once, though not without strong tempta- 
 tion, in the matter of the late Lord Carnarvon, who a 
 clever man was wholly unfitted for the omee of Lord 
 Lieutenant at a critical period of Irish history, and who 
 besides had no experienced official hand to guide him 
 when first injected into his new dominion. His tours 
 in the west of Ireland showed that he really wished to 
 acquaint himself with the condition of his kingdom ; 
 but the learned lucubrations, in which he quoted 
 Ptolemy to gaping rustics, and drew ridiculous com- 
 parisons between the scenery of the lacustrine districts 
 of England and Connemara, were anything but likely 
 to win respect for his high office or his own judgment. 
 
 I do recollect describing him as " bleating forth
 
 xlv 
 
 beatitudes," and reminded his readers of an episode in 
 O'Connell's career, when at a monster meeting, ready to 
 Jiang on every utterance of the great tribune, some 
 officious youth took up his parable, and would not be 
 silenced by the hundred hints thrown out to him ; 
 whereupon the Liberator exclaimed : " Will no one stick 
 a wad or wisp of hay into that calf's mouth ? " and this 
 had the desired effect. 
 
 Those who acknowledge grudgingly the progress of 
 law or order and civilization in Ireland will do well to 
 contrast the treatment of the passengers by the Inmaii 
 liner " Chicago," wrecked off old Kinsale Head in July, 
 1892, with the wreck of the Danish East Indiaman, 
 full of treasure, off the coast of Kerry in the last 
 century, when the gentry, magistrates, and country folk 
 looted the spoil after murdering some of its guardians. 
 Land is legally termed " real estate," and is not easily 
 alienable, like chattel property ; but legal chicanery, ad- 
 vances, drink, gambling, and reckless improvidence have 
 transferred a vast deal of territory from their owners' 
 hands to those of agents and attorneys. I recollect 
 being struck, on going to dine with the agent of a large 
 estate in Ireland, with a certain room built out, as it 
 were, from the house, and 011 inquiring further, I learnt 
 from my host that this was styled ' : the Gown-room ;" 
 where the wife of his predecessor in office took the fines 
 and free-will offerings of the tenants with which the 
 husband declined to soil his pure fingers. This "gown- 
 room " was, I heard afterwards, an institution in the 
 land ; but did not landlords who looked after nothing 
 
 ' O 
 
 deserve to be despoiled, as they were most freely ?
 
 xlvi 
 
 Those who harp upon the harshness of Irish land- 
 lords, as a class, are not well informed on the subject. 
 There was far more harshness evinced by the same class 
 in England but in Ireland the great evil was the care- 
 lessness and insouciance of the owners of property 
 their systematic absenteeism, and the delegation of their 
 duties to others who had every temptation to abuse 
 their false fiduciary position, a temptation that often 
 proved irresistible. The antidote to much of the evil 
 thus wrought might have been found in Royalty making 
 periodical visits to this important part of its dominions, 
 where loyalty abounded, and only craved encourage- 
 ment ; but Royalty set the example of absenteeism, and 
 declined to follow in the footsteps of the Plantagenet 
 Kings who were constantly crossing the Channel in 
 what we should call cockle shells, and running not only 
 the risks of the sea, but the gauntlet of pirates. Human 
 loyalty, like human love, requires sustentation, and is 
 not a mere abstraction ; like faith, as defined by Queen 
 Elizabeth 
 
 " Quid est fides ? Quod non vides." 
 
 I think this story of horse-dealing in excelsis in a 
 country where a large proportion of the inhabitants 
 traffic, more or less, in " the noble animal," should not 
 be excluded. A certain cavalry captain had retired 
 from the Service, but retained his love for horses, and 
 bred and sold not a few. A Saxon stranger, anxious to 
 pick up a valuable hunter, made bis acquaintance, and 
 was invited to see and try a certain horse. He saw, 
 tried, but did not buy, and was on the point of driving 
 oft' from the village inn, when the Captain came up and
 
 xlvii 
 
 heard the reasons why the purchase was declined with 
 thanks, as non-suitable. These reasons seemed to him 
 so inconsequent, that he produced a pen and ink and a 
 sheet of paper, and directed the gentleman to set down 
 these reasons on paper. The ordeal was not a pleasant 
 one and might lead to pistols ; but the stranger proved 
 equal to it. and got off without being saddled with a 
 hunter he did not care for ; a useless horse, whatever be 
 his trade, is a great encumbrance, and I think the ex- 
 ample of a friend of mine is, to a certain extent, com- 
 mendable. He had taken great pains with a thorough- 
 bred horse, of beautiful shape, who ran at chases, but 
 never won ; so, after a country meeting, near a county 
 capital, he went to the inn yard, took off the horse's 
 clothing and head-collar, and let him go, adding that 
 anyone who pleased might annex him. Of course, he 
 was promptly claimed ; but I never heard of any sub- 
 sequent success. 
 
 The " Daily Telegraph " makes omniscience its forte, 
 and writes forcibly, and occasionally eloquently, ' de 
 omnibus rebus et quibusdam aliis." Its last panacea 
 for Paddyland is thus gushingly expressed: "The 
 best panacea for her would be the constant presence of 
 great London dealers at her fairs and markets, and an 
 abundance of high-bred steeds, to which 6 feet of timber 
 or stone would seem nothing more than a bagatelle." 
 Ireland is overrun with London dealers, great and small ; 
 but the high-bred steeds, such as are pictured here, do 
 not exist. Five feet of timber or stone will stop most 
 fields, though old Giles Eyre, we are told 
 
 " Thought nothing at all of a six-foot wall."
 
 xlviii 
 
 I find that in my reminiscences of horses and " hu- 
 mans," I omitted any reference to a very good horse, 
 " Dr. Lynn," whose acquaintance I first made at 
 Punchestown, many years ago, when I rode him for 
 the Downshire Plate, when thirty-four started for that 
 race. The course then went round by the Lack of the 
 stand, and a wall, of somewhat solid masonry, was 
 jumped. By the time we had gone a mile and a half, 
 only one horse a grey, ridden by her owner, Mr. 
 Charley Barrington was in front of me, and when she 
 was passed, and had compounded, the course was, for a 
 field or two, a perfect solitude, till " Archie " Peel on 
 " Baldongan " came up. My crock, who was hardly in 
 farmer's, much less racing, condition, was by this time 
 pretty nearly cooked, and, when the two or three real 
 race-horses came up (after sundry mishaps), of course, 
 we had no chance. I took this horse over to England, 
 where he carried me splendidly, till he caught his fet- 
 lock in a tree root, and broke down badly. Mr. Albany 
 Saville gave me a good price for him as he was, had 
 him fired deeply, and he carried his welter weight right 
 well, and died a pensioner in the Hartopp family. 
 
 Bagot (Canon) and butter are inseparably linked 
 together in Ireland, and, indeed, the progress Ireland 
 has made in dairying within the two past decades is 
 simply wonderful, not only in the quality of the article, 
 but in all externals connected with the manufacture. 
 Even youths can remember when Dublin dairies ex- 
 hibited their lacteal stores in Iwnd-basins and foot-tubs. 
 A propos of butter, I can recollect two boys, of good 
 birth, but with very shock heads of hair, who were in-
 
 xlix 
 
 vited to a party. They had none of " thine incom- 
 parable oil macassar" to smooth their hirsute locks 
 withal, so someone suggested the application of a few 
 pats of butter. This answered well till they reached 
 warm rooms, when the consequences may be imagined. 
 
 Boys had to rough it in many ways then. A squire 
 of large acres, who long commanded his county corps, 
 can still laugh over the ridiculous figure his economical 
 lather made him cut at a smart ball by getting the local 
 snip to cut down a mulberry coloured coat with brass 
 buttons for his sou's adornment. Doubling up in one 
 bed was very common even in large houses, and I 
 recollect it irritated two boys of my acquaintance to 
 such an extent that when the wealthy hostess made 
 them a present of a couple of volumes they ostenta- 
 tiously left them on the hall table when going away. 
 They were NOT asked there again, nor were their names 
 to be found in testament or codicil. 
 
 Invincible ignorance is said by Catholic casuists to be 
 a potential passport to heaven, through the portals of 
 purgatory, for heretics. The invincible and inconceiv- 
 able ignorance of the average Briton about Ireland and 
 all belonging to it is astonishing, and it is on this igno- 
 rance that the Home .Rule orators play so extensively, 
 none more so, though perhaps unconsciously, than their 
 coryphaeus Mr. Gladstone, who is himself profoundly 
 ignorant of Ireland, and distorts its history for his pur- 
 poses most glaringly. It always appeared to me that 
 with his great gifts (and some graces) Mr. Gladstone 
 was little more than a pleader witli his subject briefed 
 to him. Where he would really have been inconipar- 
 
 D
 
 1 
 
 able was as the utterer of oracles and ambiguous verses 
 that had ambidextrous interpretations. Thus, to take a 
 well-known instance 
 
 K/so?ffo9 ''A\tv i/3a9 yUe-ydA^i/ o/' / \'}*' ^tn\vffi 
 
 (" If Croesus crosses the Halys he will destroy a great 
 power"), only it happened to prove his own great army, 
 while he hoped it would be the enemy's. 
 
 A master of equivocal meanings would have proved 
 a treasure to any oracle, whether at Dodona or Delphi. 
 That precocious prig, Macaulay's typical schoolboy, 
 would have been ashamed of evincing the ignorance 
 Mr. Gladstone has shown in the matter of Irish 
 history. 
 
 A story is told of two masters of hounds who were 
 eminent in their respective ways, that is to say, each of 
 these worthies told the story of the other. The one 
 M.F.H. was prematurely bald, and, though young in 
 years, wore no thatch whatever on his polished head, 
 that was not unlike a billiard ball in its sheen and 
 smoothness. He happened to fall into a lane near a 
 cabin, and his hat came off simultaneously with his 
 corpus. The hairless head became very prominent. 
 To him came the owner of the cabin, and, when he saw 
 no harm was done, asked the M.F.H. what he meant by 
 i dining out hunting when he should be " making his 
 suwl ; an old man like you who hasn't a hair even be- 
 tween himself and heaven." 
 
 His brother master had found out that on a particular 
 occasion his iv<l rival had done himself so well at a hunt 
 ball that he insisted un shaking hands with all the
 
 li 
 
 marble statues that sentinelled the hall ; so one tale 
 balanced the other. 
 
 The Americans are omnivorous readers of dime litera- 
 ture, and I recollect meeting one who really believed 
 that Front de Boeuf and his castle were typical of aris- 
 tocratic life in England. He was very incredulous 
 about my negations, still more so as to my having 
 known some barons and earls myself. Another Yankee 
 that I came across seemed full of the discovery (?) that 
 the founder of our faith was the sun ; his apostles, the 
 signs of the zodiac. 
 
 One of Parnell's pleas in favour of Home Eule was 
 the almost incredible incompetence of the Board of 
 Works in Ireland a Tieasury department. A witty 
 priest tells an anecdote of a Saxon of inquiring mind 
 who travelled some distance to interview a farmer who 
 had a fine specimen of the round tower (despair of 
 antiquaries) on his land, and he fancied a personal visit 
 might reveal traditional tales about the mystical build- 
 ing, and thus give a clue to its origin. " Well, yes, yer 
 honour, the tower has been in the family for ages, and 
 the conclusion we've come to is that it must have been 
 erected by the Board of Works, for it is as useless as 
 all their buildings." 
 
 It is not so very long since the Marshalsea of Dublin 
 was entrusted to a hopeless insolvent steeped to the 
 eyes in debt, but he went about freely and openly, 
 because he had given himself in charge to himself, and 
 was therefore unarrestable. I can myself recollect what 
 were called Sunday men, or men whose outings were 
 restricted to the Dominical day pour cause. High 
 
 D 2
 
 lii 
 
 sheriffs, too, were not infrequently hopelessly involved, 
 but enjoyed a certain immunity, because they could 
 only be arrested by the coroner's writ ! 
 
 The private theatricals at Kildemy have been alluded 
 to. It is said that the receipts sometimes amounted to 
 140 of a night, and an English writer mentions the 
 curious circumstance that Lord Mountjoy* appeared once 
 there in a costume valued at 8,000. This transcends 
 the famous myths about Prince Esterhazy's jacket and. 
 pantaloons 
 
 t: All jewels from his jasey to his high-heeled boots." 
 
 The two Arcadians of Virgil were said to be 
 
 " Cantare pares et respondere parati." 
 
 But surely Paddy Carey was a champion of Arcady, for 
 when asked by a wag " how far it was from Mullingar 
 to Michaelmas," replied at once, " As far as from Whit- 
 suntide to the ace of spades." He too was an Arcadian 
 \vho, talking of a wealthy but slovenly farmer, remarked 
 that " He's rich, but I would not nail up a peach tree 
 with his breeches." 
 
 " A moving bog " is a common figure of speech. I 
 have only known of one that travelled any pace or 
 distance. That belonged to Sir Henry Burke, of 
 Marble Hill, Co. Galway, and, slipping from its moor- 
 ings on the side of a hill, crashed down like a black 
 avalanche, destroying trees on its path, till, meeting 
 the dried-up bed of a mountain torrent, it followed it 
 for some miles, and then found a resting place in a lake, 
 which it turned into a mere. 
 
 Foreigners have taught us during the past thm- 
 * Query Mornington ?
 
 liii 
 
 decades that they bettered the instruction they origin- 
 ally received from us in the matter of horseflesh and 
 racing, and have captured so many of our cups and 
 prizes, that a little joke about a French buyer may be 
 permissible here. Count Trois Etoiles fancied a 
 thoroughbred horse of a friend of mine very much, and 
 as they say grew " fonder and fonder " every minute. 
 He had even worked himself nearly up to the buying 
 point when it occurred to him to inquire " what his 
 nctions were like." " His performances I suppose," said 
 my friend. " No, no, his actions ses allures." The 
 last two words put everything straight, and the horse 
 was saddltd forthwith and put through his paces. But 
 what a crop of good stories could the Gauls tell of our 
 blunders far more monstrous than putting an extra " s " 
 to a word. Of none are they pleased to record more 
 than of the great Duke of Wellington it revenges 
 Waterloo ! 
 
 Autres temps autres mceurs ! Ir is not such a very 
 long time since I was invited to dine with a couple of 
 stewards of the Turf Club at their house, after a race 
 meeting at the Curragh. The dinner was simple 
 enough, if very good of its kind, but after it the 
 keeper of the match book, Mr. Hunter, was asked in to 
 have a glass of wine, which he drank standing. The 
 .stiffness of the thing strikes one now, as it looks as if 
 there were a gap of a century between the manners and 
 customs of that period and the present. Mr. Hunter, I 
 may remark, was a most aristocratic-looking man and 
 of perfect manners. I well recollect that on seeing my 
 name appended to an entry he asked at once, " Are you
 
 liv 
 
 any relation to Maurice Nugent O'Connor, who had the 
 famous setters ?" I told him he was my grandfather. 
 
 I have said little if anything of Irish grooms. The 
 majority are very bad ; the minority are extremely 
 good, and have the gift of getting attached to their 
 charges. There would be many more good grooms if 
 there were less whiskey current, and the Irishman lacks 
 the steady adherence to system that characterises tin- 
 English man, as well as the latter's attention to minutia: 
 The following story is rather characteristic of the 
 former class, so I give it to the reader, knowing it to be 
 true. A gentleman in " Shove-aloug-shire " farmed 
 largely and combined with it a fair share of hunting 
 and some horse coping, which brought him en rapport 
 with English buyers, who admired his sincerity as well 
 as his knowledge of horseflesh. One of the dealers 
 came to this worthy's house one day unexpectedly, and 
 found that he would be absent for a couple of hours or 
 so, an interval which he spent in looking at the horses 
 in the stable, and hearing their characters from an 
 eloquent groom, who expatiated lovingly on their 
 splendid performances in the hunting field. Presently 
 the master came in, and the dealer, h'red by the account 
 he had just heard, proposed buying several, if his friend 
 would only confirm his groom's narratives ; but the 
 master burst out laughing, saying that he had only had 
 the horses a few weeks, and as it was summer, he could 
 not have hunted them at all, so no money changed 
 hands, no horses changed stables, and the disappointed 
 dealer went away admiring the friendly frankness of 
 thu fanner. The groom an artist in his way had
 
 Iv 
 
 heard something of the conversation, and forthwith 
 gave his master a month's notice ; and when asked for 
 an explanation replied at once, " Because you made a 
 liar of me, and no man shall do that." After all he had 
 only chaunted his charges and is not every horse at a 
 fair " the best in Ireland " at something or other ? 
 
 The functions of coachman and groom were often 
 combined in Ireland, and in " the bad times " not a few 
 coachmen found the box a bad eminence, and them- 
 selves the recipients of slugs and bullets meant for 
 their masters. The speed and jumping power of his 
 hunter, I believe, certainly saved from rough usage one 
 M.F.H., while another master, who was taking a ride 
 near his own place, was rescued from the fate intended 
 for him by the quickness of his high-mettled horse. 
 He had been talking in a friendly way to one of the 
 conspirators against his life who, by a preconcerted 
 signal, touched his hat, and saying, " very well, your 
 honour," gave the mot d'ordre to the assassin behind the 
 hedge, who fired, but the horse, seeing the flash, re- 
 coiled, and the greater part of the charge meant for 
 lungs or heart passed through the coat and vest, only 
 grazing the skin. 
 
 The Macdermot, Attorney-General for Ireland, the 
 other day denied the great extent of the distress pre- 
 vailing last year in the congested districts of the West. 
 If he be right, a vast number of careful observers were 
 grossly deceived ; but at any rate, now that the crisis 
 has passed, gratia Balibur cum Zetland, it is a satisfac- 
 tory symptom of improvement to find men declining 
 work at 14s. per week. Much of the permanent work
 
 Ivi 
 
 of the county, of winch traces are still to he seen, was 
 done at much less than half that sum, and I can well 
 recollect that when I came over first to Ireland, and 
 wanted a stableman or strapper, my groom got a first- 
 rate one at 10s. per week ; the man only asked 9*., and 
 had he not heen slightly given to liquor occasionally, he 
 was fit to take charge of any stud in the kingdom. 
 Such a man with a clean bill of health qua character 
 could command quite double that sum now. In Dublin 
 high prices are accounted for by employers by the high 
 wages they themselves are forced to pay their work- 
 people, and even for field work, or comparatively un- 
 skilled labour, the wage is now sometimes very high, far 
 higher than that which obtained in the west of England 
 when Canon Girdlestone initiated his famous crusade. 
 Of course I am only writing now of the more advanced 
 parts of Ireland, though in all labour is far better re- 
 munerated than it used to be. Such is one of the 
 results of emigration which is so terribly inveighed 
 against by " the patriots," though of them the priests 
 alone, who found a happy harvest in early marriages and 
 large families, suffer from the alteration of levels and 
 tariffs strange to say their numbers have rather in- 
 creased than diminished during the past decade. 
 
 Another very hopeful sign in Ireland is the extinc- 
 tion of Thuggee, or the guild of hireable assassins, or 
 mercenary murderers. The last " professional " murderer 
 is said to have been hanged some twenty years ago, 
 and as supply and demand affects, as a rule, the murder 
 market like all others, it is fair to conclude that there 
 li;is been a decrease in the latter. Not that murders
 
 Ivii 
 
 have wholly ceased in Ireland, but the systematic 
 " removal " of obnoxious men at a cheap rate of pay has 
 been abandoned. So deliberately planned were some of 
 the murders of forty or fifty years ago, that it is said 
 measures were taken to secure that the contemplated 
 crime should be committed in a different barony or 
 townland from that in winch the contrivers lived, so 
 that the eric or blood-money, in the shape of an extra 
 police tax, might not be levied on themselves or their 
 friends. Insanity is said to be very common in Ireland ; 
 it is ascribed to various causes, such as strong tea, but 
 surely an extensive consciousness of criminality would 
 suffice ; for it must be supposed to have been utterly 
 abhorrent to the natures of. many who were neverthe- 
 less weighted down by the burden of this cognisance of 
 guilt, past and prospective, that they were unable to 
 shake off by delation or denunciation. 
 
 Many must have noticed in the " Times " a letter of 
 Sir E. Watkin's proposing to bore a tunnel between 
 Scotland and Ireland (no new idea), and to make a ship 
 canal between the eastern and western parts of Ireland, 
 with a view of accelerating the traffic between England 
 and America. Unfortunately for Sir E. Watkin's claim 
 to originality, this scheme was referred to in a volume 
 I wrote some three years ago called "Dublin Castle," 
 and in these days of triple expansion engines it seems 
 somewhat superfluous. What, however, seems perfectly 
 practicable, and within "the wit of man," is the im- 
 provement of some of the western ports of Ireland, such 
 as Galway or the Killery Roads, and the erection of 
 factories close by to work up the raw material that
 
 Iviii 
 
 could be imported so much quicker and cheaper there 
 than to Stockport or Manchester. If a great Scotch 
 house can manufacture cotton goods at a profit in a 
 foreign country such as Portugal, surely it could be 
 done in Ireland more readily, more especially since a 
 network of railways has opened out the country to 
 capital and enterprise. This is the sort of Home llule 
 that the Irish really crave, and the proffer to a pauper 
 of a patent system of Home Rule that can hardly add 
 to his wealth seems like presenting the hungry man 
 with a stcrie instead of a loaf. The cravings of the 
 Celt are far more economical and social than political ; 
 and a busy prosperous people will not be so easily led 
 as they have been by interested self-seeking agitators, 
 whom they have already found to be weak reeds to 
 lean on in the time of trial. Irishmen are not lacking 
 in brains or enterprise ; and if they can see potentialities 
 of attaining a higher standard of comfort and com- 
 petence by honest toil, we may be sure it will be forth- 
 coming. The better way seems to be beaconed or 
 buoyed out by such men as Mr. Horace Plunkett and 
 his practical school. Sericulture, pomiculture, api- 
 culture, tobaccoculture have one and all been pro- 
 pounded as patent panaceas for Paddy land, but the cult 
 of the cow seems the best and most congenial to the 
 soil and climate after all. 
 
 A year ago and 'tis no flam 
 Paddy's salvation lay in jam ; 
 He found it not, 'tis true, because 
 Jam must obey commercial la\\~. 
 >"ow tin- Limit Janisrni-<t's coi-ksure 
 That in tli2 henhouse lies the cure
 
 lix 
 
 For ills that come in free trade's wake, 
 And want that oft keeps Pat awake, 
 "While those who w-jep o'er vanished trade 
 May find sweet solace in the spade, 
 So twitters Titjrus* in the shade. 
 
 For my own part I cannot help thinking that a know- 
 ledge of the cooking art in women of all classes is a 
 great desideratum, in Ireland, and I was struck one day 
 on going to a distant country place, by the lady of the 
 house asking me what I thought of her lunch \ve had 
 just partaken of. I said it was only too good, as it 
 tempted one to eat too much. " Well ! " she added, " I 
 may have to dress dinner, too, as my cook went off this 
 morning, and said she could not be back in time to do 
 it." This lady, though brought up in the lap of luxury, 
 was quite competent to do so ; but the truant domestic 
 returned, and she was not called on to exert her talents. 
 She was a colonial lady. I think these lines not inap- 
 pjsite to the situation described : 
 
 ' Far above rubies " was the ancient praise 
 Of household women, gifts of God to men ; 
 
 " Far above wranglers " in these modern days 
 
 Denotes the she most prompt with tongue and pen. 
 
 Not many masters of hounds in Ireland have gone 
 into the jumping arena at Balls Bridge, Dublin, and 
 judging rattier than riding is their wonted function. 
 Still, a few have preferred steering their own horses 
 over the course, and have, one and all, acquitted them- 
 selves worthily. Among the most successful in the 
 ordeal were the Earl of Fingall, Mr. Treherne Holmes, 
 and Major Butson. The Earl of Dssart narrowly 
 
 * Vide Mr. Gladstone's speeches.
 
 Ix 
 
 missed a prize ; but, of all this category, Major Butson 
 was the most accomplished rider by far, and this in 
 spite of a figure that was rather rotund for riding; 
 but, despite the oracular utterance of one of our best 
 sporting organs, it is a fact that not a few of the very 
 best cross-country riders of the day are built in a mould 
 the very antithesis of poor Fred Archer's, with his long, 
 thin, and prehensile limbs. 
 
 In time of peace the Press is the great power of the 
 country, and even in war it is far from weak ; for it 
 must be remembered that the Press is, to a certain, 
 nay, a great extent, responsible for public opinion, and 
 public opinion makes or avoids wars, as the case may 
 be ; nor should it be forgotten that much of the im- 
 provement in our Army is due to the same source. It 
 would not be hard to expand the simple syllogism 
 showing how the Press rules by its influence over our 
 leaders if it were necessary, but the proposition will be 
 mainly admitted; of course, every now and then public 
 opinion blunders terribly, but, on the whole, it comes to 
 correct conclusions when the necessary information in 
 supplied to it. Hence the necessity, not only for a free 
 Press (under proper limitations), but for a Press perfectly 
 free from taint of corruption or improper influence. 
 
 I believe that a very great portion of it is above 
 venality in any concrete shape, but that much of it i.s 
 -\viiyed by an inordinate love of gain can hardly, I 
 think, be controverted; otherwise the advertisement 
 columns would not be perverted, as we occasionally 
 see them, to ignoble purposes, and a broad a^gis would 
 not be extended over notorious offenders whose purse
 
 Ixi 
 
 patronage is not only useful but indispensable. How- 
 ever, with its imperfections and shortcomings, the Press 
 of England is a noble institution, and comprises all sorts 
 and conditions of men and women, from the dilletante 
 duke to the literary lady's maid ; from the Premier and 
 peer to the parvenu, from the count to the counter- 
 jumper: for there is room for all. It has, in a great 
 measure, superseded the pulpit, having a far wider 
 audience, and exacting less time and patience, though 
 it lias no ambition to interfere with the priestly pro- 
 vince, as it is in close alliance with the Churches of 
 the land, many of whose best minds contribute to its 
 columns ; nor can any Church claim immunity from 
 error and weakness any more than the Press, which, 
 with its friction and checks, manages, for the most part, 
 to extract the pure gold of truth from the surrounding 
 t [uartz. 
 
 One snare of the daily Press, and, for the matter of 
 that, of the weekly Press too, is sensation, often ob- 
 tained by a slight sacrifice of accuracy and easy exag- 
 gei'ation. Let me give a very modern instance : when 
 poor Lord Drogheda died so suddenly in town last sum- 
 mer, obituary notices appeared in the " Field," " Land 
 and Water," the " World," and several other papers, 
 stating the most salient features of his public career, 
 which was greatly connected with sport, in which he 
 took a leading and most prominent and honourable 
 part, and on which he exerted a most salutary influence. 
 Presently these characteristics were exaggerated and 
 amplified, even in good papers, till the original portrait 
 was hardly recognisable.
 
 Ixii 
 
 The Press is to England what the Travyyvpis was to 
 ancient Athens and a vast deal more. Exception has 
 been taken to the modern society papers, for which we 
 are perhaps mainly indebted to Mr. Lawrence Oliphant 
 and Mr. Henry Labouchere : but they were a want of 
 the age. They are a check on the dailies, and, if abused 
 sometimes, they are widely read and largely repandnes, 
 though possibly not quite so much as a few years ago. 
 The daily Press has flattered them highly by its imita- 
 tion of their methods. No doubt they sometimes 
 venture out of their depth and domain, as when 
 " Truth " moralises over Derby winners turned into 
 Hansom callers (aide "Truth," 14th September, 1892V 
 
 To criticise things up to date. Mr. Morley, the Chief 
 Secretary for Ireland, or, to be precise, the Lord 
 Lieutenant of Ireland, has just crowned Mr. Balfour's 
 work by flinging off the last vestige or fetter of coer- 
 cion. It is to be hoped that the real coercers of the 
 country will follow suit, and forbear from such engines 
 as the boycott and the ban ; then may we hope for a 
 Milesian millennium. " Que messieurs les assassins 
 commencent." 
 
 The multitudinous minor race meetings in Ireland 
 are, I think, injuring hunter breeding considerably; the 
 animals that take part in them are of no great commercial 
 value save as instruments of gambling, and substance is 
 sacrificed to speed. 
 
 The material growth of London is one of the wonders 
 of this marvellous age. Limmer's, the " Blue Posts," 
 aud Long's (Jubbers) did very well in their modest but 
 comfortable style forty years ago ; now they must, be
 
 Ixiii 
 
 up to date. Dear me ! how well I can recollect dining 
 with an Oxford friend at the latter. " He was a squarson " 
 -or a squire and parson combination. I lent him my 
 name for a nomination to a big race ; we saw London 
 by gas-light afterwards, but our host drew the line at 
 the Piccadilly saloon, as he did not wish to meet 
 parishioners there. In those days the church was made 
 for the squarson not the squarson for the church. 
 
 Of Haiieutics (ride Oppian) I have, I think, said 
 nothing, for. though I have fished much, I am ignorant 
 of the gentle art, my chief successes having been in 
 the Rocky Mountains, where from a good pool I could 
 get in a very short time as many trout as I could carry 
 in a sack. When the flies of civilisation and commerce 
 were worn out I had to shoot some big birds with a 
 rifle, and make some sort of lure unlike anything 
 created or even artistic, but it took for all that. 
 
 Having been a considerable disburser of money while 
 in Jamaica, I am happy to say I never kept any one 
 waiting a moment for his dues ; nor can I recall any im- 
 portant official act during my term that I look on with re- 
 gret and would not repeat even the single one for which 
 I was severely animadverted on by the Department. 
 
 May I be permitted to point out that a very common 
 word, a hunter, is a misnomer : the horse that carries 
 man or woman over the country safely and well does 
 not hunt the fox, stag, or hare ; he is the conveyance 
 that enables you to see hounds hunting. The best aide- 
 de-chasse of this sort that I ever saw was a small Indian 
 pony that I had in Colorado. He seemed to have the 
 brains of a hound, sighted deer or antelope directly, and
 
 Lxiv 
 
 aided you in getting up near them, lie did not require 
 larietting while you were stalking your quarry, and if 
 you only wounded it, would strain every nerve and 
 sinew to aid you in overtaking it. An American beast 
 of better looks was the converse of all this, and if not 
 firmly tethered would be off for camp when you fired, 
 and perhaps give you a ten-mile walk. 
 
 The future of hunting is probably more assured in 
 Ireland than in England or Scotland, for the simple 
 reason that it is a much better theatre for the sport of 
 kings, that it does less harm to farmers and agricul- 
 turists, that it is racy of the soil, and ancillary to horse 
 culture and horse industry. It must, however, be con- 
 ducted with tact and judgment, and above everything, 
 all classes should be given some sort of friendly interest 
 in its permanence and prosperit} 7 . With this view 
 hound shows and puppy shows should be promoted 
 sedulously, and all classes should meet together, and eat 
 and drink together, as is the case in a few parts of 
 England :it earth-stoppers' dinners. After all, in feudal 
 times, lords, vassals, knights, and villeins often met at 
 the same board, and in Ireland " the claims of long 
 descent " are not always on the side of the gentry and 
 squirearchy. A few masters of hounds now take this 
 view of the case, to the great benefit of the rrpiiblic of 
 the chase. 
 
 In this little volume I have spoken of yellow fever, 
 the scourge of the Antilles. The " vomito" is, of course, 
 its most fearful symptom ; and what words can do 
 justice to the heroism of a Navy officer who, to prove 
 to his cowering crew that there was nothing contagious
 
 Ixv 
 
 about the disease, took a glassful of the sickening stuff 
 and drank it oft'? A Victoria Cross would not be an 
 inadequate reward of such gallantry in the cause of 
 humanity. 
 
 As a pendant to the observations I made as to reli- 
 gious distinctions in Ireland, I may mention that a 
 " Catholic Bookseller " (who surely ought, if anyone, to 
 be universal or general in his catering for literary tastes), 
 of Sackville Street, Dublin, which the Nationalists 
 have styled O'Connell Street, announces himself as an 
 " Importer of Eeligious Goods." Such a signboard 
 would be hard to find elsewhere.* 
 
 The chief defaulting paper for which I wrote was 
 the " St. Stephen's Review," a paper of promise, but 
 not of performance. 
 
 A propos of hay an important question to horse 
 buyers I have little hesitation in stating that many 
 millions per annum are wasted in Ireland in this crop 
 alone. Poorly saved, as a rule, it does not undergo 
 fermentation, but the cocks are left out in the fields 
 like so many altars to " Inclementia coeli." When 
 taken to market it is again subject to a very consider- 
 able percentage of waste by being rolled up, instead of 
 cut into trusses, to the adornment of nearly every 
 hedge by which the cart passes. The late Lord Annaly 
 worked his hay in the English fashion. Bad hay in the 
 best grassland, perhaps, in the world seems anomalous. 
 Perhaps nearly as large a sum is lost annually to the 
 nation by the often barbarous treatment of cattle 
 shipped to England. In " Peeps at Portugal " I have 
 
 * Close by is a " Home for Catholic Boys." 
 
 E
 
 Ixvi 
 
 pointed out the very different method adopted by our 
 ancient allies, whose long-horns reach the market 
 without having some of the best joints injured and 
 depreciated by extravasated blood. I came across the 
 Bay of Biscay with 150 of these long-horns, who 
 almost improved on the voyage, and formed " the 
 roast beef of Old England " for the united French and 
 English fleets at Portsmouth. After all, what we buy 
 and pay for is our very own from sets of teeth and 
 wigs upwards. 
 
 Oats is a great national crop in Ireland ; but men 
 who are particular that their horses shall have the 
 best import from Scotland, whence come the best 
 samples. 
 
 " Be not in camps or crowds or riots seen, 
 And keep your conscience and your linen clean," 
 
 was Crabbe's counsel to a youth. Mr. John Morley 
 neglected part of it, and, on dit, suffered diminutio 
 capitis by having his hat knocked oft' in a tumult, in 
 which, of course, the authorities were all ivrong. He is 
 an " authority " himself now, and may find such 
 episodes unpleasant recollection when he has to enforce 
 the law of the land. Kightly or wrongly, " his small 
 Commission " is considered a Court to try landlords ; 
 but, as a great number of estates in Ireland are under 
 receivers, it is practically trying the High Court of 
 Chancery. An Englishman was endeavouring once to 
 describe the Lord Chancellor to a Gaul, and called him 
 " le grand sot (sc6au) d'Angleterre." Surely this Com- 
 mission is making " un grand sot " of the Irish Lord 
 Chancellor.
 
 Ixvii 
 
 I had intended to have included in this volume a few 
 metrical prolusions on current topics. Space, however, 
 warns me not to do so. I will only venture on a free 
 translation or parody of Juvenal's well-known lines 
 about Hannibal and the Alps, which recurred to me 
 when the G.O.M. was making his " boulderdash " 
 speeches in North Wales lately (the idea is only half 
 mine) : 
 
 " I, demens, et saevas curre per Alpes, 
 Ut pueris placeas et decantatio fias !" 
 
 " On, Gladstone, on ! scale Snowdon's peaks and passes, 
 To point a ' par.' and please Welsh lads and lasses ! " 
 
 I have harped too much, perhaps, on my own " case." 
 Let me, however, contrast it with that of a high official 
 (I believe an able man) who, sent out to the West Indies 
 and America, finding his office an absolute sinecure, got 
 it abolished and himself handsomely pensioned. Let me 
 add, too, that all the officers of the Department serving 
 in the West Indies were handsomely provided for or 
 promoted. My provision was mainly promises un- 
 fulfilled. 
 
 Was it not Juvenal who wrote 
 
 " Mors sola fatetur 
 Quantula sint hominum corpuscula ! " 
 
 " We only learn from death 
 How small the frames that hold our mortal breath ! " 
 
 to make a rough-and-ready translation and so 
 perhaps death, that revealed how frail and fragile was 
 the tenement of the Parnell spirit, has also, if only by 
 force of contrast, taught us what an iron will and 
 
 E 2
 
 Ixviii 
 
 masterful mind was enshrined in that tabernacle ? 
 Alexander's captains fought fiercely for his heritage, 
 and showed how inferior they were to their mighty 
 master, and so the Parnellite puppets or lieutenants 
 have shown the wondering world how strong was the 
 phalanx icith its chief, how weak without him. But if 
 ever there were an argument for the necessity of 
 coercion in Ireland, Parnell furnished it ; for no 
 Eastern despot was more despotic than the Lord of 
 Avondale proved to his followers ; while the tale of the 
 two election petitions in "Royal Meath gave revelations 
 of a spiritual, as well as a temporal, coercion that 
 seems marvellous in this last decade of the century ; 
 indeed the verity that under English sway alone is 
 liberty of mind and body possible is slowly permeating 
 the emancipated mind of Ireland. For merely to take 
 one instance, what Government in the world would 
 permit hostile bands to play national airs defiantly 
 through the thoroughfares of its capital, followed by a 
 concourse of sympathising youths, during a period of 
 excitement and almost revolutionary agitation ? 
 
 " The eagle suffers little birds to sing, 
 
 And is not careful what they mean thereby, 
 Knowing that with the shadow of its wing 
 It can at pleasure stop their minstrelsy." 
 
 It is fortunate for English interests that the advo- 
 cates of Separation under the veil of Home Eule 
 have no such leader as Parnell, who concealed the 
 mailed hand under a glove of velvet. Seldom in the 
 history of nations has more sordid selfishness, more 
 hideous hypocrisy, been shown than in the manoeuvres
 
 Ixix 
 
 of parties since his fall and deposition. " Let him that 
 is without sin among you cast the first stone " might 
 well have been said to the prurient politicians who 
 trimmed their sails to the breezes of mock morality. 
 
 The way in which a large section of the Gladstonian 
 ^Nationalists have contrived to swallow the camel 
 Morley, though their gorge rebelled at the gnat 
 Parnell, is a proof of this. Mr. Morley is in morals 
 and faith directly antagonistic to the Koman Catholics 
 of Ireland. He has vilipended their religion, and out- 
 raged their cherished convenances; yet they have 
 attorned to him as if a missionary direct from their 
 political heaven ; and, as far as they can, they made, his 
 Government a theocracy tempered by democracy. As 
 a matter of history, Mr. Morley's tenure of office ha* 
 been an almost absolute fiasco, his magnum opus, his 
 "little Commission," has perished, if not in its own 
 self-contempt, at any rate in that of the public, while, 
 worst of all, he has dragged down the forensic fame of 
 a judge to the lowest depths ; for if Sir James Mathew 
 had ventured as a mere magistrate to make such a 
 speech as that with which he opened his court, he 
 would have merited instant removal from the Bench, 
 as Cupar justice is not approved of, nor Jedburgh 
 either " hang first and try afterwards " " castigatque 
 auditque dolores." To Mr. Morley, I fear, Tacitus' 
 sentence is applicable : " Imperil capax nisi im- 
 perasset" : a dilettante Danton and a rationalistic 
 Kobespierre are hardly saviours of Society, but no doubt 
 gaol-birds admire him greatly. 
 
 O'Connell promised his fatuous followers Repeal of
 
 Ixx 
 
 the Union in a few weeks. The revolutionary Eadicals 
 showed their liberality in plenary promises to the Irish 
 voters prior to the last General Election ; but the fulfil- 
 ment of them halts, and must halt, unless England has 
 partaken too largely of the insane root. While I write 
 Irish stocks are almost at their highest a proof that 
 Mr. Gladstone's nascent Home Eule Bill is not a prac- 
 tical terror to capitalists ; indeed, it may be questioned 
 whether any four of " the Chiefs " really covet Home 
 Rule in their heart of hearts. 
 
 In the revolution from which we are partially emerg- 
 ing the landlords have been despoiled of nearly a third 
 of their property by legalised confiscation ; the almost 
 inevitable corollary to these Land Acts is compulsory 
 sale, and then farewell to the territorial aristocracy 
 created by England, used by England, and betrayed by 
 England ! For its extinction it may, in a great measure, 
 reproach itself. Whenever it combined it defeated the 
 enemy; but combination, organisation, and cohesion 
 were rare among landlords. Their system of estate 
 management was most defective. Every proprietor 
 who had a margin of a few thousands or hundreds 
 a year kept his Grand Vizier in the shape of an 
 agent, who, like himself, was often an absentee, and 
 thus the bailiff became practically the ruler of the 
 estate, as he was the ear and eye of the agent, and the 
 only man really thoroughly acquainted with the tenants 
 and their ways and means. In England such wholesale 
 delegation of duties would be impossible. So much for 
 the State. The Church has been purified, if not re- 
 generated, by Disestablishment. It claimed apostolic
 
 Ixxi 
 
 succession, and may have had it. To the outer world 
 some of these pastors seemed more closely connected 
 with the practices of Simon Magus, while their contem- 
 porary, Dean Swift, seemed to think that Hounslow 
 Heath was responsible for certain others. The inflated 
 bureaucracy is another scandal. Every one acknow- 
 ledges the evil, but no one tries to stem it. The Govern- 
 ment wants partisans, and these men and their families 
 and friends have to be splendidly rewarded. Hence 
 you might see or have seen in Ireland a political lawyer 
 blossoming quickly into a Chancellor, though he had 
 little or no Chancery training, and the head of the Bar 
 flouted in his own Court. Dogberry's dicta seem to 
 have been aimed at Ireland ; but the talent and quick- 
 ness of public men there, and their versatile adapt- 
 ability, keeps the system working tolerably smoothly. 
 In some departments public service was almost inherit- 
 ance. It is the waste, costliness, and jobbery of official 
 life in Ireland that tempt many to lean to the National 
 or Home Eule side; but the remedy would be, me 
 judicc, a million times worse than the evil. 
 
 Why the Lord Lieutenancy is maintained seems a 
 puzzle. The Viceroy, according to " Truth," has duties far 
 more " multitudinous " than any Royalty, but what they 
 are 'twere hard to discover, as the power rests with his 
 Chief Secretary, and the Lord Lieutenant is practically 
 confined to functions a Viceregal Amphitryon and a 
 patron of institutions, coached by a permanent staff of 
 officials who maintain the traditions of the Castle after 
 the mode of the Medes and the pattern of the Persians. 
 The whole system is anachronistic, and really never
 
 Lxxii 
 
 recovered from the incisive satire of Thackeray many 
 years ago.* A political Viceroy is of course an anomaly 
 under our Constitution, yet every Viceroy is more or 
 less political now, only some have the tact and good 
 sense to subordinate their personal proclivities to the 
 general weal. A Prince of the Blood as a permanent 
 Viceroy might have done infinite good to the social 
 system of Ireland. Tlie time for such an appointment 
 seems to have now passed, and of such avatars it may 
 be said, " Too late ye come, too late." The debut of 
 our present Viceroy in Ireland was unfortunate, as he 
 stamped himself in limine an apostle of Gladstonian 
 Home Rule, and thereby probably neutralised the 
 effects of much personal and individual popularity. 
 In the Home Eule days of Ireland, when Coercion 
 Acts and famines were rife in the land, Lord Towns- 
 hend, the Viceroy, refused on several occasions to 
 receive deputations from the Guild of Weavers, who 
 had a grievance, and so offended them that when, on a 
 special occasion, he sent that body a bank note for 
 200 for the relief of the poorer brethren, it was indig- 
 nantly returned. 
 
 Scotland does very well without a Viceroy, though it 
 contains a Royal Palace ; why should not Ireland fare 
 as Scotland and "Gallant little Wales," the Secre- 
 tary having ample table money allowed him to enable 
 him to drown the shamrock duly, and to keep up the 
 traditions of Hibernian hospitality ? It may be said 
 
 * The late Baron Dowse said that in England the rich and noble 
 love to bask in the sunshine of Royalty ; whereas in Ireland the 
 impoverished gentry seeks the moonshine of Viceroyalty.
 
 Ixxiii 
 
 that such a scheme would be derogatory to the dignity 
 of the Irish nation ! But where is the Irish nation ? 
 Who ever saw it or read of it ? The Irish people one 
 knows, but a nation ! and who and what is an Irish- 
 man pure and simple, and where can he be found ? Is 
 he a descendant of the Firlborgs, the Tuathu da 
 Danaans, or the Danes, who held much of Ireland in 
 fee for many years, including its capital, or a Milesian, 
 or a Kelt Iberian ? Is he not, for the most part, a 
 compound of many races, as composite as the average 
 Englishman, and very often his kinsman in blood, as 
 well as a cousin to the Caledonian ? The racial, or 
 ethnological, argument is not stable. It is the want of 
 commerce and manufactures, and the sense of the 
 degradation caused by poverty, that creates much of the 
 isolation and antagonism of Irishmen to England a 
 feeling that has been intensified by misgovernment and 
 aggravated by silly sneers and an affectation of inherent 
 superiority on the part of Great Britain. But with 
 every new line of railway, with every new service of 
 steamers, the links between the two islands are more 
 and more strengthened, and the domain of the agitator 
 curtailed. It would be idle to deny that agitation has 
 done yeoman service to Ireland; chronic agitation, 
 however, palls after a time. Surely the aphorism of 
 " the Claimant " as to brains and money has not been 
 forgotten ; the copartnership has proved useful to 
 Ireland. 
 
 Among the benefactors to Ireland, those railway 
 kings who introduced the manufacture of carriages and 
 engines should certainly be classed, and, a propos of 
 
 E 3
 
 Ixxiv 
 
 those who have deserved well of their countrymen, the 
 name of the Earl of Howth, K.P., should not be ignored, 
 for among institutions which have stood the test of 
 time, and which he mainly aided in creating, is the 
 Annual Horse Show of the Royal Dublin Society. 
 
 I cannot conclude these desultory remarks about men 
 and things in Ireland without returning my best thanks 
 to my countrymen generally for their kindness in allow- 
 ing me to ride for many years over their fields. I 
 never, so far as I can recollect, received let or hindrance, 
 save once, in the co. Louth, when I was not allowed to 
 pass through a gate ; but there was great friction at the 
 time in the vicinity, and much exasperation. 
 
 The world, according to the ancients, was upborne by 
 Atlas, who got his irov CTTW from a tortoise. Hunting 
 in Ireland mainly depends on the good nature and good 
 will of the small farmer, who is generally a genuine 
 sportsman. In 1893 sport in nearly all its centres has 
 attained a pitch seldom reached before ; and as the 
 chase declines in England more and more from many 
 causes, physical and financial, there is reason to believe 
 that it has a splendid future in Ireland, its natural 
 home, and that Englishmen will not fail to recognise 
 the gifts and graces of the Green Isle, and thus cement 
 "a union of hearts," more solid than that of the 
 Gladstonian myth. 
 
 The Parnellite party have done something to curb 
 the patria potestas assumed by the priests of Ireland 
 in things temporal as well as spiritual. Could a grosser 
 illustration of this combination of the sword of the Spirit 
 with the shillelagh of the flesh than a muscular priest
 
 Ixxv 
 
 coming up to a candidate at an election and saying, " If 
 there were- not another man in the town to knock you 
 down. I'd do it " thereupon felling the candidate and 
 leaving him weltering in blood ? It was reserved for 
 the year 1892 to see spriest evicted from his holding by a 
 -Roman Catholic landlord, while apoco curante peasantry 
 declined coming to his rescue, though the evictee de- 
 clared that the Saviour, too, was evicted with him. 
 
 No enterprise will quicken the land, no capital will 
 be injected into the soil, till sacerdotal supremacy is 
 duly curbed by the State. Already have many nascent 
 attempts been blasted by the interdict of priests. 
 A spirit of courage and self-reliance seems to have 
 arisen in the Irish people, which has already attained 
 great results. It may seem rash to prophesy that with 
 a Prime Minister pledged to carry Home Rule, and who 
 has a majority at his back, there will be no Home Rule 
 established, and that ere long Mr. Gladstone, already 
 known to be the fiscal foe to Ireland, will have lost all 
 hold on that country ; but I will venture to hazard it. 
 A very strong minority has decided, like the barons of 
 old, " Nolumus leges Anglise mutari." 
 
 Now let me close this long-winded introduction, 
 nearly as interminable as Dick Martin's avenue. Gar- 
 rulity is one of the vices of age. I fear there is as little 
 connection in the subjects as the man found in John- 
 son's Dictionary. 
 
 It is hoped that these side-lights, so to speak, on Irish 
 history may prove of some slight service towards its 
 investigation, for the Irish problem is ripening to a 
 solution.
 
 Ixxvi 
 
 SOMERVILLE HUNT, 16lH DECEMBER, 1840. 
 
 A Poem dedicated to James Noble Waller, Esq., then Master of the 
 Meath Fox Hounds. 
 
 O Somerville ! thine honoured name 
 Gave to the world a noble theme, 
 
 The beauties of the chase. 
 That name arouses latent fire 
 And tempts me to take up my lyre 
 
 Its glories to rehearse. 
 
 At Somerville our meet we make ; 
 
 The hounds dash through its briery brake 
 
 A hundred horsemen out 
 
 Despite the storm, despite the flood,* 
 
 "We find him in Knockcomra Wood ; 
 
 " He's off, he's off," we shout. 
 
 Right down the glen bold Reynard flies, 
 Regardless of our shouts and cries, 
 
 Despising coverts near ; 
 Blacklion Hill, Slanduff's deep Vale, 
 Their echo rising on the gale, 
 
 Now mark his fleet career. 
 
 Full fifty of us sweep the glen, 
 Our way descry with piercing ken, 
 
 And climb its rugged side ; 
 The open country now we gain ; 
 O'er lionktown'8 spacious fields amain 
 
 Right gallantly we ride. 
 
 With heads well up and sterns all down, 
 Straight upon ancient Staffordstown 
 
 The hounds before us fly ; 
 Here luckily a check befell. 
 Or in Glanwigna's rugged dell 
 
 Full mnny a horse might lie. 
 
 * This chape took place after a severe storm, when all the low ground 
 was under water.
 
 Ixxvii 
 
 Through it we rush with wild halloo, 
 And by Lismullen Covert too, 
 
 Its deer park and decoy, 
 Its plains and lawns, to Tara's Glen, 
 Where every echo wakes again 
 
 Of other days the joy ! 
 
 Tho' close we pass to Tara's walls, 
 No sigh its former pride recalls 
 
 Or glories now no more ; 
 We heed not of the olden time, 
 For while its steep ascent we climb 
 
 The chase sweeps on before. 
 
 To Belper now ! no stop, no stay ; 
 Rathmoeva's Fort marks out our way ; 
 
 We nerer tighten rein ; 
 Killeen, Dunsany soon are passed ; 
 Our headlong course is stayed at hist 
 
 On banks of flooded Skeyne ! 
 
 With mettle true the hounds dash in, 
 And. swimming hard they nobly win 
 
 The river's further shore ; 
 Up by Knockmark like sea.gulls fly ; 
 The horsemen stand aghast and cry, 
 " We ne'er shall see them more." 
 
 One man* alone attempts the flood, 
 In vain ; for Tullamedin Wood 
 
 We now must make our cast ; 
 Dunsany's lawns we hurry through, 
 Nor stop its noble pile to view : 
 
 The bridge is gained at last. 
 
 * Mr. Russell, who was nearly drowned in the attempt.
 
 bcxviii 
 
 Right up the hill of Glane we press ; 
 The horses here show much distress, 
 
 And many say " Enough " ! 
 The height is won, the hounds are seen 
 Far as Culmullen's Hill so green, 
 
 And now to prove the stuff. 
 
 A dozen reach Culmullen's brow 
 
 " Where, where the hounds ? Oh ! see them now 
 
 O'er WoocUown's open plain." 
 We stoutly ply the scourge and steel, 
 And now at last begin to feel 
 
 Our labour not in vain. 
 
 Then down Moynalvy's slopes we rush ; 
 The gallant pack clothe at his brush, 
 
 Their constant pace maintain, 
 Till when on Ballygurtha's side 
 But two* are with them seen to ride 
 
 Of all our brilliant train. 
 
 The desperate game is all but won : 
 The noble fox, his duty done, 
 
 Now reaches Summerhill ; 
 In its domain of old renowned 
 For sylvan sports he gets to ground, 
 
 Safe from all harm and ill. 
 
 This splendid chase is scarcely o'er, 
 Tho' lasting for two hours or more,t 
 \Vhen twice six joyous hearts appearj 
 To claim the praise of being there. 
 Our wondrous feats and 'scapes we tell, 
 O'er hill and dale, thro' brake and fell, 
 
 * Pat Carty, whipper, and Samuel Garnett, jun., on " Tibby Tight." 
 f Two hours and twenty minutes ; one slight check. 
 I J. N. Waller (Master), R. Hopkins, H. Coddington, J. Pollock, 
 R. Chaloner, F. Smith, R. Smith, H. Lyons, Montgomery, Somer- 
 ville, H. Pakenham, Ford, S. Garnett, jun., Harry the huntsman, and 
 the whipper.
 
 Ixxix 
 
 O'er mosses, waters, slaps, and stiles, 
 For two and twenty British miles.* 
 What wonder as with honest pride 
 Our homeward way we slowly ride 
 We praise the master of the pack, 
 Who after such a devious track, 
 !Xot a hound wanting,f wends his way 
 All safe to hunt another day ? 
 His brow with laurel let us wreathe, 
 The glory of the men of Meath ! 
 
 THE KlLBITDDEBY HUNT. 
 
 Hark ! hark ! jolly sportsmen awhile to my tale, 
 Which to claim your attention I'm sure cannot fail : 
 'Tis of lads and of horses and dogs that ne'er tire 
 O'er stone walls and hedges, thro' dale, bog, and briar. 
 A pack of such hound*, and a set of such men, 
 'Tis a shrewd chance if ever you meet with again : 
 Had Ximrod, the mightiest of hunters, been there, 
 Tore Gad he had shook like an aspen with fear. 
 
 In seventeen hundred and forty and four, 
 The fifth of December, I think 'twas no more, 
 At five in the morning by most of the clocks, 
 We rode from Kilruddery in search of a fox : 
 The Loughlinstown landlord, the bold Owen Bray, 
 And Squire Adair sure, was with us that day, 
 Joe Debill, Hall Preston, that huntsman so stout, 
 Dick Holmes, a few others, and so we set out. 
 
 We cast off our hounds for an hour or more, 
 
 When " Wanton " set up a most terrible roar. 
 
 " Hark to ' Wanton ' ! " cried Joe, and the rest were not slack, 
 
 For " Wanton's " no trifler esteemed in the pack. 
 
 * Accurately measured on county map. 
 t Seventeen and a half couples out.
 
 Ixxx 
 
 Old " Bonny " and " Collier " came readily in, 
 And every hound joined in the musical din. 
 Had Diana been there she'd been pleased to the life, 
 And one of the lads got a Goddess for wife. 
 
 Ten minutes past ten was the time of the day 
 When Reynard broke cover, and this was the way : 
 As strong from Killegar as though he could fear none, 
 Away he brush'd round by the House of Kilternan ; 
 To Carrickmines thence, and to Cherriwood then, 
 Steep Shankhill he climb'd, and to Ballyman Glen, 
 Bray Common he crossed, leap'd Lord Anglesea's wall, 
 And seem'd to say. " Little I value you all." 
 
 He ran bushes and groves, up to Carbury Byrne's, 
 Joe Debill, Hall Presfbn, kept steady by turns ; 
 The earth it was open, yet he was so stout, 
 Tho' he might have got in, he chose to keep out. 
 To Malpas high hill was the way then he flew, 
 At Dalkey's stone common we had him in view, 
 He drove on by Bullock, thro' " Shrub " Glenageary, 
 And so on to Monkstown, where Laury grew weary. 
 
 Through Rochestown Wood like an arrow he pass'd, 
 Then came to the steep hills of Dalkey at last ; 
 Then gallantly plunged himself into the sea, 
 And said in his heart, " Sure none dare follow me." 
 But soon to his cost he perceiv'd that no bounds 
 Could stop the pursuit of the staunch mettled hounds : 
 His policy here did not serve him a rush, 
 Five couple of Tartars were hard at his brush. 
 
 To recover the shore, then again was his drift, 
 
 But ere he could reach to the top of the clift, 
 
 He found both of speed and of cunning a lack, 
 
 Being waylaid and killed by the rest of the pack. 
 
 At his death there were present the lads that I've sung, 
 
 Save Laury, who riding a gamin was flung. 
 
 Thus ended at length a most delicate chase, 
 
 That held us five hours and ten minutes space.
 
 Ixxxi 
 
 We returned to Kilruddery's plentiful board, 
 
 Where dwell hospitality, truth, and my lord. 
 
 We talk'd over the chase, and we toasted the health 
 
 Of the men that ne'er struggled for places or wealth. 
 
 Owen Bray balk'd a leap : says Hall Preston, " 'twas odd 
 
 " 'Twas shameful," cried Jack, " by " 
 
 Says Preston, I halloo'd " Get on tho' you fall, 
 Or I'll leap over you, your blind gelding and all." 
 
 Each glass was adapted to freedom and sport, 
 For party affairs we consigned to the Court : 
 Thus we finished the rest of the day and the night 
 In gay flowing bumpers and toasts of delight. 
 Then till the next meeting bid farewell each brother ; 
 So some they went one way, aud some went another. 
 And as Phoebus befriended our earlier roam, 
 So Luna took care in conducting us home.
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 " I remember, I remember, 
 How my childhood fleeted by." 
 
 Haynes Bailey. 
 
 A POLITE monarch is said to have apologised for the 
 delay in his departure from life. Several authors have 
 written their own lives, and apologised for them ; one 
 or two in English, another an Eminence in Latin. 
 I do not propose to follow their example. We shall 
 probably have to apologise amply for our lives by-and- 
 bye, and will be fortunate if the apologies are accepted ; 
 but it always struck me that apologising on the thres- 
 hold of a life-narrative, which you wish to have read, 
 and which you propose to spend some time in digesting 
 and writing, savours of that pride that apes humility, 
 which, if the poet be veridical, is " the Devil's own 
 delight," and makes him grin a demoniacal grin. 
 The man who has perhaps had more influence on the 
 mind, taste, and style of the centuries, and whose 
 works remain classical after some two thousand years 
 of investigation and criticism, informs us that he can 
 thank heaven for creating him what some would call 
 " a poor creature," with no high ambitions or aspira- 
 
 I
 
 tions, and scant talents or capacity for business organi- 
 sation, and if he could cheerfully accept his pusillanim- 
 ous pettiness of purpose, and attribute to his want of 
 native grit the fact that on a memorable occasion 
 he joined the sauve qui pent division of a broken 
 legion, and made jetsom of his buckler, to lighten the 
 scudding ship, why should meaner and minor men 
 quarrel with their lack of courage, enterprise, judgment, 
 discretion, or backbone, to overcome the slings and 
 arrows of outrageous fortune, and to conquer circum- 
 stance ? 
 
 " Pi bene fecerunfc parvi me quodque pusilli, 
 Finxerunt animi, neque natum rebus agendis." 
 
 Shakespeare's famous lines about the tide in the 
 affairs of men will naturally occur to most readers, but 
 here, again, come the drawbacks of weakness of will 
 and tardiness of perception, and the conclusion of the 
 whole matter seems to be resolved by another line of 
 the immortal Will " Some are born great, some 
 achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust 
 upon them ;" and if Malvolio, whose sentiment it is, I 
 think, was mad, there was much method withal in his 
 madness ; for supposing that opportunities of achieving 
 greatness come to all, only those endowed with great 
 qualities can make anything of them ! Even Shake- 
 speare himself, one of the sublimest spirits named in 
 the book of time, did not achieve contemporary greatness 
 as greatness is generally interpreted. It was posterity 
 that placed him on the pinnacle of fame. He attained 
 a contemporary competency, not wealth. He was not
 
 3 
 
 even created a laureate, or made a lord of Parliament. 
 No American heiress fell to his share, and it is even 
 hinted that, like the prophet, the poet was not quite 
 appreciated chcz-lui. Here are two grandly-gifted 
 beings who failed to win in their day " The glory that 
 was Greece, and the splendour that was Eome ;" and 
 perhaps the inference to be drawn is that contemporary 
 greatness, though a grand guerdon, is not to be at- 
 tained by the highest talent in all cases, but by certain 
 combinations of qualities, allied to favouring circum- 
 stances ; nor need these qualities be invariably of a 
 good order. Did not Lady Macbeth twit her husband 
 on having the deterring drawbacks of conscientious 
 scruples that prevented him from taking the tide at its 
 flood ! 
 
 " Thou would'st be great 
 Art not without ambition, but without 
 The illness should attend it." 
 
 So here is some leaven of comfort and consolation 
 for the livers of little lives, who have not been oppor- 
 tunists, or able to grasp the greatness that possibly 
 seemed or really was within their reach, or made a 
 seasonable friendship with the mammon of unrighteous- 
 ness, the possession of which alone is a generally- 
 accepted title of greatness, as well as a passport to 
 power. Let me, therefore, without further preamble or 
 protocol, introduce myself to the gentle and simple 
 reader, should any be forthcoming, as one who never, 
 or hardly ever, took fortune at the tide or learnt to 
 spell opportunity properly, who drifted with the cur- 
 rents, and loafed away a lazy, little life. It will be 
 
 F '2
 
 something new to see littleness in print, which gene- 
 rally seizes on greatness or goodness for its operations. 
 
 Well ! about the year of our Lord 1830 I was born, 
 according to family tradition and biblical register, 
 at Sea Point, near Dublin, which was then innocent of 
 many resources of civilization that not only condense 
 time, but sometimes, as lately, cut you off from time alto- 
 gether, seeing that railways were unknown in Ireland 
 save in theory, that sewage gas was comparatively 
 an ignored blood poisoner, and that mussels, if found, 
 might be made a note of by incorporation without the 
 prospect of sudden death and the pangs of poisoning. 
 Of nurses and nurseries I forget everything. I believe 
 infancy was mostly spent in England, and among my 
 earliest real remembrances is life at a place called New- 
 town in the Co. Kilkenny, through which ran a trout 
 and gudgeon-haunted river, yclept " the King's ;" that 
 there were woods that harboured a few woodcock in 
 the winter, and " inches " or marshes where the scream 
 of the startled snipe was a familiar sound. 
 
 It was my destiny to be the middle figure of three 
 children older than my sister, and younger than my 
 brother, by two or three years. There were governesses 
 in the land, a Trench lady, Mdlle. Le Page, who, for 
 aught I know, might have been related to the great 
 Parisian painter, whom I recollect to have resisted 
 with tooth and nail ; but I believe she was a thorough 
 good, soul, and beyond denouncing " ces affreuses 
 coleres," as she called my fits of persistent passion, I 
 cannot, recollect ever suffering much at her hands ; and 
 if I did not pay attention to her teachings, I imbibed
 
 the accent and idiom of French as it is spoken at 
 Paris: and though somewhat short of words, and weak 
 in vocabulary, I find a few weeks in Prance makes 
 me intelligible to the. natives, and more or less at home 
 in the language ; though I have such a painful recollec- 
 tion of my shortcomings in the tongue of the Gaul 
 when I endeavoured, long ago, by a letter to convince 
 a charming French Creole, who " had no English," of 
 my devotion to her charms, that I ought not to say a 
 word about the slender survival of the French tongue 
 in my memory. Mile. Le Page said one witty thing 
 which years have not quite effaced from the mnemo- 
 nic tablets. I fancy my mother was inculcating for our 
 benefit the great profit of early hours, and recommend- 
 ing the curtailment of that needless quotidian devotion 
 to pillows of down in the morning ; she quoted George 
 the Third's dictum about six hours sleep for a man, seven 
 for a woman, and eight for a fool, when the epigram- 
 matic little lady retorted at once with " Mais c,e 
 George ! il devint fou lui-meme !" whether post hoc or 
 propter hoc she never revealed her opinion. I feel sure 
 I should have been a wiser man, and peradventure a 
 better man, had my early and inveterate dislike to 
 petticoat government permitted me to hearken to the 
 teachings ot the dear English lady whose painful task 
 it was to instil knowledge into my numskull, and to 
 order my goings out and comings in, terms of imprison- 
 ment, more or less prolonged, in my bedroom, were the 
 sad sequences of daily disobedience, but this room was 
 just above the porch of the house, arid by opening the 
 window you could let yourself on to the leaden roof of
 
 6 
 
 the porch, and I recollect that on the occasion of some- 
 thing like a garden party (perhaps I am too " previous " 
 in adopting the word " garden " party) I had some fine 
 fishing from my coign of vantage, and hooked several 
 hats, &c., with a trout-rod and casting line ere I was 
 discovered and disgraced. Tutors were subsequently 
 introduced to bring in something of the fortiter in re, 
 but few of them proved of much good, and when the 
 best and firmest of them got a curacy in the country I 
 was packed off to live with him, and learn if I could 
 and would. Alas ! the will, at any rate, was wanting, 
 and the curate an impersonation of conscientious 
 Christianity, with an immense parish to circumambulate 
 daily used to leave home at an early hour and never 
 return till dinner time in the evening, when discover- 
 ing that whatever else I had found to occupy iny 
 leisure time, lessons were not included in my disposi- 
 tion of the available hours, he used to ply cane and 
 cutting whip liberally, but as he had no assistant in these 
 extempore flagellations, the punishment was perfunc- 
 torily administered, as one can always run in and make 
 a sort of wrestle of it; an exciting pastime that 
 beg'uiled the sting of the lash or cane, and often 
 tended to minimise or altogether avert it. But to 
 return to Newtown and Kilkenny, let me state here 
 that the reason why my father and mother pitched 
 their tents in this fine old county then at the very 
 zenith of its social and venatic fame was on account 
 of the duresse of duty ; not that my father had any 
 property in the county I believe he had not one acre, 
 or, to speak vernacularly, '' as much as would sod a
 
 lark " therein ; but he had a cure of souls (very few 
 indeed) within its limits, and he was the agent of the 
 Desart estate that belonged to his nephew (by mar- 
 riage), and as Lord Desart was a minor, and his mother, 
 who lived at Desart Court, a widow, it was thought 
 advisable that the manager of the estate should live in 
 its vicinity. The cure of souls was not a very engross- 
 ing occupation ; the congregation, though larger than 
 Dean Swift's average mid-day muster at Larracor, was 
 mainly made up of the families of a few noblemen 
 and gentlemen of the neighbourhood ; and I can well 
 recollect my father's rendering of the solemn service, 
 ore rotunda, as he had been accustomed to hear it 
 at Christ Church, Oxford, of which he was an alumnus, 
 as was also his elder brother, Mr. W. Morris Eeade, 
 the squire of Kossenara, who represented the maiden 
 City of Waterford for a session or two in the Conserva- 
 tive interest. I do not believe that my lather was 
 much of a dogmatic divine, or a zealot in what was 
 then deemed orthodoxy most liberal in his views and 
 aims, a friend to the poor and destitute, generous, 
 unselfish, and lovable I fancy his view of the 
 parson's vocation was widely different from those now- 
 entertained by Churchmen. The office of a bishop 
 was then " a good thing " in the worldly sense of the 
 term, and the spiritual sense was but dimly discerned 
 by the majority. Livings were sought for because they 
 represented a highly respectable and fairly-endowed 
 mode of upper class life ; and if the duties involved 
 were not absolutely nominal, they were extremely 
 light. I recollect my mother took great interest in her
 
 8 
 
 school .and scholars, which, whenever she could, she 
 " personally conducted " and superintended ; the clerk 
 of the church being the schoolmaster a dapper little 
 man, whose name has escaped me. I have a lively 
 recollection, however, of one of his sayings my mother 
 was asking him where a country tailor could be found 
 to rig out the lads of the school, when the little man 
 drew himself up to his full height of five feet five 
 inches and said : " Fogarty made me, mam ! " a preg- 
 nant sentence ! for how many minor mortals are the 
 creation of their tailors ! 
 
 Let me mention that the parish was that of Burn (or 
 Burnt) Church, whose subsequent incumbent was the 
 well-known. Dean Browne, the father of the present 
 Lady Bolsover, and par consequence the step -father of 
 His Grace of Portland. 
 
 There was not, I think, at that time any great fric- 
 tion between Roman Catholics and professors of the 
 Protestant cult, unless the latter were overtly and 
 insultingly aggressive (at any rate my father was the 
 last man in the world to provoke controversial or 
 polemical wrath) though I rather think the days had 
 long since passed when an Anglican rector or curate, 
 desirous of making a fine congregational show, would 
 dream of asking the priest of the parish to lend him 
 his flock for such a gala occasion as an episcopal visita- 
 tion ! But, of course, the priest wielded then even 
 greater power over the minds of the majority than he 
 does at present, and I can well recollect one of the 
 lads at the "denominational school" telling my 
 mother how Father had summoned him to hold
 
 his horse while he was paying a visit to the inmates of 
 a cabin, and when he declined to do so, or made some 
 excuse for non-compliance, his reverence threatened 
 " To tarn him into a goat." Whether the boy was 
 actually menaced with this metamorphose or not I am 
 unable to state ; he may have romanced ! 
 
 The tithe " war " was then the burning question in 
 southern Ireland that led to sad losses of life, and 
 several Pyrrhic victories gained by the recalcitrants 
 only prolonged the agony of the situation. If I recol- 
 lect right, one or two farmsteads had been successfully 
 held against troops of the line, who were handicapped 
 by want of numbers or want of ammunition, and in 
 Kilkenny the spirit of resistance was very strong, 
 general, and determined. A seizure of stock or farm 
 produce by a rector in the southern part of the county 
 was to be carried out on a certain day, and at a certain 
 hour, and a strong body of constabulary, under an 
 inspector (Gibbons, I think, was his name), was told off 
 to protect the tithe proctors or bailiffs. The country 
 where the seizure was to be made was one that lent 
 itself in its configuration to the purposes of resistance 
 and rebellion ; for, wild and treeless, the fields inter- 
 sected by a few ravines, were covered with cobble 
 stones, as if some mighty flood had swept over the 
 district and left the stone crop to mark its path. Into 
 one of these defiles a little Kilkenny Khyber Pass of 
 its kind the police posse and their inspector was 
 inveigled, when large stones were hurled upon them by 
 unseen hands, and nearly all were done to death or 
 fearfully wounded. I can still recall the thrill of
 
 10 
 
 horror which this massacre caused to vibrate through 
 the county. Its daring was prodigious, it might or 
 might not portend " a rising." However, no " rising " 
 took place, and the atrocity led to the final settlement 
 by Sir E. Smith Stanley (afterwards the Lord Derby of 
 debating and statesmanlike fame) of the question, in 
 which all the rights could hardly be claimed by the 
 clergy, while the wrongs were palpable. My uncle, 
 Squire Morris Reade, was living at that time at his 
 place, Rossenara, some five or six miles distant from 
 Cariickshock, the scene of the disaster. He, with his 
 friend, Lord Desart (grandfather of the present peer), 
 and, I think, Lord Ormonde, were among the very few 
 county gentlemen who did not hunt in this hunting 
 county. They preserved foxes, of course, and welcomed 
 the chase within their borders, but they did not join it, 
 and I should think the stable economy of the establish- 
 ment at Rossenara was extremely faulty. However, 
 the moment rumour brought the tidings to his ears he 
 set off on horseback for the bloody battlefield, taking 
 with him such means and appliances as came readily to 
 hand, and did all that man could do to alleviate pain, 
 and relieve the wounded, ad interim. He rode there 
 alone, over a very wild country, and returned alone too, 
 and unmolested by mortal. It was a brave deed of a very 
 brave and humane man acting magisterially, of course. 
 Of my father's two other brothers, one, Richard, was a 
 sailor in " the Queen's Navee." He married early, and of 
 his sons, one, a sailor, died in the Black Sea, during the 
 Crimean invasion ; another got his troop in the Horse 
 Artillery ; a third became a colonel of Marines. Shap-
 
 11 
 
 land Carew, the other, was, if I recollect right, a captain 
 in the 43rd Light Infantry, and went through the 
 retreat to Coruima ; he left no family. 
 
 Newt-own, as I think I mentioned just now, was only a 
 few miles distant from Desarb Court, where the Dowager 
 Lady Desart resided with her daughter, Miss Price, by 
 her second marriage, with Captain Rose Price, who was 
 attached to the staff of his kinsman, Lord Talbot, when 
 Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and who was honourably 
 mentioned in Laureate Louth's metrical version of the 
 great Billesdon-Coplow run ! The Dowager Lady 
 Desart, my mother's sister, was, in her looks and bearing, 
 about the most thoroughbred woman 1 ever saw. I 
 hardly think she would have made as gallant a fight for 
 the rights of royalty as did the famous Countess of Derby, 
 and other valiantly loyal ladies of the Stuart cycle, but 
 a more stately gentlewoman, a more refined lady in 
 mind, manners, and appearance, I never saw. Her son, 
 the late earl, inherited her good looks and thoroughbred 
 air of high caste ; such as are rarely met with. Very 
 tall and very slight of build, he was withal extremely 
 graceful, and with a most winning countenance. At 
 the time I am speaking of, I think he was at Christ 
 Church, and I know that his interests formed the 
 absorbing business of my father's life, for to these 
 interests lie was far more devoted than he was to his 
 own. Like the Fellows of All Souls, Desart was bene 
 natus, bene vcstitus, and rather more than mcdiocriter 
 doctus, for though he took no honours at Oxford, he had 
 read steadily and discursively, though hunting much, 
 and taking his part at the Bulliugdon, and all the other
 
 12 
 
 associations for promoting pleasant pastime and good 
 fellowship at Alma Mater. 
 
 A good long minority had led to certain accumula- 
 tions of ready money, which were, it was hoped, to lead 
 tc great results in Ireland, but, sad to say, a few nights' 
 play in town dissipated most of these hoards, arid a 
 small property had to contend with such matter-of- 
 course expenses as a yacht, a stud at Melton, and others 
 suggested by a most hospitable heart and a lavishly 
 liberal hand. Few men were ever much more thoroughly 
 at home than Desart on hack or hunter, and wheels were 
 then not nearly so much in vogue as now. For instance, 
 Desart used to dine constantly at Newtown when he 
 had no friends staying with him at the Court, or when 
 he had not brought over a cook, and, so far as I caii 
 recollect, he always rode over in evening dress, with 
 waterproof overalls to keep his trousers clean and dry. 
 
 Such rides seem curious in these days of cabs and 
 broughams, but even the highest personages were far 
 more in the saddle then than now ; for instance, George 
 the Third not infrequently rode up, we are told, from 
 Windsor Castle to St. James's Palace, dressed, and held 
 a levee there, transacted business, and rode back in the 
 evening. I used to think Desart a most munificent 
 maynifieo, as he always gave the butler who handed 
 him a light for his cigar a sovereign, whereas a shilling 
 would have been the larycssc of the ordinary mortal 
 but then Desart did things in a very princely style, on 
 a revenue smaller than that of most princes. 
 
 For those who would wish to see a good likeness of 
 Lord Desart, ere he became crippled and infirm from
 
 18 
 
 illness, I would suggest an engraving of Grant's famous 
 picture of the Meet of the Quorn, or some such title, in 
 which three well-known Irishmen are admirably por- 
 trayed, namely, Henry, Marquis of Waterford, Lord 
 Howth, and Lord Desart. Beautifully mounted always, 
 Desart was quite a first class man to hounds in any 
 county, for he held his own with the Kilkenny cracks, 
 among the rotten banks and small ditches of the Kil- 
 inanagh and Pottlerath district, or over the walls of 
 Freshford and Uppercourt, just as he did in the wider 
 area of Leicestershire, where his cousin, Lord Clanri- 
 carde, shared with Lords Wilton and Gardner the 
 honours of the first rank. 
 
 Kilkenny was then under the presidency of Sir John 
 Power the second, whose father, Sir John the first, 
 almost created the hunt. Any man imbued with filial 
 piety might well have been proud of the creation for 
 Kilkenny and its club-house was not only the cynosure 
 for the hunting men of Ireland, but attracted many 
 vagrom venatics from the other side of the Channel, who 
 hunted from the pure love of sport, rather than from 
 slavish subservience to the fads of fashion. Kilkenny 
 was then a Milesian Melton. Sneyd's claret flowed 
 freely at the club-house, and at a score or two of hos- 
 pitable county houses, and in the comparative obscurity 
 of Kildare, Meath, Louth, and Dublin, Kilkenny 
 claimed the supremacy of sport so far as the chase 
 of the wild fox was concerned. It had a Croxton 
 Park, too, at Jenkinstown, within a few miles of the 
 marbled capital, where private races were held, and 
 witnessed by guests from a private stand. In those
 
 u 
 
 days the great Grasseries of Eastern Ireland were 
 unknown, and the genius of Sam Reynell had not 
 discovered and developed the hunting resources of the 
 two Meaths Eastern and Westein with which Kil- 
 kenny is hardly comparable. But a fine scenting 
 medium and full of stout foxes, Kilkenny had a 
 master who combined the courtesy of a well-bred 
 gentleman, with the keenness and science of a Meynell, 
 and who, long after he had retired from the active 
 duties of mastership, gave the Buffs and Blues in the 
 Beaufort county an example and pattern of the art of 
 riding to hounds that are still recollected. Perhaps 
 things were tco well done, socially and venatically, in 
 Kilkenny. I believe the hearts of the noblemen and 
 squires of this sporting shire were larger than their 
 purses ; their standard was the very highest, and pace 
 kills the pocket as well as the gallant hunter. It 
 would be invidious, perhaps, to single out the special 
 flyers in the field, but I believe that wherever these 
 pioneers were, there, too, was a certain grey cob to be 
 found, who probably had a large share of Arab blood 
 in his veins, for Arabs had been pretty freely intro- 
 duced into the country as sires some time previously. 
 This cob was ridden by my brother, who, having been 
 something of an invalid in his younger days, had had 
 the pleasant prescription of horse exercise given him, 
 and by all accounts he took his medicine very kindly. 
 Certainly, I may say, with a very large experience of 
 hunting men, distributed through many countries, that 
 I never saw a bolder or straighter rider than this 
 brother, though I have seen muny better. He is now
 
 15 
 
 a dispenser of legal lore as a judge, and has probably 
 hardly been in the saddle for thirty years, but in those 
 days of Consul Plancus, he was " a rum one to follow, 
 a bad one to beat " over a country when hounds were 
 running their best. In those days Shank's mare was 
 my sole mount, and if ever I was perched on a horse 
 it was only " to make sport for the Philistines," and 
 somewhat in violation of what I considered due to the 
 strong instinct of self-preservation. It seems curious 
 now to think that hunting has, since those days, been 
 banned in Kilkenny, for then it was the primum molUe 
 among masses and classes, nor would it have been 
 deemed strange for a plough-boy of the period, if the 
 chase flitted pp.st him, to unyoke his pair, jump on one 
 of them, and follow the hounds for a short distance at 
 any rate ; for every horse of the county, whether cart 
 horse or plougher, was a potential hunter, and ready to 
 acknowledge " the concord of sweet sounds " given out 
 by the canine chorus. 
 
 These observations apply, of course, solely to the 
 modern system of subscription packs, in which the 
 co-operative principle is recognised, as well as the 
 validity of the claims for compensation, when damage 
 has been done in the course of pursuit, or, indeed, 
 in any way connected with the chase. A. very different 
 system obtained in earlier days in this very part of the 
 country, where magnates went forth with hawks and 
 hounds of every sort, accompanied by a prodigious 
 posse of pursuit, and quartered themselves on the 
 inhabitants of these particular hunting grounds, till 
 they had well nigh exhausted them, after the accursed
 
 16 
 
 fashion of " Coyne and Livery," a practice which an 
 ancient writer declared to have emanated from the 
 infernal regions, and which certainly was as great a 
 plague as a flight of locusts. 
 
 Of this custom, originally Irish, as we are told by the 
 careful chronicler, it is said that when the English had 
 learned it, "they used it with more insolence, and 
 made it more intolerable." 
 
 Of the enormous exactions made in the interests of 
 sport, we may read in the " State Papers " how 
 Pierce, Earl of Ormonde and Ossory, had a noble 
 hunting establishment, maintained by his tenants and 
 freeholders in Kilkenny and Tipperary. In 1525 the 
 Earl of Kildare charged him with having " contynually 
 taken coigne and liverey of all the King's subgiettes 
 within the counties of Kilkenny and Tipperary, not 
 only for his horsemen, kerne, and gallowglass, but also 
 for his masons, carpenters, taillours, being in his own 
 werkes, and also for his sundry hunters, that is to saye, 
 24 personnes with 60 grehoundes, and houndes for 
 dere hunting, a nother nomber of men and dogges for 
 to hunt the hare, and a third nomber to hunt the 
 martyn ; all at the charges of the Kinge's subgiettes, 
 mete, drinke, and money ; the hole charges whereof 
 surmountith 2,000 markes by yere." 
 
 Kilkenny has no doubt fallen from the high estate of 
 the days I have referred to; but, though its gentry 
 have become, for the most part, partial or absolute 
 absentees, though the social brilliancy of life is but a 
 memory, while the county-hounds no longer find the 
 splendid following fields of former times, it is irn-
 
 17 
 
 possible not to be hopeful for the future of this 
 fine county, whose capital was, in mediaeval times, 
 constantly the home of the Irish Parliaments, where, 
 indeed, some of the most famous and epoch-making 
 enactments were passed, where the last Passion Plays 
 were performed in Ireland (Brown Biliosns Brown 
 Bishop of Ossory and Ferns, played, or rather 
 personated, the Creator Mundi), and where amateur 
 theatricals (duce Miss O'Xeiil, afterwards Lady Beecher) 
 were performed in a style unknown in Ireland pre- 
 viously ; as in the past it can boast of 
 
 " Land without bog, 
 Air without fog, 
 Coal without smoke, 
 And streets paved with marble." 
 
 It has been the birthplace and nurse of many dis- 
 tinguished men " in arms, in arts and song." The great 
 Duke of Ormonde was a Kilkenny man, and the Castle 
 of Kilkenny, the home of the Butlers, is full of historic 
 associations. The Cathedral of St. Canice lost some of 
 " its carved work " when the iconoclastic Cromwellians 
 stabled their cavalry within its storied aisles, and, 
 hating a " dim religious light," which they associated 
 with prelacy and papacy, smashed the stained glass 
 within it, but it is a splendid pantheon of county great- 
 ness. Above all this county claims for its denizens a 
 splendid peasantry, strong, hardy, and intelligent, whose 
 men then wore knee breeches and long stockings (some- 
 times with gaiters), while the women had smart blue 
 cloth cloaks with hoods for a distinctive costume. 
 With such a soil and such occupiers, Kilkenny only 
 
 G
 
 18 
 
 wants rest and a surcease of agitation for a lease of 
 prosperity. 
 
 Harking back to the succession of tutors who in- 
 formed the young minds of myself and my brother, one 
 of them rejoiced in the well-known literary name of 
 Samuel Carter Hall, who may or may not have been 
 the subsequent husband and collaborates of Mrs. S. C. 
 Hall, and with her illustrated the scenery of Ireland 
 so graphically with pen and pencil ; but if I am correct 
 in thinking that our tutor in process of time achieved 
 his part in such literary eminence at the time I write 
 of the indicia of " the triumph yet to come " were not 
 much in evidence, or only dimly discernible by ad- 
 vanced intellects to us boys he seemed a military man 
 manqui, who was always fretting against the order of 
 things that consigned his smartness and esprit mili- 
 taire to the drudgery of the desk, for his father, he 
 often told us, was a colonel in the service, and one of 
 some fame and distinction. One day we lads heard some 
 voices pitched in a rather high key in the dining-room, 
 and the words that were most often repeated were : " I 
 tell you what, sir, only for your cloth I'd challenge 
 you." I believe the social crime imputed to my 
 reverend father was the neglect of mot introducing him 
 at once to Mrs. Morris Ileade, who was a county beauty, 
 she had been a Miss MaitlaiwL Needless to say that 
 after this episode, we lost the valuable services of 
 Mr. S. C. Hall as our guide, philosopher, and friend. 
 
 I alluded just now to my father's large toleration of 
 mind and breadth of view in matters of cult and creed. 
 These qualifications though part of Christianity itself
 
 19 
 
 one would imagine, and inseparable from it did not 
 find favour in Ireland at that time, where Protestant 
 ascendancy was the raison d'etre of the authorities in 
 Church and State, and the breath of life to the bishops 
 on the bench, who, if liberal in their private capacities, 
 could hardly be so officially or dogmatically ; but my 
 father's Liberalism was recognised by George Canning, 
 who promised him preferment (" litera scripta 
 manet "), but a premature death prevented the fulfil- 
 ment of his wishes. I may state here parenthetically 
 that in those days a parson of Liberal views was a very 
 rare bird in Ireland, and rather looked on askancely by 
 his cloth, whose rampant Protestantism was the burden 
 and legend of their phylacteries, and led them, not to 
 see the great good of Roman Catholicism, even if dis- 
 figured by blemishes and blots, but to inveigh against 
 its errors like so many prophets of the Hebrew dis- 
 pensation, fulminating against the votaries of Baal or 
 Dagon. 
 
 I would here, too, record another trait of the manli- 
 ness of mind and spirit of Mr. Wm. Morris Eeade, of 
 llossenara. He, too, like my father, was most liberal 
 in head, hand, and heart, but he was a Conservative of 
 the Conservatives (no Orangeman, however), and was 
 most outspoken in maintaining his views of the politi- 
 cal TO Ka\6v. For some reason or another he was put 
 under a ban (the word boycott was then unknown), and 
 when his first-born baby died, he found it necessary to 
 put the child in a coffin and ride with the remains on 
 his saddle to the nearest cemetery where a peaceful 
 interment was assured. This anecdote shows that the 
 
 G 2
 
 20 
 
 comparatively recent " boycotters " in their crusade 
 against the dead as well as the living were not abso- 
 lutely original, though they systematised the fiendish 
 and unhallowed vendetta. 
 
 It was in Kilkenny, too, that the following remark- 
 able occurrence took place, and I believe at somewhere 
 about the time to which these reminiscences refer, an 
 obnoxious gentleman, by profession a land agent, was 
 returning in the dark one evening, when the contents 
 of a blunderbuss or shot gun whizzed by him, without 
 inflicting any injury. The gentleman thus saluted by 
 slugs and Thugs, pushed on to the nearest police station, 
 and told his tale to the sergeant in charge, indicating 
 the ambush of the unfortunate marksman so well that 
 the constables hit it off directly, and then found that 
 the gun or blunderbuss had burst near the breach and 
 torn off the owner's ringer. Picking up the divorced 
 digit, they searched the district, and found a man who 
 had just lost one. The assizes were near, and the man 
 minus the digit was tried for the attempt to murder, 
 but acquitted by a jury of his fellow-countrymen (un- 
 packed presumably). " What's to be done with the 
 finger ? " (which it is to be hoped the constabulary had 
 duly pickled and preserved), quoth the officer of the 
 court to the learned judge, who sardonically replied : 
 " Why, give it to the owner of it, of course ! " thus 
 showing his appreciation of the verdict.
 
 21 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 " And dear the school-boy spot 
 Which we remember well, tho' there we are forgot." 
 
 Byron. 
 
 " IN Troy there lies the scene," says the immortal Shake- 
 speare, we may parody him and tell the reader that in 
 the King's County now lies our scene transferred 
 thereto from Kilkenny. It is the boast of the latter 
 county that no sign of bog is to be seen within its 
 broad borders. In the King's County it is exactly the 
 reverse, for bog, called generically " the Bog of Allen," 
 is the piece de resistance, sound land the entrees and 
 hors d'ceuvres. I am not sure that there is not something 
 highly respectable in bog-land. We call a man with 
 wealth, but without ancestry, a parvenu or nouveau 
 riche, his place will probably, unless acquired by pur- 
 chase, have no wealth of old timber in its park or 
 woodland, and bog represents even a greater antiquity 
 than the most venerable of oaks, elms, or beeches, 
 while the huge skeletons of the Irish elk, found in its 
 antiseptic embrace, tell of prehistoric faunae and ferae, 
 among which roamed the Meyaceros Hiberniciis, hunted 
 and shot perhaps by Firlborgs, Tuatha da Danaaus, and 
 such early worthies, for we find no mention of this 
 muckle beast in the table of Fin ma Coul's beasts of 
 venerie. The move from the southern shire to these 
 midland marches was, I believe, dictated by family
 
 22 
 
 considerations, to which I must refer briefly in the way 
 of explanation. " Faly " or Offaly once marked a 
 district that stretched away and included part of Kil- 
 dare, part of the Queen's County, together with a 
 selvage of Westmeath. It was the historic home of the 
 O'Connor Faly family, who for centuries offered a most 
 stubborn and determined resistance to the English 
 invaders and fought out the battle to the bitter end, 
 latterly in alliance with that arch rebel (really a de- 
 spoiled native chieftain) Eory O'More, till Lord Leonard 
 Grey and one or two of Elizabeth's stoutest deputies 
 adopted the famine forcing policy of setting fire to the 
 crops year after year, and drove a dwindled but 
 courageous clan into inaccessible bogs and morasses, 
 and rewarded their ravenous retainers with the land of 
 the subdued sept. It was a case of " Mantua vse 
 Hiiserse nimium vicina Cremonse I" for the proximity of 
 " the Pale " made the O'Connors a much easier prey 
 from the start than the O'Neill's and several other war- 
 like Ulster septs, who though nominally subdued by 
 de Courcy and Almeric St. Lawrence, and put under the 
 titular sway of the Earls of Ulster the de Burghs 
 really retained all their lands and power till a very late 
 period, finding stout allies in the Scots, who really for 
 several centuries were perfectly at home in most parts 
 of Ulster. How the O'Connors retained any vestige of 
 their old lands, tenements, and hereditaments I know 
 not ; perhaps intermarriage with some of the Pale 
 people, such as the Fitzgeralds, aided them in saving 
 something from the wreck. But at the beginning of 
 the present century, my grandfather, Mr. Maurice
 
 23 
 
 Nugent O'Connor, of Mount Pleasant or Gartnamona, 
 iu the King's County, had what was considered in 
 those days a fair if small estate in the King's County, 
 and a much better one in the Co. Eoscommon. Lyon's 
 admirable book about Westmeath and its grand juries 
 names him as having filled the office of High Sheriff in 
 the Co. Westmeath, but I never could ascertain that he 
 had any property in that county. He had no sons, 
 but four daughters, one of whom became Countess of 
 Desart. and s-he was endowed as an eldest son. Julia 
 and Mary were twins, and the latter married Hugh 
 Morgan Tuite, of Sonna, long member for Westmeath 
 (his election was about the most expensive ever fought 
 out in Ireland by all accounts). Julia remained a 
 spinster, while the youngest married my father, the 
 llev. Benjamin Morris, who thus acquired some share 
 of the King's County property a damnosa hereditas 
 of rather poor land. He, by a family pact, I believe, 
 gained trie shares of the other daughters. There was a 
 good substantial manor house on the property, built, I 
 believe, on the foundations of the, or one of the, family 
 fortalices an undulating park with a lake of about a 
 mile in extent, and some sheltering woods ; and as 
 property involves, or ought to involve, in Ireland 
 personal inspection and supervision, a migration was 
 made en masse to this King's County home, where, at 
 any rate, there was nothing to pay in the shape of rent. 
 I cannot say how long the house had been built, but 
 in the days when it was raised and roofed, work was 
 not scamped by clever contractors, but faithfully 
 finished. Hence, when we entered it to take posses-
 
 24 
 
 sion, there was not a vestige of damp perceptible, and 
 the paper on the walls looked as fresh as if only a year 
 on, and the gilding of the cornices was equally well 
 preserved. I mention this to prove that the climate of 
 Ireland is sometimes unduly vilih'ed, for, so far as I 
 can learn, fires were never k^.pt up during the winter 
 while the house was untenanted, nor were the walls 
 even " studded." 
 
 " Mea paupera regna ! " might my poor father have 
 exclaimed when he surveyed his King's County domain 
 and property, for, compared with the really rich 
 districts of Ireland, perhaps the best pasture land in 
 the world, there was not a good acre in the lot, that is 
 to say, there was no "finishing" land in it, and that 
 one word means everything, and marks the difference 
 between England and Ireland : for the former country 
 has hardly any finishing land or grass that without 
 extraneous aid will fully fatten a bullock or heifer for 
 the market. However, there was a vast field for im- 
 provements, and my father doted on improving. He 
 had already made good land of some of Desart by the 
 aid of Smith of Deanstone's processes, and he proceeded 
 to improve Gartnamona, some of it very wisely, other 
 portions with less success. For instance, all his 
 attempts to annex the lake shore for osieries, &c., proved 
 unavailing ; but by employing hundreds of workmen 
 lie certainly managed to create some fair farms, though 
 at considerable expense, which poor land does not 
 always repay. Some idea of the tasks he set himself 
 may be gained when I mention that besides his clerical 
 functions (he was now a rector), he held the agency of
 
 25 
 
 the Desart Estate, was a magistrate in three counties, 
 and that he was not without zeal and earnestness in the 
 cause of sacred charity is shown by the fact of his 
 having been presented with the freedom of a town in a 
 silver box, for his exertions among the inhabitants 
 during an outbreak of cholera, Nor were many of 
 these townsfolk of his own creed. 
 
 It was wearying work, the constant posting backwards 
 and forwards, and in the end his health gave way. Nor 
 was it without its anxieties, for, with a majority of good 
 tenants, there were a few black sheep on the King's 
 County property whose cue was to exhaust the land 
 ere they could be evicted, scourging it by raising corn 
 crops year after year, and burning the turf surface for 
 manure if they wanted potatoes, and did not care about 
 the trouble of collecting dung. Talk about prairie 
 value ! why, land returned in such condition was in- 
 finitely below any prairie value ! My father's idea was 
 to assist any tenant to emigrate who failed to do any 
 good with his farm, and such a course is the true kind- 
 ness under such circumstances ; but it is not always quite 
 appreciated at the time, and threatening letters with 
 deaths' heads, coffins, and other memento moris were 
 occasionally found on or under the hall door before 
 breakfast time ; but no attack was ever made upon him 
 though he travelled over many thousand miles of 
 lonely road. Long afterwards, when, in the course 
 of events, the property fell into my sister's hands, an 
 effort to intimidate her was tried by posting a clumsy 
 picture of these emblems of mortality on one of the 
 entrance gates ; but my sister riposted (and she was a
 
 26 
 
 clever draughtswoman) by hanging a companion picture 
 of a knave swinging on a gallows ; and I believe the 
 ready wit of the reply disarmed the aggressor. 
 
 A pretty healthy park was that of Gartnamona or 
 Mount Pleasant, a title given it by an ancestor who had, 
 in his day, been seized of two of the three hills on which 
 sit and hang the many hundreds of smart villas that 
 comprise Tunbridge Wells. This was the ancestor who 
 married Lady Mary Pluukett. On the opposite side of 
 the lake I have alluded to, was the pleasant park of 
 Pallas at that time in possession of a cousin Mrs. 
 O'Connor Malone, of Baronston, in the neighbouring 
 county of Western Meath ; it had its mansion on a 
 pleasant elevation above the lake, and this property my 
 father leased from the proprietress by way of making 
 the Mount Pleasant demesne complete. 
 
 To the westward was a huge field or sheepwalk 
 called Ballygrannel, on which a horse might be trained 
 for almost any engagement, so undulating was its 
 contour, so springy its light turf, and, as a mere matter- 
 of-fact, on this same area not a few of the best horses 
 in Ireland of their day, such as " Bob Booty " (to whose 
 loins many of our modern winners strain back), did 
 their exercise gallops; for in my grandfather's time, 
 Mr. Bowes Daly, uncle of the present Lord Ihmsandle, 
 and one of the Prince Eegent's " pals," used to visit 
 constantly at Gartnamona, and as racing was his 
 favourite pastime, he was very glad of good galloping 
 ground, such as this, to keep his horses in form, as 
 they journeyed from Galway to the racing grounds of 
 Kildare and the Queen's County.
 
 27 
 
 The lake between Pallas and Gartnamona, full of 
 fish, was also haunted by myriads of ducks, teal, 
 widgeon, grebe, and such other migratory water-birds 
 as winter brings in its train ; but though often fired at, 
 few, comparatively, were picked up, as though there 
 were islands in which to ambush, after the first shot or 
 two these wise birds soared high into the empyrean, 
 and mocked our pop-gun play. In late August and 
 September, however, the flappers rising out of a sedgy 
 selvage were very numerous and indiscreet in their 
 distance measuring, and in mid October and November, 
 for a few weeks, these sedgy shores teemed with snipe, 
 who always disappeared later in the winter. But the 
 distant has always somehow attractions for boys, and 
 we constantly (my brother and myself) made excur- 
 sions to remote bogs, where we got lots of walking, a 
 few shots at snipe or duck, and the tantalising prospect, 
 occasionally, of wild geese, always apparently about 
 fifty or sixty yards beyond green cartridge range. Some 
 of these wild bog ranges had rather an evil renommee, and 
 we were cautioned not to fire off second barrels, no matter 
 how tempting the chance, when the " bog-bhoys " did 
 us the honour of accompanying us. But as we never 
 met anything in our travels but uniform kindness 
 from the natives, peradventure their gun-hunger was 
 exaggerated. 
 
 And what good fellows one met among the peasantry 
 on every side. There was no assistance they would not 
 give you free gratis for nothing, just to see a bit of 
 sport; and how kind in their criticisms when miss 
 succeeded miss, and how very prompt the decision that
 
 28 
 
 the shot-whole bird "had got a grain." There were 
 grouse galore on some of these bogs and morasses, but 
 after a few days the packs became wild as hawks, 
 though an old cock bird could be picked up occasionally 
 on their edges, more especially if some flax pods were to 
 be found there. 
 
 It was a curious, unneighbourly sort of life we led at 
 Gartnamona. The nearest town, Tullamore, was some 
 five miles distant, and only two or three families were 
 within walking or driving distance. One of these 
 families was that of General Dunne, of Brittas ; they 
 lived on the slopes of the Slieve Bloom Range, and had 
 miles and miles of mountain, which, as fairly well pre- 
 served, was well stocked with game. The eldest son, 
 Frank, long represented the Queen's County. He, too, 
 became General Dunne in his turn, and was a cultured 
 and agreeable man. The sons of the family generally 
 ranged between six and seven feet, with corresponding 
 breadth ; indeed, the most muscular looking Christian, I 
 think, I ever saw, was the Rev. Robert Dunne, the 
 cleric of the family. 
 
 Mrs. O'Connor Malone left a considerable fortune to 
 one of the brothers Charles. All the brothers were 
 remarkable for sporting proclivities shooting and fish- 
 ing in particular. 
 
 Latterly, in and around Gartnamona itself, partridges 
 multiplied greatly, and twenty brace a day is no bad 
 record for Ireland ; but had the birds received adequate 
 protection and preservation there might have been ve r y 
 fine shooting indeed in the district, for though corn 
 did not greatly abound in the neighbourhood, it was fine
 
 29 
 
 feeding and breeding ground, with plenty of sand and 
 covert everywhere, and the prairie hens in America 
 managed to live and thrive wonderfully before the 
 settlers gave them a grain diet. 
 
 In one direction we had a sort of confidential guide, 
 philosopher, and friend, who knew every yard of the 
 country, and the habitat of most birds. This man we 
 looked on as something of a hero, and so, perhaps, will 
 our readers, when we have told his tale. He lived on 
 the verge of a rough, wild country, peopled by lawless 
 men, who, I fancy, were in many cases " Society " men, 
 or members of those secret associations which their 
 own Church denounces so strongly. How our friend 
 had offended these Vehmqericht people I know not, 
 but he had somehow, and he was visited with exem- 
 plary punishment. 
 
 One night a knock, a peculiar one, probably, came to 
 his cabin door ; he answered it himself, and saw that 
 the apparitors had come. His wife, a woman of rather 
 superior biith to his own, was in bed awaiting her con- 
 finement, so he simply went with the executioners, and 
 submitted to his punishment, without noise, struggle, 
 or cry ; and this punishment was " carding," or driving 
 one of the spiked and stiff-wired instruments used in 
 carding or combing wool, into his back, with a mallet, 
 and then forcing it down along the spine. The practice 
 was resorted to occasionally during the decade or more 
 of League ascendency but, I believe, very rarely. The 
 knout of the Tartar is hardly more terrible. 
 
 In all our walks abroad we were accompanied by red 
 or red and white setters, of a breed which my grandfather
 
 30 
 
 Mr. Maurice Nugent O'Connor had brought to such per- 
 fection, that " the O'Connor setters " had, in those days, 
 a world-wide reputation. After his death the breed 
 dwindled a bit from neglect, but to resuscitate it we 
 managed to get a sire from the Minister at Copenhagen, 
 who, a good sportsman, had inherited some of the 
 O'Connor setters from his father, and taken them witli 
 him to Denmark. These dogs were famous for two 
 things pace and endurance. They were very high 
 couraged, apt to be extremely wild, jealous, and some- 
 times indocile ; but when you got a good one, well 
 broken, he was a treasure, and capable of knocking up 
 any number of ordinary dogs on mountain or moor. 
 
 They had strong idiosyncrasies, and one of their 
 peculiarities was that if they found you the birds, and 
 you missed them time after time, they were apt (after 
 a few seasons) to get disgusted, and return home. 
 
 I see, every now and then, some highly decorated 
 red setters, with line shapes and furnishings, but I 
 cannot think that many of them are quite of the same 
 family as those friends of my youth. 
 
 I find, however, that I have considerably overrun 
 the line, and the only thing to do is to hark back a bit 
 to the school tide of life, from these holiday scenes. My 
 school tide was spent in Worcestershire, whither I was 
 sent, cetat. thirteen ; governesses and governors, in the 
 shape of private tutors, having been found inefficient 
 instruments to convey the rudiments of learning (as 
 laid down for ingenuous youth) into a thick head, and 
 to subdue a somewhat stubborn will. I believe, the 
 fact of the case was, that I felt I was rather heavily
 
 31 
 
 handicapped in the race of learning, my brother arid 
 sister being much more wax-like to receive, and niarmo- 
 rean to retain, the elements of knowledge, and none of 
 these Orbilii or Orbilire condescended to follow the 
 example of Horace's tutor 
 
 " Ut pueris olim dant crustula blandi 
 Doetores elementa relint ut discere prima." 
 
 I recollect a connection, Lord James Brown, took 
 charge of me as far as Dublin or Liverpool, and thence 
 I was escorted as far as Birmingham by my uncle, Mr. 
 Hugh Morgan Tuite, who, if I mistake not, was on his 
 way to the House of Commons. 
 
 Travelling in those clays was not the ABC business 
 that it is now. There was steam, such as it was, 
 between some ports of England and Ireland, but trains 
 were rather few and far between, and well I remember 
 how, when we got to Birmingham on a Sunday after- 
 noon, there was no steam conveyance to Bromsgrove, 
 my destination, and as the distance was, I think, 
 more than fifteen miles, my uncle, who, by the w r ay, 
 was also my godfather, packed me off in a fly to 
 Bromsgrove he, as a master of hounds, thinking 
 nothing of the distance, nor of the Sabbatical sacrilege 
 of the act. I cannot say that it weighed on my young 
 conscience much either ; but what was a burden far 
 more grievous to be borne was the unpleasant con- 
 sciousness that the pound or two of fly money (includ- 
 ing the. coachman and his refreshments obiter] must 
 involve a considerable curtailment of my pocket-money 
 for the coming half. I soon learnt, however, that such
 
 32 
 
 kn advent to the realms of learning was anything but 
 acceptable to the powers in possession of the pedagogal 
 Parnassus, and the wickedness of the arrangement was 
 duly impressed on my young mind ; but as I was a 
 thrall in the hands of a Gallio-like uncle, my peace was 
 soon made. 
 
 Broinsgrove Grammar School, a red-brick building 
 with a few old elm trees about it was one of King 
 Edward the Sixth's foundations ; like the larger and 
 more famous one at Birmingham, where the rise in 
 rents, I presume, added considerably to the status of 
 that educational mill. 
 
 I think that at Bromsgrove the boarders numbered 
 about sixty or seventy at that time, while there were 
 some couple of dozen day boys, who did not tread, like 
 us, in Pierian paths, but picked up the three E's under 
 the special care of a special master. So far as I know, 
 the whole institution was planted and endowed for 
 these local learners ; but we had not digested the lessons 
 in meum and tuum, which a subsequently appointed 
 Charity Commirsion expounded to the nation and its 
 universities ; and " the middle wall of partition " that 
 St. Paul speaks of as once separating Jews from 
 Gentiles circumcision from uncircumcision, fended off 
 the boarders from the day boys ; the classical catechu- 
 men from the mere arithmeticians. The headmaster, 
 Mr. Jacob, was a most Saturnine looking man, of atra- 
 bilious complexion and swarthy hue, but with, I be- 
 lieve, a very kind, even tender heart ; and as I 
 experienced uniform kindness at his hands, I am bound 
 to laud him accordingly. The vigour of his right arm,
 
 33 
 
 in the swisliing department, had been severely com- 
 mented on in some local papers, just before my arrival, 
 and I believe that, whether post hoc or propter hoc, a 
 milder regime was instituted from that time forth. 
 Many of the boys given to transgress frequently might 
 have taken up their parable witli the English states- 
 man, and thanked heaven that they had a free Press, as 
 he did for the existence of a House of Lords. 
 
 There was a Mrs. Jacob, whose ample form and 
 handsome features were duly noted and admired by 
 the seniors of the school, but this kind of idea had not 
 entered into the imaginations of the lower forms. So 
 far as I can recollect there was a master for writing 
 and arithmetic, whom we awed into absolute neglect of 
 his duties to-usward, a couple of minor classical masters, 
 one of whom might have almost sat for Smike, and 
 Mr. Jacob taught the upper school , sublimely severe in 
 cap and gown. The upper boys, some of whom had 
 all but reached man's estate, stayed on at the school, 
 attracted by the chance of competing for some scholar- 
 ships at Worcester College, Oxon, where, cceteris 
 paribus, a Bromsgrove boy would get a preference ; 
 they took little notice of the lower lads save in the 
 way of kicks and boxes on the ears. They spent their 
 lives and literary leisure in " studies," and we only 
 saw them in the school-hall or at cricket. The com- 
 missariat was not good supplies of sugar in tins were 
 given to us once or twice week, and by the end of the 
 seventh day there was generally a residuum of 
 molasses slices of bread and butter were given out 
 every two days, I think, and I have often seen a blue 
 
 H
 
 34 
 
 mouldy sort of fungus spread over the ration which 
 had to be toasted to be made eatable. I think our 
 dinners were fair and wholesome, and Mr. and Mrs. 
 Jacob presided at the long tables. 
 
 I am not judge enough to know whether Mr. Jacob 
 was a very good scholar or not. I know he was 
 accurate and painstaking, and had a good ear for 
 rhythm. He was the author of a Latin Grammar, which 
 I presume was derived from German sources ; there 
 were forms, roots and crude-forms ; but I fancy the 
 scheme was rather beyond school-boy form, and to this 
 day I am in profound ignorance of its merits or de- 
 merits. He did not make it a piece de resistance, 
 but rather a hors d'aeuvre. Mr. Jacob became, subse- 
 quently, master of Christ's Hospital, and how he got on 
 among its " Grecians " I know not. But to show how 
 even an exact scholar, which he certainly was, can occa- 
 sionally blunder, I may mention that on one occasion he 
 was invited to preach at, I think, St. Mary's, Oxon, 
 when wishing to show how wrong hot-headed zealots 
 may be in their fervour, he took as his text the passage 
 in the Acts of the Apostles, " And they stoned Stephen, 
 calling upon God," making the executioners of the 
 proto-martyr the invokers of the Deity whereas 
 a reference to the Greek Testament shows that 
 " calling upon God " refers to the stoned and saintly 
 deacon. 
 
 We had a curious custom at Brornsgrove. A few 
 weeks before the summer breaking up, the draughtsmen 
 among the boys had free leave and licence to make 
 tiny drawings they pleased in pencil or burnt wood
 
 35 
 
 (carbon) upon the walls of the school-hall, or dining- 
 room, and caricature of the authorities had the very 
 freeest scope. One of the upper boys Blaney Wright, 
 clever in many ways had a fine free hand in drawing, 
 and he used to leave his work on all the walls one of 
 these canvases (only they were not canvases) re- 
 presented Mr. Jacob flogging a boy to his heart's con- 
 tent, with the inscription above it 
 
 " Nee torpere gravi passus sua regna veterno." 
 
 I suppose I was making progress, for in due time I 
 was shoved into the fifth form, and came more imme- 
 diately under the control of Mr. Jacob. Studies were 
 then accessible to us who had long been left " out- 
 siders," and I can certainly aver that we devoted them 
 to multifarious studies and experiments, while their 
 lockers were full of heterogeneous spoil, besides coal. 
 If we wanted garments from the tailor of the place, we 
 put the articles required down on a piece of paper or 
 card, which the master duly signed, but he had no idea 
 that "a jacket" meant a shooting jacket, with hare 
 pockets, into which if hares were not stowed, other 
 " fowls " were ; for a walking-stick gun is easily stowed 
 away, and all birds were game that could be got at 
 without danger. A couple of crows were brought in 
 one day, and I can only say that skinned and roasted 
 in a Dutch oven with esurient sauce, they were not 
 too bad (for boys). I think it was prior to getting into 
 the fifth form that I was rigged out from home in a 
 way that I think merits commemoration here. Drill 
 trowsers and vest were our general wear in the summer 
 
 H 2
 
 36 
 
 and autumn, and some flax had been grown at Gart- 
 namona as an experiment. A certain quantity of this 
 was forthwith scutched by hand and woven into capital 
 trowser stuff by people about the place ; while a local 
 tailor built the continuations which were very effective. 
 I don't think the same thing could be done in many 
 parts of modern Ireland just now. As an illustration 
 of the extraordinary ignorance of Ireland and the Irish 
 that obtained a few decades ago in England, even 
 among better class people, I may mention that very 
 shortly altsr my arrival at Brornsgrove, a friendly 
 youth, from Devonshire, asked me, confidentially, and in 
 no captious or arrogant spirit, whether we Irish did not 
 generally live with our pigs ? Now the most grossly 
 ignorant of the English would hardly stultify them- 
 selves by such a question. A Member of Parliament, 
 and a man of very considerable culture, told me that 
 when he went to Oxford there was an idea current that 
 Irishmen, if tailless, had the germ of one at the 
 end of their spines; proving Darwin's theory as to 
 the Simian ancestry of men in advance, for it is need- 
 less to say Darwin's doctrines were then unknown and 
 unread for the same reason that the Spanish fleet had 
 NOT been seen, " because it was not in sight." 
 
 When Mr. Jacob was promoted to Christ's Hospital, 
 his successor appeared in the Rev. J. D. Collis, a 
 Fellow of Worcester College, (and a good looking 
 fellow too). He at once made a great improvement 
 in our rations thereby, peradventure, robbing cook or 
 tuck shop in the town kept by a good soul, Mrs. Cooke, 
 of many a shilling. I think he introduced or strength-
 
 ened the Monitorial system which invested the upper 
 boys with almost despotic power. I recollect one of the 
 lads, who was as big as a lifeguardsman (he went into 
 the Life Guards afterwards, and served on the Staff in 
 the Crimea) had to be hauled up before me for some- 
 thing or other ; he could have eaten me without salt, 
 but, so far as I can recollect, he respected authority 
 and obeyed not that I was particularly puny, for I 
 recollect well that in running, jumping, and cricket, I 
 could hold my own. I bowled for the school, and was 
 the actual, if not the titular, captain at cricket. A propos 
 of jumping, my habit of jumping gates brought me 
 to signal grief once. The Provost of "Worcester, and 
 one or two Fellows were coming down, we heard, the 
 next day to examine for a scholarship at Worcester 
 College, on Sir Thomas Cookes' foundation. The 
 Cookes family were a very ancient gens in Worcester- 
 shire. How they lost their lands I know not, whether 
 in the wars of the Commonwealth, or by county ex- 
 travagance, but they had done a good work in endowing 
 Worcester, their county college, with a certain number 
 of scholarships and fellowships, and naturally "founders 
 kin " was always respected by the examiners, and so 
 one of my predecessors at the school, Thomas Horace 
 Cookes, now a grave and reverend rector, near Hey- 
 throp, was wearing a scholar's gown at Worcester then 
 (his family and mine have since become connected by 
 marriage). A great authority has told us that even 
 Phoebus Apollo does not always keep his bow full 
 strung, I and another boy thought that the opportunity 
 of unbending our bows prior to this "exam." -was not
 
 38 
 
 to be lost, so we got horses from some livery stable in 
 the town, and rode over to a village some eight or ten 
 miles distant ; dismounting at the inn, we ordered 
 seme light refreshments for the good of the house (and 
 our own too), and while the repast was preparing we 
 strolled out for a walk. A gate tempted me (as I 
 think I jumped nearly all I met in my walks), but 
 whether it was higher than usual, or that I funked in 
 mid-air, which is highly probable, certain it is that I 
 placed my foot on the top bar, which swung open, and 
 putting out my wrist to save myself, I broke it. When 
 we got back to Bromsgrove, the dons had arrived, I 
 believe, but somebody had spirited away our medico, 
 an old Galen who wore knee-breeches and gaiters, and 
 had great faith in emetics, and for that night, I think, 
 my wrist remained unset, of course. When he came 
 in the morning the swelling baffled him, and I believe 
 the right course to have adopted by-and-bye would 
 have been to have had the wrist rebroken and properly 
 set by an artist. This was not done, and my left arm 
 has been rather weak and worthless ever since. I 
 think it was the same boy with whom I made this ill- 
 starred expedition that was taking a long country walk 
 with me one day when we came on a crowd watching a 
 prize fight. The boxers were exhausted, and pretty 
 well punished ; the sight seemed to us disgusting, and 
 we put an end to it by clubbing what money we could 
 muster. The combatants did NOT curse us. In the 
 morning came the commencement of the " exam.," 
 which lasted for a couple of days ; paper work and 
 viva voce. I believe 1113'' papers and answers were quite
 
 39 
 
 as good as the successful candidates, but whether it 
 was my youth that was inimical to me, or that there 
 Avere some other extraneous circumstances that told in 
 his favour, certain it is that he got the prize and / did 
 not; but I was comforted by the assurance that an 
 open scholarship at Worcester would probably be com- 
 peted for within a few weeks or days, and that I might 
 try my luck there. The sequel will show that I took 
 the hint and the prize too. At this first examination 
 I recollect being asked by one of the Dons how Horace 
 in his odes revealed his sense of a future life. I 
 fancied I knew these odes fairly well. I recollected 
 how wine and beauty , Lalage and liquor, had been 
 sung over and over again by him. How he loved his 
 farm and its frugalities ; how he toadied his Maecenas ; 
 but I could not, for the life of me, give a suitable reply 
 till reminded by the querist of the two lines 
 
 " Pars melior mei 
 Vitabit Libitinam." 
 
 A propos of prize fights, I recollect a tremendous 
 combat at school between the English champion and 
 the Irish ; the latter was considerably older, I think, and 
 perhaps, more gifted mentally than the former, but he 
 was also pretty plucky. He had offended the upper 
 school mortally, and showed a talent for organization 
 against them worthy of a general. The English cham- 
 pion was a very harmless, good fellow, and an instru- 
 ment in the hands of the seniors. They fought a few 
 rounds behind the studies, " Vulgi stante corona," to 
 be classical both were punished considerably, when
 
 40 
 
 the authorities came on the scene, and terminated the 
 bloody battle a combat de yeants. Both are now, I 
 believe, divines, and one has preached eloquent 
 sermons perhaps both have but the Irishman had 
 an oiganising faculty that would have made him a 
 great leader of party or faction. 
 
 There were a few rather smart scholars among our 
 upper ten. Robert Peel Yates, was of the great 
 Premier's family ; a very good-looking young fellow, 
 but, unfortunately epileptic in habit, and one of these 
 fits was, it is thought, the cause of his death, when he 
 was rowing on a loch in Ireland, after leaving school. 
 He was rather imperious but was not disliked in con- 
 sequence. I think he could turn out a very fair copy 
 of hexameters, and one which he read out on speecli 
 day when the prizes were distributed, and the bishop 
 of the diocese and other big wigs attended, still lingers 
 imperfectly in my memory. The subject was Darius 
 of Persia ; it commences thus, " Copia nummorum 
 vel aviti gloria regni." Smith (of Yorkshire) was 
 another good scholar ; but a very delicate boy, George 
 Hastings erst a shining light in the social science 
 galaxy could give pounds, if not stones, to all the rest 
 of the competitors for Parnassian wreaths at any rate 
 he could in the matter of English verses. One of his 
 prize compositions, on the subject of the S.S. " Presi- 
 dent," that foundered at sea, with all hands and pas- 
 sengers, was a really graceful poem, full of good taste 
 and pathos. One of the theories about this ill-starred 
 
 * George Wootlyatt Hastings has had a grievous fall since these 
 paragraphs were penned.
 
 41 
 
 vessel was that it had got imbedded somehow among 
 floes of floating ice, to which he thus alluded (I am 
 quoting from memory and perhaps incorrectly) : 
 
 " More dread, perchance, more terrible their doom ! 
 Cased like the insect in a self-made tomb ! 
 Frozen to statue forms, whilst round them grows 
 A hoary mantle of perennial snows." 
 
 I recollect I won one of these prizes in my turn, but 
 I am sufficiently sane and free from vanity to know 
 that there was not one single touch of true poetic 
 feeling in the lot of verses that were mere tinkling 
 cymbals and sounding brass. How little poetry is there 
 in reams of what goes by that name ! 
 
 I forget entirely how time flew, or crawled, between 
 the examination at Bromsgrove, for the scholarship on 
 Sir Thomas Cookes' foundation, and my departure for 
 Oxford, to try for the more open prize. I think the 
 journey was done by coach, but I have a distinct recol- 
 lection of being met by my. brother, who was then a 
 scholar of Oriel, and who showed fraternal hospitality 
 by inviting me to a supper party in somebody's rooms 
 at Oriel ; where I dined, or whether I dined at all I for- 
 get entirely. My arm was still slung up, and my first 
 impression of scholastic Oxford was a room full of 
 clouds of tobacco smoke, and good fellows, and of great 
 silver tankards circulating about freely, full of curious 
 concoctions, that had a winning fragrance about them. 
 The conversation might have been carried on in Greek, 
 Hebrew, or Arabic, so utterly unintelligible was it to 
 me. A tangle of names, places, and things I had never 
 heard of, so I listened and imbibed conversation and
 
 42 
 
 cider-cup, and the latter seemed to me to be the best of 
 the two by far. Cider cup! One had drunk cider 
 galore and eke perry in one's peregrinations through 
 Worcestershire ; and " cup " one understood to be 
 tempered with water. If it w r as, I fancy curaqoa was 
 even a mightier and more liberal leaven. But I got to 
 my lodgings somehow, and must have slept the sleep 
 of the just and healthy, for in the morning there was 
 very little cura^oa or cider cup on the brain or tcngue, 
 and the chief thirst was the thirst for knowledge and 
 distinction ! Two days' examination passed by busily, 
 and on the third, of the two vacancies I recollect that 
 I filled one. 
 
 "At Oxford a freshman so modest." 
 
 Who does not know the ditty ? So here I was in the 
 Groves of Academe cetat. circiter 16. So far as I can 
 remember, part of the rest of that day of rapture and 
 triumph was spent in subscribing to the Thirty-nine 
 Articles (like Theodore Hook, I hardly think that forty 
 would have stopped me), and abjuring Pretenders ct hoc 
 yenus omne, who might upset the constitution of Church 
 and State (of course, that constitution seemed to me 
 just then perfect!) Then across the water to Paddy- 
 land and its pleasures no heed, whatever, being given 
 to the sage counsels of my late master, Mr. Collis, to 
 come and read with him at Bromsgrove, prior to going 
 into residence one had done something, and passed 
 per saltum (or per exam.) from the status pupillaris to 
 man's estate. My father and mother were very pleased, 
 but far too indulgent, and as Scott wrote " 'twas idlesse 
 all," just when one should have been learning, or, at
 
 43 
 
 any rate, keeping up habits of discipline and reading. 
 It was always in my father's head that I should follow 
 in his steps and surplice. He bought me the reversion 
 to a living, or the advowson, to speak more correctly ; 
 but I never looked upon orders as a form of office 
 a department in the State routine but something far 
 higher and holier, for which I knew and felt myself 
 unfit and unworthy. Boys are often far better and 
 purer minded in these sort of questions than at a later 
 period of their lives, when worlaly wisdom has inocu- 
 lated them, and deadened their sensibilities. I forget 
 my entree into the arms of my alma mater, but I think 
 that the city of spires was approached by coach from 
 Cheltenham, as there was no rail direct to it, I think, 
 from any point on the North Western system ; at any 
 rate, I got into residence in the newer buildings of 
 Worcester College, not in those quainter ones of the 
 ancient Gloucester Hall ; nor, so far as my memory 
 carries me, had I the onus of selecting pictures and 
 furniture for my rooms at that time thrown upon me, 
 as I was lodged temporarily in some other man's rooms, 
 or for the term, till I could get permanent quarters. 
 Worcester College, though out of the way, inspiring the 
 common Joe Millerish platitudes about guides and 
 post-horses, has some very good bits about it, especially 
 the gardens, which are beautiful, a pond, too, gave one 
 an early swim in spring, and skating in winter occa- 
 sionally. The sense of being an ignorant freshman, in- 
 cult boyish and boobyish, is a useful one, and makes 
 one observant and reticent, especially at those solemnly 
 foolish farces yclept " wines," when the seniors do " the
 
 44 
 
 talkee talkee," and the freshmen sip in silence the vins 
 tres capiteuz for which they have paid, or promised to 
 pay, extravagant prices. I think my intentions as to 
 life and study were at that time honourable and good. 
 I may have been a little lax in morning chapels, but, at 
 any rate, at iirst, there was no great cause of com- 
 plaint. Lectures ? yes ! I attended a> certain number, 
 but I do not think I carried away many ideas there- 
 from. To get good from a lecture, it must be well 
 prepared at home first, and, sooth to say, the lectures 
 were neither very invigorating pabulum, or even 
 edifying. Philosophy ! Of course, it sounds grand to 
 be a philosopher or a lover of knowledge, but Aristotle 
 was the philosopher par excellence of Oxford, and at 
 Worcester Mr. Greswell was his expounder and inter- 
 preter a good, simple man, and very learned withal (his 
 brother was better known than he was as the author of 
 the "Harmony of the Gospels," a work, I believe, 
 indicating much learning and ability), he was utterly 
 unfit to lecture men or perhaps mannikins ! He had a 
 strong Yorkshire burr, looked like an ideal Vicar of 
 Wakefield, and had as much knowledge of men and the 
 world as a poodle dog, probably less. I recollect we 
 (nous autres) read novels, or something of the sort, 
 during the painful hour of philosophic culture and 
 exposition, and once when desired to " go on," I had to 
 cut the pages of my maiden Greek volume ere the place 
 could be found, an offence and indignity combined for 
 which the good man ordered my name to be " crossed 
 at the buttery " for some time ; this means simple 
 starvation if carried out literally, but practically no
 
 45 
 
 one starves. Of course, we went to lectures in caps 
 and gowns, but one genius for practical jokes would 
 bring in a Gibus hat, which, when espied by the 
 lecturer, irritated him to a degree, and once, it is said, 
 made him actually shed tears, more especially when a 
 touch made it collapse, almost miraculously to one who 
 did not know the secret springs of action. 
 
 This good man Greswell, though a Don, was 
 married, and I fancy to a lady of some means, but how 
 he wound himself up to propose was inexplicable to 
 the common intellect, till we learned that being despe- 
 rately enamoured of a certain lady, a widow, I think 
 (and let me assure the "gentle reader" that even 
 widows often want wooing, and will not always make 
 the running when most wanted), he confided his hopes 
 and fears to a brother Don, the wise and witty Bursar 
 of the College, Mr. Bullock, of whom no one will, I 
 fancy, say an unkind word, or think an unkind thought. 
 The Eev. Bullock was neither shy, nor deficient in 
 stratagem or powers of persuasion, and he arranged a 
 meeting with the widow to talk on a matter of supreme 
 importance, having previously nmbushed the soupirant 
 behind a big screen, the situation being the converse of 
 the Charles Surface and "the little milliner" scene. 
 The widow kept tryst, and Mr. Bullock began to 
 expatiate upon the many merits of his client, how 
 devoted he was to her, how faithful and domestic a 
 husband he would make, when suddenly the screen 
 fell, and out rushed the undefeated aspirant, exclaiming, 
 " Yes ! Jemimah Dorothea, I wull, I wull." Earnestness 
 is irresistible, and he won the lady, and, so far as I
 
 46 
 
 know, " they were ever after happy." It is one of a 
 Don's duties to give a breakfast to his lecturees at the 
 commencement of term, when these young gentlemen 
 are fed like the old prophets by fifties in a cave or 
 room. The repast is not usually exhilarating physi- 
 cally or mentally. Eggs form the staple of food, the 
 allowance one apiece. On one occasion, the boiler of 
 eggs had not counted mouths accurately, and the last 
 egg was politely passed by ingenuous youths who did 
 violence to their appetites, rather than clear the dish. 
 At last, it was handed to an irreverent but sensible 
 youth, who did not understand either politeness or 
 diplomacy on such an emergency, so when the egg was 
 pushed to him, and a hospitable voice requested him to 
 take an egg, he at once replied, " Thank you, sir, I will 
 take the egg, and, if you will allow me, I'll ring for 
 some more." Few such instances of nerve are pre- 
 served in the social archives of Dondom. 
 
 Ere parting with Bursar Bullock, dearest of Dons, 
 let me record an illustrative anecdote of a man who in 
 repartee and ready wit was almost as keen as the late 
 Archbishop Whately of Dublin. An undergraduate 
 had gone away, leaving some milk or cream bill, 
 unconnected, I suppose, with his " Battels," unpaid, the 
 man applied to the Bursar, who promised to write to 
 the defaulter. His epistle, poetical, wound up with 
 this couplet 
 
 " Lo, lacteal drops from milkman's eyes distil ! 
 Dry up the tears but liquidate the bill." 
 
 As for the other lecturers, the Dean (Brown) and his
 
 dogmatic divinity were hardly interesting. Mr. Thomas, 
 for Thucydides, was good, if his manner was somewhab 
 cynical ; while Mucklestone would have been emphatic 
 and useful, had not his pained manner, the result of 
 malaise and illness, made it evident that the whole 
 thing was a tremendous bore to him, as it was to us 
 generally. No I the Worcester curriculum was far 
 from an improving one. I think in my first or second 
 term I was forced, bon grt mal grt, into the college 
 " fours." We tugged and pulled, and blistered our 
 'prentice hands, chafed under the bad language of 
 coxswains and coaches, but our " four " won a prize of 
 pewter tankards, which perhaps now adorn the side- 
 board of my scout's son, or grandson ! Then followed 
 a course in " the Torpids " (I quite forget whether we 
 did any good as a crew), and the following year I was 
 installed as stroke of our college eight, my predecessor, 
 a Morris likewise, having gone away from Oxford. I 
 hated the office, but, with a good crew behind me, we 
 worked up to somewhere near the head of the river 
 from a low grade, i was ill when pulling the second 
 year, and that did not make things pleasanter. 
 
 Rowing has this merit, that it is a very cheap form 
 of amusement and pastime, and takes ingenuous youth 
 away from many temptations to spend money that 
 might otherwise prove irresistible. Merely to mention 
 one thing, cricket was completely laid aside, nor do I 
 think I played a single game while at the University. 
 I wish I could say as much for riding ; in the last few 
 years at Gartnamona, where there were young horses 
 knocking about, I had learned to sit securely on a
 
 48 
 
 horse, having made friends with the breaker who came 
 to educate these young quadrupeds; but the King's 
 County was hardly a school for equitation, as though 
 " the Ormonde and King's County hounds " ranged 
 over a portion of it, they were many miles from us ; 
 and Mr. Longworth's family pack rarely came within 
 ten or twelve miles of our dwelling. My brother had, 
 however, one or two very good horses, and I recollect 
 well getting the loan of a clever cob, who had I trusted 
 him could have crossed the county well, and seeing 
 from the road my brother leading the van in a very 
 quick thing from some covert or other on the western 
 side of the country ! But I had done a little hunting 
 on one or two of Mr. Tuite's well-trained hunters with 
 his hounds in Westmeath, a very perfectly turned out 
 pack, with an immense area to hunt over, for in those 
 days Westmeath had no subscription or county pack of 
 foxhounds. 
 
 My brother was an invalid nearly all the time he 
 was at Oriel, but he made me come out with him a few 
 times, and I recollect getting on much better than I 
 expected, and even attaining the distinction of being 
 objurgated by that champion "Barger" Mr. Morell, 
 the brewer, who then kept the old Berkshire pack. 
 However, setting aside these little excursions, I did not 
 blossom into a hunting man or even " a riding gent," 
 till a few of the old hands at Worcester (arid not a few 
 of them hunted) graciously took me up, and, contrary 
 to all my resolves, I went out under their auspices, 
 getting hack hunters from George Symmonds, a brother 
 of the greater Charlie, whose praise was in all the
 
 49 
 
 colleges, as well as at Court, but George, a rough 
 diamond, was a capital fellow. I have known him 
 come to supper parties and stay till all hours, to give 
 fellows the chance to pull back the money he had won 
 from them earlier. I did not myself join much in these 
 orgies, but the fact is indisputable. Well, coming home 
 across country from the chase, one afternoon, I pounded 
 one of our gentlemen commoners, who had his stud of 
 hunters up or he pounded me, for I have no clear 
 recollection of the matter at any rate, the topic was 
 good enough for " wines," and it ended in the horses 
 being matched one against the other, three or four miles 
 parallel to the Kiddington-road, neither to come outside 
 the turnpike road to the right, though you might pick 
 your path as far to the left of the road as you pleased, 
 a permission not likely to be much availed of by either 
 rider, as the turnpike road was the straight path, and 
 the nearer you could keep in a parallel line to it the 
 better. A gallant little man, who went by the name of 
 " Forty (Fortescue) Thursby," was umpire. He dressed 
 the groom to great perfection, and rode admirably, or 
 rather had ridden a few years previously, for he was 
 only vegetating on at a hall, and had long abandoned 
 caps and gowns, and such insignia of a University 
 career. At the end of the ride there was a wrangle, I 
 suppose on the part of backers, for we principals had 
 no complaints against each other, and the oracle decided 
 that the race must be ridden over again in a week's 
 time. Then we had indeed a large gallery, and George 
 Symmonds' hireling hack had no trouble in defeating 
 the proud hunter. After this very Pyrrhic victory I 
 
 I
 
 50 
 
 T# as launched as " a riding man." Horses were plentifully 
 forthcoming (on tick), and all previous good resolutions 
 vanished like the morning dew before the bright sun- 
 shine. An untoward accident precipitated a downward 
 career ; it was an accident, and arose from entire 
 ignorance of the college rules and regulations, though 
 we learn at the Temple that " ignoratio legis nerninem 
 excusat." I had gone out to dine or supper the 
 evening before the Easter vacation, and where I supped 
 I slept, getting back to college in the morning for my 
 bath and breakfast. I may state that I had announced 
 my intention of remaining " up " during this Easter, not 
 thinking it worth while to cross the Channel, but I felt 
 sure that vacation was vacation, and that college discip- 
 line was not to be enforced then. Vain idea ! The 
 scout had reported me to the Dean, the Dean to the 
 Provost, and when I was summoned to that august 
 presence, I found that I was considered to have com- 
 mitted an offence of the gravest character and the 
 deepest dye, indeed, the Provost said that it was so 
 serious that he must take time to consider and pass 
 sentence. Meantime, I was commanded peremptorily 
 to leave the college, and the University. In vain I 
 told my true tale, referred to my hospitable friend who 
 had given me a shake down in his rooms, and spoke 
 with the eloquence of injured innocence. I had to " go 
 down," and down meant in this case a drive to Wood- 
 stock, to put up at the " Bear," or some other hostelry ! 
 The place was full of undergraduates, and I recollect 
 under the influence of song, smoke, and spirits, pur- 
 chasing that very evening a grey mare, of whom I knew
 
 51 
 
 nothing. She certainly was a very good little weed, 
 could jump like a flea, and when next day a steeple- 
 chase was arranged, this little mare took the lead and 
 kept it. From that day to this I have not seen the 
 sweepstakes, which might have gone some way in 
 paying for her purchase. On my return to Oxford I 
 had the misfortune to kill this gallant little grey in a 
 Hat race at Bullingdon, which I fancy she must have 
 won. She nearly severed one of her fore fetlocks 
 with the hind one, in going over some rutty ground. I 
 shot her then and there, though a farmer wanted her 
 badly for a brood mare. 
 
 I pass over the three or four weeks of that memor- 
 able vacation, when I was first introduced to the fast 
 side of London life. We spent more than was good for 
 us, drank more than was good for us, and made a 
 triumphant return to Oxford in a tandem from the 
 (.Treat Western Railway Station, Didcot to wit, which 
 was, I think, thirteen or fourteen miles distant. Once 
 term began I was summoned to an interview with the 
 Provost, who, out of his clemency, sentenced me to 
 analyse some of Bishop Butler's sermons, which, hard 
 enough to understand, are proportionately haid to 
 analyse. There were means of getting these things 
 done for you, I believe, at a certain price ; but I did not 
 avail myself of them, and did the job myself, probably 
 very badly, but I heard nothing more on the subject. 
 
 The Oxford hack hunters merit most honourable 
 mention here. Their condition was simply admirable, 
 but some of them had nasty peculiarities. I recollect 
 a very smart little mare that I hired cheap for a term, 
 
 I 2
 
 52 
 
 and who, simply perfection with hounds, had a very 
 nasty fashion of commencing a course of rears, pretty 
 straight ones, too, whenever she came to a bridge on 
 her outward journey (she seemed to have lost her dread 
 of or repugnance to them when returning) ; after one or 
 two of these aerial ascents on her hind legs, she wo ild 
 occasionally plant her forefeet on the parapet of the 
 bridge ; but if you were not disheartened by this very 
 menacing manoeuvre, she generally abandoned her 
 playful ways, and settled to her work charmingly. 
 The worst of the neighbourhood of Oxford is the 
 abundance of rivers and rivulets that encompass it, on 
 two sides at any rate, making the temptation to abridge 
 (pardon the pun) her day's work overwhelming ! How 
 many hunters has one met, or heard of, that have 
 curious idiosyncrasies, such as the determination not to 
 go to a meet by themselves, whereas in company they 
 are very well behaved. I take it there is a page of 
 horse history not revealed to us owners in every case of 
 the kind. Weakness, or perhaps cruelty, on the part 
 of the rider. Some few animals inherit these peculi- 
 arities (such as bucking when first saddled), these likes 
 and dislikes and caprices of character, from their dam's 
 udder. 
 
 Having said my little say about education at Wor- 
 cester College, its dons, tutors, and lecturers, let me add 
 a word or two about the Provost, Dr. Cotton, who is 
 numbered by the late Dean Burgon among his 
 especial worthies. We saw very little of him, and I 
 am not sure that that little left a favourable impression. 
 A small ascetic-looking man, with some defect in his
 
 53 
 
 palate that rendered his utterance most inarticulate and 
 indistinct such a person is hardly the ideal head of a 
 college of young men in the prime of life and vigour, 
 whose object should be, we submit, to maintain the 
 " mens sana in corpore sano," and to administer the 
 collegiate discipline with the greatest mildness compat- 
 ible with efficiency, unless he has great gifts to com- 
 pensate for these defects of nature, and I never heard 
 that Dr. Cotton was so gifted. At that time the High 
 Church movement had commenced to stir the University 
 mind greatly. I was at Oxford and heard Dr. Pusey, 
 who had been suspended for a couple of years for his 
 heterodoxical opinions, preach the first sermon of his 
 restoration, so to speak, in Christ Church, and numbers 
 of undergraduates used to walk every Sunday to Little- 
 more Church to hear Mr. (now, alas ! the late Cardinal) 
 Newman preach there. Dr. Cotton represented the 
 opposite pole of religious thought, and, without express- 
 ing an opinion either way, I fancy that not a few 
 sycophants tried to curry favour with the Provost by a 
 simulated sanctity of demeanour, and the abjuration of 
 many things, in public at least, that were natural to 
 youth and high spirits. Worcester certainly did not 
 take its proper place in the University during his reign, 
 either in the schools or in the palaestra of pastime. 
 Burgon gave it a lift by winning the Xewdigate 
 (English Prize Poem of the year), on the theme of 
 Petra, " that rose-red city half as old as time," to use 
 his own happy conceit ; but my memory recalls very 
 few first class scholars or mathematical men in the 
 college. Perhaps it may be argued that Worcester was
 
 54 
 
 not fed by any of the great public schools, but the reply 
 to this is that several other colleges laboured under 
 similar disadvantages, and yet made good figures in the 
 class lists and in athletics ; a few men of mark very 
 soon give a tone to a college, but we had not, I think, 
 these exemplars in our midst. As to the palccstra 1 
 referred to just now, there were but few avenues open 
 then for distinction, as scientific athleticism was not 
 then recognised or rewarded, so that we might have 
 had the greatest distance runner, sprinter, and walker 
 of the kingdom among us without our knowing it ; 
 the vates sacer was absent. We had, I believe, the 
 fastest bowler of England at Worcester in Marcon, who 
 came from Eton, and who was also a good oarsman. 
 We had half a dozen fair riders, but Brazenose, with 
 little Jemmy Allgood for champion Jock, was streets in 
 front of us. Moreover, we had but one pianist, who, 
 because he had refined tastes in many ways and did 
 
 not ride, row, or play cricket, we styled " Miss ." 
 
 Probably now there are many pianos in college. 
 
 Looking back on my sojourn at Oxford, I am filled 
 with vast regrets at the wasted opportunities and the 
 time thus miserably misspent even the colleges I 
 never thoroughly investigated till I paid Oxford a visit 
 a short time ago. Then, though by age and proclivity 
 a " laudator temporis acti," I saw the immense progress 
 the place had made since my time, and the quickening 
 spell that seemed to inform it. Whether it is always 
 judicious for parents to send their sons to English 
 schools and universities, when the lots of such sons are 
 likely to be cast in Ireland, is to my mind a very de-
 
 55 
 
 batable point. Eton and Oxford have proved snares 
 to thousands. Granting that the tone of both is or wa 
 far better than anything of the sort in Ireland, there is 
 no earthly reason why there should not be an Irish 
 Eton, to which the best and richest men in Ireland 
 might send their sons, and receive as good an education, 
 as in any part of the world, at rather, nay much, less 
 cost. If Irishmen and Scotchmen were as rich as those 
 of England, well and good, but they are not, and in 
 after life they are generally qud money on a lower 
 level, and this fact alone prevents any great intimacy, 
 as pursuits and tastes differ with disparity in means. 
 If men are to continue their careers in after life in tht; 
 same country, then, of course, there is nothing like Etoi 
 or Harrow, Winchester or Westminster ; if they are not, 
 cui bono ? When pocket boroughs made a career, o- 
 gave a clever young man, such as Canning or Gladstone, 
 the chance of making a career in life, then the great 
 public schools were very useful, and worth all the ex- 
 pense, while they made a glorious gradus ad episcopatun- 
 likewise. Now the argument does not hold good 
 
 With the most profound veneration for many of our 
 old foundations, the religio loci, and all that sort of 
 thing, I am not sure that their disadvantages in many 
 cases do not almost balance their advantages for certain 
 classes at any rate. It must be recollected, too, that 
 Trinity College, Dublin, has not stood si-ill, or remained 
 " a silent sister." On the contrary, it has made great 
 strides in every way. 
 
 The third year of university life ought and generally 
 does bring a train of what may be called sobering^ if
 
 56 
 
 not actually gloomy reflections ! Then the seed sown 
 ought to be bursting into ear, or yellowing for the har- 
 vest ; but what if wild oats is the cnly sowing you have 
 made ? Then the budget question forces itself into 
 prominency. You have not perhaps committed great 
 extravagances, but for the most part you have been 
 living beyond your means, spending your ready money 
 with a liberal hand, and having everything put down 
 to your account ; now, this very word " account " implies 
 liability, and a day of reckoning at last. In Ireland 
 things were black, too, the potato blight had come, and 
 created a fiscal revolution throughout the land, while in 
 the worst districts it had decimated the population. 
 
 In our neighbourhood things were not nearly so bad 
 as in many others, the well-to-do, and especially the 
 country gentlemen, banded themselves together to co- 
 operate against the tide of distress. The Government 
 supplies came in apace, and were distributed as fairly 
 as ?onld be done in the exigency, the people were em- 
 ployed in cutting down hills in roads, and so the crisis 
 was tided over ; but there was a financial crisis coming 
 fast. Rents were imperfectly paid, the interest of en- 
 cumbrances accumulated, and the necessities of the 
 times forced the Government to create a revolutionary 
 tribunal, called the Encumbered Estates Court, which 
 transferred much of the fee simple of the soil to new 
 men, far more grasping and business-like in their ideas 
 about the percentage of capital than the old proprietors, 
 many of whom were " raal gintlemen," easy going in 
 their habits, and the perpetual prey to petty peculations 
 which they overlooked in consideration of homage, obe-
 
 57 
 
 dience, and deference on the part of their retainers. 
 In the meantime my father had died at his brother's 
 place, Rossenara, and as his habit was to cany much of 
 his business transactions in his busy brain, making 
 memoranda intelligible to himself but to no one else, 
 the consequence was that things got into a terrible 
 tangle, which rny elder brother, who had left Oxford 
 pro tern., was trying hard to make straight. My father 
 had been dosed with morphia considerably before his 
 end came, and so he could throw little light on current 
 matters, even if any one had been minded to interrogate 
 him on the subject, nor do 1 think many realised how 
 ill he was, though my uncle did, as I recollect that in a 
 walk we took together, he pointed to some buildings he 
 was putting up and quoted the lines- 
 
 " Et sepulchri 
 Immemor, struis domos." 
 
 Poor dear man, he did not survive his quotation very 
 many months ; but to return to my poor father, I re- 
 collect well how one Sunday evening my brother and 
 self were finishing our wine at Gartnamona after 
 dinner. My mother and sister were at Rossenara, which 
 I should think was fully seventy English miles distant, 
 when the impulse suddenly seized me to start off <ra 
 foot for the latter place, to see my father. I did iiot 
 tell my brother I was going, and I did not even put on 
 a pair of shooting shoes or boots, but went off as L was. 
 The stages were, I think, Clonaslee, Eosenalles, Mary- 
 borough., Ballyragget, Kilkenny, and Rossenara, and I 
 have an idea that from Kilkenny city to Rossenara, on
 
 '58 
 
 the verge of the Co. Waterford, is ten or twelve miles, 
 one had traversed part of the King's County, much of the 
 Queen's, and a large section cf Kilkenny in this tramp, 
 but I was quite fresh, and joined the party at dinner on 
 the next evening, Monday. My father was languishing 
 in statu quo, but certainly not better. I stayed a few 
 days at Eossenara, making, inter alia, the ascent of 
 Slievenamon from it, and the carnage brought some of 
 us back with the aid of relays. I think I returned to 
 Oxford for the next term, but once back in Ireland, like 
 the hero Moore sings of 
 
 " I returned to Kinkora no more.' 1 
 
 Things had not improved in Ireland, at least, for the 
 landlord class. I had not passed my examination, much 
 less gone up for honours as a scholar would be expected 
 to do. The shadow of a few hundred pounds due to 
 livery stable keepers, haberdashers, &c., &c., at Oxford 
 loomed very large, when the de quoi to pay them was 
 not available, and meantime I had the run of a good 
 house, a horse or two to ride, rabbits, snipe, duck, and a 
 few cock to shoot, so why go from Ireland to the land 
 of ire Oxford. I knew no great harm could befall 
 me, for 1 was ever so much under legal age, but I had 
 not attained to the stoicism of the famous spendthrift 
 who, when someone asked him how he could sleep when 
 he owed so many people so much money, replied, " I 
 can sleep well eno' of course, but I wonder how they 
 can!" 
 
 One day having nothing to do I got down my grand- 
 father's case of pistols (Hint and steel of course), told
 
 59 
 
 the keeper to clean them, and prepared to make some 
 practice at a mark. 1 alv* ays fancied a bit of tow had 
 been left in one of them, for when loaded and primed it 
 did not go off. After several attempts, I was seeking 
 the cause with the ramrod, when fiz, fiz, fiz ! it was 
 sent clean through the foretinger of my right hand, and 
 it grazed my forehead. The situation was not pleasant, 
 five or six miles from a surgeon, and the hand bleeding 
 profusely. There was a very good horse in the stable of 
 my brother's, rather a handful in the ordinary way, and 
 a little beyond me, but he was saddled, I was thrown 011 
 to him, and he did not seem to pull me an ounce. There 
 was a capital fellow in command of a company of the 
 68th Eegiment at Tullamore then, Major Leckonby 
 Phipps, whom I had shot with a few times ; he came to 
 my succour, but unfortunately the surgeons were away 
 on duty. When they came, one said he fancied the 
 finger might be saved, both counselled delay, but fear- 
 ing mortification, I had the distressed digit off there and 
 then ; my condition must have been fair when I was able 
 to ride a flat race, or rather match, within two or three 
 weeks. This match showed my profound ignorance of 
 horses and horse-racing. I had broken a colt, out of a 
 good, useful, half- bred mare by Dan O'Connell. I think 
 he was four years old, and had, with a little doggedness 
 of temper, a good share of substance, and any amount 
 of jumping power. His weak point was pace, and it 
 generally happens that when horses have not got " the 
 gift," the further they go the worse they go. Now we 
 had a very astute neighbour, a Mr. Frank Biddulph, a 
 great friend of Henry, Lord Waterford (the wild Mar-
 
 60 
 
 quis), who knew as much as most men about horses of 
 all sorts, hounds, hunting, racing, &c., in fact, he was an 
 encyclopaedia of sport, and could ride to perfection 
 himself. He fancied this colt, and suggested a little 
 match on Ballygrannel Course, say about three-quarters 
 of a mile. If I beat him he was to give sc much more 
 for the horse than the prix fixe in the contrary alternative. 
 I took it into my foolish head that the distance was too 
 short for my flyer and stayer, little heeding that youth 
 don't care for long journeys. My antagonist, whose mount 
 was a very useful sort of " ride-and-drive hunter," 
 who would not be much out of his place at any trade 
 cheerfully consented to the elongation and when the 
 " trial heat " came I was allowed to make all the run- 
 ning to be badly beaten at the finish. So much for bad 
 judgment: for we have Shakespeare's authority that 
 " Match well made is half won." I regret that Mr. 
 Biddulph had a bad bargain in the horse, his temper 
 turned out atrocious, and resisted the efforts of regi- 
 mental riding masters and all the talent available. To 
 show how horses could be occasionally picked up then 
 for a song in Ireland,! recollect a certain bay horse of the 
 regular old Irish cut lean, small head, full eye, good rein, 
 wide hips, and powerful quarters, withal snaffle-bridled, 
 which one of my poor father's tenants begged me to buy 
 one day. His cause for selling being that the horse was 
 always getting him into trouble with his neighbours, as 
 no fence could keep him in. I paid a five pound note 
 for him, and beyond his having rather flat feet, could 
 find no fault with physique or morale. He long drew 
 the family car after my departure.
 
 61 
 
 Here I am again forced to hark back. I hated the 
 prospects of a return to Oxford. Home was unfit- 
 ting one for a career (thus I reasoned, or fancied 
 I reasoned), so I persuaded my dear mother to try 
 to exert any influence she might have in my favour. 
 She tried her cousin, Lord Clanricarde, who was 
 just then in the Ministry, with the portfolio of Post- 
 master-General. Lord Clanricarde was the kindest 
 of men, and he proved one of the best of Irishmen, 
 for no man exerted himself more for his country- 
 men. His reply to my mother was that the only 
 good thing at his disposal a writership in India 
 he had just given to a relation, and that nothing 
 remained but an extra clerkship in his own depart- 
 ment (the secretary's) of the General Post Office. I 
 jumped at it : my mother acquiesced. Lady Desart 
 gave me a room for a time in her house in May Fair, 
 till I could settle myself, and so there I was, embarked 
 on a new career, little recking that Oxford was far 
 nearer to London than the midlands of Ireland, and 
 that I was turning my back on all the prospects of a 
 future fellowship at Worcester College, with a college 
 living not too remote ! My best excuse for such infatua- 
 tion is youth extreme ignorance of the world in 
 general, and its ways and perhaps a growing sense of 
 my extreme uufitness for a clerical life and vocation. 
 All this added to the craving for excitement and " the 
 larger life." I do not think it would be easy to figure 
 out or conceive a much worse preparation for London 
 official life than three years of listless lounging at 
 Oxford, and some months of uncontrolled liberty in
 
 62 
 
 Ireland, where within a very narrow sphere you could 
 do so very much as you liked, that it created a fictitious 
 sense of self-importance. Since I have dived into Irish 
 records I think that this exaggerated estimate of them- 
 selves was at the bottom of half the wars and troubles 
 that desolated the island for centuries. Every one was 
 a "dynast" in his own domain, be the same great or 
 small, and the vanity of mankind is not proof against 
 the temptations of such a situation, more particularly 
 when the controlling power was a long way off, or dis- 
 tracted by difficulties and dissensions. 
 
 If I recollect right the pay of an extra clerk was 
 some 80 per annum, and absence cut off income. To 
 be sure there was overtime work at tenpence per hour, 
 that could bring in a few pounds per quarter, and I did 
 some of this drudgery ; we in the secretary's depart- 
 ment were supposed to be the brains of the great 
 machine, and never saw anything of sorting or 
 stamping, and our duty was to deal with the 
 enormous correspondence that arose on many topics. 
 I recollect being terribly taken aback on my first 
 introduction to the department, where I was assigned 
 the duty of acknowledging in terms of profound 
 politeness the letters that came. The clerks were 
 not a prepossessing lot in manner or deportment. 
 H's were elided constantly, and chucked in where 
 they had no right to intrude. Drink seemed to have 
 marked some of the seniors for its own, while the 
 senior clerk who had the discipline to deal with, was 
 often hardly compos linguae. This is a world of appear- 
 ances, and the cue at St. Martin's was to be very
 
 63 
 
 punctual - a virtue I had never cultivated and occa- 
 sionally, when the eye of authority was on you, to 
 display a fervour of zeal in the dispatch of business 
 that very few in that building felt. The worst of 
 London is the strong temptation to follow Tommy 
 Moore's precept " to lengthen your days by stealing hours 
 from the night." Most of us did it ; many, like myself, 
 grew unpunctual thereby ; but promotion to a regular 
 clerkship came in a few months, and one's lot was 
 ameliorated by some ten golden sovereigns a year. I 
 think I was drafted off to help one of the senior clerks 
 in doing what are termed <: rural posts." This was a 
 Mr. Boyd, whom I found a capital chief, very con- 
 siderate if his work was properly done, but he was mal- 
 vu by the powers. He was supposed to lack enthusiasm, 
 and perhaps capacity, but I think he was very superior 
 to the ordinary run. He did not toady the rising suns, 
 dressed well ; kept to himself and his club ; and was 
 altogether a most respectable official. I liked him and 
 his ways much. By degrees one ascertained that the 
 work was not heavy, though unequally distributed ; 
 that a few men were almost omnipotent ; and that if 
 appearances were kept up, infinite shirking and a 
 masterly inactivity might be maintained. I well recol- 
 lect one clerk, who received fair promotion by and bye, 
 who devoted the major part of his six office hours, 
 excluding, of course, the study of the " Times," and the 
 due degustation of luncheon, to innocent forms of 
 gambling, in which he was a proficient, but he was a 
 very sharp, clever fellow, and knew the world, and his 
 world too. I believe a good deal of composition and
 
 64 
 
 newspaper work was done in the intervals of business, 
 but into these secrets I was never initiated. 
 
 Colonel Maberly was the secretary to the Postmaster- 
 General. I found him very pleasant, considerate, and 
 kind ; others did not ; and, poor man, he was constantly 
 being plotted and caballed against, for Rowland Hill 
 and his following, with the outside public voice in their 
 favour, were trying to create berths for themselves, 
 and among the leading lights an Ishmaelitish state of 
 things obtained, every man's hand and peri being against 
 his neighbour. The cream of the work was in the 
 private secretary's department, where patronage was 
 managed. One of the assistant private secretaries, 
 John Hall, a nice, pleasant person, grew sick of his 
 work and position in the office, and went out to New 
 Zealand, where in the course of time he became pluto- 
 crat and Premier. He was not of the sort who ascend to 
 high places in such Government departments as the 
 secretary's office of the General Post Office. But John 
 Hall (or " Sir John," to give him due emphasis) was 
 but one satellite that revolved round the gentle radiancy 
 of the private secretary, Gustavus Cornwall, who in one 
 sense of the word was a very great man, and had a very 
 great voice, and delighted dowager duchesses, and 
 mediaeval marchionesses, and thereby made the Post 
 Office popular. A club or hall porter who receives 
 visitors, and from whom they derive first impressions, 
 should be physically great; and judged by that standard 
 Gustavus Cornwall was a far greater humanity or 
 personality than the tall, worn-looking man (who never- 
 theless wore the cachet and simplicity of true nobility),
 
 65 
 
 who used to drive up periodically in a T cart to the 
 private or Postmaster-General's entrance of St. Martin's- 
 le-Grand. Cornwall was very soon transplanted to be 
 Secretary to the Post Office in Dublin, where his parties 
 were sumptuously splendid. I regret to say that after 
 several years of easy service here, in which he certainly 
 exercised the virtue of hospitality freely, he fell into 
 discredit, and had to resign his office, though I am not 
 aware that suspicion was ever confirmed by positive 
 proof. 
 
 After Cornwall's transfer Lord Clanricarde showed 
 his hearty kindneSvS and consideration by selecting his 
 successor, not from the ranks of smart, clever clerks, 
 who might have been supposed to be more poten- 
 tially useful, as knowing the ways of departments 
 and the routine of official business, but from the list of 
 his own county grand jurors and magistrates, giving the 
 appointment to Mr. Andrew Blake, of Furbough, a 
 place by the sea, on the way to Connemara, knowing 
 that like many squires Mr. Blake, who by the way was 
 a connection of his own, had felt the pinch of the bad 
 times severely, and would oe the better for a little rate 
 in aid such as this. Mr. Blake justified Lord Clanri- 
 carde's choice completely. He was methodical and 
 business-like, wrote a fine, flowing hand, was as " close " 
 as the Nepomucene himself, and was in fact a model 
 private secretary. To myself his arrival was very 
 welcome, as I had nearly always a pleasant companion 
 for my daily walk westwards. Scott was another very 
 good specimen of the P.S., and generally liked in the 
 office. 
 
 K
 
 66 
 
 Mr. Anthony Trollope was not in London during my 
 short term there, having been sent off to Ireland by 
 Colonel Maberly, who I believe did not like his very 
 brusque manner. There he achieved renown with his 
 pen, and hunted and shot, and led a pleasant vagrom 
 life in the Surveyor's Department of the Service, a 
 branch which, in its more liberal scale of pay and 
 allowances, has great attractions for the aspirants to pro- 
 motion, while it was something of a privilege to be sent 
 to the country to " assist the surveyor," what time 
 London began to pall on the spirits, and there were 
 other reasons extant why country air and change of 
 scene should prove desirable. On such an excursion I 
 was sent on one occasion, and after an absence of a few 
 weeks returned to town much invigorated and refreshed 
 in mind and body, but I could hardly say I fulfilled the 
 object of my mission, for I did little towards " assisting" 
 the surveyor, beyond writing a few letters and filling 
 up some forms. Indeed I could not make out that he 
 wanted any assistance, though it would have been rank 
 heresy to have admitted as much. Of course there are 
 occasions when the surveyor and his staff may be 
 terribly overtasked ; say, for instance, that two or three 
 Postmasters have made default in their district ; then 
 their duty is to suspend the suspect forthwith, and 
 undertake the duties of his office themselves. 
 
 I do not think that many of our secretarial corps would 
 have proved quite au fait at the work, which, if simple 
 enough in itself, requires some little methodical training, 
 and of that we had had practically none. In the era I 
 am writing about appointments were the appanage of
 
 influence, whether in the House of Comhions; the 
 House of Lords, or in the electorate. There was no 
 standard of education required, or examination de 
 rigueur, hence sometimes curious mistakes were made ! 
 One young gentleman, whose father was a high digni- 
 tary of the Church, was told to fill in a form stating 
 whether his securities (for we had to give security) 
 were "bankrupt or insolvent." Now this high and 
 well-born young man had heard much of " solvent 
 circumstances," and the names of his sponsors or 
 guarantors were generally associated with wealth ; so 
 what was the general surprise when it was found that 
 they had been returned as " insolvent" Of course the 
 mistake was easily rectified. We had a famous pool and 
 billiard player, as well as ericketer, in the Honourable 
 Denis Bingham, who has subsequently blossomed into 
 an author of repute, and a feuilletonist of some smart- 
 ness and experience. But the man w 7 ho gave promise 
 even then of the conspicuous literary ability that he 
 has subsequently displayed was Mr. Edmund Yates, 
 who may or may not have been a pillar of the Post 
 Office (not pillar box) even then; but who certainly 
 added much to our distractions during the official hours, 
 between ten and four, by his wit, versatility, and 
 vividly pictorial descriptions. 
 
 How long my unprofitable service at St. Martin's-le- 
 Grand lasted I cannot now distinctly recollect, for I ani 
 not vain enough to imagine that my Queen and country 
 benefited much by my literary labours then, and my own 
 individual benefit was not great either in any sense ; 
 but I think it was about two years old when our chief 
 
 K 2
 
 68 
 
 was invested with a piece of patronage, which he was 
 good enough to bestow on me. This was the office of 
 Deputy Postmaster-General of Jamaica, of which the 
 salary had just been cut down from 3,000 per annum 
 to 1,000.* Did I accept the offer ? Of course I did, 
 joyfully. The secretary's office (a not too pleasant 
 medium) conveyed no future prospects of promotion or 
 vistas of hope. There remained some Oxford scores 
 still unsettled, though most of their proprietors had 
 been appeased by the as in prcescnti, and promises in 
 another tense. And now that I look bark upon that 
 time, I think it highly probable that London had some 
 claims upon me too as " a distributer of money," to 
 quote Lord Bacon. Lord Clanricarde sensibly put the 
 considerable " cons " against the " pros," but no argu- 
 ment could alter my determination, and as soon as I 
 could get the necessary securities for 10,000, and 
 arrange my affairs, I determined to be off. Two rela- 
 tions, Mr. Tuite and Lord Desart, most kindly became 
 securities, and, indeed, one or two others most generously 
 volunteered to vouch for me. Some of my patrimony 
 had, of course, been anticipated, part of the remainder 
 went to aid in building up the fortunes of " the house." 
 I quite forgot to mention in this fragmentary bit of 
 autobiography that I had succeeded in passing my 
 bachelor's examination (though I did not put on my 
 gown) at Oxford, and it was on this wise. It seemed a 
 pity to have wasted time and money without even a 
 degree to show for it, so I got a few days' leave from 
 
 * Allowances brought the appointment up to about 1,200 per
 
 69 
 
 my mill, and went down to face the schools. I think I 
 had armed myself with a fairly large sum of money, so 
 as to meet casualties. This was stowed into a large 
 portmanteau I took with me, together with some 
 jewellery by which I set much store. For once in my 
 life I was at Paddington station a few minutes before 
 starting time, and I saw the big portmanteau taken by 
 a porter towards the van, and meanwhile I lost sight of 
 him while I was settling with the cabby. Knowing 
 the treasure enshrined in the valise, I went to the 
 guard and asked him to show me where he had placed 
 it ; he looked, but could not find it, and said, " it must 
 be in another van, and that it would be all right at 
 Oxford." However, from that day to this I have never 
 seen it. Next day I had to try and pick out my par- 
 ticular porter amongst the corduroyed corps ; I could 
 not do it. The authorities told me they would be sure 
 to find the missing link for me, and meantime gave me 
 an ivory bone to pass me over the line a volontS ; so I 
 fbrebore law, fearing the expense and uncertainty 
 thereof, and bore a heavy loss with as much equanimity 
 as I could muster. 
 
 It was expensive work going out to Jamaica. Experts 
 recommended most unnecessary things by way of outfit, 
 and I w r as silly enough to get them. In reality, every 
 colony of the sort is amply supplied with the things 
 necessary for its climate and temperature, and expe- 
 rience has taught the shopkeepers (I beg their pardon, 
 there are no shops in Jamaica, only stores) what to get 
 . for the needs, and even caprices, of their customers ; so 
 that beyond a stock of saddlery, in which London is
 
 70 
 
 supreme, I should never recommend any friend of mine 
 to encumber himself as I did. Then there was a 
 " delegation " to get, a sort of commission to act, with a 
 stamp of 75 impressed upon it, and some other 
 formality that involved another high priced stamp, not 
 to speak of passage money. After the Bay of Biscay 
 and its tumults, the voyage out was delightful The 
 Azores we passed by within a bow-shot or two, the 
 Sargasso sea did not detain us, and we were both glad 
 and sorry when Alta Vela or Sombrero warned us of 
 the proximity of St. Thomas, the great depot of the 
 1 loyal Mail Company's fleet. It is a Danish island 
 with a fine land-locked harbour, and from here we 
 were transferred to what are known as inter-colonial 
 steamers, and after touching at one or two places, such 
 us Port-au-Prince, the Blue Mountains of Jamaica, 
 with the comparatively new cantonment of New Castle, 
 its houses looking like so many white dots on the green 
 slopes, arrested our faculties of observation, while 
 almost within hail was the long sandy Dune, that with 
 Tort Royal fort and batteries at its extremity, forms 
 the harbour of Kingston. The track for ships is marked 
 within it by huge piles, on each of which sat a medita- 
 tive pelican like a Stylite, digesting its fishy food. 
 Beyond Kingston, and trending upward towards the 
 spurs of the mountain range, was the Plain of Liguanea, 
 about which a tale is told that may be reproduced here. 
 A Jamaica planter, who was also a magnate in the 
 militia of the island (whose uniform was nearly identical 
 with that of some regiments of our line), went tp 
 England, and while there paid his devoir to Her
 
 71 
 
 Majesty at St. James's or Buckingham Palace. He was 
 a tine, soldierly looking man, bronzed by the sun and 
 wind of his native island, and he might easily be taken 
 for a veteran of long service, and so in the crowd an 
 officer of distinction touched his arm and said, " How 
 
 are you , I think w r e've seen some service together 
 
 in the East." The militiaman, much flattered but quite 
 equal to the occasion, replied " Yes, I've seen some hot 
 Avork on the Plains of Liguanea," mystifying his inter- 
 rogator completely. 
 
 While we were at St. Thomas's, to whose highest 
 point I walked or ran to win some " tuppeny- 
 hapeny " bet, we heard that cholera was fearfully 
 rife in Jamaica, and was actually decimating the 
 population. When we arrived we learnt that it was 
 considerably on the decrease, which was comforting; 
 but even then cholera filled men's minds and mouths 
 with the remedies in vogue, such as " P>attley's Sedative," 
 &c. I had a few hours of very much mitigated 
 cholera a few mouths afterwards, and did not enjoy it 
 at all 
 
 The arrival of the bi-monthly mail is of course an 
 event in the town of Kingston ; the mails have to be 
 sorted with alacrity, and then distributed throughout 
 the counties of the island, known locally as " parishes." 
 The Post Office whither I was taken from the wharf 
 was a ramshackle wooden building of fair size, with a 
 large verandah surrounding it ; inside and outside were 
 mules posted, some with saddle bags, and some with 
 saddles. The former were filled presently with letters, 
 the latter \vere tenanted by the black or coloured
 
 72 
 
 couriers, who cantered along at the rate of six or seven 
 miJea an hour over the native roads, which were only 
 here and there good, and having rivers and rivulets to 
 cross frequently. One post office is not very unlike 
 another, save as regards size, and the interior of that of 
 Kingston had no very peculiar features. " Saftly, 
 saftly " is a negro phrase that means " take your time, 
 don't hurry yourself," and I think the clerks had 
 adopted it ; but in any case I was not equal to the task 
 of showing them " a more excellent way," nor were, I 
 think, many of the leading lights in the Secretary's 
 Department. The leading light, there, to whom I was 
 sent for official counsel, told me to go to Liverpool 
 (at my own expense of course), and get coached by Mr. 
 Banning, the then able postmaster of Liverpool, an 
 office of much importance, whose chief received, if I 
 remember rightly, several thousands a year. Mr. 
 Banning received me with great kindness, and when I 
 told him my mission and by whom I was accredited, he 
 said, "I'll show you what I can, and, as suggested, will 
 give you a literal leaf out of each of my books ; but it's 
 no earthly use ; you will swing into your routine in a 
 short time, and if you will take my advice you will go 
 out straight to the races at Aintree," introducing me at 
 the same time to a friend who had a coach starting for 
 that place, on which he gave me a seat. So much for 
 the practical lore of St. Martin's -le-Grand ! Next day 
 I fo.ind Mr. Banning in some trouble ; a large quantitv 
 of stamps had been extracted from the office safe or 
 drawer. Then; was no clue whatever, no one to suspect 
 in particular ; and what do you think Mr. B. did in
 
 this emergency ? Why, he sent for a clairvoyante ! but, 
 as I left Liverpool soon afterwards, I never heard 
 whether the wise woman helped him to recover his losses. 
 I know that one ought here to do a bit of word-painting 
 and try thus to convey one's impressions of Kingston 
 and its surroundings, of Port Royal, made famous by its 
 earthquake in the last century, when some of the 
 engulphed were disgorged by another severe shock, and 
 restored to the land of the living. I hope many will 
 troop out to the coming exhibition at Kingston, Jamaica, 
 and see these scenes for themselves, they will be re- 
 warded. Let me add that whatever people say about 
 the vanished glories of Kingston, " incredulus odi." 
 Ingots of gold and silver may have been common in Port 
 Royal or Harbour Street. Prize money may have been 
 lavishly spent in her streets and stores, but nothing, 
 I fancy, could ever have redeemed the town itself 
 from its endemic ugliness. The streets are or were 
 little better than sandy gullies. The wooden houses 
 with their shingled roofs and seedy looking verandahs, 
 could never have worn an air of smartness, and it is 
 not till you reach the upper part of the town, where the 
 sand is not quite so pervasive, and fountains of water 
 play among the leaves of plantains and bananas, that 
 you find any pretty bits to relieve the sand- sated eye, 
 nor do the negroes and coloured folk add lustre to 
 the landscape, nor yet the busy busses driven by ragged 
 negro boys, who have to ply the lash, and supplement its 
 effects by much shouting and imprecating, to get their 
 well-bred but ill-fed weeds through the Sahara-like 
 streets.
 
 74 
 
 In eight or ten miles in a nortliernly direction from 
 Kingston beauty reveals itself all around. The island 
 (Xamaica in the vernacular, a land of springs, hence 
 Jamaica) is fretted by pellucid brooks. Wood is the 
 natural vesture of the land, whether on mountain or 
 plain, and where wood, alias " bush," has disappeared, 
 human industry and the negro machette have been the 
 clearers. Above is the clear, blue, everlasting empyrean, 
 and with every new zone there is new vegetation. A 
 ride right across the island, undertaken a few days after 
 my arrival, amazed, entranced, and " attonied " me. One 
 gets used to have a few thousand feet of precipice to 
 your right or left, with the murmur of rivers continu- 
 ally present to the ear, while your mount follows the 
 precipitous path, of not more than two or three feet in 
 width, with an unerring precision that soon reconciles 
 you to the situation and allays your rising fears. Some- 
 where about half way we halted at the " pen," or farm 
 of a couple of worthy Danes, of whom the father was, 
 we heard, a hundred and something ; the son, the youth, 
 some seventy or eighty years old ; so that the climate 
 is evidently not fatal to all human life. They gave us 
 home-made mead for our tiffin. It seemed to me a 
 most intoxicating beverage, but its effects were happily 
 not long lived. If I recollect right, we passed by some 
 beautiful sugar estates of Mr. Washington Hibbert's, 
 who had asked me to send him a report about his pro- 
 perty, but I had only one reply in all sush cases, 
 namely this, " Send me out a power of attorney or some 
 such authority to investigate the condition of your 
 estate, so far as I can do so ; but it seems to me some-
 
 75 
 
 what treacherous to accept a planter's hospitality, 
 always freely proffered, and then write, perhaps very 
 disparagingly, behind his back of what you saw or 
 heard." At any rate, the report of an inexperienced 
 person like myself -had little or no value, and might be 
 very misleading. 
 
 Of course woods suggest to the bold Briton preserves 
 and ferce of one kind or another. They certainly did so 
 to me ; and very soon after our arrival in the island, I 
 sallied out after breakfast from the "pen" where I was 
 staying, gun in hand, on the principle that dominates 
 the British breast, according to French and Italian 
 observers of our manners and customs, " It's a fine day, 
 let us go out and kill something." There may be, as 
 Byron sings, 
 
 "A pleasure in the pathless woods," 
 
 but in these woods there was nothing gamier than an 
 odd ground dove or pigeon ; but I plodded on till some 
 barrier or other forced me to make a spring, and that 
 spring landed me among some Yucca spines. I did not 
 get fever after it, but I almost wonder I did not, for 
 these spines are little bayonets. After that no more 
 promiscuous gunning expeditions ! The Yucca gloriosa, 
 that flowers freely and splendidly out there, in a white 
 corona, is very common, and is used on account of its 
 bayonet-like spines for making fences, just as the cactus 
 is employed to protect a newly made bank.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 " I am glad on't ; 'tis a worthy governor ! " 
 
 Shakspeare. 
 
 IN the fifties and sixties Jamaica rejoiced but in one 
 short line of railway, that connected the port of Kings- 
 ton with the court and camp of Spanish Town, where 
 the Governor of the island, who was also Lord High 
 Admiral of certain seas and coasts, and duly decked him- 
 self out in naval uniform on certain functional occasions, 
 dwelt, surrounded by a large official staff, judges, chief 
 justices, members of council, speakers, island secretaries, 
 et hoc genus omne ; for the Council or House of Lords, 
 all " honourable " men (titularly), and the polychrome 
 parliament sat in Spanish Town, and held often high 
 and fierce debate there almost within hearing of Her 
 Majesty's representative. It was my duty of course to 
 go over at once to King's House, and pay my respects 
 to His Excellency the Governor, then Sir Charles Grey, 
 K.C.R., who had been a judge and member of council 
 in India, where " authority " had not, at that time, been 
 undermined by high officials, and where a magnificent 
 bureaucracy exercised a paternal despotism pro bono 
 publico, and the vast and silent increment of many dis- 
 tinguished Scotch families, who found the pagoda tree 
 far pleasanter in its shaking and shade than even the 
 native heaths of Caledonia stern and wild. It was
 
 77 
 
 hardly a good school for the Governor of a colony, the 
 vast majority of whose inhabitants had been but very 
 recently manumitted, and who required to be consider- 
 ably levelled up, ere they could be considered tit for 
 the constitutional charter suddenly accorded to them 
 by the Queen and her Parliament. 
 
 This constitutional question may possibly crop up 
 hereafter ; so we must proceed forthwith, and without 
 further preamble, to King's House, a fine, large, white 
 stone building, that occupied one side of a sort of quadri- 
 lateral, in which red tape ruled supreme. There were, 
 of course, the usual black sentries supplied by the West 
 India Eegiment quartered at Spanish Town, keeping 
 watch and ward in front. Within, the thick walls and 
 the cultivated obscurity produced a pleasant sense of 
 coolness, and when we had been duly vised by A.D.C.'s 
 and ushers, his Excellency notified his being " at 
 home," and we were forthwith shown into his official 
 study upstairs. 
 
 I cannot say that I had ever before envisaged an 
 " Excellency," the representative of the Majesty of 
 England, who was armed with very great powers, and 
 who was for the time being yorr actual Sovereign. 
 Three minutes, nay one minute, quite sufficed to make 
 the shyest stranger perfectly at home in the presence 
 and society of one of the most genial and agreeable men 
 I have ever come across in my travels ; stout, short, and 
 grizzled, and dressed more Indico, in white nankeen 
 from top to toe, Sir Charles Grey made you thoroughly 
 at home at once. " Luncheon ! Of course you'll stay 
 for luncheon." And then came any amount of wise
 
 78 
 
 and witty anecdotes and reminiscences from a magazine 
 apparently inexhaustible. My father had been at 
 Winchester and Christchurch, Oxon, he could not recall 
 him, he said, but my uncle, Mr. Morris JReade, had been 
 at Eton and Christchurch, and they had apparently 
 been friends and " pals " at the former place, so litre 
 was a link in the social chain ready forged and made. 
 " Have you read ' Bleak House/ " he asked us ? Of 
 course we had read the volume, for who would be in 
 arrear with any production of Charles Dickens's ? 
 " Then, you recollect Jarndyce v. Jarndyce and the 
 chancery suit, and so on. Now, I'm Jarndyce v. Jarn- 
 dyce," and I believe the Governor was at the time 
 having very unpleasantly strained relations with the 
 High Court of Chancery in England. His son, Captain 
 Grey, E.A., was his Military Secretary, he, too, was a 
 very pleasant, agreeable person ; and au reste, it was a 
 bachelor's house at the vice-regal mansion, as Lady 
 Grey was in England with her family. Let me add 
 here that Sir Charles Grey occupied the usual cool 
 perch in the Spanish Town hills, where he received his 
 friends en petit comite, and made everything as agreeable 
 as a well-bred, genial host could do. As I know nothing 
 or next to nothing on the subject, I will not pretend to 
 criticise his administration, but I should think that such 
 a good judge of human nature as he was, and of the 
 motives that animate mortal breasts, whether in London 
 or Spanish Town, must have taken a leaf from the open 
 book of his great predecessor Sir Charles, afterwards 
 Lord Metcalfe, who accepted the Government of 
 Jamaica in a time of great emergency; and this leaf
 
 79 
 
 made it clear that the table is even a more powerful 
 factor in Government than the de.sk. That the lean and 
 hungry Cassius is apt to turn a conspirator against the 
 existing re'f/ime, that champagne is the very best solvent 
 of political asperities, and that Lafitte is sometimes 
 more efficacious than logic. 
 
 The Governor of the island of Jamaica had absolutely 
 no control whatever over the department of the Post 
 Office which was entirely subject to the sway of the 
 Postmaster-General, whom I had the honour of repre- 
 senting ; but, curiously enough, he had the nomination 
 to the clerkships in the Kingston Office, clerkships 
 which I may add were very liberally endowed. 
 
 I recollect well how on the occasion of a vacancy in 
 my staff, through the resignation of a very able officer 
 who had gone on leave to England, and did not wish to 
 return, on account of his health, T rather think, I 
 went over at once to Spanish Town to consult Sir 
 Charles on the subject, and ask him how he wished 
 the patronage to be given and how, when I broached 
 the subject, he replied very characteristically, "Look 
 here, my dear fellow, it's your interest to fill your office 
 with as good men as you can find out here, so dispose 
 of the vacancy yourself. I did fill it up, and may add 
 that my appointee, now high in office in Jamaica, 
 Mr. Livingstone, proved a most admirable selection 
 high-minded, zealous, and honourable qualities rare 
 enough in the Antilles, as I found out afterwards to 
 my cost. I have not often been tempted by bribes or 
 douceurs. I was very liberally tempted on the occasion 
 of this vacant berth.
 
 80 
 
 Having presented Governor Grey in his most genial 
 aspect, it is only fair to give the reverse of the medal. 
 India had made him something of an autocrat, and his 
 experiences as a judge and (I think) a Member of 
 Council there, had somewhat accentuated his tenden- 
 cies in that direction ; he was a good classical scholar, 
 and no doubt imbibed with his cultivation of Horatian 
 poetry something of that satirist's undisguised con- 
 tempt for merely popular judgments. " Odi profanum 
 vulgus et arceo " is often recollected when other 
 monitions by the same authority are forgotten, and his 
 lashings of that many headed beast the multitude, 
 " Bellua multorum es capitum," hangs in the memory 
 for many years. 
 
 Sir Charles could not absolutely govern through his 
 Council, for the House of Assembly had. and held 
 tightly, the power of the purse, and this House of 
 Assembly returned not a few blatant orators who, in 
 their coloured and dusky physiognomies and in some 
 cases fine castes of countenance, where the Semitic 
 cross was visible, showed that they were the chosen 
 leaders of the race that had been held in bondage so 
 long, and denied the benefit of free institutions. In 
 the same house were Jews, representing the commerce 
 of the country, and planters who posed as territorial 
 magnates, either owning sugar estates themselves or 
 representing proprietors in England. It was a sort of 
 political salad or olio in which the opposing elements 
 did not blend very kindly together; the coloured 
 section suspecting the planters, and the planters re- 
 taining something, even involuntarily, of the ancient
 
 81 
 
 arrogance of unlimited power and pride of racial 
 purity, and, in their estimation, superiority. The 
 English Government, having granted emancipation, 
 was extremely anxious to raise the status of their 
 nnancipados, and lost no opportunity of appointing 
 to office such coloured men as education and natural 
 capacity had fitted for such positions; thus the 
 Solicitor-General, Mr. Heslop, a man who had distin- 
 guished himself greatly at Oxford, was called up from 
 the Bar of the Island to work for the Government ; 
 several of the stipendiary magistrates, of whom Mr. 
 Hill, the naturalist, was a bright ornament, had black 
 rather than blue blood in their veins ; and, if I mistake 
 not, one or two Members of Council were of the popular 
 mixture. 
 
 The old bottles had, in many cases, been put aside as 
 having served their generation " marines," in fact, who 
 had done their duty and certainly the new wine of 
 liberty had been put freely into new bottles. But the 
 great majority of the higher officials were of the old 
 bottle class still, and it required much tact and dis- 
 cretion to steer the constitutional coach with such fiery 
 and explosive elements for its freight. The explosion 
 came when the House of Assembly took upon itself to 
 send a very disrespectful message to Sir Charles Grey, 
 to which he replied somewhat laconically and very 
 severely, and the upshot of the matter was that the 
 Lower House refused to transact business with a 
 Governor who did not appreciate their readings of the 
 constitution, and told them his mind and opinion very 
 plainly, using no circumlocution in his estimate of 
 
 L
 
 82 
 
 these unruly members. The impasse, was solved by 
 Sir Charles's resignation of the Government and de- 
 parture from the island to America. I will not 
 attempt to pronounce an opinion as to whether a little 
 suaviter in modo, alias soft sawder, might not have 
 soothed semi-savage breasts, and averted this constitu- 
 tional crisis. Sir Charles, after some considerable time, 
 returned to Jamaica for a few months, most of which 
 he spent at the Milk Eiver Bath, in the parish or 
 county of Vere, on the southern coast of the island. 
 This Milk Eiver Bath is an admirable institution of 
 the island, founded in the old days of slavery, and en- 
 dowed with a certain revenue, and it is said to be a 
 sovereign specific for maladies of the blood that take 
 the shape of gout or rheumatism, according to the con- 
 stitution of the sufferer or that of his forbears ; very 
 fine stone baths have been cut out close to the 
 medicinal springs that flow eventually into the Milk 
 Eiver a wide, sluggish stream, that forms at its 
 estuary a big lagoon, where alligators take their 
 pastime and prey, and from whose mangrove-tree 
 branches you can pick as many small oysters as you 
 care to eat. 
 
 The Bath is open to all sufferers of whatever degree 
 or condition. There is a large caravanserai attached 
 to it, where free lodgings are at the patients' service, 
 a limited amount of attendance, and beds and bedding 
 d discretion. Moreover, the black Styx, on the western 
 shore of which the Bath is situated, has its Charon and 
 ferry-boat, and, so far as I know, he can claim no 
 obolus for his services, in bringing visitors to and fro,
 
 83 
 
 being part of the institution, and a very necessary part 
 too. I recollect very clearly through a vista of many 
 years (would I could make their burden less !) how x 
 the present General R. Hay, of the Academy, Wool- 
 wich, then a captain of Gunners at Port Royal, gave 
 me the pleasure of his society in a drive to this Bath 
 to pay a visit of a day or two, according to promise, to 
 Sir Charles. So far as I can recollect we did the first 
 stage from Kingston to Spanish Town in the very early 
 morning, ere the sun had done much of his survey of 
 the firmament. At Spanish Town we enjoyed rest and 
 second breakfast, with, perchance, cigars and a siesta ; 
 then we drove to Vere village (the county capital) 
 where we halted, and, sending the nigger, who took 
 care of the spare horses, up some cocoanut trees, we 
 regaled ourselves with the water of the fruit, which, 
 properly blended and tempered, is delicious. While at 
 Vere a planter introduced himself to us and made us 
 promise that we would not pass by his gate, on our way 
 to the Bath, but come in and refresh ourselves. When 
 we came to his gate, of which he had given us the bear- 
 ings very accurately, we drove up the avenue and saw 
 our host in the distance very busy discharging his gun 
 at what we conceived must be chickens, which, made 
 into cutlets or " spatched," are the impromptu food of 
 all strangers in the extreme country, on days when 
 butchers' meat is not conveniently accessible, banyan 
 days in fact. We gathered that he was going to give 
 us a sumptuous repast of many cocks and hens judging 
 by his energy, and already we began to fear that we 
 should arrive very late at the Bath, which was a good 
 
 L 2
 
 84 
 
 many miles, of indifferent roads, distant. When we 
 got near the gunner we saw him pick up a peacock 
 that he had shot, and he informed us that it was meant 
 as a present for the late Governor, so there was no 
 variation played oc the eternal chicken theme, and no 
 delay to fear in the cooking ; that was comforting, but 
 we had already lost precious time in this diversion, 
 and though our host refreshed us royally, we should 
 never have made the promise of coming to his place. 
 Leagues get no shorter after one has put thirty-five or 
 forty dull miles behind one ; and so it fortuned that our 
 last few miles were done very slowly in the dark ; and 
 when we were directed to leave the road and grope our 
 way as best we could through a forest of cashaw trees till 
 we reached the ferry by the banks of the black stream 
 that, on the Incus a non luc.etido principle, is styled the 
 Milk River, we obeyed orders and found ourselves on 
 the wrong bank of the darkling river, while neither 
 ferry-boat nor Charon was available ; in vain we roared 
 and shouted, echo mocked us, but no ferryman re- 
 sponded to our cries ; and the situation became ex- 
 tremely unpleasant. To make things worse we had 
 seen our first alligator that day occupying a shallow 
 in a lagoon close to the King's or Queen's highway ; 
 the cayman retreated into adjacent weeds and rushes 
 when we threw stones at him 'tis true, but if he had 
 chosen to initiate the attack where should we have 
 been ? and I mind that the saurian looked a very large 
 and uiR-iiniiy beast. \Ve had heard or read that the 
 alligator gave forth an odour of musk, and sure enough 
 
 o o * o 9 
 
 from the water below us emanated a regular incense of
 
 85 
 
 that perfume. We held a council of war as to the 
 best way of getting out of our dilemma, and it was 
 decided that we should request our dusky attendant to 
 swirn across the stream to the opposite bank, for we 
 argued that Charon could not carry off the ferry-boat to 
 his cottage, and that our darkey deliverer could row it 
 back for us ; this proposal, however, proved abortive,, 
 for Quashie averred that he could not swim probably 
 a terrible tarradiddle on his part, for every blackinan 
 is almost a born swimmer, and takes to the water like 
 a duck. " Bob " Hay declared he would rather run the 
 risk (almost a certainty) of fever, by camping out in 
 the wood all night ; so there was nothing for it but to 
 take off my clothes and plunge in ; a few strong strokes 
 brought me across, the alligators proved wholly inno- 
 cuous, if there were any there at all, and I rowed back 
 having been successfully venturesome for once. Quashie 
 held on to the horses and trap till we could send assis- 
 tance, and in a few minutes Sir Charles Grey, to whom 
 we told our doleful tale, sent his servants to. aid ours,, 
 while he made us thoroughly comfortable and snug in 
 his apartments. 
 
 This was my first and last alligator scare. I never 
 saw a big one caught, though I believe Captain St. 
 John, R.E., who had left Jamaica before my advent, 
 used to have some sport in hooking these monsters. 
 The first step, I've been told, for the gunner to take is 
 to get a youug pig, and tie him to a tree near the bank 
 of the river ; his incessant squeaks prove a magnet to 
 the alligators of the district who troop towards the noise, 
 when the ambushed gunner can shoot them, or fire at
 
 86 
 
 them. I never saw a practical proof of this cruel 
 device. Whenever I was in an alligator country I 
 heard curious tales of their recurring raids, and of their 
 positively carrying off laundresses at work in river or 
 lagoon, but I can't say I ever met any one who was an 
 actual eye-witness of these alligator atrocities. 
 
 1 quite forget how many judges there were in Jamaica. 
 Two personalties, however, have left indelible impres- 
 sions on my memory. The Chief Justice, Sir Joshua 
 Howe, and his wife, Lady Howe, were pillars of the 
 social state in my time. Sir Joshua was a tall, distin- 
 guished looking man, somewhat slow of speech, as 
 became a dignitary whose utterances are important, but 
 with a very fine presence, and an air of natural com- 
 mand, he well maintained the status of the Bench by 
 his grave deportment and dignified manners. He had 
 been sent out a young barrister, perhaps not over- 
 whelmed with briefs or business from England by the 
 Lord Chancellor of the day I think, Lord Brougham 
 and the House of Assembly, who knew nothing of 
 Mr. Eowe, and who probably had a favourite of their 
 own, whose nomination they would have much pre- 
 ferred, showed their resentment at the appointment by 
 declining to vote him any salary. Meantime, Mr. and 
 Mrs. Eowe liver! very quietly, and made many friends. 
 Mr. Eowe did the work of a chief justice without its 
 emoluments for a couple of years or three, and with 
 such efficiency, dignity, and straightforward honesty 
 that he was generally felt to be the right man in the 
 right place, and the Parliamentary recusants turned 
 round, and voted his salary for the future and the past,
 
 87 
 
 by which means Sir Joshua and Lady Rowe (when 
 knighted I know not) came into possession of a nice 
 round sum to commence their housekeeping on, and, 
 without waste or profusion, they lived handsomely and 
 most hospitably, and were institutions in Jamaica, 
 commanding an immense deal of esteem and respect 
 there. Sir Joshua Rowe was almost the only official 
 that I can recollect who, at the end of a long and 
 honourable career, left the island with a handsome 
 amount of money, the savings of his official life. 
 
 The other wearer of the judicial ermine who was 
 eminently social was Judge Macdougal, the kindest 
 and most considerate of men, especially to the young 
 ladies of Spanish Town, who could always prevail on 
 " the Judge " to give them a ball or dance at his house, 
 whenever official functions were going on at Spanish 
 Town, and soldiers and sailors filled its houses and 
 streets. On one occasion this extreme good nature 
 brought Mr. Macdougal into some little temporary 
 trouble, for it would appear there had been a conviction 
 for a capital crime, and the unfortunate malefactor or 
 malefactress was to be hanged in Spanish town on the 
 very day after the ball, in the early morning, probably, 
 when the gay revellers would be seeking their homes, 
 " The Judge " had forgotten this in granting the favour 
 which beauty had besought of him, but not so the Chief 
 Justice, who sent him a letter commenting rather sharply 
 on the indecency of judicial festivities on such an awful 
 occasion ! It was too late to put off the guests le vin 
 ent tire, il faut le boire so the unfortunate host had to 
 retire penitentially to his own room all night long, and
 
 88 
 
 get somebody else to "receive" for him. The Chief 
 Justice, it will thus be seen, laid down the law in all 
 matters, and being an admitted authority, no one would 
 dispute the correctness of his decisions, which, by the 
 way, were generally just and fair. Most men would 
 have been spoilt by such extreme deference to a rather 
 arbitrary will. He was not, nor yet by the hodiernal 
 homage of his wife 1 , who, herself a social queen, yet 
 worshipped her husband. He was generally spoken of 
 as " the chief," and on one occasion, when a black boys' 
 and girls' Sunday School class was being examined by 
 some august visitors, this query was put by one of them 
 to an intelligent looking boy, namely, " Who was styled 
 the Chief of Sinners in the Scriptures? 1 ' " Why, Sir 
 Joshua" exclaimed the ebony youth ; " him de chief." 
 On another occasion, when an infant school was being 
 put through its facings by a cockney schoolmistress 
 (who was notorious for her transposition and displace- 
 ment of the unfortunate letter H), for the benefit of the 
 visitors the examiner said, " Tell me, Seraphina, what 
 does the letter L" (she called it hell) "stand for?" 
 " Why, for Lady Eowe, to be sure," said the intelligent 
 young innocent, to the general consternation. Sir 
 Joshua was, I believe, only cornered and " coralled " 
 once in his own court in Jamaica, and that was on this 
 wise. The Attorney-General of the island was the very 
 antithesis of the grave, reverend, and somewhat solemn 
 Sir Joshua. He was short, slight, and wiry of build, 
 not very soignd in his dress, and, though a man of old 
 Celtic family, was not too particular sometimes in 
 observing all the liaistances of life. He had been a fellow
 
 89 
 
 worker with the great Daniel O'Connell, " the Liberator," 
 and probably the Lichfield Pact enabled him to send 
 out Mr. Dowell O'Keilly as Attorney-General to 
 Jamaica. His brother was afterwards made a judge in 
 Jamaica, but he had little of the strong individuality of 
 the attorney. Well the Court at Kingston was sitting 
 late on the Wednesday in Passion Week, and Sir Joshua 
 from the bench proposed to adjourn it till the following 
 Friday, when the Mr. Attorney, twitching up his gown, 
 rose and said: " Certainly, your Honour, you may adjourn 
 the Court till Friday next, if you please to do so, but I 
 can tell you that no judge has ever ventured to hold his 
 Court on that awful anniversary since Pontius Pilate !" 
 
 There was another judge, Mr. Charles Farquharson, 
 who, a Creole of Jamaica, and a scion of one of its first 
 families, like those of Virginia and Maryland in the 
 States, was a very clever, witty man, and universally 
 popular. He realised the old apophthegm, that it is better 
 to be born lucky than rich, for his good fortune was 
 almost proverbial. Once, travelling in Scotland, he 
 made himself very agreeable to a stray acquaintance, a 
 laird, whose destination was identical with his own. 
 They were no traceable relations, but both rejoiced in 
 the name of Farquharson. Some time afterwards the 
 laird died, and left the judge the bulk of his estate. I 
 used the word " Creole " just now. It has nothing 
 whatever to do with race, class, or colour ; it simply 
 means " born in the country " a native and applies to 
 quadrupeds as well as bipeds. 
 
 So much about Spanish Town and its official aristocracy, 
 but ere we leave its low and lethargic latitudes, another
 
 90 
 
 figure and family should be presented, namely, that of 
 Mr. Walter George Stewart, the Island, or rather the 
 Deputy Island Secretary, for the patentee of the office 
 was Mr. Greville, Clerk of the Privy Council dining 
 two reigns, who combined a love of reading and writing 
 (and how well he could write and how interestingly 
 hu> memoirs tell us), with much horse racing, into 
 which he seems to have gained as much insight as 
 most men of his day. Mr. Stewart was Irish by family, 
 and had married in the island. He was a widower at 
 the time I refer to, but his two daughters were among 
 the smartest spinsters of the period, and the eldest even 
 then showed signs of the talent which she has mani- 
 fested conspicuously in after life. She married, en 
 premiere noce, Captain, afterwards created Sir William. 
 Barker, R.A., who was on the Governor's staff in 
 Jamaica, and who was conspicuous, not only for his 
 gallantry in the Crimea, but also for his humanity, as 
 his battery horses were generally supposed to have been 
 the best cared for in our Army. She afterwards married 
 an Australian, saw many parts of the globe, and then 
 took to literature and lecturing. The second married 
 Mr. Austin, the Governor's secretary. Mr. Stewart's 
 house was among the pleasantest going. The Stewarts 
 had some cousins of the name of Bernard, who emigrated 
 to Canada, where they did well one sister marrying 
 the Patent Premier, Sir John Macdonald, who seemed to 
 be indispensable to " the Dominion," while her brother 
 made his activity and energy felt in organizing the 
 Militia. 
 
 Kingston was then the commercial centre of the
 
 91 
 
 island, the home of its banks and business, while its 
 harbour invited commerce, and was the depot for 
 steamers from several quarters, amongst others from the 
 States. Hence, as may be imagined, there was more 
 busy life in Kingston than in the sleepy solitudes of 
 Spanish town, where red tape was as conspicuous as 
 the Union Jack (only more so). I believe Kingston 
 was fairly healthy, considering how slightly the science 
 of sanitation was understood or even investigated 
 there. The two currents, the sea breeze and the land 
 breeze, alternated almost as regularly as the tides of 
 ocean, tempering the heat, and giving us varied 
 ventilation; and the town itself, sloping down sea- 
 wards, had capital natural drainage. Of course, like 
 all ports, it took its early plagues with its early news, 
 but I am not sure that yellow fever, the bete noire of 
 these zones, that paid its recurring visits every two or 
 three years, was a bit more deadly in Kingston than 
 anywhere else, though, of course, it was more talked 
 of and in evidence from the numbers and the publicity 
 of a city. The mountain zones were, I believe, so far 
 as I could ascertain, entirely free from the visitant 
 scourge, but any denizen of the peaks and passes wha 
 came down to the lowlands and caught it there, would 
 gain nothing by a return to the hills. There was 
 nothing infectious in its nature., we were told by the 
 men of science, nothing contagious; it was a quasi- 
 decimating destiny ; if you were to have it, you got it ; 
 if not, not. No care, precision, or temperance averted 
 it apparently. Of course, every European who came 
 out to Jamaica had, more or less, yellow jack on the
 
 92 
 
 brain. I recollect well how a young army surgeon who 
 vras attached to the cantonment of " the white regi- 
 ment " at New Castle, Sir William Gomm's celebrated 
 sanitorium, and who had not made either his head or 
 his stomach sufficiently well for his sundry soldierly 
 symposia, used to believe firmly that he had suffered 
 from the dread vomito more than once ; the lact being 
 that in the tropics you are generally awoke at an 
 extremely early hour by having a cup of coffee brought 
 to your bedside, and as milk was scarce in those high 
 latitudes, even the milk of the gentle goat, he probably 
 got cafe noir, which seems not to have assimilated 
 with everything else, hence the vomito which he 
 ascribed to a mitigated form of the fever ! Among the 
 curiosities of yellow fever, I may mention one instance 
 whr-ch is perfectly true, and could be vouched for by 
 hundreds if necessary. A young lady had come out 
 from Northern Britain to join her relations in Jamaica 
 who were extensive merchants, and lived in the higher 
 part of the town of Kingston. She caught this fever, 
 was duly doctored and nursed, and apparently died. 
 Interment succeeds death very promptly in the Antilles, 
 and the inhabitants are as solicitous for a fine funeral 
 as are the natives of another island in a more temperate 
 latitude called Ireland. Hence invitations to funerals 
 are promptly printed off, with the usual notice, " Please 
 let your carriage attend." In this lady's case, the 
 notices were printed off, and, I believe, despatched, 
 when A nurse, THE nurse, I suppose, seeing a bottle of 
 champagne on a table, with a good deal remaining in 
 it, poured it down the defunct damosel's throat. After
 
 93 
 
 a time, there was a stir among the dry bones, life and 
 animation returned ultimately, and who will say after 
 this experience that the American phrase, a " corpse 
 reviver " is altogether a misnomer ? Even Milton 
 talked about strains of music potent to " create a soul 
 under the ribs of death." The lady afterwards married, 
 and, I make no doubt, was ever after happy. Here is 
 another true tale of this terrible fever. Henry Houston 
 Shirley, whose family owned fine rich, sugar estates on 
 the north side of the island, that in the good old days 
 yielded splendid revenues, came out and settled on his 
 property, and lived the life of a planter and a country 
 gentleman. He was a charming fellow, well educated, 
 accomplished, and good-looking, a lover of sport, and a 
 good sportsman, shooting much on his side of the 
 island where the practice is not dangerous. Fearing 
 that " the new democracy " might swamp the planting 
 interest in the House of Assembly, he got returned as a 
 member, took his seat, and for distraction went out 
 duck shooting on the Caymanas Estate, between 
 Kingston and Spanish town, Lord Howard de Walden's 
 property. Here he caught a fever, which turned out of 
 the yellow type. I did not hear of it for several hours, 
 and when I did, as there was no train available, I drove 
 over, and I went to see my poor dear friend. He did 
 not look ill, but his articulation seemed to be slightly 
 affected, and pulling me towards him in the. bed, he 
 strove to say something in my ear, which I could not 
 quite realise. His strength seemed so good, and so 
 little sign of serious illness was there about him, that 
 in the evening I left him, and went to dine somewhere
 
 94 
 
 at " the chief's," I think. Next morning, rising about 
 five, I went to his lodgings ; 'twas too late, for he had 
 died during the night. I did not know then that the 
 stoppage of speech was a very bad sign of the malady. 
 Poor Henry Houston Shirley ! A few more men of his 
 stamp living in the island continuously during the past 
 thirty years might have, in some measure, arrested its 
 downward tendency. 
 
 This yellow fever digression has taken me away from 
 Kingston, to which I must go back a bit. Since the 
 days of Penn and Venables' conquest and Eodney's 
 victories, the Port Eoyal harbour has been a statio bene- 
 fida carinis of H.M. service, and often visited in the 
 course of cruises. In the Plains of Liguanea there 
 was an Admiral's " pen " or park, laid out on a fine 
 scale, and on one of the spurs of the Blue Mountain 
 ranges there was a home for the Commodore of the 
 station, and a sort of sanatorium for invalids. 
 
 Our Array, too, was not forgotten, for Headquarter 
 House, towards the upper part of Kingston, was a fine 
 well-built mansion, with very thick walls, and a certain 
 coolness caused by fending off the sun's excessive 
 brilliancy. It was meant to be a home of hospitality, 
 especially for soldiers, for, if I recollect right, the table 
 money allowance was no less than 1,800 a year. At 
 this time it was occupied by a remarkable and certainly 
 a very great man (in one sense), who had had perhaps 
 more extended experiences than any man in the service, 
 having tried almost every variety of the life military in 
 his turn. He was full of anecdotes himself, but was 
 the subject or hero of infinitely more, some of which
 
 95 
 
 were peculiar and need not be dwelt on. I made his 
 acquaintance a day or two after my arrival, as he had 
 some departmental complaint to make, and as this man 
 mountain could not come to the Mahomet of redress 
 upstairs in his office (myself), Mahomet, of course, went 
 down to interview him in his carriage outside, and hear 
 his literary grievances. The next time I saw him was 
 I think, at Headquarter House, when he was having a 
 rather early dinner in which he begged rne to join him. 
 I had lunched late, or was not hungry, or was going to 
 dine elsewhere, when he almost insisted, adding " I 
 tell you what, young man, if you had gone through 
 life as I have, you would never refuse the offer of a 
 dinner, for I never knew when I might get the next, 
 and my rule through my career has been never to 
 refuse a feed, even if I had eaten several before, in the 
 course of the day." He had a wonderful share of 
 mental activity, in spite of the too too solid flesh that 
 encumbered his frame, and made his weight consider- 
 ably more than twenty stone (I think twenty-seven was 
 about the thing). He was a good card-player, and if 
 he did not teach his A.D.C.'s or military secretary much 
 strategy, he kept them well up to their whist. A propos 
 of his card playing, a story is told of him when he 
 commanded a battalion of the 60th Itifles (if I 
 remember rightly). I am writing of General Bunbury. 
 The corps was inspected with the usual result of 
 considerable commendation for its smartness, efficiency, 
 and soldierly bearing, but the General of the District 
 in a semi-private conversation with the Commanding 
 Officer told him he had been distressed to hear that
 
 96 
 
 gambling prevailed to a lamentable extent among his 
 officers, and hoped the rumour lacked foundation. 
 " Indeed it does, General," said the clever Colonel, " I 
 never allow gambling in my regiment except for ready 
 money, and there has been very little of that in the 
 corps for some time, as I won it all." 
 
 Soon after his arrival in Jamaica, as it was perfectly 
 impossible that General Bunbury could be taken up the 
 corkscrewy steeps that lead for several miles to the 
 cantonment at New Castle, where the white regiment 
 
 * o 
 
 bides its time of masterly inaction till the order for 
 embarkation for " England, Home, and beauty " arrives in 
 due course, General Bunbury drove in his carriage as 
 far as the foot of the mountains, and had the men 
 paraded for inspection as best he could and they could. 
 He had sent up a charger he meant to ride on the 
 occasion to the same little bit of level ground, but 
 when he mounted him, the patient animal felt he was 
 wholly unequal to the big burden and subsided bodily, 
 so that the carriage had to be resorted to. He used it 
 as a rostrum, telling the men how thankful they should 
 l)e for this mountain Hygeia, and that a live jackass 
 was far more important than a dead lion. This was 
 not General Bunbury's first experience of command in 
 the West Indies ; he had had a minor one previously, 
 and had a great card duel (piquet or e'carte, probably) 
 with a native on the day previous to his going on leave 
 for a few months. Luck was against him, so he paid 
 his opponent the greater part of his debt in current 
 coin of the realm, but added something about pecuniary 
 pressure at the moment, and said that he would send
 
 97 
 
 him a handsome equivalent. This came by-and-bye in 
 a piece of domestic furniture which is more useful than 
 ornamental, or even valuable as an article of sale or 
 exchange. Colonel Bunbury in the course of the 
 months returned, and in the course of cards won a 
 small stake from his old friend who said nothing at the 
 time, but sent him back next day the missing link in 
 the furniture of his house. General Bunbury was 
 faithfully nursed in an illness by " Mother Seacole," so 
 honourably conspicuous a figure in the Crimea ! I 
 believe she accompanied him to England when his term 
 had expired. As no cabin companion-ladder could 
 possibly admit this great General, a deck house had to 
 be built for him. His son started originally on his 
 staff, but as he desired to marry a very charming lady, 
 he gave him his congd at once. This son was a favourite 
 pupil of the great Lablache. 
 
 The other Generals who commanded in Jamaica, 
 during my decade, were not such remarkable personal- 
 ties as General Bunbury, though General Bell was 
 much liked there, so we need not refer to them. 
 Among the Deputy Assistant Adjutant-Generals who 
 were on the staff during those years, two were rathei 
 remarkable : for Colonel Tidy was eminently a staff 
 man, and a smart one too. He was not a plutocrat, but 
 did everything well; rode veil, played billiards well, 
 sang a lictle and not out of tune and was very agree- 
 able generally, being well read and having seen a good 
 deal of the world, especially that part of it under 
 British influence. Colonel Tidy was a general favourite, 
 and his tact prevented any rows in this peppery com- 
 
 If
 
 98 
 
 mand, and kept the military machine comparatively 
 free from friction. A man such as this is, or ought to 
 be, pretty sure of employment at the Horse Guards at 
 home, and he found it. He had married a very charm- 
 ing young lady connected with Jamaica, and I dined 
 with them once or twice at their house, a good long 
 way to the northward of the Horse Guards. In those 
 days, officers did not very often avail themselves of the 
 humble and homely 'bus, at least staff officers did not ; 
 but Colonel Tidy, like a sensible man, availed himself 
 of his opportunities, among which he counted the 
 business 'bus. He said his chief used to poke much 
 fun at him for his adoption of this popular means of 
 travelling. He had never been in one, and professed to 
 be inquisitive as to which etid you got in at. Things 
 are changed somewhat now, and common sense has 
 come more to the front, for I heard a smart cavalry 
 soldier say the other day that he intended to avail him- 
 self largely of 'buses, and their aid in making his 
 inspections (he inspected infantry). 
 
 Another Deputy-Assistant Adjutant-General on the 
 Jamaica staff was Colonel Reynolds, who was the hero 
 or victim of the blackbottle affair in the llth Hussars, 
 at the time they were commanded by Lord Cardigan. 
 He was out of harness for a long time on account of 
 this little esclandre, but latterly got reinstated, and sent 
 out to Jamaica to fill this berth. A most cheery 
 pleasant companion, full of conversation, and withal 
 kind and hospitable, I can well understand that the 
 faery soul that informed his tenement of clay only 
 wanted occasion to arouse it to its old pitches. He
 
 99 
 
 took a mountain perch rather less steep than many, for 
 his hill had a bit of plateau on its top. He had con- 
 sulted me about the nigger idiosyncrasies, and I hi d 
 told him that if thefortiter in re were absolutely neces- 
 sary and unavoidable, no time should be lost, and that 
 attack was better than defence in such cases. 
 
 Soon after this he asked me to come to his mountain 
 retreat and dine and sleep there, I accepted the 
 suggestion, and his black butler, a respectable youth, 
 who had had leave for some hours only returned in 
 time to lay the cloth, &c., for our dinner. Colonel 
 Eeynolds was new comparatively to the ways of the 
 island, and had, of course, laid in a stock of those most 
 essential fowls that lay eggs for you, and give you 
 broth, cutlets, poulet a la Marengo, &c. Now, fowls 
 knew how to take very good care of themselves, and 
 though there are no fox foes in the colony to kill them, 
 rarely wander very far from their billets, and keep 
 fairly regular hours. In the course of dinner, Colonel 
 Eeynolds told his servant that he could not see his birds 
 when he returned, and asked where he thought they 
 had strayed to. " Spose, massa, dem out walking," was 
 the reply. Now " walking " is the purely technical word 
 to apply to such an occasion ; but the gallant colonel 
 conceived that the man was laughing at him, and was 
 with difficulty restrained from annihilating him then 
 and there ! Reason at last, however, triumphed ! He 
 was unfortunate in putting the Colonel of the 41st, 
 Julius Goodwyn, C.B., one of the survivors of Inker- 
 man, where his corps had fought valiantly, under arrest, 
 just as the Welsh regiment was embarking for England. 
 
 M 2
 
 100 
 
 What the precise merits of the case were I have for- 
 gotten, but Goodwyn was fully justified, I believe, on 
 his return home. Colonel Reynolds would have led 
 a forlorn hope, charged guns, or ridden at a square, I 
 feel assured, and wrested victory if possible by courage 
 and devotion. But after all no soldier in our service 
 fights for more than a few days or weeks, as a rule, 
 during his career, hence courage is only one of his great 
 qualities. 
 
 Another conspicuous figure on the cotemporary 
 canvas was Colonel, afterwards General, Whitfield, 
 who commanded the 2nd West India Regiment, a 
 splendid set of Zouaves, who looked upon their colonel 
 as their father and chief. They were mostly, if not 
 entirely, Africans, and would have followed him 
 through the tempest of battle or anywhere. Colonel 
 Whitfield was justly proud of them, and their dis- 
 cipline, and his great ambition was to be allowed to 
 bring them out of their routine track of service in 
 Caribbean seas, and on the coasts of Africa, to Europe 
 or India, and their possible battle-fields the aspira- 
 tion was never gratified. These black troops were 
 very quiet and inoffensive for the most part ; but let 
 civilians wound them in a susceptible point, and they 
 swept them away like so much chaff with their belts. 
 Their band, which I think had the honor of playing at 
 one of the Kensingtonneries, was a very effective one, and 
 the men in some cases could whistle like la Idle sifflevse 
 herself. Colonel Whitfield was a thorough soldier, and 
 I believe there was nothing in the soldier's domain that 
 he did not try to master and succeeded too. His .motto
 
 101 
 
 might have been a paraphrase of the famous Hue of 
 Terence 
 
 " Miles sum niliil militare a me alienum puto." 
 
 He got a command in China that tore him from his 
 beloved blacks. 
 
 I think it was of Colonel Whitfield that they told 
 the story which, if it sound somewhat strong, and even 
 bordering on the profane according to our educated 
 intellects, yet was pitched in a key which these 
 barbarians understood. The men of his regiment 
 somewhere or other got terribly depressed, and an 
 epidemic of suicide seemed on the point of breaking 
 out generally, when the colonel had his men paraded 
 promptly, and told them, in language comprehensible 
 to their understandings, that suicide would not release 
 them from flogging, drills, cr any military coruecs, for 
 that though they might fancy he could not follow them 
 to the depths below, he had that power, and would 
 have every man who had cut his throat severely flogged. 
 The harangue, if not defensible on the common grounds 
 of morality, had a capital effect on the men's minds, 
 and checked the eviL 
 
 Most of the Kingston merchants and professional 
 men lived in " pens " or park-like villas, either at the 
 top of the town, where fountains constantly played 
 among the huge green foliage of plantains and bananas, 
 cooling the atmosphere and refreshing the eye, or else, 
 more or less, under the spurs of the Blue Mountains. 
 The post office, unfortunately, was very near the sea- 
 board, admirably situated to be sure for its distributor}*
 
 102 
 
 functions, but incommodiously for the enjoyment of 
 life. There was a very fine suite of rooms in the 
 building at the service of the Deputy Postmaster- 
 General of the island, and I was informed that my 
 predecessors, Lord and Lady Sussex Lennox, had occu- 
 pied them, while they lived in Jamaica ; if so, I must 
 respec: their "salamandric" and "salawomandric" gifts, 
 for no hotter spot can be devised than the corner of 
 Tort Royal and Harbour Street. The sun's rays fastened 
 on it with a vehemence that recall some of Ovid's 
 myths as to the erotic ardour of Phosbus Apollo ; and, 
 to show my faith in the concentration of light and heat 
 on the roof of shingles, I may mention that having 
 once foolishly invested in a large quantity of that 
 potent Madeira known by the Blackburn brand, that, 
 admirable when matured, takes several years in the 
 process, I put it immediately under this roof, and 
 after ten years found it had much mellowed; but it 
 was not only the heat that you had to fight against, 
 but the pervasive dust that permeated all your 
 verandahs and jalousies; for I need not say glass 
 v ould be far too fiery and flagrant a reflector of rays to 
 employ in the tropics ! This dust top-dressed your 
 ebony black or brown floors polished like marble, and 
 slippery as glass, and occasionally made your best 
 furniture look small semi-Saharas. I had the rooms 
 done up and furnished for habitation, and dwelt there 
 f >r a term, being full, not only of debts but of the most 
 honourable intentions of discharging them, and a rent 
 free roof with sundry other advantages naturally com- 
 mended themselves to one's calculating instincts.
 
 103 
 
 Whether it was weariness of the flesh and spirit that 
 weighed on me while I dwelt in this desert, or that the 
 hygienic question was put to me in an extra strong 
 light, but very soon after taking up my quarters in 
 Kingston, I was persuaded to annex a charming 
 mountain villa called Creighton,* which had been occu- 
 pied by Lord Elgin during his government of Jamaica, 
 contrary to the ordinary routine that fixes Governors 
 in the hills above Spanish Town. 
 
 I have nothing to say against Creighton ; the views 
 from it could not be matched in England or Ireland ; the 
 climate was simply delicious, if a little bit enervating, 
 and if you were gifted with extraordinary powers of 
 walking, you had a few directions where the precipices 
 of descent were avoidable, as well as the acclivities of 
 ascent : for instance in the direction of Dallas Pen, 
 where the ancestors of the Duchess of Portland retired 
 from the lowland heats and the labours of the session. 
 There was a church close by, but railways and markets, 
 post offices, &c., were thirteen or fourteen miles distant. 
 New Castle, the white man's salvation or sanatorium, 
 looked through the clear ether, about two or three miles 
 distant, whereas your pony and yourself found it a 
 climb of several fagging hours. Your fences were 
 made of blue and white daturas, from which busy bees 
 were ever wooing, and ever winning the saccharine 
 treasures. The house was pleasant, airy, and many- 
 roomed ; just the place to enjoy, 
 
 " With one fair spirit for your minister." 
 * It is now the residence of Sir Henry and Lady Blake.
 
 104 
 
 But to be perched up on top of a hill, with little to do 
 but admire the scenery, or try a little mild gardening 
 or agricultural improvement, was not satisfactory by 
 any means, particularly when the sable ladies of the 
 establishment none of my selection I must premise 
 were amazons in disguise, and fought during my absence 
 with a pertinacity, dash, and courage worthy of Zulus. 
 The amenities of the place were great, no doubt, but 
 so were the drawbacks. My butler, a young man of 
 colour, well-intentioned, I confess, but without much 
 experience, discretion, or reliable judgment, was my 
 market man and caterer, and he had to ride to the 
 Kingston market, twelve miles distant, with a basket 
 earned somehow on the saddle, which returned full of 
 eatables, plus ice and such luxuries. This young man 
 had no doubt many friends of both sexes at Kingston, 
 and the retailing of gossip is a semi-sacred duty in 
 Jamaica, so who could wonder if divers mischances 
 befell him by the way occasionally, and my stomach 
 suffered severely in consequence. 
 
 A few weeks after I had settled at Creighton, this 
 young man, who could not up to this time have accu- 
 mulated vast wealth in my service, asked my permis- 
 sion to be absent from the premises for a night, as he 
 said he was desirous of giving a ball. " Giving a ball," 
 I said, " why that would cost you a large sum, and I 
 did not know you were a rich man ! " " Oh, no, massa," 
 quoth the man of whiting and plate powder, " me make 
 much money by it." " Very well, then," I said, " tell 
 me all about it to-rnorrow," and so he did next day. 
 The speculation, he said, had been most successful ; he
 
 105 
 
 (jive the ball, found the fiddles and refreshments, hut 
 charged so much a head for entrance, or " gate money," so 
 .uuch for dancing privileges, and so much for visits to 
 his bar. I ought to have gone to see the humours of the 
 " shay shay " for half an hour, but perhaps' it was as well 
 not to spoil sport, and I have no doubt there was a good 
 deal of it at this " dignity " or " divarshion." I com- 
 mend the idea to a small section of necessitous hostesses 
 amongst ourselves. The negro village, rather of the 
 Darkest (mind the D is a big one, Mr. Printer, please) 
 continent type, was just outside the wattled fence that 
 bounded my little lordship, or mountain manor, and 
 this fence I had had repaired, and made up with scmpu- 
 lous strength and neatness ; what then was my disgust 
 to see hog after hog coming into my grounds one day, 
 and it may be rubbing their hides against the fragrant 
 frangipani trees. The law of the country, " lex scripta 
 et administrata," permitted you, without warning or 
 notice, to shoot every one of these hogs ; they were 
 caught en flagrant delit, and the owner had no appeal 
 or redress. However, these pigs were fine fat fellows, 
 and had I not come from a country where the pig was 
 held in a certain amount of respect as the rentpayer 
 (what an unclean and accursed beast he would be 
 counted now, if he did anything of the sort), and why 
 should I commence my Creighton career by injuring 
 the property of men my black brethren ? So I warned 
 the pigowners to restrain the vagaries of their sporting 
 swine, and had the holes they had bored in my fence 
 stopped. In vain ; it seemed a case of " root hog or 
 die." The negroes did not seem to care a doit, so after
 
 10G 
 
 much misgiving I went out and shot several of the 
 intruders. I suppose there was high feasting in the 
 camp of Ham for the next few days. 1 never heard or 
 saw more of the other delinquents and their owners, 
 and my grounds were subsequently left intact. A few 
 years afterwards, when for a short transition period I 
 took a place near Kingston, where I maintained a few 
 thoroughbred horses, with a little accompanying army 
 of lads and grooms, I found the lawn of the "pen" was 
 simply overrun with vagrom goats, &c. Now the goat 
 is a gregarious animal, and when not restrained near 
 home, he will try to join the largest society of peri- 
 patetic, nomad goats going, and the rendezvous seemed 
 to be universally my lawn. The law allowed you to 
 shoot and spare not, but in spite of my inhumanity to 
 pigs, I felt tender towards these goats, so I had a 
 corral made, and I told my head man to let the lads 
 drive the goats as best they could into it, and if they 
 exacted a silver " quatty " or so from each owner, I 
 need know nothing about it, while the proprietor ought 
 to rejoice in getting his domestic animals released on 
 such terms. 
 
 I believe this levy, though equitable enough, was hardly 
 legal ; however, it was far better than a battue, and 
 the law was never invoked in the case. It will be said 
 that a law that gave individuals such power was an 
 outrage on the natural rights of man, and that it was a 
 survival of the plantocracy ascendency, where the 
 doctrine obtained that man was made for produce (i.e., 
 sugar, rum, coffee, pimento, and such like staples), and 
 not produce for man. Perhaps so. I will not try to
 
 107 
 
 argue the question, merely remarking that there is much 
 to be said on both sides, and that a flock of the&e gre- 
 garious goats in cultivated ground would not be a much 
 more improving influence than u flight of locusts, and 
 that, moreover, there is a certain responsibility involved 
 in the keeping and breeding of all domestic animals 
 that the owners should take care they do not injure 
 the lives, grounds, or properties of others. And here I 
 will mention another planter-made law, that, sounding 
 most arbitrary, one-sided, and imperious at first, soon 
 commends itself to any rational thinker. This law 
 enacts that any sire horse under a prescribed standard, 
 caught roaming about in grass lands or "ruinate," 
 may be summarily seized and prevented from peopling 
 the island with little " runts" of hardly any commercial 
 value, whereas the Legislature has made it one of its 
 aims to raise the standard of horseflesh, and improve 
 it so far as it was possible. 
 
 The King of Dahomey might have thanked me if I 
 could have sent him a few of the valiant virgins that did 
 me the honour of managing my house at Creighton, but 
 I was not then aware of his royal existence, and I was 
 weary of hearing at every return home of these wars 
 and rumours of wars during my absence ; so I fancied 
 the better plan was to flit bodily, " down with the nests 
 and the rooks will fly." So by returning to hot, dusty 
 Kingston, I got rid of my "Amazonian army," and 
 looked out once more for some pleasant penates, with 
 less bellicose belongings ; but I must, in justice to 
 my establishment, here declare that more decorous 
 manners I never saw than when I was there among
 
 108 
 
 them ; in rny absence the ructions were, I hear, inter- 
 necine. 
 
 I cannot think who led my wandering steps to stray 
 by the banks of the Eio Cobre, near Spanish Town, 
 till they readied a rather pretentious pen with a fair 
 brick house on it, good new stabling and offices, a nice 
 lawn and guinea-grass pieces, and sundry other things 
 that help to create a look, if not a feeling, of bien-etrc. 
 I wandered into one grass piece, which the encroaching 
 " bush " had rather choked. Peacocks kept flashing 
 in front of me out of the guinea-grass till even H.M. 
 of Sheba would have felt dazzled by the gorgeousness 
 of their rainbow hues and towering tails as they 
 soared upwards and onwards. In another, the magpie- 
 tinted guinea-fowl seemed equally at home. I thought 
 of early gunnings and of grilled gallenies ; ami finding 
 that the property was to be let, " worth the money," 
 as they say, I took it, and went through the usual 
 formula?. 
 
 Up to this time I had found Jamaica a very temple 
 of Hygeia ; of course the heat was trying at times, and 
 mosquitoes are not the pleasantest of trumpeters in 
 " the stilly night ere slumber's chains have bound us." 
 The chiego or jigger, which, if neglected, is quite 
 capable of shortening your stock of toes, without the 
 means and appliances adopted by that cruel Canaanite, 
 Adonibezek, who seemed to dislike other rival kings 
 having as many digits as himself, is harmless if you 
 will only put on your boots before going out in the 
 morning instead of loafing about in slippered ease ; and 
 a little touch of cholera had done me no permanent
 
 109 
 
 harm ! A fico for climatic fears ! so I reasoned ; but in 
 a few hours gossip had bruited it about that I had 
 actually taken this pen, and medical science informed 
 me it was deadly, and that it was probably owing to 
 that cause that so nice-seeming a place was empty. 
 However, I turned into it and took possession. The 
 peacock shooting did not survive a few effective shots, 
 as the birds were uncommonly careful of their splendid 
 plumage, and never would rise in reasonable range ; 
 the guinea-birds, having miles upon miles of similar 
 ground to feed over, like wary capitalists, preferred 
 lands where gun outrages were unknown, or very rare, to 
 my paddocks ; and in fine, when some rainy weather 
 (not " the seasons," I think) set in, I got laid up with 
 what they call out there " a bilious remittent fever." 
 All fevers are prostrating enough, but this left me 
 a good deal of vitality, and I went about as" usual very 
 soon, and thought I was fever proof for some time ; 
 however, a few weeks after this illness I had driven 
 into Kingston and back about thirty miles or rather 
 less (a tandem with a good leader such as I had picked 
 up making the drive generally a pleasure) when I felt 
 my head go completely. I went to bed and desired all 
 cutlery to be removed from my reach, as no one can 
 say how far delirium may extend. In the morning 1 
 felt wonderfully better, and drove into Kingston, to my 
 office, but after a few hours I was put to bed as 
 an invalid, though never given any idea that yellow 
 fever was the malady. Extreme unremitting care and 
 extreme kindness enabled me to weather the storm, 
 which shipwrecked not a few of my contemporaries,
 
 no 
 
 being especially hard on " soldier officers," I believe. 
 Some time after that I bought a very prettily-situated 
 pen or park near Up Park Camp, where the West India 
 Regiment had its headquarters, and where there was a 
 swimming bath of great extent, fed by the freshest of 
 water (Jamaica or Xamctica is the land of springs). It 
 was situated under what they called "the Long 
 Mountain " a desert of " bush," I believe, and it had 
 nearly a mile gallop round it; where from your own 
 porch, amongst orange arid lemon blooms, you could see 
 your thoroughbreds do their canters, while from your 
 dining-room windows at the back you could see them 
 duly dressed and valeted, secundum niyram artem, or to 
 the best of a nigger's power. Nor do I think that in 
 the world (a big word) horses are much better " done " (I 
 mean racehorses) than in Jamaica, where the strappei s, 
 who would not exert themselves a bit for meaner 
 beasts, throw all their energy, strength, and science 
 into this labour of love ; while fore legs and hind legs 
 are hand-rubbed in a way impossible in England from 
 the expense of the labour that would be involved. 
 
 A propos of the pen, to which I got rather attached 
 and which I improved not a little, I may state here 
 that once, and once only, have I had an opportunity of 
 forming a faint conception of what the delirious 
 delights and wild excitement of pigsticking the elixir 
 of Indian saddle sport must be, or, as I should add, 
 may be. I suppose from the long mountain range 
 the clearing that formed my park looked pleasant and 
 grateful to the hosts of hogs that ranged the summit 
 and sides. I had enclosed the circuit with a bank,
 
 Ill 
 
 fortified by long shoots of the cactus, which, placed on 
 (not in) the dry clay under the bank, germinate quickly 
 and produce other cacti ; they carry an armour of sharp 
 spines that protect you from the inroads of most 
 animals. 
 
 This ring fence that I prided myself upon as an 
 insuperable barrier and wall of circumvallation, 
 proved a very weak and slender defence against a 
 colony of migratory wild pigs who swooped down 011 
 my little pleasaunce from the heights above, intent, 
 perhaps, on some wild roots or beans there. I had 
 never seen any of their sort before, and hoped to 
 extract some fun out of them. So the carpenter or 
 " handyman " was set to make light spears or lances, 
 and I sent over to a major in the West Indian Regi- 
 ment harn by at Up Park Camp, who had come from 
 the " Land of the East and the clime of the Sun," with 
 the reputation of being a good shikarri. He was 
 to bring over his likeliest friends and their best horses. 
 I had some few nags that ! fancied might prove 
 useful at the game, and when our meet was effected 
 very quietly, we sent to reconnoitre our quarry. There 
 they were, not having shifted their quarters since 
 morning. "Boot and saddle" was sounded in muffled 
 tones, and we went foith to our spearing. What 
 apprenticeship and coaching pigsticking requires I 
 know not, but should fancy a good deal ; at any rate, I 
 think our spears made more acquaintance with the turf 
 of the park than any porker's hide. How they dodged 
 through the trees that shaded the open space, turning 
 the corners like acrobats ! In fine, we did not succeed
 
 112 
 
 in bringing one of them to bay, much less to hand ; 
 and after some ineffectual skirmishing of this sort, the 
 scattered herd seemed bent on " packing " once more, 
 when they charged the cactus hedge, and making a big 
 hole in it, vanished into bushland, nor did they ever 
 return again, so far as I could learn.
 
 113 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 " Alas ! the lore of women, it is known 
 To be a lovely, but a fearful thing." 
 
 SUBSTITUTE horse for woman, and occasionally the apo- 
 thegm will run nearly as truly. I cannot say that in 
 me the love of horses was hereditary : for though my 
 mother was devoted to riding and very fond of her 
 horses, my father preferred wheels to the saddle, so that 
 one family influence or current might be thought likely 
 to neutralise the other. My brother was reared a 
 centaur, and competed successfully in several hunting 
 grounds, but he never was the least what could be 
 called " horsey " nor devoted to the noble animal, and at 
 Oxford and after it he ceased to care much for riding, 
 and had little or nothing to do with horses for many 
 years. My sister rode well and rode much, but horsi- 
 ness in ladies had not developed itself then, as it has 
 since, and the Dianas of Ireland might be almost 
 counted on one's fingers.* To me the love of horses 
 came late ; and there was little in our neighbourhood in 
 the King's County to quicken the flame or give it an 
 active practical turn. For instance, I think it was in 
 the Long Vacation, while still an undergraduate at 
 Oxford, that I managed with a little assistance to break 
 and train a fine, well-bred, weight carrying mare, that 
 
 * Mrs. Wodehouse and Mrs. Arthur, its best known representa- 
 tives perhaps. 
 
 R
 
 114 
 
 fenced to as great perfection as almost any animal I 
 ever saw, and had good looks, mouth, temper, and 
 manners in her favour. This animal, a five-year-old at 
 the time, I think would certainly get into the class 
 styled " useful," now-a-days. I had no idea of her 
 value, and took her down to sell at Ballinasloe, when 
 after she had gone through the usual ordeals of trial by 
 veterinary surgeon, galloping, and wall-jumping, I 
 realised, if I recollect right, 40 or 50 for her. Up to 
 a point I fancied I had done fairly well, and was rather 
 pleased, though regretting the parting with a friendly 
 mare, but when the purchaser, after payment was made, 
 and all the other ceremonies were gone through, asked 
 me privately if the animal had any very bad faults or 
 characteristics, and I replied " none," tossed his hat in 
 the air, and declared that he could not have believed 
 that any man would be green eno' to sell a good young 
 animal at such a figure, I understood that I was really 
 little better than our friend Moses in the " Vicar . of 
 Wakefield," and as little able to fight my way at a 
 horse fair. 
 
 I think in these confessions I have stated that my 
 intentions in the matter of economy, retrenchment, and 
 such like a programme, were what I may call " strictly 
 honourable ; " they lacked backbone, however, as will be 
 soon seen, i think the race meeting at St. Ann's, a parish 
 or county on the north side of the island, where Nature is 
 steeped in even greater loveliness than on the southern 
 side, takes place in autumn. Here the air seems fresher 
 and more buoyant, the plains less parched and arid, and 
 the w T hole landscape infinitely more " parky " than at
 
 115 
 
 the Kingston end. Moreover there the common " bush " 
 of the woodlands is very largely leavened with the all- 
 spice shrub, or pimento tree (not unlike our bay), and 
 at the fruit season the air is laden with the powerful 
 pimento perfume, for it is one of the staples of the 
 country, arid exported to a large extent. I may add 
 that the pimento is a largesse of boon Nature to man, 
 for it is neither sown nor planted, but propagated by 
 the birds, nor does it give aiiy trouble in cultivation 
 whatever. 
 
 To this race meeting a number of our southern "sports" 
 decided to go, and the hospitable natives aided our 
 enterprise in every way within their power. We were 
 all bestowed in comfortable country houses, and treated 
 like princes of the blood royal. I had the good luck to 
 be billeted on the horse king of the island, John Wilson 
 Davis, whose name was partly reproduced on the 
 English turf in " John Davis," a gallant son of " Jam- 
 aica's," just as was the eponymous patriarch and Nestor 
 of the turf within its borders. A beautiful spot, too, he 
 lived in, near Ocho Eios, commanding an expanse of 
 cobalt ocean rarely fretted by storm or tempest, and 
 tideless in comparison with our plangent shores. You 
 went to his antique, comfortable house, built, like " old- 
 time " houses here, to resist and oppose that arch-enemy 
 the sun, and shut out his influence as much as possible, 
 through woods rich in valuable trees, such as the fustic, 
 anil amidst endless brooks clear as crystal. I think 
 Mr. Davis when I made his acquaintance was consider- 
 ably past eighty, while I was very little over two and 
 twenty ; but I know full well who was the more wearied. 
 
 N 2
 
 116 
 
 and done up, and altogether good for nothing at the end 
 of a day's riding over Mr. Davis's very extensive grass 
 farms or pens, which he kept in the most perfect order, 
 and of which he was very proud. 
 
 I do not think the old. gentfleman had an acre of 
 sugar-cane cultivation ; grass farming, cattle, and horse 
 raising was his occupation ,nd delight, and it was a 
 treat to go with him and look over his troops of horses, 
 and herds of horned stock, all, wherever I saw them, in 
 splendid health and condition, the only drawback was 
 that you were called at an hour when your sybarite 
 instincts would suggest another sleep, and that, after a 
 breakfast rather substantial for the time of day, you 
 would be hurried on to your horse a good mover you 
 may be certain, and with much of the cut of a high 
 class, fourteen stone hunter, the chanoes were strongly 
 in favour of his being as thoroughbred as Eclipse. 
 Now your horse probably was a fair walker, four miles 
 an hour perhaps, and a trifle more occasionally, but Mr. 
 Davis would have his huge saddle and sheepskin on 
 something that could amble and shamble and " rack " 
 along at more than six miles per hour, and hence in your 
 efforts to be civil and sociable, and cheek by jowlish 
 with your host, you were continually oscillating be- 
 tween a walk and a choppy trot, and your inner man 
 suffered accordingly, perhaps the outer man as well after 
 a few hours. Of course the attempt was futile, and the 
 only way in a case of the kind, when horses are so un- 
 equally paced is to walk as far as you wish, and then 
 canter or trot the interval. Mr. Davis always nominally 
 walked and came home in the evening as fresh as a
 
 117 
 
 four-year-old.. He always had in bis house a liqueur 
 which might be commended to Justerini and Brooks, 
 for neither peach nor apricot brandy are comparable to 
 it. This wa* what they called cashew wine, made from 
 the nut o that name, with, I imagine, brandy ; it was 
 strong, sustaining, and delicious. 
 
 Mr. Davis was a very tall, thin, wiry man, with 
 most marked features. He said himself he had in- 
 herited some- o the old Carib blood of the indigenes 
 found there by the Spaniards, and supposed to have 
 been Indian, though. I am. conscious of the elasticity of 
 this word, but I mean it in opposition to negro or black 
 blood. 
 
 I never knew, perhaps very few did, how Mr. Davis 
 acquired his large " pen " properly, whether by inherit- 
 ance from his forbears or by purchase, but it certainly 
 covered a grand area, and his lines were in pleasant 
 places. There was no Mrs. Davis in my time, but 
 daughters and granddaughters galore, and the old man 
 was more like a horsey patriarch than any other symbol 
 or similitude I can think of. After all Esau, though 
 not often classed in that company, was a patriarch. I 
 forget most of his daughters, but to one of them who 
 married an English settler, who was either the son or 
 grandson of a real live "Bart." in the English Stud 
 Book, Mr. Davis had given a beautiful place adjacent 
 to his own, through which brawled a brook known as 
 the roaring river. This gentleman was not in Mr. 
 Davis's good graces. No doubt the old gentleman had 
 a profound respect for the " Stud Book," but his son-in- 
 law, we heard, insisted so strongly on the blueness of
 
 118 
 
 his blood, that he broke out one day with " Hang your 
 pedigree, show me your performance ! " and so dismissed 
 " the claims of high descent," which asserted them- 
 selves financially and with too great frequency. Mr. 
 Davis was an extremely shrewd man, most devoted to 
 ladies, and capable of entertaining them admirably, 
 though he did talk occasionally in Smollett style, and 
 was never careful to disguise his meaning even to les 
 plus grandes dames de part le monde. Hence many 
 curious stories which have set hundreds of tables in a 
 roar or succession of roars, but their flavour was occa- 
 sionally strong. Horses had always been his study and 
 delight, and he could not be said exactly to be a horse 
 dealer, as the usual way was to have a lot of colts or 
 aged horses driven together into a corral, where the 
 buyer made his own selection, and the seller put on his 
 price. Mr. Davis always made it a stiff one. On one 
 occasion Sir Joshua and Lady Kowe, wanting a pair of 
 large blood carriage horses, went to stay at Mr. Davis's, 
 where, of course, they were welcomed and well treated. 
 Next day Sir Joshua was shown a pair of young horses, 
 just such as he wanted, and got fond. He had made 
 up his mind to have the pair, but turned round to Mr. 
 Davis to ask the precise figure ; it was staggering, but 
 the chief was not easily daunted, and replied, " I like 
 your horses, Mr. Davis, much, but the price is very 
 high ! " " That's just what the taxpayers say about 
 your salary, Sir Joshua," was the rejoinder, for you 
 could hardly beat this grand old man at ready repartee. 
 A few years previous to this St. Ann's meeting, to 
 which I hope to turn by-and-bye after these Davisiana,
 
 119 
 
 Mr. Davis had picked up a sire which he valued greatly 
 and who certainly left his mark on his race in 
 Jamaica. This was Pammon, by Priam, from I forget 
 what dam. He had been imported by the command- 
 ing officer of a West India regiment, Colonel Cobbe, 
 (who also brought out a number of the famed Knowsley 
 bred game cocks) ; the horse was something of a roarei 
 when he reached Jamaica, and was not good enough to 
 win there, so he lost his value in his owner's eyes, and 
 being a symmetrical, shapely horse with much of the 
 Priam power, he was a treasure in Mr. Davis's, who, 
 nevertheless, I feel sure, bought him " for the value." 
 He told me that after some months in the island, with 
 the change of food and regimen, he got completely 
 cured of his noisy respiration, or expiration. His stock 
 proved stout and fast, but though quite free from any 
 sibillant sounds, were in my judgment less clear or free 
 winded than some other strains. Gross, strong, consti- 
 tutioued horses, they wanted a lot of work. They had 
 good legs and could stand it even on the hard, hot 
 ground; but I never ventured to give them half 
 enough. 
 
 The course of St. Ann's is beautifully situated near 
 the little seaport of the same name, and is all turf, but 
 for the most part of the consistency of a well-baked 
 brick, so that you shudder for the horses while racing, 
 and equally so in their exercise. However, they seem 
 to stand it ; and a genuine breakdown is a most excep- 
 tional circumstance, The races occupied two days 
 while there was a great display of galloping every 
 morning before the races, between 5.30 and 7 A.M.
 
 120 
 
 There were festive evenings before, after, and during the 
 race week or fortnight, and picnics by the banks of 
 rushing rivers where negroes, or maroons, caught any 
 number of mountain mullet, which they cooked, wrapped 
 up in plantain leaves, in the wood ashes of the fire they 
 had kindled by the banks of the river. Mountain 
 mullet and iced champagne form a happy mixture, 
 and a jour maigre under such circumstances was very 
 welcome. I must say we were then as always 
 most splendidly entertained by the " high estates " of 
 St. Ann's, and none of us, I think, will ever forget its 
 kind and hospitable inhabitants wherever we may be 
 located or quartered. 
 
 But if ever le Grand Monarque really said, " L'Etat 
 c'est moi ; " one family in St. Ann's had some right to 
 say that the parish owed them much and willingly 
 acknowledged the obligation ; that family rejoiced in 
 the name of Bravo, which by all accounts they, or their 
 ancestors rather, had brought from the Iberian penin- 
 sula, a fact of which they were very proud, esteeming 
 the old Hebrew families of Spain and Portugal far 
 before the most powerful Plutocracies of their race 
 scattered throughout Europe three brothers had been 
 left without capital, but with brains, education, and 
 racial energy, at their father's death, in Kingston. A 
 capitalist furnished them with something to start with, 
 and suggested the potentialities of St. Ann's. The 
 three brothers went there, developed the resources of 
 this rich country by banking, shipping, and trading, 
 and in a decade or two were rich men. One brother 
 was drowned at sea. The survivors were brothers in
 
 121 
 
 mind, hand, heart, and purse. Joseph, the more 
 cautious, perhaps, and sagacious. Charles, quick, fiery, 
 and speculative ; perfectly devoted to horseflesh in all 
 its branches, but more especially to the racing members 
 of the family. The meeting was due in a great 
 measure to their enterprise. Its success owed some of 
 its pleasantest features to their social geniality and 
 kindness. Business was not exactly suspended during 
 its entire term, but it was not allowed to interfere with 
 boundless hospitality to the visitors and the paramount 
 purpose to make St. Ann's a paradise of pleasure for 
 the time being. Eacing and gambling are more or less 
 connected, though betting, I must say, never made 
 great progress in Jamaica, and cards, not horses, were 
 the instruments of speculation. Lansquenet was a 
 very popular game. When men got cleared out of 
 paper, and yet hung on to the game, and the company 
 punted with silver instead of gold, a number of small 
 silver coins (quatties, \\d., and fippances, 3d) would find 
 their way on to the floor, for there was no copper in the 
 island ; and with what a rush would the little niggers 
 pack into the room to claim their little Argentine 
 argosies sturdy mono-metallists that they were in prac- 
 tice if not in theory when the sun warned us to go. 
 
 At one nocturnal meeting there was some little un- 
 pleasantness, among the very few instances I can 
 recollect in this perfervid, frizzling country for one 
 of the gay " gamboliers," an officer in a West India 
 regiment, became a little excited from his great good 
 fortune (for he had won not only the ready money of 
 the room, but horses and live stock), and perhaps a
 
 122 
 
 little, too, from his iced soda water, and a challenge to 
 some one who dissented from him was the result of a few 
 hasty words. The challenge was declined on the spot 
 by the challengee, and all would have been smooth 
 enough after this, I believe, but for the officious and 
 exuberant courage of a guest who wanted a shot at the 
 challenger, but in the twilight cold and grey of the 
 dawn, the officer who had cooled somewhat as to 
 " swords and pistols," the programme of few hours 
 back, turned on his aggravator and rent him. By-the- 
 bye, this same aggravator had, on dit, had his courage 
 considerably cooled in this very place just prior to 
 these events. A certain centurion was seized by in- 
 heritance, or otherwise, of a property not very far off 
 from these scenes of riot and revelry. Our aggravating 
 friend had challenged him to the arbitrament of pistols, 
 and he accepted the invitation. The day came, and, 
 'tis said, a large party had met together at the mansion 
 of Seville to witness the bloody debate. While pre- 
 liminaries were being discussed a report came up to 
 the house that Captain A., the challengee, who was 
 escorted by a lady, presumably his wife, had taken 
 shelter from the rays of the sun, in a grove of oranges, 
 and by way of passing the time congenially, was throw- 
 ing up the fruit into the air with one hand, and with 
 the other held the pistol, whose balls seemed to have 
 an unerring knack of piercing the pulpy heart of each 
 orange. I do not think such a narrative, if only duly 
 dressed up, would have a strengthening or reassuring 
 effect upon the bravest nerves. In this instance it 
 opened the door to negotiations and satisfactory
 
 123 
 
 arrangements, and thus was the gallery baulked of its 
 single combat and consequences. It was said that 
 prior to the famous duel between D'Esterre and Daniel 
 O'Connell, something of this sort happened, but the 
 tale has never been authenticated. 
 
 We sportsmen from the southern shores of Jamaica 
 took our mournful leave of St. Ann's its grand grass 
 farms, its comfortable homes, its hospitable hosts, and 
 its multiplied agremens, with the impression that we 
 had never fared better, and that when in our power we 
 were bound to make what return we could for the kind- 
 ness of its inhabitants. The opportunity came in a 
 short time. Kingston races had at one time held a 
 high position in our little world of sport, but the 
 epidemic of cholera, and other causes, had held them in 
 abeyance for some time. Should not they be renewed, 
 and. if possible, aucto splendore ? Here was an oppor- 
 tunity of doing St. Ann's a good turn ; for St. Ann's 
 was the great horsebreeding " parish " of the island (it 
 had rivals in the midlands and south-west, however), 
 and an occasion of this kind not only gave the St. 
 Annites a fair field for exhibiting the excellence of 
 their animals, but created a market for their thorough- 
 bred stock, in the event of a new Tom Tiddler's ground 
 being established to attract sportsmen. The turf in 
 Jamaica, at this time, was a very close corporation, and 
 a lex non scripta, or, at any rate, precedent and practice 
 had assigned nearly all the prizes of the turf to horses 
 bred and reared in St. Ann's, where the brothers Davis 
 may be said to have divided the spoils. Mr. John 
 Wilson Davis's brother Henry being, like him, a
 
 124 
 
 breeder of thoroughbred stock, and a painstaking trainer 
 besides. There were a few more minor breeding estab- 
 lishments in St. Ann's, owned by Mr. Smallwood and 
 one or two others, and a squire there, a Mr. Rose, of 
 sporting proclivities, bred game cocks and thorough- 
 bred horses, some of the latter of which he trained and 
 raced, but the popular verdict had for some time laid 
 down the proposition that Mr. Rose's cocks would run 
 and fast loo, whereas his horses would not ; fast women 
 and slow horses are fatal to fortunes. 
 
 Well ! a great effort was made to resuscitate the faded 
 glories of Kingston races by holding a meeting there at 
 Christmastide, or a little later on in the young year. 
 Naturally, I was appealed to for assistance, and for a 
 few weeks (or was it days ?) I was firm in refusing 
 more active assistance than what was conveyed in a 
 subscription. Then, after a bit, I relaxed so far as to 
 consent to be a steward. But, own racehorses ! Perish 
 the thought ! The Roman poet tells us how the drop 
 of water falling at frequent intervals from a height 
 wears a hole in the rock below 
 
 " Gutta cavat lapidem, non yi sed ssepe cadendo." 
 
 And we know how Inquisitors found the terrible 
 torture of the drop of water ultimately irresistible. I 
 yielded, but too late for any effective purpose, and 
 found myself with a stud of thoroughbreds to manage 
 and control a few weeks before the meeting, without a 
 proper service of grooms, jockeys, or riding lads ! To 
 no purpose did the one man in the colony who knew 
 how to ride on the flat, and who was built and cut out
 
 125 
 
 for the purpose, beg of me to buy such and such horses 
 adding that he would do nearly all the exercising and 
 riding. I refused to buy, and rejected his proffered 
 aid, and then, when it was too late, for he had been 
 secured in a partnership by a sporting soldier in one of 
 the West India regiments, I bought and entered a 
 string on my own account. I suffered for this hesita- 
 tion and vacillation and subsequent " rushing." The 
 sporting soldier referred to bought, a few weeks before 
 me, the best or second best three-year old in the 
 island, " Antseus," a very level, strong, black horse ; while 
 I rushed in and bought the smartest filly of tbat age, 
 hight " Canezou," after Lord Derby's mare. For three 
 years these two horses fought out a duel cb Foutrance, 
 meeting in Queen'* Plates (three-mile heats) and lots 
 of other races af .tihe 'more moderate proportion of two- 
 mile heats ! -On one memorable occasion, " Canezou " 
 defeated " Antaeus " on the Black River race course after 
 five heats, or ten miles ! but I think, on the whole, 
 " Antaeus " had the best of the deal, and won most races. 
 " Souvent femme varie " is true of the mare as well as of 
 the matron and the maid. Perhaps on her best day she 
 was in front of the horse, but then the best day was 
 not always the day of the race, and the horse was 
 more uniform and consistent in his quality of running, 
 constitution, and temper. When I said just now that 
 I got my horses too late, far too late for the meeting 
 they were to run at, let me state here that the life of a 
 racehorse in Jamaica is not mostly spent, as in our 
 temperate zones, in boxes, stalls, or stables, but in the 
 open air, and in the guinea-grass piece or paddock.
 
 126 
 
 Experts there say that horses will not stand " train- 
 ing " for more than eight or nine weeks, after which 
 they must be once more relegated to a state of nature 
 and wild life. After some experience, I came to the 
 conclusion that with fair stable management and varia- 
 tions of food, horses might do very well for three 
 or four months in their boxes, and in some cases even 
 improve. But St. Ann's was all in favour of the short- 
 service system, and one of the traditions of the country 
 maintained that John Wilson Davis had taken a colt 
 from his native pastures, corraled him, broken him, 
 trained him, and won with him in a little more than 
 six weeks ! This seems incomprehensible to our 
 English ideas, but something like that in kind, if not in 
 degree, happens out there constantly. My three-year-old 
 " Canezou " came straight to my stable in Kingston from 
 the guinea-grass piece, with a long, rough coat on her, 
 and, I think, unshod, and everything had to be done 
 under seven weeks ! I could not myself clip a horse, 
 nor were the implements forthcoming if I had been 
 able to do so ; so I had a lamp for singeing fashioned 
 after my ideas and recollections, and if I got off some 
 of the superfluous coat, I made the poor mare look very 
 ridiculous among her fellows, in fact, like the singed cat 
 of the proverb ; I did not know then that elbow grease 
 and stable habits will very soon lighten any coat in 
 such a country. . I fancy the natives must have been 
 highly amused at my notions of training ; I could not 
 believe in galloping gross, grassy horses over courses 
 either sandy as the Sahara or hard as adamant ! I was 
 afraid to do so; and to cut a long and lengthening
 
 127 
 
 story short, T may say at once that the great " Canezou," 
 being brought to the post wholly unfit, bolted with her 
 jockey when hard pressed ; that everything else of 
 mine ran badly, and that my solitary success at the 
 meeting was in a hurdle race when the opposition was 
 of the weakest order. Hurdle races, once great 
 favourites with the soldiers in Jamaica, had been for 
 some time abandoned, as, after a series of accidents, the 
 General of the district issued an order prohibiting 
 officers riding in them. 
 
 The situation was hardly pleasant or profitable. To 
 be encumbered with a lot of thoroughbreds, and thus 
 tied to the turf and its stake, was not a pleasant vista 
 or one likely to improve the financial position. There 
 was no Tattersall's wherein to plunge and get rid of the 
 lengthening chain at any sacrifice ; and the most 
 feasible extrication seemed to lie in taking better care 
 of your animals, bringing them out fitter, and having 
 competent steerers. For the failures at Kingston, one 
 was very much to blame in one's own weakness and 
 vacillation, and then, as many times subsequently, the 
 coup came from what might, and ought to have been, 
 your own armoury 1 
 
 " Keen were his pangs, but keener far to feel 
 He'd nursed the pinion that impelled the steel." 
 
 The jock of the place, Charles (afterwards Sir Charles) 
 Cuyler, had ridden " Antaeus " in the race when " Cane- 
 zou " bolted, and probably had riders been reversed the 
 win would have been mine. However, there was a meet- 
 ing coming off soon at a place called Mandeville, high
 
 128 
 
 plateau land in the interior, and here the tables might 
 be turned, and so they were ; for " Canezou," fit and well, 
 was quite equal to the task of staying with " Antseus " 
 through a strong-run race, and beating him home on 
 speed. Here, too, if I recollect right, I had a few 
 minor slices of luck. 
 
 On the whole, racing in Jamaica is a very poor 
 game for the outsider, unless he has special circum- 
 stances in his favour. The men you race against are 
 breeders of thoroughbred stock to whom winning is not 
 only a pleasure, but a great source of profit, for it gets 
 up the reputation of their brands or " pens ;" as the 
 reader must be informed that every horsebreeding 
 ranche in the island has its special brand, and you can 
 guess pretty nearly how every horse you see is bred at 
 least on the sire's side ; for, besides " Pammon," there 
 were two or three other sires serving in the country of 
 good repute : such as " Black Doctor " and " Javelin " by 
 ' Jereed." The latter got some very smart, speedy 
 runners ; add to all this the important circumstance 
 that these breeders and their belongings are permanent 
 inhabitants and employers of labour, whereas you are 
 a casual who take up racing for a pastime or excite- 
 ment for a year or two, and then drop it as suddenly as 
 you took it up, leaving all your lads and stablemen in 
 the lurch, while the soldier who may dabble a bit 
 among thoroughbred horses is liable to be ordered off 
 the island at very short notice. These circumstances 
 militate greatly against your prospects. Even if your 
 negro grooms prove loyal to their salt and stable (and 
 it is often too much to expect^ you are working a
 
 129 
 
 limited stud against practically unlimited numbers, 
 who can be taken up by relays, and pitted against 
 your stale stable. For these reasons, it will be seen 
 that racing under such circumstances is like knocking 
 your head against a wall a game in which you may 
 ding a hole in the wall, but the head will be the chief 
 sufferer in the end. 
 
 In our salad days, however, we don't quite see these 
 things in the same light as in maturer years, and we 
 delight in buying our experience at the highest possible 
 rate of exchange ; a few sporadic triumphs, too, some- 
 times make you fancy that you are on the royal road to 
 success. Such a triumph I recollect gaining once at a 
 place called Mandeville, with its cock-pit of a course, 
 but with delicious temperature and pleasant surround- 
 ings. A Jew had bought an extremely smart colt, a 
 son of " Javelin's," who wherever he went showed such 
 fine form that he was beginning to be considered invin- 
 cible. With a certain amount of irreverence and bad 
 taste this sportsman called his colt " Caiaphas," presum- 
 ably after the notorious High Priest of Jerusalem. I 
 determined to tackle him with a big brown colt I had 
 recently annexed from a rather out of the way place, 
 and from a strain not very fashionable at the time ; but 
 the colt's symmetry was good, and his pedigree went 
 back to one or two of the old families, such as that or 
 " Emilius," that made one hope for stoutness. He was a 
 fifteen stone blood like hunter, and could hunch up his 
 back in a way fatal to the ordinary negro lad's loose 
 scat. I recollect being sent for by my groom, who had 
 ridden into the place where I was staying at the time, 
 

 
 130 
 
 to tell me that " Mulatto " had " flung all dem nigga 
 boys." There was rather a deep field near his stable, 
 and into this I had the proud-backed animal led, when 
 I mounted him myself, being a welter weight ; and a 
 three year old set going in a swamp with a steadying 
 weight on his back soon caves in. So did Mr. "Mulatto;" 
 but I let him have enough of it to weary him thoroughly, 
 and he never, though a very high-couraged horse, 
 showed temper after that. This race at Mandeville 
 (two miles) was a maiden effort on his part, and when 
 he won there with all the ease in the world, he certainly 
 stamped himself a fair horse, for those parts at any rate. 
 Next day the course was very slippery after rain, and 
 the gradients were fearful; -rounding a turn he fell 
 heavily, and he never ran again in my colours. Another 
 incident is recalled by the mention of Mandeville. I 
 had bought a very strong, useful, thoroughbred bay 
 horse, whom I think we made out to be a cousin of 
 Lord Zetland's " Voltigeur." He would have been con- 
 spicuous at any meet of hounds or covert side, as he 
 was very good looking and full of power. There was a 
 welter race at Mandeville, heats of a mile and a half, 
 and here I fancied was a chance to win, owner up ; but 
 the problem was to turn thirteen stone walking weight 
 into twelve stone, and the moment I got to Mandeville 
 I began a series of walks, which I fancied were tr-king 
 me down several pounds per diem ; so I ate and drank 
 as usual, indeed, appetite was much sharpened by the 
 exercise in brisk fresh air, and when the night before 
 the race I weighed, feeling sure I was very ner.r the 
 mark, the thirteen stone remained obstinate as ever !
 
 131 
 
 On this, not to be baulked of my ride, though the night 
 was far advanced, I piled on clothes and took a long 
 walk. Then I took another, similarly rigged, in the 
 sun next day, and twelve stone only was the result. 
 In the first heat, getting much the worst of the start, I 
 had to content myself with very moderate second 
 honours, in the next I got well off, and was only 
 collared at the final hill ; but here any attempt at 
 riding home became futile from sheer weakness, and a 
 race was perhaps lost. I say "perhaps" because the 
 winning horse was smart at this distance, and his rider 
 was a much better performer than I was. 
 
 Another time that I had a gleam of good fortune 
 was at Kingston, when I had two animals engaged in 
 the Queen's Plate, three mile heats, one was " Canezou," 
 the other a plodding little hollow-backed mare, with 
 an eye knocked out, called " Miami." I had a quasi 
 trial of the pair on the public course of Kingston the 
 only available trial ground within reach two miles run 
 strong. There is a sort of etiquette about trials, but I 
 heard that luncheon parties were given with a view to 
 watch this trial, and the result was, as everyone ex- 
 pected, " Canezou " won it easily ; for once I kept my 
 counsel, and, going to the stable at night, told my 
 trainer to muzzle both mares as I was not decided 
 which I should start, possibly both, but both were to 
 be brought on to the course next day. Just before the 
 start I saddled " Miami," and, as she had very high 
 withers, put a cambric handkerchief under the pommel 
 of her light saddle three-mile heats, recollect, on a 
 course very hard in some places, deep in sand in others ; 
 
 o 2
 
 132 
 
 then, tilling a waif, whom the grooms had picked up in 
 their travels, with hardly a rag to his back, and whom 
 they called " Man of business," as a joke, making him 
 clean steel and other stable chores, with an odd exercise 
 ride as a great treat, to get a jacket and cap, had him put 
 on " Miami," telling him not to attempt to hurry her 
 or strike her, but simply to sit on her back and let her 
 " gang her own gait," which was painfully slow for the 
 first mile, better in the second, best in the third, when 
 the stoutest of her opponents had begun to falter and 
 fail. The child, for he really was nothing more, did 
 exactly as he had been told, and in the last half mile, 
 when the field was what is called " stone cold," put his 
 whip in his mouth and cantered in alone, casting back 
 rather derisive looks at those who were struggling 
 home. Meanwhile, if I recollect right, I had for once 
 improved the occasion by backing the laggard in the 
 first two miles, and had some doubloons to the good. 
 A doubloon is the fine Spanish gold coin equivalent to 
 3 4s. In the second heat " Miami " won even more 
 decisively, and I recollect that after the six miles the 
 cambric kerchief was not even stained or moist. I had 
 had such a splendid succession of failures in attempt- 
 ing to train horses a science of which I was pro- 
 foundly ignorant that it is hardly a matter of surprise 
 that at last I realised a success, and a rather signal one 
 too ; it was on this wise : a " Javelin " filly had shown a 
 fine turn of speed at home, but had only run once as a 
 two-year old, when she mastered the light lad who 
 rode her and bolted out of the course ; for this mis- 
 demeanour, in which the lad's hands had perhaps some
 
 133 
 
 share, as well as bad bridling, the filly was sold off for 
 a song, and fell into the hands of an officer, who in- 
 tended to make a dogcart trapper of her, but instead 
 of thriving she took to pining, became a miserable 
 anatomy (teeth probably very sore), but after a week 
 or two's watching I saw her coat show an inclination 
 to turn the right way, and I bought her from the cen- 
 turion, simply by way of experiment, suspecting that 
 inal au dents was her malady. I put her in a large 
 box, gave her lots of soft food mixed up with mangoes, 
 that horses are extremely fond of, and which I think are 
 rather better for them than even Eno's fruit salt for our- 
 selves. On this diet in a couple of weeks the mare throve 
 marvellously well, seeming to have regained her spirits 
 and pluck, and, as it was part of my system to take 
 " the fleet," as King William the Fourth of happy 
 memory styled his stud, once or twice a week down to 
 the sea, two or three miles off, for a swim in the early 
 morning, I had the new mare saddled and swum about 
 for some time, and coming home there was a bit in a 
 green lane where we generally cantered. She came 
 along with the string moving well and freely. I liked 
 her style so much that I gave her another short spin 
 when she came home ; and in fact, after a morning or 
 two, I made up my mind that she should be got ready 
 for Kingston races, only two or three weeks distant ; 
 giving her hardly any work beyond cantering and 
 swimming. A mile and a distance (heats) was the 
 shortest thing I could get her into at the meeting, and 
 putting a good lad up, I told him she was only start- 
 ing for an experiment, and not to bully her. She won
 
 134 
 
 as she pleased, in fair company too ; in the second heat 
 my only anxiety was lest the lad should show up his 
 mare too much, for she could play with anything I saw 
 out. Now, I was not able to " personally conduct " my 
 horses, except at Kingston, and its course, but latterly 
 I had a sable groom who knew a hundred times more 
 about horses than the majority of his fellows a man I 
 could trust too yet, though this mare remained sound 
 and well, she never even ran forward after this, because 
 I think he always brought her fagged and jaded to the 
 post, working her with the string. 
 
 A propos of the strongly marked idiosyncrasies of 
 horses, and perhaps more especially of thoroughbred 
 horses, I may mention here that the big bay horse that I 
 rode in the welter race at Mandeville took such a dislike 
 to courses and racing generally, that he never after this 
 could be prevailed on even to start for one. He would 
 train on up to the day but the moment he caught sight 
 of the stand, the crowds, and, above all, of the colours, 
 he made his protest, and so vigorously that he always 
 prevailed ; another of his peculiarities was his aversion 
 to single harness ; in double you could not tire him or 
 give him too large a share of the pull, in single he was 
 not only uncertain but pretty sure to let you know his 
 ideas on the subject before he got home, whether with 
 a gig or without one. Here is another peculiarity in 
 animals that is not generally known. At nearly every 
 race meeting in Jamaica there was a mule race added, 
 as mules do most of the road work of the island, and are 
 particularly sharp and good in that colony. Mandeville 
 did not depart from the usual practice, and when Lord
 
 135 
 
 Howard de Walden (then Fred Ellis) started his particu- 
 lar post mule for the event he managed to get a grey 
 horse to gallop in front of her till the run in mules 
 having a particular regard for grey horses at any rate 
 his mule had, and he pocketed more than her value, I 
 believe, in doubloons won by this wily ruse. On one 
 occasion in Jamaica I was taught a lesson in training 
 that upset a good many of my old ideas. " Canezou " was 
 a large, gross mare, who was seldom off her oats or 
 Indian corn, our staple there, well ribbed up, and with 
 a short ba.ck as strong as any boar's, she kept her 
 condition under all circumstances, and was, I think, 
 from her excessive jollity, a hard animal to bring out 
 properly, and at her best; some fifty or sixty hours 
 before an important race, the wise men of the stable 
 came to tell me she was quite off colour, and no good 
 at all ; they hinted that she had been got at somehow 
 or other, and as the insertion of either gum or grease in 
 her mouth would effectually stop her feeding, we con- 
 cluded that an enemy had done us this disservice. She 
 was taken out of course, with an asafcetida steeped rag 
 round the bridle, said to be a wonderful tonic, but the 
 mare, while looking blooming, would not feed, and just 
 picked over her hay. She was so fit to the eye that I 
 started her, though not without misgivings ; and then and 
 there she ran her best race, tQ the astonishment and 
 confusion of the stable. My impression is they bad 
 been over-doing her with corn, and that the abstinence 
 was a stomach suggestion a remedial impulse of 
 nature. 
 
 In my last year or so I got hold of a very smart,
 
 136 
 
 sharp horse, somewhat unfashionably bred, that, if I 
 recollect right, never knew defeat as a three-year-old. 
 He was a quick, active horse and a good starter 
 (hardly a very high class one), winning every engage- 
 ment very easily. There was a larger and more 
 powerful three-year-old in the same year even more 
 unfashionably bred than mine, who had had quite as 
 successful a career as my colt " Red Jacket " ; the two 
 horses had never met, and wishing to take the better of 
 the pair (that I fancied was not my own) to England, 
 I proposed a match for a nominal sum over the King-, 
 ston course as a test affair. Mr. Solomon, the owner 
 of the colt, declined, to my surprise, for he was full of 
 sporting enterprise ; not thinking my colt good enough 
 for the homeward voyage I turned him out to grass, 
 and he died a few months afterwards under an opera- 
 tion. Mr. Solomon in any case would have had the 
 best three-year-old in the island, so perhaps a brilliant 
 career in England was marred, in any event the experi- 
 ment would have been interesting. His horse remained 
 a couple of years more in Jamaica, having run long 
 heat races over adamantine ground, which one would 
 think fatal to everything in the race horse's composition. 
 Then he sent him to England, where he ran forward in 
 a flat race, was then turned to chasing and became a 
 Liverpool favourite. I said he was doubtfully bred, and 
 so he was, his dam was thoroughbred, but all we knew 
 of his sire was this, that he was wrecked from an 
 American steamer, swam to Nassau, where he became 
 the colonel commandant's charger, and accompanying 
 him to Jamaica, was bought by a breeder, on chance.
 
 137 
 
 He was reported from America to be a son of the great 
 " Priam's," who, like " Glencoe," migrated to the States, 
 but I believe no reliable pedigree was ever obtained for 
 him. 
 
 In the days I speak of and write of, the Goodwood 
 Cup was a coveted trophy by most sportsmen, and 
 colonial horses had a splendid allowance in starting for 
 it. A nobleman in England, who could hold his own 
 with most men on the turf, always saw the opening 
 there was for a Jamaica horse, and we were in treaty 
 for one or more, or, rather, in correspondence on the 
 subject. My view was to send home three of the best 
 class public performers, as the chances were that two 
 out of the trio might disappoint, owing to change of 
 climate, accidents, or length of voyage, and one string 
 would never be enough. He always insisted on the 
 single string, on the grounds of economy, and so the 
 plan was never carried out a pity, I thought then, and 
 still think so. After some time I had gathered together 
 four or five horses that pleased me very much in the 
 matter of looks, and had proved themselves good. I 
 kept them in boxes, giving them soil, and on one occa- 
 sion, a Saturday evening, I thought it would do them 
 good to wander about the park for a few hours to 
 stretch their legs. Now, all over the south side of the 
 island there is a hard- wood tree called " the Cashaw," 
 whose fruit, a little bean in a pod, is very much liked 
 by horses when fresh and dry. After it has lain on the. 
 ground and got soured by the dew or damp, it is 
 decidedly dangerous, breeds noxious gases in the 
 stomach, and swells horses out portentously, very
 
 138 
 
 often killing them if no relief be near. I went up that 
 evening to New Castle. The servants went down to 
 Kingston, forgetting to put back the horses in their 
 boxes, nor did they return, I believe, till daylight on 
 Sunday, when they had the gruesome sight of these 
 five horses all swelled up enormously, and apparently 
 in a very bad way. A new veterinary surgeon had just 
 come to Jamaica, with a splendid array of literary 
 decorations behind his name. He brought up his 
 instruments and treated the horses as if they were 
 cattle afflicted with hove. 
 
 Now the real remedy for this cashaw swelling is an 
 alkali, generally given in the shape of a drench of wood 
 ashes, which rarely fails, if given even within a few 
 hours of the poisoning. My groom knew this, naturally, 
 but he got frightened by the consciousness that if he 
 had put back the horses into their boxes nothing could 
 have happened, and bethought him of the man with the 
 magic letters. I, too, was summoned by a special mes- 
 senger from New Castle, but only arrived in time to 
 see most of these beautiful animals stark and dead. 
 One, a handsome black horse, whose racing name was 
 " Ethiopian," lingered for ten days and ten nights, and 
 died from the inflammation caused by the puncture of 
 the trochar. I was so chagrined at this terrible blow 
 that I made up my mind to sell off everything, includ- 
 ing the real estate. Within ten days or so I was 
 relieved of everything but a remnant of bad horses that 
 I could not get rid of, and again I had to invest in 
 another pen or park. My next mansion, though very 
 pretty to the eye, never really pleased me. It was
 
 139 
 
 built by an architect for his own use, but he found he 
 had not given his dining room underneath sufficient 
 height, so he excavated some feet of earth for the 
 purpose. I recollect in the wet term, "the seasons," 
 dining twice running in that room by myself, in a pair 
 of Turkish slippers, and each time I was stung in the 
 heel by a scorpion my only acquaintance with these 
 plagues, who would not probably have been seen in a 
 room above the ground floor. 
 
 Another horse experience which I had in Jamaica 
 may be narrated, because the treatment adopted might 
 possibly prove useful under similar circumstances. 
 Horses were an article of first necessity in that island, 
 for in the days I write of the short line of railway 
 between Kingston and Spanish Town was the sole 
 public conveyance I can recall in the entire island, and 
 every one had to rely upon his own equipage for getting 
 from one place to another. Moreover, the contracts for 
 the road repairing were so fearfully jobbed that, instead 
 of metal, earth was constantly put over them, and, as 
 may be imagined, when " the seasons " deluged the 
 country for ten days or a fortnight, the highways 
 became beds of sludge, and it was no uncommon sight 
 to witness a number of deserted carriages, abandoned 
 pro tern., till the sun once more hardened the superficies. 
 If you drove any journeys in Jamaica you were gene- 
 rally followed by servants with relays of horses, and if 
 you rode, relays were also necessary, together with a 
 sumpter mule or two, laden with the saddle bags. 
 
 There were hostelries of a kind throughout the island 
 where you could get entertainment of not too luxurious
 
 140 
 
 a character for men and horses, but the general aim of 
 every traveller was to reach some pen or great house, 
 whose hospitable proprietor or occupant invariably 
 made the wayfarer welcome, with no matter how large 
 a cavalcade he travelled. For there was always plenty 
 of provisions of one kind or another yams, plantains, 
 eggs, salt fish, chickens, and, if circumstances favoured, 
 fresh meat, while, if the tenant of the house were in 
 comfortable circumstances, he had his tap of madeira, 
 with brandy galore, and always rum, and he never made 
 the slightest fuss or ceremony with these improvised 
 guests, nor yet with their retinues or horses, for the 
 negroes of the establishment took care of the attendants, 
 and the horses were turned out into the nearest grass 
 piece, with the prospect of getting a feed of maize in 
 the morning, if there were any on the premises. 
 
 Having said so much about the importance of horse 
 kind in the island, I may state that there was a sale of 
 horses in my neighbourhood, to which I went in due 
 course, probably arriving hot and thirsty on the scene, 
 for, as an Irishman in describing the island remarked, 
 "it was a great counthry intirely," you were always 
 thirsty, and the means for quenching that thirst were 
 always at hand. 
 
 The means adopted by the vendor of the very non- 
 descript horses for the relief of the sempiternal drouth 
 were relays of jugs and jars of milk punch, which is a 
 very insidious fluid, though in tins country its strength 
 is rarely tested, seeing that a wineglass after turtle or 
 other soup is the emount taken at ordinary dinners. 
 The concoctor of these cooling cups had made them
 
 141 
 
 extra strong, and their success was stupendous. The 
 sale was a perfect clearance, and my share of the spoil 
 was, if I recollect right, sixteen nondescript very 
 nondescript animals. Among them was a young grey 
 mare that seemed an extraordinary good trotter, and I 
 selected her for my tandem, with which I used to get over 
 a good many miles every month. She was green, and in 
 no condition whatever, and no doubt it was unfair to 
 put her in with an animal in good fettle and used to 
 work. One evening, after returning from my office at 
 Kingston to the pen near Spanish Town (the drive 
 was in and out, I think, some twenty-nine miles), I 
 noticed the grey mare's jaw stiffen in an ominous 
 manner the moment the bit was out of her mouth, while 
 the tail also became rigid. I had read and heard of 
 locked jaw but never seen an instance of it, but here it 
 was before me in all its horror ! Qiie faire ? There was 
 no veterinary surgeon nearer than Kingston, and no 
 one could say much about him, whether he was a man 
 of science or not, but so far as I could gather he was 
 about the only representative of the horse-hakim class 
 in the island of Jamaica, where the horse population 
 amounts to many thousands and tens of thousands. 
 
 Sending for the man of science would have involved 
 hours of delay, and some treatment must be adopted 
 forthwith, so the mare was put into a stall. A nearly 
 fresh sheepskin was spread over her back and loins, and 
 for thirty or forty hours possibly more kettles of hot 
 water were poured over the sheepskin, while, as doors 
 and windows were as hermetically closed as we could 
 manage to close them, a constant sort of vapour bath
 
 142 
 
 filled the building. In this course we persevered with- 
 out intermission, day and night, till the nerves and 
 muscles seemed to relax suddenly (the process was 
 probably gradual), and the mare was able to use her 
 molars in masticating a little food. She became fear- 
 fully thin, but after grazing some few weeks, I quite 
 forget how many, somebody bought her, and I was glad to 
 get rid of an animal that might present the same problem 
 again. Let me add that no morphia whatever was 
 administered, either internally or hypodermically, no 
 chloroform or any other drug whatever. I think the 
 hot water and the vapour from it assisted Nature, and 
 this points to a Turkish bath as a potentially valuable 
 instrument or appliance. * 
 
 In another case, in which I had the folly to go against 
 the custom of the country and its praxis, I fared very 
 badly, though common sense and the books rather 
 favoured me. I have mentioned " Mulatto " as a good 
 horse, and of a family of good performers. I bought a 
 brother of his, who at four years old showed much 
 promise in every way, and had a perfect mouth, temper, 
 and manners, which are not always the accomplishments 
 of a running horse. Now every road in the island is 
 partially metalled with long shingle nails, for the roofs 
 are made of shingles fastened on to rafters by these 
 nails, and when the roof requires re-shingling the nails 
 are freely scattered about in bouquets. On one of 
 these nails, at an unfortunate angle, my colt " JSambo " 
 
 * There is a famous stock instance of a " flesh" horse having been 
 cured of lockjaw by a crack on his skull intended to kill him, but kill
 
 143 
 
 put his frog, and " the iron entered into his sole " in 
 earnest. Now the panacea for this very common mis- 
 adventure is to Extract the nail, burn the hole made 
 with a hot iron, and then put into it a pledget of tow 
 and turpentine, which seems to succeed invariably. 
 " Sambo's " foot was poulticed with every soothing and 
 emollient substance we could lay hands on, but all in 
 vain, inflammation set in, he shed his hoof, and I think 
 I had to shoot him, as the new growth was useless. 
 
 I have dwelt long and lovingly on the horses of 
 Jamaica, for they were certainly among her natural 
 treasures, and they lately received some attention in 
 England when the remount question was under Govern- 
 ment consideration. From what I have seen and 
 known, I believe that in no part of the world could a 
 better or hardier thoroughbred trooper be produced, at 
 small cost, than in Jamaica. I use the word " thorough- 
 bred" advisedly, as if you get nearly equal substance, the 
 thoroughbred is the superior, me judice, of his half-bred 
 brother for work and endurance. The area for breed- 
 ing them, even with all the waste lands of the island to 
 call upon, is not enormous ; as experience has shown 
 that only in a few districts, under certain conditions of 
 soil and climate, can the colt be bred and reared so as 
 to attain his best development, and these districts are 
 mainly in St. Ann s, Manchester, and St. Elizabeth. 
 The cost of transit to England would counterbalance 
 much of the economy of rearing ; but I have no hesita- 
 tion in saying that if any other great Power had such a 
 field for the production of first-class cavalry horses, the 
 field would be used and cultivated. Half-bred horses
 
 144 
 
 have been tried in Jamaica, but they were failures, as 
 the sun wore them out. As for the endurance of the 
 Jamaica horse under wretched conditions of life, it 
 almost passes belief. The Spaniards must have intro- 
 duced a lot of Barb blood into the island after their 
 occupation, for even the commonest ponies are capable 
 of exertions that we should never think of expecting 
 from similar English animals. Speed is not everything 
 in a horse ; but even in the matter of speed, Jamaica 
 horses very easily disposed of such second and third- 
 rate animals of English origin as they were pitted 
 against from time to time, and Lord Mulgrave, when 
 Governor, found his importations very expensive and 
 very ineffective in the way of race winning. 
 
 The Creole (or native) stock wants constant renew- 
 ing with English blood, as otherwise it will very 
 quickly degenerate in shapes, if in no more material 
 characteristics, the hind quarters losing their round- 
 ness and becoming quite droopy. 
 
 To show how good some of the commoner animals 
 proved, I may mention that I owned a pony fourteen 
 hands high, of no pedigree that I ever ascertained, who 
 won every pony race for which I started him, and was 
 equally successful in matches against an imported 
 American horse at three miles, and a mile and a-half 
 catch weight. He was a fair hack, and, I'm sure, in a 
 light trap would have thought very little of fifty or 
 sixty miles, but I never put him in leather. 
 
 I may add that Jamaica horses are exported to the 
 other islands, where they win nearly all the races. 
 
 I said in a paragraph lately that perhaps in no pait
 
 145 
 
 of the world were racehorses better valeted than in 
 Jamaica, and so they ought to have been, for each 
 runner had his strapper, an athletic darkie to whom 
 the grooming of a horse of such great possibilities was 
 a labour of love, and into which he flung himself with 
 might and main; and a rider besides, to whom was 
 assigned the task of hand-rubbing each limb fore and 
 aft, for two periods of about forty minutes each in 
 the twenty-four hours. This hand-rubbing a sort of 
 massage is infinitely better than the bandaging that 
 obtains in our stables, and seemed to be thoroughly 
 appreciated by the recipients of such attentions. In 
 some stables the boys were instructed to wet their 
 hands with a sort of gently stimulating embrocation 
 chiefly composed of oil of origanum (or oil of thyme j 
 and camphor ; but whether there was virtue in " the 
 bottle " or not certain it is that if hands smeared with 
 this unguent were thoroughly dry in thirty or forty 
 minutes, one might feel sure that every limb had had 
 justice done to it. Directly after the boys had done 
 rubbing, you saw them roll up leaves of tobacco into 
 cigars of portentous size, which no matter how young 
 they were, they seemed to smoke with much relish. 
 Twere needless to say that running horses in Jamaica 
 could neither be railed nor vanned. I doubt if the bit 
 of railway in existence had a horse box among its 
 rolling stock, nor do I think the oldest inhabitant had 
 ever seen a road van, such as those which Lord George 
 Bentinck made so popular in England. The horses 
 walked all their journeys, and it was an amusing sight 
 to watch the departure of a racing train. The boys 
 
 P
 
 146 
 
 riding their animals, the men in a large cart that 
 carried clothing, saddlery, some corn, and a little hay ; 
 while each race horse had a collar of hay wound round 
 his neck, much as you may see a soldier carrying his great 
 coat. Bringing up the rear guard on his hack, with all 
 the dignity and importance of a field marshal, was the 
 headman or trainer, truly described (in too many cases) 
 5n negro language as " the strainer." And how many 
 of the guild even in Europe have been simple 
 strainers ? 
 
 It is always a good sign to see your racing folk 
 start in good spirits. If they are depressed and cast 
 down I imagine that they think that some spell has 
 been cast upon them, and that they cannot fight against 
 such odds. Among your stable people you will some- 
 times find great ingenuity ; one groom I had insisted 
 on making the boys' racing clothes and plating the 
 horses ere they ran, for fear of an accident. This man 
 had wonderful insight into horse nature ! I need 
 hardly say that the watch was largely used out in this 
 colony in ascertaining the speed of our animals, and 
 that a good stop-watch was an indispensable adjunct to 
 a stable. On one occasion I had to time a three-year- 
 old that if looks and pedigree availed should have been 
 very fast. She was not wound up, but I thought her 
 mile would be done in tolerable time ; on the contrary, 
 it was slow enough for a very moderate hunter, and of 
 course unusual. This groom was a long way off, 
 standing by himself, and when I asked him what he 
 thought the time had been, he told me within a second 
 or two ! I asked him how he made the calculation, he
 
 147 
 
 said by the beats of his pulse ! the coincidence, at any 
 rate, was curious. 
 
 I pointed out and in this case I may say to the 
 readers erpertj credit" just now some of the great 
 drawbacks to outsiders taking up racing either for 
 profit or pastime in Jamaica. ' You have to contend 
 with the breeders who know their business and have 
 practised and permanent staffs, while the outsiders have 
 to trust to casuals who may or not be faithful to them ; 
 but in addition to this, you have an element of the 
 grossest superstition to contend against, and if Obi and 
 his prophets are arrayed against you, there is not nerve 
 enough in the natives to oppose such influences. They 
 all profess to disbelieve in this serpent or devil worship, 
 but there are very few indeed who are not secretly 
 terrorised by it, and there is constant mining and 
 countermining going on. The trainers are especially 
 under the spell, and the tendency is, as you cannot 
 oppose the universal credulity, to array the strongest 
 Obiites on your own side. Just as the noble lord who, 
 when asked what he did when another noble peer was 
 working the sauter le coup trick, and to his know- 
 ledge, replied boldly, why backed him to be sure. 
 
 Into the mystery of iniquity of the Obi cult I do not 
 propose to enter ; hardly any European has a chance of 
 learning its arcana or would like to do so if he could. 
 In its worst form it means poisoning, and by means of 
 herbs, when detection is nearly impossible ; in its 
 milder forms it means charms and counter-charms, 
 philtres, and so on. Even the ignorant little riding boys 
 believe that if your rivals have, by means of arts and 
 
 P 2
 
 incantations, managed to capture the shadows of your 
 horses, your labour is in vain ; they hold you. Some of 
 the Obiana are creepy and gruesome in the extreme, 
 and sometimes you are staggered by the hold it has 
 upon people whom you would imagine to be above 
 such grovelling and debasing superstitions ! But is 
 Europe free from all taint of credulous superstition ? 
 To those who affirm this proposition, I would refer to 
 an enlightened clever man of business such as the 
 Postmaster of Liverpool consulting a clairvoyants to 
 recover stamps stolen from his office, as I chronicled 
 before. A friend of mine in Jamaica offended the 
 susceptibilities of his butler; in a few days noticing 
 that the water from his drip stone looked greenish, he 
 investigated the stone and found it full of deadly night- 
 shade. This, however, was hardly Obiism it was far 
 too clumsy. 
 
 I referred to shooting in Jamaica. There was a great 
 deal of game in the island. Deer had been common 
 once, one heard; but I certainly never saw one. Pigeons 
 of several kinds abounded ; and I brought home a rare 
 specimen to the Zoological Gardens, in London, though 
 at this moment I am unable to recall his orthodox title. 
 
 Wild pigs were to be found in some districts, and 
 wild goats in others. . Guinea fowl were like Brown's 
 cows, all over the island, but hard to find, and harder 
 still to kill, as they would carry off any quantity of 
 shot. The proud pea-fowl that beguiled me into taking 
 a miasmatic mansion, where I nearly parted with life 
 and breath, were I rather think strays from some park 
 or other that had become wild. There were the wood
 
 149 
 
 hens, big birds that laid eggs nearly as large as those of 
 a barn-door pullet, but I never heard of a bag of them 
 being realised by any one. Ducks, and all that tribe, 
 were to be found on the edges of swamps, and in this 
 case the game was hardly worth the candle it cost, for 
 that candle might be the breath of life. " Out, out brief 
 candle" says Lady Macbeth, if my memory serves me 
 right, and a swamp will extinguish the brief candle 
 very quickly. 
 
 The staple shooting of the island is the Virginia 
 quail, which affords very pretty practice, and if the 
 country were only more open, might be worth following. 
 On the Price estate, of Worthy Park, known by the 
 Spaniards as Luidas Vale,* from the splendour of the 
 swarms of fire flies that lit it up with almost noontide 
 radiance, there were numbers of birds ; but in the 
 multitude of covert, these birds found safety everywhere. 
 
 Devil fishing off Port Eoyal Harbour, and indeed in 
 other places, is said to be a sport for kings. I never 
 tried it ; but a run of six or seven miles in a boat at 
 great pace must have no little excitement about it. 
 Shark catching had its followers at Port Eoyal. 
 
 My notice about Jamaica in the fifties or sixties 
 would be incomplete without some record of John 
 "Wilson Davis, the father of the turf, as well as the 
 father and grandfather, perhaps great grandfather, of 
 a number of the inhabitants of that beautiful island, so 
 I will not apologise for the space I have given him. 
 I wish that considerations of space allowed me to add 
 a few more Davisiana. One I must insert, because it 
 
 * Talley of Light.
 
 150 
 
 is pregnant with common sense, and I think it \vas his 
 own entirely, namely, his last orders to his jocks, which 
 are simple and intelligible to the meanest comprehen- 
 sion : " Always wait in front." This seems to me the 
 acme of common sense, specially when we recollect that 
 the riders to whom it was addressed did not know the 
 refinements of the art of race riding. Another of his 
 common sayings about any one who came to financial 
 grief from going the pace too hard was " I think 
 
 Mr. ran his first heat too fast." Mr. Davis's 
 
 colts were generally caught in the corral with a lasso. 
 I think I named Sir Charles Cuyler as the only really 
 capable race rider in the colony. I am wrong. There 
 was another very good one, but I believe he was more 
 than seventy, the old man of the mountains, Mr. Cop- 
 pard, who had learned in a good school in England. 
 He had a coffee plantation near the Blue Mountain 
 peak, and if the produce was not large, it was very 
 good, and fetched 2s. Qd. per pound. He did not ride 
 for everybody, and very properly stuck to the best and 
 best trained horses. 
 
 Patriotism is a far more deeply engrained feeling in 
 the Scotch nature than in the Irish ecce signum ! I 
 well recollect an enthusiastic Scotch lawyer in Jamaica 
 of the McPherson Clan, whose chief is " Cluny," who 
 went all the way to Caledonia stern and wild, to get 
 some heather from the chief's domains, and whenever 
 he went abroad he put a sprig or two in his boots or 
 shoes, so that he might feel that, even in a colony, he 
 never was off his native heath. 
 
 A propos of Scotchmen, a regular Gael of ancient
 
 151 
 
 lineage and lingo, who had some property in Jamaica, 
 got into the House of Assembly in that island, and had 
 not been long there when the spirit moved him to 
 make a speech, which, no doubt, was forcible and 
 Ossianic, but which was so Erse-like in sound and con- 
 tained such extraordinary lacunes from the effort of 
 the orator to translate his fiery Gaelic thoughts into 
 Sassenach speech that it was wholly unintelligible. A 
 \\ itty proprietor of a paper in " the land of springs " 
 attempted to give a phonetic rendering of the oration, 
 and amused his readers greatly for a time, but retribu- 
 tion came ere long, when the son of the Gael, having 
 seen the rendering of his oration, swooped down oil the 
 editorial sanctum, and, cutting out the offensive passage, 
 compelled the editor and proprietor to swallow his 
 words, standing over him the while with a stout cudgel 
 till every letter had been degustated. 
 
 In England and Ireland, too, we are very apt to sneer 
 at the racing efforts of colonists and colonial horses, but 
 racing men who have visited Australia, for instance, 
 come home with less contracted and insular ideas and 
 views. In my day or decade there were, I think, 
 twelve or fourteen quite first-class horses bred in 
 Jamaica, and as a matter of fact some of the sweep- 
 stakes competed for there were far higher than any- 
 thing in Ireland, for at Kingston every year there was 
 a 50 sweepstake, weight for age, 2 miles, without any 
 added money. 
 
 One of the great drawbacks to racing in Jamaica 
 (and there were many) was the unparalleled deduction 
 made from every stake of " a winning bowl " for the
 
 152 
 
 stewards and their friends. This convivial -winning 
 bowl was a pleasant concoction of champagne, cherry 
 brandy, nutmeg, and ice a champagne sangaree in 
 fact handed about in a huge silver loving cup. The 
 lowest price ever paid for one, so far as my memory 
 goes, was a doubloon, or 3 4s., but I think it generally 
 reached to two doubloons, and I can recollect one 
 monster of some sixteen doubloons sent in to me from 
 one booth alone, but a filly of mine had picked up a 
 rather rich two-year-old stake, and they thought the 
 stake could stand it. 
 
 This doubloon drawback or duty reminds me of a 
 famous election bill sent in to Sir Mark Somerville 
 after a contested election, which, well known in Ireland, 
 may not be so familiar to English readers, and for that 
 reason I venture to reproduce it here. I may add here 
 that my uncle Mr. Tuite's election for the county of 
 West Meath was supposed to have cost between sixty and 
 seventy thousand pounds. 
 
 He was gazetted to a baronetcy without being con- 
 sulted on the subject, post hoc, though it may possibly 
 have been propter hoc, by the Government of the day ; 
 but as there was an old one in the family he declined 
 the honour. My grandfather, too, I believe, declined a 
 peerage, on the ground that he had no male heir, and 
 also because he might have claimed one with some 
 prospect of success had he been so minded. 
 
 A Model Electioneering Bill. 
 
 During the time of a contested Election in Meath, 
 some forty years ago, SIR MARK SOMERVILLE sent orders
 
 153 
 
 "> the Proprietor of the Hotel in Trim, to Board and 
 Lodge all that should vote for him, for which he re- 
 ceived the following bill, which he got framed, and it 
 still hangs in SOMERVILLE HOUSE, County Meath. The 
 copy from which this is taken was from amongst the 
 papers of the late VERY REVD. ARCHDEACON O'CONNELL, 
 Vicar-General of the Diocese of Meath. 
 
 APRIL 16TH, 1826. 
 
 MY BILL. 
 
 s. d, 
 
 To Tenting 16 Freeholders above stairs for 
 
 Sir Mark, at 3/3 a head, is to me . . 2120 
 
 To Eating 15 more below stairs, and two 
 
 Priests after Supper, is to me. . .. 2 15 9 
 
 To 18 Horses and 5 -Mules about my yard 
 all night at 13/- every one of them, and 
 for a man which was lost on the head 
 of watching them all night, is to me. . 5 5 
 
 To 6 Beds in one Room, and 4 in another, 
 at 2 Guineas every Bed, and not more 
 than 4 in any Bed, at any time, cheap 
 enough, God knows, is to me. . . . 22 15 
 
 For Breakfast on Tay in the morning, for 
 every one of them, and as many more 
 of them as they brought in, as near as 
 I can guess, is to me . . . . . . 4120 
 
 To Raw Whiskey and Punch, without talk- 
 ing of Pipes and Tobacco, as well as for 
 breaking a pot above stairs, and other 
 Glasses and Delph for the first day and
 
 154 
 
 s. d. 
 
 night, I am not very sure, but for the 
 3 days and a half of the Election, as 
 little as T can call it, and to be very 
 exact, it is in all or thereabouts as near 
 as I can guess, and not to be two par- 
 ticular, is to me at least .. .. 79 15 9 
 
 For Shaving and Cropping off the heads of 
 49 Freeholders for Sir Mark, at 13d. 
 for every head of them, by my brother, 
 who has a vote, is to me . . . . 2 13 1 
 
 For a Womit and Nurse for poor Tom 
 Kernan in the middle of the night, 
 when he was not expected, is to me 
 ten hogs, I don't talk of the piper for 
 keeping him sober as long as he was 
 
 sober, is to me 
 
 110 18 7 
 
 Signed in the place of Jemmy Cars w r ife, his Mark x 
 Bryan & Geraghty's Mark x 
 
 You may say 111, so your honour Sir Mark, send 
 me this Eleven Hundred by Bryan himself, who and I 
 prays for your success always in Trim, so no more at 
 present.
 
 155 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 " A man's best things are nearest him, 
 
 Lie closest to his feet ; 
 It is the distant and the dim, 
 We go so far to meet." 
 
 Moncton Milne*. 
 
 ENGLISH men and women have a sublime indifference 
 to their own colonies, and go to Florida for a winter's 
 change, whereas Jamaica is in many respects its 
 superior, especially in the absence of frost. To 
 poitrinaires, Jamaica especially commends itself, and 
 works wonderful cures to impaired lungs. Sugar is 
 hardly an advisable venture in these times save to 
 those who understand the manufacturing and agri- 
 cultural processes thoroughly; but small capitalists, if 
 they cannot make a fortune in the island, can ma.ke a 
 fair living with little money. If a few home comforts 
 and luxuries are denied, there are great compensations. 
 In my day turtle cost 3d. per lb., and Avocado pears 
 and Eipley pines might be had for a song. Then the 
 calipeva is a delicious fish, and as for land crabs they 
 cannot be rivalled, and of mountain mullet I have 
 already written. 
 
 Perhaps, here, I may be permitted to make an ethno- 
 logical remark or two in reference to Jamaica, that we 
 have often heard called " the Queen of the Antilles," 
 and the " brightest gem in the crown of England ! " It 
 is a lovely island, as many who propose to visit it next
 
 156 
 
 February for its exhibition* will fully realise, if they can 
 tear themselves from the social and other attractions of 
 the southern shores, and make excursions round it, and 
 through its interior, 'excursions that can be completed 
 in eighteen or nineteen days easily. But then Jamaica 
 has, during the two hundred years or so in which we 
 have been interested in its fortunes, changed inhabitants 
 more than once. There are no Spaniards, or hardly 
 any, to be found there now, though the nominis umbra 
 exists in such town titles as Savannah La Mar. The 
 Maroons and Caribs are all but extinct, and as a race 
 quite extinct. The Negroes that own and occupy most 
 of it are exotics from Africa, the descendants of slaves 
 introduced by the planters when sugar and coffee 
 cultivation made slave labour a necessity, as the word 
 necessity was then understood. The coloured popula- 
 tion is, of course, hybrid, and not very prolific, while 
 the white population is certainly waning rapidly, 
 though recruited by a few Americans, who have proved 
 very good neighbours to the Creoles, and introduced a 
 fair share of capital among them. The Indian coolies 
 imported have left little trace on the population, but if 
 the Chinese could have been introduced in numbers, I 
 think they would have changed the face of the land. 
 For the few that were brought in from Panama, by a 
 legislative job of the grossest description, made money 
 in a very short time, and ousted the lazy, loafing niggers 
 from some of their strongholds, becoming par excellence 
 the fishermen of Kingston harbour, and the gardeners 
 in its vicinity. The job was in this wise, a Member of 
 * A thing of the past now, and a declared success.
 
 157 
 
 Assembly got a contract to bring to Kingston so many 
 hundred of the Chinese labourers who had been at 
 work at the Panama railway, and got their discharge. 
 For this he was to receive a large sum, and, I fancy, he 
 got most of it paid in advance. Now, very few men 
 who laboured long at the construction of that railway, 
 which may be said to have been built on human bones, 
 retained enough vitality for much labour elsewhere, 
 whether they were black or white, Irish, American, 
 Negroes, or Celestial emigrants from the Flowery Land. 
 On nearly all, the malarious miasmatic marsh left the 
 mark of its febrile fingers. The enterprising member 
 got his tale of pigtails at Panama, and brought them 
 to Kingston, where, instead of proving able-bodied 
 labourers fit for estate work, many, if not most of them, 
 had to be sent straight to hospital. The hardier and 
 healthier lot bought boats, and fished the Kingston 
 waters with great success ; others, as I remarked just 
 now, turned gardeners, and very soon taught us that 
 the secret of gardening is to water copiously during 
 the small hours of the night, instead of about sunrise 
 as was usual before. I forget what became of these 
 Celestials, but one saw quite enough to convince one 
 that though inferior in physique to the Negro, they 
 could beat them out of sight by their pertinacious 
 plodding and intelligence, as well as by their adapta- 
 bility to various and diverse occupations and callings. 
 The great delight of John Chinaman seemed riding in 
 a stately fashion, with an umbrella to cover his head. 
 Whether Ah Sin is ever destined to make his way 
 into the Caribbean Archipelago in force remains to be
 
 158 
 
 seen. Certainly a St. Domingo peopled by these 
 Asiatics would be preferable to one occupied by a 
 relapsing race of negroes, among whom, according to 
 the last accounts, cannibalism and Obi rites are very 
 prevalent. But who shall say that when the doctrine 
 of the dignity of labour has been sufficiently sublimated 
 by the new evangelists and organisers of strikes, we 
 may not have " to redress the balance," as Canning said, 
 by Celestial aid ? Even in London, a few have won 
 their way to wealth. 
 
 But I am omitting an eventful episode in the 
 monotony of life in the Antilles. After a severely 
 sustained wrestle with Yellow Jack the strongest 
 constitution is prostrated, and the consensus of scien- 
 tific as well as common sense opinion points to change 
 of air and scene, and above all to "Xorthing." Thus 
 in the Fleet, should the fever show itself at all in 
 harbour, a cruise northwards generally stops its career, 
 though it may not cure the actual patients, and puts 
 the ship's company into health again without much 
 medicinal aid, and as there was a very good opportunity 
 of a cruise northwards, I gave myself a few weeks' 
 sick leave, reported the state of affairs to headquarters, 
 and joined H.M.'s good ship "Argus," Captain 
 Purvis, E.N., on her way to Bermuda and Halifax, my 
 fellow passenger being Captain Hay, K.A., who got 
 local leave. Our idea was to take a short run through 
 Canada and the States, returning by the regular or 
 irregular line of steamers that plied between New York, 
 the West India Islands, and the Main, periodically 
 touching at Kingston harbour for freight, passengers,
 
 15!) 
 
 and coal. "VVe were no strangers to each other, for 
 Dick Purvis had been a great deal at my pen, and Bob 
 Hay was everyone's friend, and much about in our 
 microcosm of sport and society. 
 
 I cannot recollect anything very remarkable in cur 
 rapid run to St. George's, Bermuda, except on the first 
 day, when a man who was cleaning the cabin windows 
 slipped from his moorings, and though boats were 
 launched and manned very promptly indeed, he never 
 was picked up. It is the modern fashion to take in 
 knowledge very quickly, judging by the antics of 
 certain wise men from the East who cross the Channel, 
 spend a few days in the Green Isle, and leave it with 
 the profound (if there is any profundity about such 
 folk) conviction that their keen eyes have peered into 
 the very heart of the Milesian millstone, and that the 
 Irish Question is to them as easy as a proposition in 
 Euclid, whereas Irishmen born and bred in Ireland 
 confess their inability to solve it satisfactorily, or to 
 understand it in all its intricacies ! If I had the 
 inspiration and genius of these peripatetic penmen, I 
 would say something as to the land of the pencil cedar, 
 where that tree forms one of the staples of wealth, but 
 as my recollection is mainly of its good vegetables, 
 especially its prime potatoes and onions, I will be 
 silent, and leave others to vex anew Bermoothes. It 
 always surprised me that seed potatoes were not sought 
 for from this source, if only by way of an experiment. 
 Kirwan, the painter, who was convicted of having 
 accelerated his wife's death, was imprisoned here, but 
 we did not see him, or indeed desire to do so.
 
 160 
 
 Halifax harbour was entered at last after some 
 tedious delays among the fog banks. This broke up 
 our pleasant party, and we left our cheery skipper with 
 regret. I think we went from Halifax to "Windsor 
 across country, pushed on to St. John's, where the 
 cholera had scared away about half the population, and 
 then took Montreal for our next stage. I think Colonel 
 Benn, R.A., showed us here a very fine battery of 
 Canadian horses destined for the Crimea. Horses' 
 in those days were purchaseable at cheap rates. Messrs. 
 Newdegate and "Whalley would not have liked Montreal ! 
 liome was too rampant there for their views; but 
 somehow the new English and the old French Cannuks 
 seemed to get on very well together. Prosperity is a 
 marvellous alchemist. The rapids of Lachine, the 
 broad St. Lawrence and its thousand islands, Kingston, 
 Toronto, Niagara, are not these scenes so charming, 
 familiar to us all as a thrice-told tale? The St. 
 Nicholas Hotel of New York was then the latest big 
 thing down town. We went there, and I think the 
 thing that made more impression on my mind as a 
 sample of Yankee improvements in the routine of daily 
 life was the servant's announcement when we went to 
 bod that our linen would be found washed, and made 
 up by morning ; and so it was. Steam laundries were 
 not common things then in benighted Europe ; they are 
 now fortunately. After surveying New York, we went 
 naturally to the offices of the line of steamers on 
 which we calculated for our return to Jamaica. The 
 line was plying, but, oh, horror, no longer to Kingston, 
 on account of some coaling row: so we had either to
 
 find some sailing smack starting for Jamaica, or else 
 charter one for ourselves. At last the desideratum 
 turned up in a brigantine that was leaving the Delaware 
 River. We wired to the captain, taking all his cabin 
 accommodation, and set off incontinent for Philadelphia. 
 The brigantine boarded, we went to look at our berths 
 and cabin, when the captain threw himself on our 
 consideration, telling us how a missionary to Jamaica 
 with his wife and family (missionaries always have a 
 special mission for olive branches) had told him a 
 dolorous tale of the necessities of his case, adding 
 " under the circumstances, I gave them all the accom- 
 modation you had ordered." We acquiesced, of course, 
 thinking our trials would be over very quickly, but un- 
 fortunately we got becalmed off the Cuban Coast, and 
 detained longer than we had anticipated. I think our 
 missionary was a brother-in-law of Irving, who claimed 
 the gift of tongues. Mr. Carlisle did not claim any- 
 thing of the sort, but seemed a good, straightforward 
 clergyman of the Presbyterian forms. As a rule, the 
 negroes were mostly by choice Baptists or Methodists, 
 as their clergy had taken most interest in them 
 spiritually and temporally. The Moravians were not a 
 large body, but by all accounts did immense good ; kept 
 shops to supply the natives at moderate rates (a 
 glimpse of the co-operative principle), took no leading 
 or agitating part in politics, but did good quietly and 
 unostentatiously. One of the peculiarities of this 
 section of Christians in partibus infidelium, or in 
 missionary lands, was that, I believe, they imported 
 their wives from the parent organisation in England, 
 
 Q
 
 162 
 
 nor did I ever hear that such marriage turned out "a 
 failure." Of course the ladies were unknown pre- 
 viously. 
 
 The Church of England was the cult of most of the 
 upper ten, of the officials, the officers of both services 
 for the most part, and of the Governor and his staff. 
 It was very well endowed, and at the time I write of 
 had its two Bishops, the actual and the suffragan. For 
 tJie Bishop of Jamaica, Aubrey George Spencer, a son 
 of the poet or verse writer, and so widely advertised 
 as a successful chiropodean case, was, as enjoined by 
 St. Paul, the husband of one wife, and that lady witli 
 singular good taste preferred London to Liguanea, where 
 the Bishop's pen stood, a solid, handsome, square mansion, 
 set in a fine park, and if not absolutely perfect in 
 situation, was fairly healthy. I never met Mrs. Spencer 
 in Jamaica, and I think only one of his handsome 
 daughters, for he was the father of a trio of 
 beauties. A most accomplished man, with taste more 
 perfect, probably, than ever fell to the lot of Pope's 
 ideal, " Sir Visto," it might be said of him that " nihil 
 tetigit quod non ornavit." 
 
 The Bishop's pen and its "decorations" bore evidence 
 of this, but the gem was his mountain retreat, Charlotten- 
 burg, of which he was very fond. Here he had terraced 
 the mountain sides, and made them glow with beauty 
 and colour. It was on his first visit to this enchanting 
 spot that Lord Derby is said to have exclaimed, " Here 
 is Monte-Cristo's Palace." Here, too, they said, the 
 prelate used, in earlier days, to invite his choice native 
 catechumens or candidates for ordination; but these
 
 163 
 
 good young men of colour were overcome by the beauty 
 of the young ladies, and I think after a few formal 
 declarations their visits were no longer sought. There 
 is a tale of some zealous young clergyman, of rather 
 iconoclastic views, having been shown over the cottage 
 and the grounds by his kind, agreeable, and perfectly 
 bred host, when he burst out with the exclamation, 
 "What would St. Paul have thought of all this?" 
 Now nothing is easier than to make such blessant, rude 
 speeches. They lead to nothing but pain, and recipro- 
 cal unpleasant feeling, and can never be verified. K 
 St. Paul was strong on anything, it was " blessed charity." 
 With the necessity of going backwards or forwards to 
 England pretty often, and perhaps feeling the inroads 
 of age, quinine, and climate a little, Aubrey George 
 was able to get a suffragan bishop appointed in the 
 person of Mr. Reginald Courtenay, who did not 
 generally please, like his polished predecessor, in the 
 country parts of Jamaica. Hospitality is, perhaps, the 
 only law there that has no exceptions, so whenever the 
 suffragan set forth for visits or visitations, he found 
 houses, and horses and carriages, men-servants and 
 maid-servants, all at his command. Now it may have 
 been from close sight, or from absence of mind, or some 
 such cause, but for one reason or another his country 
 hosts complained that they were utterly unnoticed 
 whenever they came up to Kingston or Spanish Town. 
 They did not expect to be invited to reciprocity enter- 
 tainments, but a little notice, they fancied, might have 
 been given them No doubt the Bishop was very 
 absent-minded, but the habib had its effect naturally 
 
 Q 2
 
 164 
 
 in so small a community. At one of the departmental 
 dinners at King's House, before the guests had gone 
 into the dining-room, the Bishop shook hands with an 
 official present, and held his hand for a minute or two, 
 as if he had forgotten his name. " You seem to have 
 forgoten me, my lord," said the officer. " You have 
 been away from the island, have you not," replied the 
 Bishop. " Yes ; we've both been in England, but that's 
 no reason why we should not recollect each other." 
 There were, no doubt, a few earnest, good clergymen in 
 Jamaica, but I think a cure and an office were syn- 
 onymous, at least in some cases ; and, if I recollect right, 
 when the copper mining epidemic spread like wildfire 
 throughout the island, and men fancied they had 
 Eldorados within their reach, I heard of pulpits closed 
 on account of this copper craze ! 
 
 The chaplains were perhaps the least under discipline, 
 and more under the influence of the genius loci. A 
 Navy chaplain had joined (or led) some naval officers 
 of the squadron in a raid on some little local post office, 
 where they fancied they had not, or perhaps really did not 
 receive, proper attention. The case, which of course 
 was referred to me, was never investigated, for the ship 
 put to sea directly. Another chaplain I recollect hearing 
 preach before a garrison congregation about St. Paul's 
 reasonings as to sobriety and temperance before Pro- 
 consul Festus. The text was infelicitous, for many of 
 his audience knew that he had fallen down a hill side 
 a day or two previously, from the vertigo caused by 
 Horniman's pure teas ! 
 
 I quite forgot to add to the slight notice of cults and
 
 165 
 
 creeds in Jamaica that, latterly, the Bornan Catholics 
 have been showing much missionary enterprise in that 
 island, where, in old days, before the visit of Penn and 
 Venables, their dogmas were deemed the only ones that 
 brought salvation, while initiation into any others 
 might ultimately lead to an auto da fe. The Roman 
 Catholic ritual has much to please the negro eye and 
 ear, but Baptists and Methodists were very active 
 among the black and coloured population, and made 
 their wrongs and sorrows their own, thus gaining their 
 sympathy and spiritual obedience ! The Vicar Apo- 
 stolic was a very genial old gentleman, with charming 
 manners, and an apparent familiarity with the good 
 things of either world. I recollect seeing him once 
 greatly shocked on board an intercolonial steamer by 
 the irreverent rudeness of a very spoilt child of, I believe, 
 nominally, his own persuasion. The Vicar was trying 
 to make friends with the boy, but the latter would 
 have nothing to do with him and rejected every one ot' 
 his advances by suggesting a visit to a hotter place ! 
 This was too much for the long suffering dignitary, so 
 he complained formally to his father of the abominable 
 language of his young hopeful. He was an officer in 
 high command, but hardly what could be styled a good 
 domestic disciplinarian, for the only notice he took of 
 his sacrilegious scapegrace's sentence was, "But you 
 did'nt go after all ! " 
 
 Between the Governments of Sir Charles Grey and 
 Sir Charles Darling came that of Sir Henry Barkly, 
 which was certainly successful. I take it that the 
 Colonial Office think most highly of that representative
 
 166 
 
 of the majesty of England, of whom they hear the 
 least, who is neither carried away by gusts of the aura 
 popularis in the colony, so as to forget his devoir to the 
 mother country, and who, on the other hand, does not 
 push privilege and prescription too far, or keep too tight 
 a hold on the reins of power. Much in the same way 
 as Pericles declared that woman to he worthiest of the 
 most lavish laud who made least noise in the world. 
 Sir Henry Barkly fulfilled this rdle. He held the 
 balance evenly between the mother country, whom the 
 colonists were very apt to vilipend as a stepmother 
 an injusta noverca, in fact and his zeal for the interests 
 of the island, of which he was the Governor, and which 
 was so lovely in her languor, so divine in her decay, that 
 she must have enlisted the sympathies of any feeling 
 heart. 
 
 Sir Henry was a tall, good-looking man, with a con- 
 siderable air of refinement about him. His uniform 
 looked very well on him, and I think he rose to the 
 height of the argument of sartorial splendour, and 
 determined to be not only a righteous, but a pains- 
 taking, hardworking ruler. I hardly think that if our 
 own Bacon, or the German Schwartz (or it may be the 
 Indian or Chinese chemists, centuries before either), 
 had not invented powder, Sir Henry would have made 
 the deadly discovery, but it may be doubted if in a long 
 list of Viceroys, there was a much better or an abler 
 one than the subject of our notice. A vice-king, be he 
 even as talented and public spirited as Lord Metcalfe, is 
 but half a great power without a suitable vice-queen ; 
 and such a consort had Sir Henry Barkly in his wife,
 
 167 
 
 who, a handsome, stately lady, with very engaging 
 manners, and a great fund of conversation, led society ' 
 in Jamaica, made King's House most pleasant, and set 
 a brilliant pattern for her successors. In an enervating 
 and scorching atmosphere the very fountains of 
 pleasure are apt to become dried up, and, as Byron 
 puts it, "pleasure cannot please." Lady Barkly had 
 such a fund of fine health and energy, that she was 
 able to keep the tambourine continually " rowling," as 
 Mr. James Pigg puts it, and she was herself the motif 
 of every plan and arrangement for the amusement and 
 delectation of her subjects. Thus, to give one instance. 
 She made her archery parties a new joy and pastime in 
 the island, and a perpetual source of pleasant rivalries. 
 Sir Henry and his wife were both very good shots. 
 The Colonial Office must have thought very highly of 
 Sir Henry Barkly as a Governor, for from Jamaica he 
 A\as sent out straight to Victoria, where poor Lady 
 Barkly met her fatal accident from runaway carriage 
 horses. Just as her predecessor, Lady M. Fitzroy, had 
 some years before. She was much mourned in Jamaica. 
 In the Barkly reign, King's House, that had long suffered 
 from a succession of bachelor, or practically bachelor 
 governors, became quite gay, its corridors re-echoing 
 continually ie rire perle de dames. Nor had it been so 
 socially festive since the occupation of Lord and Lady 
 Sligo. In reality King's House was almost the sole 
 focus for the meeting of the various heterogeneous 
 elements of society in the island. Here not only law, 
 physic, and divinity were to be found, but soldiers and 
 sailors, Members of Council, and Members of Par-
 
 168 
 
 liament, Government officials, great merchants and 
 " oneyers," whether Scotch, English, or Hebrew, and the 
 lords of the soil, the planters, who always posed as a 
 dethroned, deposed power. Add to these elements 
 variations in colour and complexion, from the beaming 
 blackness of Judge Moncrieffe, to the languors and 
 lilies of the blue-eyed octoroon Creole, and the flashing 
 orbs of the miids of Judah, and you may fancy that 
 society here was a real olla, full of exotics and abori- 
 gines, as a Member of Parliament told Lady Barkly 
 at a ball, when she asked who composed such and such 
 a group, " They are aborigines 1" making " giiies " one 
 syllable.
 
 169 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 " They hare been at a great feast of languages, and stolen the 
 scraps." Love'x Labour Lost. 
 
 No one that I have heard of ever chronicled the negro 
 folk lore, or made a collection of their proverbial 
 philosophy, yet hoth are full of interest ; only white 
 men, as a rule, are too proud and imperious to win 
 negro confidence, and encourage expansiveness. The 
 affectation of diguity of diction occasionally leads 
 Mr. and Mrs. Sambo into curious utterances, such for 
 instance as the landlady of an inn I wanted to bait at 
 on my travels gave birth to. She was good woman I 
 doing domestic work in a peignoir, and would not 
 come forth, or " suffer herself to be admired," but kept 
 a door between myself aud her dusky charms. " You 
 no know, massa, I'm in my disobedient clothes." 
 Deshabille was the word she aimed at. 
 
 I think it was to Lord Elgin, when Governor, that a 
 negro brought up a plump guinea-pig as an offering. 
 His Excellency declined the gift, adding that he should 
 not know what to do with it. " Oh, massa, de guinea- 
 pig him a noble refreshment ! " was the reply. Could 
 anything be more forcible than a brown lady's invective 
 against racing and racehorses. " Racehorses, dem no 
 good ; dem John Crow's meat." The John Crow is the 
 turkey buzzard or vulture, who devours all the carrion 
 of the place, and is himself protected by law as a public
 
 170 
 
 scavenger. Her idea was that the race horse, subject 
 as he was to so many accidents, sooner or later fleshed 
 the beak of the insatiable John Crow. 
 
 Then their proverbs were extremely shrewd and sen- 
 tentious. Thus, "When cockroach give dance he 110 
 ask fowl to corne." Fowls, as we. know, devour the cock- 
 roach kind greedily, and the kernel of the matter is 
 that ambitious hosts and hostesses should not ask folk 
 infinitely superior to themselves in the social scale to 
 their feasts. " Dog no n'yam dog " seems to convey a 
 universally acknowledged sentiment expressed in 
 many ways, such as " Hawks dinna peck out hawks' 
 een." 
 
 A Jamaica merchant, on returning from a visit to 
 England, informed his audience that Lord Derby kept 
 a whole revenue of servants. He meant retinue ; but I 
 think revenue the more pregnant word. A lady who 
 had daughters growing up, told me she must send them 
 liome directly, as one of them began to tell a story 
 about John's (the butler) lawful wife ; for of course the 
 expression implied practical polygamy. 
 
 The ladies who follow the drum have not always a very 
 rosy time of it in Jamaica ; hence the saying, " Black 
 woman ! brown lady ! officer's wife, poor ting ! " 
 Quashie, too, is wont to divide "produce" thus: one 
 part fe ratty (rat), one part fe nigga, one fe buckra. 
 The buckras cannot, of course, as a rule, do much hard 
 labour ; hence desk toil is styled " buckra work." 
 
 Mr. Dowell O'Reilly, who knew the negroes well, 
 declared they were in some things very like his fellow- 
 countrymen in Paddyland. Certainly in one respect
 
 171 
 
 they were, for they gave everything a nickname ; so, as 
 the Attorney-General was the Grand Escheator to the 
 Crown, they dubbed him the " Grand Cheater." 
 
 In the meantime an event happened in our family 
 history which involved rather serious consequences. I 
 must premise my narrative by stating how I had taken 
 as the cashier for my office a gentleman who had acted 
 in the same capacity for a bank in Kingston, and who 
 was in the highest esteem and consideration. He was 
 such a good style of man that one was thrown off one's 
 guard ; and when news came by the mail that my 
 sister, to whom I was much attached, had had a very 
 >ad fall from her horse, and was in serious danger, I 
 letermined to report the circumstance to headquarters, 
 md proceed to England by the following mail. "With 
 this view I sent for the bank book, and was proceeding 
 to make all final arrangements for flitting, when some 
 excuses were brought me for the non-appearance of this 
 tell-tale book " they were busy at the bank," and so 
 forth and so I started, having entrusted the chief 
 lerk, Mr. Burckhardt, with charge of the office. He 
 was an able and experienced officer, and within a day 
 or two he insisted on the production of the book, found 
 that the cashier was a defaulter, and took the necessary 
 steps for his suspension. I found my sister better than 
 I had expected, and as I was in England or Ireland, 
 made up my mind to enjoy the few months' leave I was 
 granted ; but this defalcation was not the drop of bitter 
 in the cup of joy ; there was another canker worm too 
 in the gourd, for I had appointed the chief clerk to fill 
 my place, and the authorities in the island and at home
 
 172 
 
 maintained that I had acted quite wrongly in not giving 
 charge to the Surveyor of the Post Office. There was 
 no rule or precedent whatever, and as I was alone re- 
 sponsible for the revenue, I fancied, and fancy still, I 
 had a perfect right to choose my deputy. This caused a 
 good deal of unpleasantness. I also got very ill at home, 
 and when I had to return the doctors thought I was 
 running a great risk. Soon after my arrival in Jamaica, 
 a friend, Major Borrowes. of Gilltown, who had just 
 given up the Cottesmore hounds in Leicestershire, 
 came out on a long tour that was to embrace a large 
 section of the Western World. I was not fit to go 
 about, but proposed to show him something of the 
 island on his way to Mexico, and put a phaeton and 
 pair of cobs at his disposal. We drove long distances, 
 and at one hospitable house, Mammee Gully, though 
 the sun dries clothes in a few minutes, we found 
 our sheets were very damp. I was tired and weaK, 
 and thought little of the circumstance, sleeping soundly. 
 Major Borrowes put on a dressing gown or some garment, 
 and so escaped bad consequences. Xext day, going up 
 a hill, I jumped out of the phreton, but found my legs 
 were useless, and lay there. Helped into the trap, we 
 drove on, and, I forget how soon, reached St. Aim's. 
 There I can recollect a pleasant evening ; but my limbs 
 had swollen abnormally, and although I did not feel ill 
 I knew something was wrong. Major Borrowes made 
 the journey of some sixty miles pleasant and compara- 
 tively short, for he is a first-rate whip, and steered us 
 admirably over the Monte Diavolo, a rough road to 
 travel indeed. With jibbing horses it is indeed perilous,
 
 173 
 
 and a story is told of Mr. Davis, or some one else, 
 driving over this ill-reputed hill and seeing a trap 
 upset and thrown down the gully, or, in other words, 
 down the steep side. The trap was a solitary sulky, 
 and the driver asked for a cast in the carriage from the 
 owner. "No," says the latter, "you drove here in a 
 selfish sulky, and could not have helped your neighbour 
 in his distress, so I'll not help you. Get your trap up 
 as best you can." I think this is one of Ben Trovato's 
 tales. Arrived at home, I was pronounced in rheumatic 
 fever, and was in great danger for some time ; indeed, 
 for many weeks after my recovery I was carried about 
 like a child everywhere, and not much more than a big 
 child's weight. 
 
 About this time efforts were made by the Treasury 
 and the Post Office in England to shake off the burden 
 of the Jamaica establishment, and to impose it on the 
 colony, which, enjoying the blessings of Home Eule, 
 might, it was deemed, enjoy also the management of 
 its own letters and communications. I never was given 
 an inkling of these -steps, but they came to nothing, for 
 both the House of Assembly and the Council passed 
 resolutions expressive of their perfect and entire satis- 
 faction with the management of the Department in 
 Jamaica, and their disinclination to change existing: 
 
 O O 
 
 arrangements. Of course these resolutions were ex- 
 tremely flattering to my amour propre, and I conceived 
 that they had diverted the Home authorities from their 
 intentions. 
 
 At the time I am referring to, Sir Charles Darling 
 was the Governor of the colony. He was a most kind
 
 174 
 
 hospitable man, and if a little hot-headed and impe- 
 tuous, there seemed no reason why he and I should 
 ever clash, as my department was wholly free from his 
 control in any shape. 
 
 Now, as bad luck would have it under the circum- 
 stances, I had been staying with Sir Charles and Lady 
 Darling in the hills over Spanish Town for a few days, 
 and we had all parted the best of friends as usual, I 
 riding across to Kingston in the heat of the noonday 
 sun, which was not very prudent, as I was no longer in 
 pristine health and strength. Arrived at my office, I 
 found a good deal of business to transact, and as the 
 accountant again complained to me of the postmasters 
 sending up remittances in island paper, which was 
 seldom negotiated without considerable delay, owing to 
 the way the finances of the colony were managed, I 
 directed a notice to be put in the Kingston dailies tu 
 the effect that such paper would not in future be 
 accepted at the General Post Office as cash in conse- 
 quence of its not being immediately convertible. 
 
 After this I set off for St. Ann's, bub in a certain 
 number of posts I received a letter from his Excel- 
 lency the Governor, renouncing all private friendship, 
 and stating that I had grossly reflected on his Govern- 
 ment and himself, and that it was his painful duty to 
 report me for removal. 
 
 I wrote the most ample apologies and explanations to 
 the Governor, withdrew the notices from the papers, but 
 his Excellency would neither be appeased nor satisfied, 
 and it was plain that the scabbard had been thrown 
 away.
 
 175 
 
 On this I reported the entire case to the Postmaster- 
 General in England, pointed out that it would be per- 
 fectly impossible to be responsible for a large revenue 
 if my deputies were permitted to pay their balances in 
 Treasury notes that were not immediately negotiable, 
 that the situation was an impossible one to maintain, 
 and stating that if I had acted hastily in inserting the 
 peccant and offending notices in the dailies, I had with- 
 drawn them and apologised amply, and in fine I begged 
 to be protected from the Governor's interference in a 
 department that was outside his province. 
 
 In the course of post I was fully justified by my 
 authorities in the course I had taken, and so the matter 
 ended, the Governor showing how offended he was at 
 the course of events by only asking me to State func- 
 tions at King's House, and without the offer of a bed as 
 usual in old times. 
 
 Soon after these events, Mr. Anthony Trollope, the 
 famous novelist, who had long combined romance 
 writing and the assiduous chase of the fox with the 
 light duties of the Surveyor's Department (to which he 
 had been banished by Colonel Maberly) in Ireland, 
 and had lately been promoted to a Survey orship in Eng- 
 land, was sent out by his brother-in-law, Mr. (now Sir) 
 John Tilley, who had become Secretary to the General 
 Post Office, on a special mission to Jamaica, to see 
 what could be done in the way of transferring the 
 Department to the island, and reporting generally on 
 its status. Mr. Trollope, on landing, showed me his 
 credentials, which gave him no authority whatever over 
 me, but he very soon tried to arrogate superiority, and on
 
 176 
 
 one occasion desired me to report my reasons in writing 
 why I had not come to my office by a certain 
 hour. 
 
 The insolence was so excessive, and the manner so 
 impertinent, that I asked him whether he really meant 
 it, as I should report the matter at once to head- 
 quarters ; he saw me doing so, when finding he was in 
 an untenable position, he begged me as a favour to 
 tear the report up ; I did so ; but the matter rankled. 
 Mr. Trollope made his reports to the Department, con- 
 fidential or otherwise. I never saw them, nor do I 
 know what he said. He came out with the major 
 object of bookmaking, and devoted himself to it 
 assiduously with his usual practised skill and success ; 
 had it been possible to send him to the Mountains of 
 the Moon or the Pigmy Forest of the Dark Continent 
 in the combined interests of Literature and " the 
 Department," I feel convinced Mr. Tilley would have 
 despatched him forthwith, for the hunger for copy 
 material must be fed, and what is the good of being 
 secretary to the Post Office if you cannot satisfy the 
 cravings of a kinsman in this respect ? That Mr. 
 Anthony Trollope was a very able man no one could 
 question for a moment ; his offensive manner, pre- 
 cipitancy, and haste prevented his being as valuable 
 as a public servant as he might have been. Both the 
 pair were generally disliked. But Mr. Tilley was 
 universally recognised as an able official if nothing 
 else. I believe Mr. Anthony Trollope had a thousand 
 good qualities of head and heart which were disguised 
 in a most unfortunate and repelling manner.
 
 177 
 
 Ever since that bad attack of rheumatic fever 
 referred to, I had been in more or less feeble health. 
 Fever and ague had regularly laid hold of me, and 
 sapped nearly all vital energy from my constitution. 
 While in this state there came an official letter 
 announcing that arrangements had been made for the 
 transfer of the Department to the Colonial Govern- 
 ment, and desiring me to wind up all accounts and be 
 ready to hand it over. To me this news came with 
 the suddenness of a shock no hint, no intimation 
 whatever had been conveyed to me, though 1 learnt 
 afterwards that two or three of the officers of the 
 Department had been duly apprised of the intended 
 coup, and had made provision for it by getting promises 
 of appointments in England. Fortunately the accounts 
 of the office had been kept up with extreme regularity, 
 and the revenue had been rigorously collected from the 
 postmasters, of whom all were not inclined to be 
 punctual in payments, and some of whose securities 
 were hardly likely to disburse readily. For instance, 
 I got from one worthy a reply something like this, " T 
 have received your letter desiring immediate payment 
 
 on behalf of Mr. . I sleep on barrels of gun - 
 
 powder that may explode at any time, so your petty 
 popgun has slight terrors for me." However, in six 
 weeks, every farthing due to the Department was 
 collected and remitted, thanks to the energy of my 
 accountant, Mr. Livingstone. I have annexed in an 
 appendix the correspondence that passed between the 
 Post Office and myself. The position I took up was, 
 I think, an impregnable one, namely, that I was the 
 
 R
 
 178 
 
 Deputy of Her Majesty's Postmaster-General, and that 
 I should obey his orders in everything; that if he 
 directed me to accept office under the Colonial Govern- 
 ment I should do so ; if not not ; but Sir Charles 
 Darling had no idea of offering me the vacant berth ; 
 he had a friend to serve, and I felt that in the case 
 of an Englishman unconnected locally, the appoint- 
 ment would in all probability be greatly cut down, 
 though it might be raised again, if a native were 
 installed into it. Hence, as Sir Charles declined to 
 give me the appointment, I came home in the next 
 mail, and at once wrote to the authorities in St. Martin's- 
 le-Grand, asking for employment in any capacity what- 
 ever, even that of an extra clerk, till proper arrange- 
 ments could be made to meet the case ; every proposal 
 I made was negatived. I then asked for compensation 
 for deprivation of office; this, too, was peremptorily 
 refused; and finding that nothing could be done, I 
 came over to my native country to pay visits, &c. In 
 a few months I received a notice from the Treasury 
 telling me that I had been granted an allowance of 
 200 per annum, till arrangements could be made for 
 my re-employment in the Civil Service ; that, in fact, 
 the allowance was a mere ad interim arrangement, and 
 if words have any meaning, and are not deliberate 
 equivocations, the letter in the Appendix marked K 
 can bear no other interpretation. 
 
 To be flung aside after all but ten years' service in 
 a tropical climate, with health dreadfully impaired, and 
 no prospect in life save officially, was hardly pleasant. 
 I had divested myself of a good share of my little
 
 179 
 
 patrimony to assist others, and the prudent financial 
 arrangements I had proposed to myself on coming out 
 had miscarried entirely. There seemed but one step 
 to take, and that was to besiege the Treasury with every 
 engine I could bring to bear upon it; alas, however, 
 my engines proved weak and worthless. 
 
 B 2
 
 180 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 " Isle of beauty, fare thee well ! " 
 
 Moore. 
 
 BUT I must hark back to Kingston for a paragraph or 
 two, as when it was ascertained that I had to leave the 
 colony, the kind inhabitants proposed a testimonial in 
 money. This I refused point blank, feeling that many 
 friends would subscribe who could not perhaps afford 
 it too well. So every village and parish in the island 
 presented me with an address valedictory. These 
 addresses, with the resolutions passed by the Honse of 
 Assembly and the Council, enable me to say that few 
 officials have left a colony much more favourably, so 
 far as general good will, than myself. Like Sir Henry 
 Barkly, Sir Charles Darling was sent soon after this 
 from Jamaica to Victoria ; there, leaning entirely 
 to the colonial side of the question, Sir Charles had to 
 resign ; but the colonists presented Lady Darling 
 with a present of 20,000. Meeting him soon after 
 his return, Sir Charles came forward very frankly, 
 and asking me to his house, hoped we should be 
 friends. Of course I responded to his overtures ; but 
 I always thought it was a curious meeting under all 
 the circumstances. 
 
 Never having kept a diary, I am unable to give dates 
 for the events to which I have made reference, but as 
 a guiding light will set it down, once for all, that the
 
 181 
 
 transfer of the Post Office from the Imperial to the 
 Local Government took place in April, 1860. For the 
 next two or three years, much of my time was devoted 
 in trying to get re-employment, and a reconsideration 
 of a case of grievance quite without parallel or pre- 
 cedent in the history of the Civil Service. With this 
 view the facts and circumstances in connection with 
 it were laid before Members of Parliament, and a 
 Memorial, that if I recollect aright, had the names of 
 nearly seventy members of the House of Commons, was 
 sent to the Lords of the Treasury to receive in due 
 course, and after "mature consideration," a politely 
 worded negative. By way of doing all within my own 
 reach, I was assiduous in endeavouring to sea leading 
 people at the Treasury, till I got a hint from a friendly 
 clerk that I was injuring my own interests by my 
 assiduity and importunity, and that if I persisted too 
 far, my ad interim allowance might be withdrawn. Of 
 course this was all said to get rid of a nuisance that 
 looked like becoming chronic. I had no available 
 powerful friend, or the matter would never have been 
 suffered to hang for even a couple of years. 
 
 On one occasion, and one only, so far as I could 
 ascertain, was a desire shown by the authorities in 
 power and office to do me justice, and these were the cir- 
 cumstances. 
 
 Sir Charles Cuyler's name has cropped up once or 
 twice in the course of this narration, chiefly in connec- 
 tion with horses and riding. A most popular man in 
 the colony ; everyone regretted to see him a clerk in 
 the Custom House Department, " only that and nothing
 
 182 
 
 more," for he had decided abilities, and was very well 
 educated. Sir Charles Grey offered him the Governor- 
 ship of the island of liuatan, one of the group of " Bay 
 Islands " in the Gulf of Honduras, whose population 
 consists, I believe, of turtles, many of human beings, 
 comparatively few. However, its position made it of some 
 importance, and perhaps it was a coaling station ; at 
 any rate, men-of-war touched there, and it may be 
 assumed that the official duties of the Governorship 
 were not very onerous, while it is something to be your 
 own master in the matter of hours. Sir Charles 
 accepted tho post, and was shortly afterwards promoted 
 to be treasurer of Trinidad, where both salary and 
 society were better than at liuatan. After holding the 
 office for some time, he came to England on leave, and 
 apprised me of his intention not to return to Trinidad. 
 I applied at once to the Colonial Office, and had every 
 reason to believe that the appointment would be given 
 to me. However, the sands of the Government were 
 fast running out, and their followers must be provided 
 for. So a gentleman who had lost his office in the 
 Ionian Isles, what time Mr. Gladstone was making 
 variations on the famous theme AeOre jral&es TWV 
 'EXXri^fov, and we were giving up our stations at Corfu, 
 &c., was sent out in my stead. 
 
 "While thus occupied, a vista of great (comparative) 
 wealth opened itself out to me. I do not intend to 
 gratify curiosity by stating the nature of my " great 
 expectations," but when the air-built castle toppled 
 over, I determined to disappear from "England, home, 
 and beauty " for a term, and one day strolling about the
 
 183 
 
 London Docks for I was meditating British Columbia 
 and how to get there I saw a liner bound for New 
 York, to sail in a few hours. Going on board, I ascer- 
 tained than the captain was a pleasant-mannered sort 
 of a sea dog, that the sheep-pen was well filled, and 
 that the hencoops had their quota, so I took my 
 passage, then a hausoin cab, and drove to my club, 
 where I wrote a few necessary letters ; then walked to 
 my lodgings close by, where I packed up a few things ; 
 and then Eastward Ho for Westward Ho. 
 
 The good ship was well found, and we had a capital 
 run once clear of the Channel ; indeed, we were some- 
 where near the Banks in about ten days. Then came 
 storm and tempest and adverse winds. We lost our 
 mainmast, but eventually made Sandy Hook, and were 
 soon landing at Castle Gardens. New York was an 
 old friend, but now it was seen under altered con- 
 ditions, for the war fever was at its height. I caught 
 that fever more or less virulently, but was forced to lie 
 low for some time, as I had the misfortune to be robbed 
 of my entire stock of money the second night I spent 
 in the Empire City. I told the story to the hotel 
 people, who believed it, and behaved very nicely, and 
 then I had to wait for remittances from England, 
 which duly arrived. Then I made several visits to 
 Washington, and tried in vain to get helped to the 
 front by our Legation people, but as men who could 
 ride and make themselves useful were a desideratum, I 
 found I could get a commission " out West," more 
 especially as I had tumbled on a few influential people 
 who were quite willing to push me on. The Queen's
 
 184 
 
 proclamation, however, was constantly before me, and 
 it seemed bad policy, to put it mildly, to disobey such 
 an injunction to be neutral when I was actually 
 hoping for and seeking re-employment in H.M.'s 
 Service. So I abandoned this career, but before I 
 dismiss the subject I must needs refer to the great 
 kindness I experienced from an English officer high up 
 in the Service, whom I had never met before, but who 
 had heard that I had done a service in time of need to 
 a brother officer. He offered to advance me the money 
 for a ch.'irger, outfit, &c. ; the kindness of the offer may 
 be gauged by the badness of the security for chances 
 of repayment. I had, however, set my heart on seeing 
 something of this gigantic war prior to returning to 
 Europe, and the opportunity came sooner than I might 
 have anticipated ; for, sitting next a Russian officer 
 who spoke French but indifferent English, I did a little 
 interpretation for him, for which he was obliged. On 
 going back to " the front " for he had informed me that 
 he was aide-de-camp to General Hooker, the new 
 Comiuarider-in-Chief he asked me if he could be of 
 any use to me. I mentioned my wish to have a look 
 at the war preparations, when he said nothing was 
 easier; that all I had to do was to come again to 
 Washington, telegraph to him from the War Office, and 
 that pass, permit, transport, and everything else would 
 be provided for me. Of course, I took his advice, though 
 hardly imagining that my path would prove as smooth 
 as it did. The wire from the War Office was duly 
 replied to. I think the very next day I got taken down 
 the Potomac for a certain distance, when we were put on
 
 185 
 
 shore at some stage, whose name I have forgotten, and 
 then came a rush for places in the railway made, more 
 or less, along the banks of the Bappahannock for strate- 
 gical purposes. I was lucky to get a place on the roof ! 
 My friend, the aide-de-camp, if I recollect right, met me. 
 A charger and orderly were waiting for me, and I recollect 
 our tent a most comfortable one with a capital stove 
 in it was next the Commander-in-Chiefs. We oc- 
 cupied a sort of bluff on one side of the river, and 
 about a mile distant, on the opposite side, the Con- 
 federates were posted in great seeming strength, their 
 position protected by pine woods, while their camp may 
 be said to have been an entrenched one with abatis 
 around it. Against this almost impregnable position, 
 General Hooker, goaded on by the politicians of 
 Washington, had hurled his infantry a short time prior 
 to my arrival, with the disastrous result that might 
 have been expected by anybody, whether soldier or 
 civilian. But while this rash move disentitles General 
 Hooker to be bracketed along with his famous namesake 
 as " the judicious,'' it is extremely hard to say how 
 far he \ras a free agent in the matter of fighting. I 
 heard an account of this battle of Fredricksburgh from 
 a ci-devant captain in our Service, who had brought 
 one hundred men with him from Canada and got a com- 
 mission in the U.S. Army. His regiment was con- 
 siderably cut up. He himself, he told me, was in 
 comparative safety, as the men were ordered to lie 
 down, and where he lay was immediately behind a 
 rock that shielded him from the storm of bullets. 
 He took the regiment out of action when the
 
 186 
 
 retreat was sounded, but, though mentioned in de- 
 spatches, gained neither step nor reward. He lacked 
 influence, which is as great a lever in Eepublican 
 America as in monarchical England. 
 
 At headquarters I was in a comparatively happy 
 position no duties or responsibilities, a very fair 
 mess, and good lodgings, a Canadian orderly, and 
 a charger to get about on ; but I got rather a shock 
 one day, when the Adjutant-General asked me, 
 a propos de ricn, what the Eussian of something 
 at table was. Now, I know not three words of 
 the Tartar tongue, and I muttered something in an 
 unknown lingo that passed muster for the occasion, 
 but a little reflection convinced me that I had been 
 introduced as a real Eussian by my diplomatic friend, 
 who might have had some difficulty in passing an 
 Englishman down; so that evening I sought out the 
 Adjutant-General, and told him the truth, in confidence 
 of course. He was very kind and nice, told me I had 
 acted quite right, and, as far as I recollect, gave me 
 carte blanche to go or stay as I pleased. 
 
 One day I rode over to see the Irish Brigade, and its 
 commander, " General Meagher of the Sword." I 
 failed to see the General, but I recollect the brigade 
 were contemplating some chases. It was strange to see 
 a Kildare or Tipperary fence in " old Virgiuny." 
 
 Pennsylvania was my next stage. "We might have had 
 a disaster en route, for the train before us had toppled 
 over an embankment, and I think smashed a bridge, 
 but beyond having to walk a short distance, we got off 
 without inconvenience or hurt.
 
 187 
 
 At Baltimore, I had offers of passage " by the under- 
 ground railway " to the Confederate Army ; but it did 
 not seem to me quite the thing to pass from one host 
 to a hostile one so quickly, and in my passage I might 
 have shared the fate of Guy Livingstone (Lawrence), 
 who tells us, in his interesting " Border and Bastille," 
 how he was captured by " the Northern scum " en route 
 to join Lee or Stonewall Jackson. Lawrence com- 
 mitted the fatal mistake of showing himself very 
 openly in Baltimore for some weeks. The town was 
 under the control, and in the occupation of the 
 Northern Army, though the inhabitants, nearly to a 
 man and certainly to a w r oman were, what the 
 Northern prints called, "galvanised traitors." Mr. 
 Lawrence, who must have bean a very familiar figure to 
 every Northerner of the Intelligence Department, at the 
 time he proposed to leave Baltimore, owed his arrest 
 quite as much to his own reckless disregard of common 
 precautions as to the vigilance and espionage of what 
 he would have called the euenry. 
 
 At this time Mr. Bernal (a brother of Bernal 
 Osborne's) was our Consul at Baltimore. A most 
 agreeable man, his house was a very pleasant ren- 
 dezvous, specially on the day devoted to caramel con- 
 fections. Here I must indulge in five lines of lamen- 
 tation that 1 was not prompted by instinct or some 
 friendly voice to try Press writing. I had never done 
 or attempted aught of the sort, and had no notion how 
 to set about it, or whom to apply to for information. So 
 slip away golden opportunities. 
 
 The next thing to see ere leaving America, was " the
 
 188 
 
 Great West," and finding Mr. Dudley Ryder, our 
 " Mixed Commissioner for Slavers," bound on the same 
 errand, we travelled together to Saint Louis, where we 
 had a day or two of first rate duck and snipe shooting 
 on the marshes of the Maria Hondo, and, if I recollect 
 right, bagged one bittern besides ; I cannot say I ever 
 was in position to be weary bagging teal and such like 
 small deer before ; one of our party astonished us by 
 going to a drain or rivulet, and tiring a number of shots 
 into its bed. We soon found out that he was making 
 " a bag of frogs," and excellent eating they proved in a 
 few minutes, my first and only experience of frog food. 
 In St. Louis, Mr. Dudley Ryder, who was joined by 
 some of our Legation people from Washington, very 
 kindly proposed that I should join them, but the expense 
 of outfitting deterred ine, and on enquiry I ascertained 
 that a. very economical " bender " or trip could be com- 
 passed by taking a steamer that was bound for the 
 head waters of the Missouri ; so, bidding good-bye to 
 the outfitters, I started for St. Joseph, two or three 
 hundred miles or so up the Missouri, by rail, intending 
 to l)e picked up by the steamer there. I waited and 
 waited, however, at the hotel, and the steamer made nc 
 sign. I think I heard she had grounded on a sand 
 bank, and, sick of the delay, I joined a party of emi- 
 grants starting with a mule team for Colorado, via 
 Kansas and Nebraska, Had I waited for the steamer 
 I should, in all human probability, have tasted the 
 tomahawk of " Sitting Bull," " Grizly Bear," or some 
 other Indian brave, for on my return to civilisation I 
 learnt that a wooding party, that went to cut fuel for
 
 180 
 
 the engine, of which party I should in all probability 
 have formed a unit, was set upon by some of these 
 scalping savages, who of course killed them all. 
 
 The most painful event in the slow travel across the 
 plains, varied by a few shots at prairie chicks, and an 
 odd stalk at antelopes, was managing to miss stays some- 
 how in getting into my wagon and having the wheel 
 over my ankle. Nothing was broken, fortunately, and 
 the swelling and effusion was reduced by keeping the 
 ankle slung up high and continually wetted. I had a 
 stimsh leg for a time, but could hobble along, and one 
 day, rather unwisely, hobbled a long way in front of 
 our caravan, when three half-bred Indians, on ponies, 
 and armed with bows and arrows, came up to me, and 
 after a little palaver, in an unknown tongue, demanded 
 tobacco and money. I had neither with me, nor yet a 
 revolver. Then they made signs that I must give 
 them my signet ring, but I held on to it and showed I 
 did not mean to part, when the three bucks drew their 
 arrows up to the point and made deadly demonstra- 
 tions, though I think they never meant me much 
 harm. In our daily menu, bacon, bad as the Austrian 
 schinken, was the piece de resistance, and we were 
 geting rather tired of it, when one day in our path, and 
 " foreninst " us, were three beautiful buffalo humps that 
 some Indians had probably dropped. But was it what 
 Mr. Jorrocks called a rouse (ruse) did poison lurk in 
 the luscious lump ? We know that such things were 
 done by white men to Indians ; had the latter bettered 
 the instruction ? However, we cooked the humps 
 and ate them, and no one was the worse, but
 
 190 
 
 much the better on the contrary for the welcome 
 viaticum. 
 
 Denver City was reached after many days, to our 
 great delight. I had to rest and be thankful, at the 
 hotel, for my leg \vas still troublesome, and I was con- 
 sidered something of a dispendious sybarite, for J 
 would have the extraordinary luxury of a little room 
 all to myself, instead of pricking the floor of the hall 
 for a soft place, and turning in among buffalo robes. 
 1 found Denver a very quiet town, and I went to the 
 faro tables, and the dances to which the miners re- 
 sorted with their gold dust in bags on their persons. 
 Yet saw I very little of "muss," or disorder, much less 
 of free firing or bloody murder ; this too in the heat of 
 the war. Hep worth Dixon, who was some time after 
 me, made out the place an Aceldama. When able to 
 get about I fished the " creeks," or streams, near the 
 town, and found them full of nice trout, and in my 
 travels fell in with an adventurous Bostonian, who was 
 a doctor, or dentist, or a smattering of both. He told 
 me (f a wonderful bargain to be had not far off the 
 town. We went there and were hospitably entertained 
 by an agreeable American of best class, who had built 
 himself a good sort of log house, and enclosed by a 
 fence 180 acres for his own domain, all that the settler 
 can claim as his private property. Around was the 
 grassy prairie, fretted by innumerable rivers and 
 brooks, tributaries to the Platte, while Pike's Peak, 
 and the Rocky Eanges, though eight or nine miles dis- 
 tant, if not more, seemed quite close. Within the 
 ring fence was a nice brook, and there were valuable 

 
 191 
 
 crops on the land. The owner had what he deemed 
 very much more valuable property in another district, 
 and was eager to repair to it, declaring that it was a 
 waste of life to stay on this farm, which, with his house 
 and household goods, he offered us for a mere song, 
 three or four hundred pounds. A relative, in England, 
 owed me more than this amount. I wrote to ask him 
 for part of it, but never got a reply, much less the 
 money. Nor did I get the- farm either, which I have 
 regretted ever since, for while going over it I saw 
 something black looking in a small quasi-erevasse, and 
 poking at it with my umbrella put out a lot of coal. 
 There was no railway in those days ; but what would 
 such a seam of coal have been worth by-and-bye ? I 
 may mention here that returning to Denver, after an 
 absence of a good many weeks, I found my Boston 
 friend with a nice looking shop-window full of some 
 sovereign cure for rheumatism not a sovereign cure 
 but a dollar one. I asked him what it was, but 
 naturally he did not tell me, but giving me a bottle I 
 at once guessed rock oil disguised by bergamot or 
 some strong perfume ; he confessed it, but begged 
 secrecy. He told me he had been servant to a dentist, 
 or a doctor, I forget which. I think he might be 
 trusted alone. Central City, Idaho, Black Hawk these 
 were all Ophirs. with stamp mills, crushing away at 
 the quartz. At the former, some thirty or forty miles 
 from Denver, I found three or four adventurers startin^ 
 
 o 
 
 for " a hunt," with designs on peltry, and I requested 
 leave to join them; they consented, and purchasing 
 a packhorse and a riding one, and contributing my
 
 102 
 
 share of flour, bacon, coffee, apple-chips, powder, lead, 
 beaver traps, buffalo robes, &c., we went first into the 
 pine forest. I recollect the first evening we camped 
 without having shot anything for our supper, so one of 
 the party, with a small rifle, pinked some squirrels, 
 which were skinned and fricasseed presently. I 
 drew the line at squirrels for a bit, but seeing the 
 fricassee disappearing, tried a back, and found it de- 
 licious. The next day we crossed a river, and thinking 
 it looked likely, tried a cast ; the way very nice trout 
 responded to my lure was a good omen for the larder. 
 And fish from that time varied our menu very pleasantly, 
 fresh when near a river, salt when we left it, but these 
 red fleshed, fine trout, were good in any shape. 
 
 The object of my companions and brother riflemen 
 was peltry, and of course meat for our larder. I fear I 
 was a poor partner, for I was wholly inexperienced in 
 trapping, a bad marksman, or rather utterly inexperi- 
 enced with the rifle, and my ambition was to shoot a 
 grizzly single-handed. Most fortunately I never came 
 in conflict with one of these customers, who are pretty 
 nearly as strong as a buffalo bull, as active as a tiger, 
 and as cunning as an ape, for I think that with my 
 Sharp's repeating carbine, I should have had a very 
 poor chance of acquiring his skin fora rug or robe. We 
 trapped beaver, shot white and black-tailed deer in the 
 magnificent parks, together with elk and antelope, and 
 saw one mountain-lion, a species of panther, or, as they 
 call them in the Rockies, painters, but got no shot at 
 him, and lived very pleasantly and happily till one day 
 we learned from an Indian scout that there was to be
 
 193 
 
 a pitched battle between some braves of the Sioux and 
 Arrapahoes. A la guerre, comme a la guerre, we should 
 probably have fared very badly at the hands of victor 
 or vanquished, so the obvious course was a masterly 
 retreat towards Central City and civilisation. It had 
 taken us, I think, three or four days to reach our 
 present camp, and the track was " blazed " by our 
 tomahawks, but our leader thought lie knew a shorter 
 road ; we were to march till the mountains formed a 
 rabbit's head and ears, when we should strike a certain 
 pass and so get home quickly. We missed this pass 
 and wandered for seven or eight days in a wilderness 
 of sage brush (Artemisia) and white water full of soda 
 or some alkaline substance, but very unlike soda-water 
 as we understand that word. We had nothing to eat 
 bat jerked or boucaned venison that we had dried in 
 the sun, and though we met game we were afraid of 
 firing at it for fear of attracting the Indians. At last 
 from a hill we descried tents, and we drew lots as to who 
 was to go forward and hold a palaver with their 
 owners. They turned out most friendly whites, who 
 baked us a big griddle cake, and gave us lots of coffee. 
 They could not give us flour as they had none to spare, 
 but next day we got some from some " hunters " in 
 return for powder, I think, as they had made a cache of 
 some last year, but lost the bearings. A few hours 
 after this we were bathing in some hot sulphur springs 
 that had a most restoring effect on the systems of men 
 and beasts. Here are now-a-days, I believe, magnifi- 
 cent baths and an hotel would we had rested and 
 been thankful after our return, but we were bitten with 
 
 8
 
 194 
 
 the desire for more sport and exploration, though the 
 season was too far advanced. We started off in 
 splendid " fall " weather, the " Inaine " summer, as some 
 natives style it, but to show how sharp the night frosts 
 are in those latitudes, I may mention that one evening 
 we forded a river, and next day it was frozen over to 
 bearing point. After a few days, snow came down and 
 covered the earth and the woods. I had the mis- 
 fortune to get frostbitten very soon, and then, unable to 
 walk and without proper medicaments or salves, I had to 
 try the trade of Simon of old, that of a tanner, while I 
 made myself usetul to our fur company by becoming 
 " chief cook and bottle washer." With good materials, 
 plain cooking is very simple, and we had any quantity 
 of frozen meat in our larder. After a few weeks, the 
 moment my foot got healed, I started off with my 
 ponies to try and reach civilisation. I think the ponies 
 guided me as much as I did them, but at last Central 
 City was struck. Owing to the snow snap, provisions 
 were high hay and Indian corn retailed at, I think, 
 one dollar per pound. 
 
 I should be sorry to detain the reader with details of 
 our game bags, or the adventures we had among the 
 parks of the Eockies, which were then almost virgin 
 hunting grounds to white men. On one sight I will 
 ask permission to dilate slightly, as I think it was the 
 finest of the kind I ever saw. We had observed a very 
 old elk once or twice, but never got a shot at him. One 
 day we climbed up to some rocks that formed the gallery 
 or amphitheatre to a natural colosseum. Through the 
 crevices we viewed a huge aggregation of elks, bucks,
 
 195 
 
 and does, or harts and hinds rather, and round them all, 
 like a general inspecting his troops on parade, was the 
 ancient elk we had viewed, who kept the bucks in 
 superb order, making them dress the line like any drill 
 sergeant. We had rifles apiece, and I was most anxious 
 to "make fire" on the beasts below, but the others 
 prevented me, as they were on the look out for calves. 
 Presently the herd winded us, though we were invisible 
 to their eyes, and dispersed in all directions. However, 
 I got a running shot at one a few minutes afterwards 
 that proved fatal. Elk of course means wapiti. 
 
 I have mentioned that there were no railways from 
 east to west, and vice versd then. There was the 
 coach, to be sure, but it was choke full for weeks to 
 come, so I was glad to get- a seat in a mule team 
 bound for Omaha ; but ere starting I nearly lost the 
 number of my mess, for a little man kept fiddling 
 with my rifies, and would not give one up. I took it 
 out of his hand, when out flashed a six shooter, and but 
 for the intervention of my beneficent Boniface, I should 
 not probably be writing this narrative. He smoothed 
 things over, and it appeared that the man, really was 
 a provost sergeant, though a waterproof or something 
 of the sort prevented my seeing his uniform, and had a 
 right to examine travellers' guns. It was weary work 
 doing from seventeen to twenty miles per diem in 
 the snow, of which we necessarily brought in a lot with 
 us on to the mud floors of the ranches which formed 
 our sleeping ground. After many days we espied the 
 dusky forms of many thousand buffaloes migrating from 
 north to south. The snow was deep on the prairie and
 
 196 
 
 frozen, so there was no riding up to them, and I went forth 
 to stalk them with a three-barrel revolving rifle that 
 carried a very small ball, too small to penetrate their 
 hairy hides, unless at very close quarters, and I could 
 hear the bullets thudding against their sides, but only 
 making them " move on." Then night came on, and I 
 had no bearings taken. The one thing to try to do was 
 to keep awake by walking, but as I was plodding on I 
 suddenly heard "crack, crack." A little thought told 
 me this was the ice of the River Platte breaking up. I 
 then " guessed " I was " saved," as the wheel track is 
 parallel to the stream; and go six or seven miles 
 either east or west you W 7 ill find a friendly ranche, the 
 hotel of the prairies. The one I found was my own. 
 They had given me up after firing a shot or two from 
 the roof without response. A vacancy in the coach 
 enabled me to get on to Omaha. The hotel I stayed at 
 was full of troops, the colonel of the regiment begged 
 me to show him my peltry, and told me to put a price 
 on two or three skins. I declined, and very foolishly, 
 forgot to take the bundle up to my bedroom on retiring 
 for the night. Next morning I found some of my best 
 skins looted, and had the hotel keeper up, but he 
 seemed to think I had been careless myself, and refused 
 a good offer. At any rate he declined to send me in a 
 bill when I was leaving his house.
 
 197 
 
 CHAPTEE VII I. 
 
 " Hunting is the noblest exercise." 
 
 AMERICA is, or was, the land of opportunities, and one 
 came to me, while sojourning in New York, that 
 seemed full of golden promise. A countryman of mine, 
 who is now a distinguished public servant, with the 
 usual array of letters tacked on to his name, was stay- 
 ing at the same hotel as myself, and a casual acquaint- 
 ance ripened into a sort of intimacy. He was one of a 
 quartette or quintette of scientists and " practicists " 
 too who had come from Canada to illustrate and ex- 
 ploit an idea with regard to illuminating power that 
 certainly seemed to be a great improvement upon the 
 methods and processes then in vogue, such as gas. 
 They had been permitted by the authorities at the 
 hotel to experiment upon their premises, and to fill 
 the ordinary pipes with their illuminant, which, i may 
 mention, was distilled from rock oil, passed through 
 water and lime, and gave a very pleasant light, and 
 could be produced at a lower rate than the ordinary 
 coal gas. Here were riches beyond the dreams of 
 avarice, as Dr. Johnson put it ; but our success was 
 only ephemeral, fur an injunction from the High Court 
 of Chancery, on the ground of the infringement of 
 some patent or other, caused first a fatal frost, and then 
 a general dispersion of the pioneer light bearers, as,
 
 198 
 
 like other great benefactors of the human race, they 
 were the reverse of capitalists. 
 
 I had not left Colorado, or Central City, without get- 
 ting hold of some of the hest mining claims going. For 
 registering title. &c., for some thirteen of these I do 
 not think the expense exceeded twenty-five dollars. 
 They were not proven mines, but indications of leading 
 lodes in the most auriferous regions. I never worked 
 them or sold them, indeed, I never had the means of 
 working one, as erecting a stamp mill to crush the quartz 
 rock was a very expensive thing. I hoped ultimately 
 to put them on the London market ; but, in the mean- 
 time, after some months spent in England, the craving 
 to get back to Colorado seized me. However, the best 
 chance I had slipped by me ; indeed, two such chances, 
 for I was offered the payment of all expenses if I 
 would join a party of hunters from England as " the 
 man of experience " of the company. This my Paddy 
 pride revolted at. In the next case I can only gird at 
 my own stupidity, for I must tell the reader that when 
 I went out first to Colorado we had in " our crowd " a 
 whaling captain and his brother-in-law, who had been 
 his mate. The captain had made money in his trade, 
 and made it hard enough, and it seems he had plunged 
 it into a mine in Colorado, got up by some Boston 
 schemer or schemers, as several of his compatriots had 
 done also. So these men were going out to see how 
 their enterprise was faring. When they reached their 
 mining town or camp, instead of seeing something tan- 
 gible in return for their outlay, they found that the 
 only or nearly the only " plant " visible was their own.
 
 199 
 
 So the whaling boss set on the arch schemer, and would 
 have killed him had he not been prevented. For the 
 murderous assault lie was put in prison, but the feeling 
 was so strong in the country in his favour that, I believe, 
 escape was connived at. 
 
 Xow when I was in London I saw the prospectus of 
 a Colorado mining company in the papers, and on the 
 list of directors was the name of the London represen- 
 tative of a firm of West India merchants I had known 
 in Jamaica. I called on him, and having introduced 
 myself to him, told him this tale of the Colorado mines 
 that I have just sketched ; he asked me to attend one 
 of the Board meetings in the City. I did so ; told the 
 adventurers a good deal about Colorado and its prospects 
 and possibilities. I added that I was not an engineer 
 by profession. They asked me to step into another 
 room for a few minutes, while they were consulting. 
 Then I was called in and asked formally if I would go 
 out, and on what terms. I was taken aback, and 
 answered offhand that I was quite ready to go out, and 
 as for terms I wanted no remuneration whatever 
 but simply the payment of expenses in making the 
 necessary report. This modesty staggered them, and 
 my friend on the Board told me that if I had asked 
 for a large sum I should have got it as they were rather 
 prepossessed in my favour. 11 faut se faire valoir dans 
 la Cite, it seems. My mines wore never exploited or 
 sold after all, for soon after this I got a fearfnl rheumatic 
 attack, and was given up as nearly incurable by the 
 ablest surgeon in town. German and Austrian " bads " 
 cured me, however, partially, and, being in foreign parts,
 
 200 
 
 I took the opportunity of seeing as much as I could of 
 Europe and its capitals. On returning to England I 
 learnt that silver and lead were now the chief features 
 of Colorado mining, and as my property only promised 
 a golden harvest, I censed to pay much attention to it, 
 health being now my chief preoccupation. 
 
 I believe the Emperor Tiberius enunciated a verity 
 when he declared that by forty, i.e., after eight lustra, a 
 man must be, as regards himself, either a fool or a 
 physician. I know in my own case, I had faith 
 in my constitution when other folk desponded, and to 
 recover health and strength, and in a measure the 
 powers of locomotion, I saw nothing better than a com- 
 bination of air and exercise, aided by a good climate 
 and pleasant excitement. All this I fancied might be 
 compassed by spending a winter or two in Gloucester- 
 shire, and horses could be brought over from Ireland ; 
 so starting with a good four year-old, and a tolerably 
 sensible screw, I went across, put up the horses at a 
 " pub," where were located several small studs of " the 
 Buffs and Blues," and got a quiet lodging in the neigh- 
 bourhood. For a pursuing pauper I can fancy no better 
 location than that which I had selected ; and almost 
 fortuitously. The Badminton Kennels were some four 
 or five miles distant, the Berkeley some eight or nine, 
 so that all you had to do was to pick your meets. 
 These were and are tw r o great hereditary or seigniorial 
 hunts, so that the eagle eye of " our Sec." was not 
 continually upon your outgoings and incomings, and 
 appraising what your contribution to the exchequer 
 of the chase should be se judice. In few parts of
 
 201 
 
 England could you see the canons of the chase more 
 admirably enforced by precept and practice, smarter 
 fields, or less provincial plough, for it must be borne in 
 mind that Gloucestershire is the land of cheese and 
 dairies (to put the cart before the horse), that the 
 Severn Valley is famous, and that the Duke of Beau- 
 fort's domain included every kind of country ; galloping 
 tracts in Wiltshire, much stone-wall bounded terri- 
 tory, some flying-fenced vale, and wide woodlands, 
 while the Duke and his family set an example of 
 perfect politeness and respect for the wishes and feelings 
 of others, that is worthy of all imitation. The hunt 
 servants and second horsemen took their cue from the 
 Badminton brigade, generally a big one, and were 
 punctiliously polite and respectful. Lord Worcester 
 hunted the hounds as one to the manner born, who 
 never arrogated to himself more knowledge of the track 
 of foxes than hounds possessed, and left them as far as 
 he could to themselves. No big man could go better 
 over the vale than he did on one or two special horses, 
 while he had several good wall jumpers. He had a 
 wonderful knowledge of his extensive country, second 
 only to that of the Duke, but I don't think that 
 with all his polo and pursuing practice^ he ever 
 equalled his? father in the art of galloping a horse that 
 is to say, getting him quick off his hind legs, and keep- 
 ing him going at good three-quarter speed. In the 
 Duke's country hand gates of the best hunting pattern 
 gave good ingress into and egress from any field. This 
 sort of thing tempts men not to ride, most yield to the 
 temptation, only a valiant few resist it.
 
 202 
 
 Conspicuous among the latter was Dr. Alfred Grace, 
 surgeon in ordinary to the Beaufort and other hunts, 
 and brother to the famous champions of cricket. Going 
 straight was to him the essence of the fun, and I should 
 put him down as much the best man I saw in those 
 regions, considering that he was not always riding a 
 perfect professor, but on his blazed chestnut, who had 
 run forward at Punchestown, he was generally the 
 leading man of the leading division. Ben Winthrop, 
 Colonel Kingscote (Sir Nigel now), C. Howard, Lord 
 Churston, E. Burges, Sir Eeginald Graham, Colonel 
 Ewart, Colonel Kington, Captain Coote ("Cooty"), 
 Captain Henry, li. Biddulph, Mr. Chaplin, Albany 
 Saville, Peter Miles, Captain Bill, Lord Howth, are a 
 lew names that suggest themselves to the memory, of 
 men who went straight and well, some always, others 
 occasionally. In a good run from Bean wood over the 
 Sodbury Vale H.Pi.H. the Prince of Wales went right 
 well. Among many visitors to the Duke's meets were 
 the Duke of Teck, the Due D'Aumale, the Due de 
 Chartres, Lord Spencer, Count Maffei, &c. 
 
 The Berkeley hounds running over their rhene 
 country, with a straight fox in front of them, left little to 
 desire, if you were on a fair water jumper ; otherwise, 
 if you were on a '"craner " you were apt to see more of 
 dyke architecture than was pleasant. The hounds of 
 this hunt have nose, pace, quality, arid tongue, and that 
 ought to be a good combination ; moreover, they are 
 level. Dr. A. Grace was generally to the fore here, as 
 with the Badminton beauties ; so was Dr. E. M. Grace, 
 several hard-riding yeomen farmers, Mr. Banvick
 
 203 
 
 Baker, Sir Charles Cuyler, Mr. G. Charlton, and Colonel 
 William Masters, late commanding officer of tlie 5th 
 Fusiliers, who was hard to beat anywhere. 
 
 This life of tempered excitement, combined with 
 what may be called the great air cure, restored me to 
 good working health. It \vas no longer an effort to 
 ride, and ere long I could walk twenty miles on occasion, 
 so that I have every reason to be grateful to Gloucester- 
 shire and its influences. I met much kindness there, and 
 have good reason to speak well of its inhabitants. Once 
 in the middle of the season, I found that between myself 
 and friends every horse I had was hors cle combat, so I 
 went to town, and sat next the then editor of " The 
 Field," Dr. Walsh, one evening. He suggested a few 
 letters or hunting notes from Ireland, and I went over 
 and sent them, keeping the little box in Gloucestershire 
 all the time. 
 
 The next season I wrote pretty regularly from Ireland, 
 but paid visits backwards and forwards to Gloucestershire, 
 where my servants were keeping the stud in exercise. 
 This was burning the candle at both ends, so at the close 
 of the following autumn I sold off in Gloucestershire, 
 but as bad luck would have it, got no bids for my horses, 
 so they had to come over to Ireland. That is the com- 
 mencement of my connection with the Sporting Press 
 of the country, and if anyone wishes to know whence I 
 derived the nom de plume of " Tri viator," or " the man at 
 the cross roads," that has been before the public for some 
 time, I will tell him. Some years previous to these 
 events, I spent part of a season in Northamptonshire, 
 mounted occasionally" very well by a friend with whom
 
 204 
 
 I was staying, very indifferently on my own nags. My 
 friend's house was in the Oakley country, near Welling-- 
 borough, and the meet next day was at Naseby, where 
 some famous cavalry and cavaliers had met on a memor- 
 able occasion more than two hundred years previously. 
 This place we heard was nineteen miles off. The hunters 
 had been sent on overnight. We started on hacks after 
 an early breakfast to ride the distance, my companion, a 
 London barrister, who has since mounted the professional 
 ladder, and become a squire likewise. Well, we rode and 
 we rode, and took short cuts as directed, till at some cross 
 roads we fancied we ought to be nearing our goal ; but 
 of hunting there was still no ; ' sign " ; so my friend and 
 1 agreed that we would halt at the cross road (trivia) 
 that we had reached, and beg guidance and instruction 
 from the first white-collared man (Pytchley uniform) we 
 met. A guide, philosopher, and friend soon turned up 
 in a seemingly well-mounted sportsman, Mr. Henry 
 Nethercote, of Moulton Grange, who told us he would 
 pilot us to Naseby, merely keeping us a minute or two 
 at Brixworth en route. He was extremely kind and 
 good-natured, made an admirable cicerone to strangers 
 in the land, and showed us all the notables, commencing 
 with the new master, Mr. Anstruther Thompson. 
 " Tallyho " spinney gave us a smart fox, who ran straight 
 and fast for a couple of miles. The country was a very 
 pleasant one, so though the run dwindled after this, 
 we were rewarded for coming all the distance. Mr. 
 Nethercote, who, by-the-bye, just before his death, a 
 couple of years ago, wrote an admirably interesting, and 
 instructive history of the Pytchley Hunt from its for-
 
 205 
 
 mation, soon after this bought a well-bred mare of 
 mine that had some merits, but was every now and then 
 a cripple from rheumatism. The price was ridiculously 
 small, for I told him all her demerits. She went well 
 with him for a few days, then fell unaccountably lame 
 and without anything to show for it, and when he wrote 
 to tell me about her, my reply was " send her up to 
 ' Tatt.'s/ and we'll divide profit or loss." This pleased him 
 much, but he did not follow the counsel, but put her to 
 the stud, having first named her " Trivia," from the 
 cross roads where we met an appropriate name, for 
 it was claimed by Diana, " the triple Hecate," " Proser- 
 pina, Luna, Diana." 
 
 One of the difficulties hunting men find in Ireland is 
 getting limiting boxes suitable to moderate means, with 
 not too many or too big rooms, and plenty of box and 
 stall accommodation ; in fact you want to be rather 
 under-roomed, and fully stabled. My intention was to 
 settle in Kildare, which has always held a very high 
 position in the world of sport during the last fifty or 
 sixty years, and where I had several friends. Knowing 
 the extreme difficulty of housing myself and horses suit- 
 ably, for I could not maintain a park or a palace, I 
 went over to Ireland myself in the previous August, 
 having heard of a small house in Naas, that a sporting 
 carabinier, hight Hoey, had occupied. It was small, 
 I think thatched, and in not a very desirable part of 
 Kildare's capital ; for this the modest sum of 20 per 
 month (or rather guineas I think) was demanded ; 
 coming straight from Gloucestershire the rent seemed 
 enormous, and of course I gave it up. The only other
 
 ?06 
 
 small liouse, with ample stabling, to be had was a farm 
 house or cottage, that had previously been occupied by 
 a dealer and troop horse buyer " Sandy Love " whose 
 praise is or was in all Kildare, and among cavalry 
 colonels ; he had sold his interest in the farm to a great 
 sheep-breeder and feeder, \vho lived high up in the 
 Wicklow mountains, fourteen or fifteen miles off, where 
 heathery tracts, the home of grouse, furnish walks for 
 hardy mountain sheep, that are fattened and finished 
 by-and-bye in the vale, many hundred feet below. I 
 was told this place could be had, and at less than 
 20 a month ; so I railed down from Dublin, walked 
 from Sallins to Old Town, the farm in question, in- 
 spected the house and offices, and thought they would 
 do in a rough way, after some money had been spent 
 on them. But where was the owner, Mr. Farringdou ? 
 He had left the place, his herd told me, about forty or 
 fifty minutes previously, so after taking renseigneimnts 
 I started off for a wander into wild Wicklow to clinch 
 the business. Punchescown Gorse, near the grand 
 stand, was my first point made, then the village of 
 Tipperkevin was struck near the Hill Gors,e of Elvers- 
 town ; then I made the liiver Liffey, and crossed it on a 
 sort of boulder causeway, and passing by the stone 
 quarries of Ballynockin, found myself presently in 
 grouseland pure and simple ; after walking one leg 
 against another, and having come some twelve or 
 thirteen miles, even with the aid of short cuts adopted 
 every now and then, I began to think it was a rather 
 rash act to hurry on into the bowels of the land without 
 better information, so I accosted the first man I saw by
 
 207 
 
 the roadside and asked him if he knew Mr. Farringdon. 
 " I know the boy," said he. " Can you guide me to his 
 house ? " " Yes, I can, he lives down there," pointing to 
 an oasis in Grouseshire, then at last he gave me to 
 understand he was the " boy " himself ; " Very well 
 then," said I, " we can do our business here by the road 
 side," and so we did in five minutes ; he let me the 
 cottage with certain reservations, and I was to take 
 possession in November. Now mark, nothing passed 
 save the parole agreement between us, confirmed, as in 
 a fair, by a hand grip ; he wanted me to come to the 
 house and confirm it further by a libation, but having 
 a long walk before me, I started off instantcr. I sent 
 horses and servants from Bristol with my luggage, 
 straight to Old Town, vid Dublin. They arrived 
 all right, and save that rny landlord had forgotten all 
 about the transaction, everything went well. Seeing 
 the arrival of horses and household goods, he was re- 
 minded of the bargain struck by the roadside, and not 
 only kept troth most faithfully but proved a capital 
 landlord. I think he would probably admit on his side 
 that I was a fair and improving tenant, nor would I 
 ever have left Kildare voluntarily, but that in process 
 of time my landlord's father died, and in the division 
 of property Mr. Farringdon had to give the mountain 
 farm to his brother, while he took the vale part of the 
 heritage. I have given the history of this petty fact to 
 show that with all the obloquy which the events of the 
 past decades have thrown on Hibernica Jides, men can be 
 found here and there with the finest sense of honour and 
 integrity, whose word is literally as good as their bond.
 
 208 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 " The Hunt is up, the morn is bright ! " 
 
 Shakspeare. 
 
 " RE.MEMBEU, remember, the 5th of November ! " in- 
 deed I will and do, though, by the way, I can't be posi- 
 tive the 5th was the precise date of the opening hunting 
 function in Kildare, for the rule is " the first Tuesday 
 in November and at Johnstown Inn " (a mile from 
 Naas). It is always the best and largest inaugural 
 convocation of the chase in Ireland. The hunting of 
 the fox, nay, of several foxes, is a certainty, and every 
 now and then, even on the opening day, there is a classi- 
 cal run, say once in every seven years or so, that proves 
 infinitely too good for the majority of men and horses. 
 Now Old Town had not been inhabited for years, 
 nor fires lit in most of the rooms, and my newly-kindled 
 fires brought out the accumulated damp copiously ; the 
 consequence was that in trying to get on a damp boot 
 lumbago seized on me there and then, and though I 
 managed to dress and mount I cannot say I felt happy all 
 day, though things improved a bit as the hours wore on. 
 I forget nearly all about our sport of that day, but the 
 whole function was a very fine one, and comparable to 
 any of the sort in England. Sir Edward Kennedy, whose 
 father almost founded " the Kildares," as a subscription
 
 209 
 
 pack, was then the M.F.H. He was a little, short, wiry 
 man, the very cut and weight for a first-class performer 
 across country, but though he could ride both hard and 
 well he seldom did much in that line, but his whole soul 
 \vas in his hounds and their performances ; and nothing 
 upset him so much as the sublime indifference to the 
 pack exhibited by the majority of the field whether on 
 wheels or hunters. I am not sure that it did not even 
 move him to tears and " swears " occasionally. He 
 worked very hard at keeping the country, and was most 
 hospitable, especially to the Guild of Sportsmen. 
 Perhaps in its sociable side, in its Curragh and its 
 Punchestown, in the number of country houses to which 
 sportsmen are welcomed, in its railway facilities, and 
 its proximity to Dublin, with its court and castle, no 
 county in Ireland can compare with Kildare. Some of 
 its country is admirable, specially on the northern 
 frontier, by the valleys of the Eye, the Liffey, and the 
 Blackwater, and so is much on the Wicklow border, 
 but the annual pilgrims to Punchestown may rest 
 assured that they do not get glimpses of anything like 
 the best part of Kildare from the grand stand of that 
 famous course. It is a very poor game country, and 
 the pheasant is completely subordinate to the great fox 
 interest. 
 
 There has been a long venatic succession of great 
 masters in Kildare, whose aim it was in every case to 
 show splendid sport, and to develop the hunting re- 
 sources of the country to the utmost of their power, 
 just as the consuls of Rome in the later days of the 
 Ptepublic strove with each other which should give the 
 
 T
 
 210 
 
 finest triumphal procession that Plebs or Populus had 
 ever hitherto seen. Mr. John Latouche, of Harristown, 
 was quite a first-rate master, so was his neighbour, Mr. 
 O'Connor Henchy, of Stonebrook, who undertook the 
 county pack at the famine crisis. No one ever turned 
 out hounds and men in better style than Lord Clomnell, 
 the father of the present peer. Lord Mayo surmounted 
 all the difficulties of great weight of person, and lightness 
 of purse, making the hounds more popular than ever 
 among masses and classes. The Baron de Eobeck, well 
 mounted himself, mounted his men very well, and 
 showed grand sport for a series of years, till his health 
 began to feel the strain somewhat. Major Mans Held, 
 who had ridden well to the county pack for years, kept 
 them well too ; and Mr. W. Forbes, of Callander, N.B., 
 who had adopted Kildare as his hunting grounds, did all 
 for the establishment that wealth, combined with judg- 
 ment and keenness, could effect; and, lastly, Major 
 St. Leger Moore, with Frank Goodall for his lieutenant, 
 has shown that a crack cavalry corps is no bad school 
 for managing a county pack, that requires some 
 management; for never before was discipline in the 
 field better maintained, with less strain or effort; 
 never was the average of runs better, if so good ; indeed, 
 last season the Kildare hounds had probably by far the 
 best hound run of the year in the United Kingdom ; for 
 the pack found a stout fox in a gorse near Dunlavm, and 
 ran him continuously for three hours and a half over a 
 wild, mountainous country, where there were no chances 
 of changing quarries, and killed him near Humewood, 
 the residence of Mr. FitzWilliam Hume Dick. The
 
 211. 
 
 first three miles of the chase were fair riding, Colonel 
 Hugh McCalmont and a few more brave men essayed! 
 the hills, but succumbed to the difficulties they pre- 
 sented, increased as they were by some snow ; and 
 Goodall alone, by galloping hard along roads, came 
 up with the pack after the kill, and saved part of 
 a well-picked pate, having thirty odd miles between 
 himself and the kennels. 
 
 " Tarde venientibus ossa." 
 
 In the year I arrived and settled in Kildare, red- 
 coat races, or point to point competitions, were first 
 established, and they have continued an institution 
 there ever since. The garrisons of the Curragh and 
 Newbridge where, besides the line, the staff, and the 
 engineers, there are always horse artillery and cavalry, 
 are regularly invited to join ; and to their credit be it 
 said, that though for twelve or thirteen years they com- 
 peted in vain with the county, they never declined the 
 friendly contest but took their beatings like brave men, 
 waiting till the whirligig of time brought them their 
 revenges, as it has ultimately. I had nothing fit qi'd 
 condition, but there were two horses in my stable that 
 were a little bit above common hunter form, one was a 
 grey, master of 18 st. 7 Ibs., who showed a deal of 
 quality but was not even sired by a thoroughbred horse, 
 for " Blue Peter," his father, was not, I believe, in the 
 stud book. The other was a great big overgrown horse, 
 nearly seventeen hands high, who, with very bent fore- 
 legs, had a great gift of going, and was a good, bold 
 fencer ; carrying, moreover, as good a set of bellows as 
 
 T 2
 
 212 
 
 ever were blown ; he was very fat and unfit, and had 
 bad corns. For the grey I had a first-rate pilot in Mr. St. 
 James, or the Honourable Reginald Greville Nugent, so 
 much liked and so much lamented ; for the big horse 
 I had a bad one in myself nor could I get more than 
 a pound or so under 15 stone, whereas the weight was 
 14 stone, and I had to waste to ride even as light as 
 I did. We all started together, lights and heavies; 
 and my intention was to pull up after going a mile or 
 two, but a friend of mine was riding a thoroughbred 
 hunter who wanted a lead, and was a bit uncertain in 
 his temper, and I stayed to help him as long as I could. 
 Then when he stopped resolutely, I kept moving along 
 till I came to a road, and could see the very long run 
 home, with several horses evidently rather distressed, 
 " pile driving," as horses are apt to do when run out ; 
 my horse's bellows here told marvellously. Mr. Forbes 
 was riding almost a race horse in " Hock," by " Claret," 
 and I never could get up to him, but I managed to get 
 alongside of Lord Cloncurry, whose horse did not like 
 the hill, and gained second honours. 
 
 Meanwhile I found my gallant grey had come in 
 first of the light weights, and won ; so that, taking all 
 the drawbacks into consideration, I had a right to think 
 I was master of two fair hunters. 
 
 After this win I started something every year, 
 whether I had anything good or not, but at last a 
 trump card turned up that ought to have proved an 
 " honour," but for very bad luck. This was a cross, ill- 
 conditioned, little mare bought for my wife (who knows 
 how to ride as well as most women), that when put in
 
 213 
 
 condition developed a good share of wilful temper. 
 She was a puller, too, and not everyone's mount, so I 
 again called on Mr. St. James to try his luck on her. 
 He came with his wonted good-nature, and had his 
 field apparently well beaten about a quarter of a mile 
 from home or thereabouts. He was a long way ahead, 
 with the mare pulling hard, arid I fancy his arms may 
 have been a little tired, for the mare came very fast at 
 the big broad-topped double on whose bank she should 
 have " changed," as she jumped it soon after the start, 
 but she never " laid an iron on it," and pecking on the 
 far side, burst her girths, so that remounting was 
 impossible. This mare was sold afterwards to win a 
 chase, but the wise groom or trainer prepared her for it 
 by galloping her off her legs when really she hardly 
 wanted any fast work. 
 
 Captain, now Colonel, Cosby was at this time the 
 Master of the Queen's County Foxhounds, and kept 
 them in splendid style, showing, so far as my experience 
 went, great sport in his large country. Stradbally 
 Hall, his residence, was one of the pleasantest of 
 " puts up " in Ireland, and everything was very well 
 done, while the hunt races at " Orchard " were in a 
 valley perfect as that of Nemea. Here I saw 
 " Chimney Sweep " come out first, showing good speed, 
 with a certain amount of eccentricity of temper. 
 Colonel Cosby showed me a great deal of genuine 
 kindness and hospitality, and I think his stable 
 management was the best I saw in Ireland, for his 
 horses, rarely quite first class, " contrived," like Gold- 
 smith's chest of drawers, " a double debt to pay."
 
 214 
 
 " Hunters till spring, then chasers on Cup day," to 
 paraphrase the poet. And they won a good share of 
 chases by force of condition and right placing. 
 
 In the yard at Stradbally, always kept to perfection, 
 there were several Turkish baths for the use of the 
 hunters after a hard day, in which I was just as glad 
 to spend an hour as in the more pretentious arid 
 luxurious baths for " the quality," i.e., the house and 
 its guests. Indeed, everything round Stradbally was 
 worth inspection, machinery, with turbine wheels for 
 motors, economising labour greatly in the farmyard. 
 It seems a long drive for a day with hounds, twenty- 
 seven miles, the distance, I was told, between Strad- 
 bally and Old Town, biit a trapper I had thought 
 absolutely nothing of it, and I recollect well this same 
 trapper taking great care of me one night, and " driving 
 herself" home, if I may use the term, over a road part 
 of which was dreary enough, and flanked by deep dykes 
 on either side. I had promised to be home that parti- 
 cular night, and after a fine day's sport, which did not 
 allow us to get to the hall till near 8 p.m., I had some 
 dinner, and then resisting all the hospitable entreaties 
 of my host, insisted on driving off. I had no servant 
 with me, and after the first few miles (or less) sleep 
 overtook me (for I was verj tired, having had a long 
 run after my hunter, who fell at a high up bank), and 
 I think I dozed nearly all the way, but found myself 
 taken home most correctly. Stradbally village and the 
 country near it is equal to most parts of England in 
 the matter of sceneiy and highly civilised appearance ; 
 yet within a few miles is Luggacurran, another most
 
 215 
 
 charming neighbourhood, where Lord Lansdowne had so 
 much trouble, after which followed the famous invasion 
 of Canada by Mr. William O'Brien, M.P. 
 
 I said Stradbally was a very pleasant house. There 
 was always something going on, a couple of well turned- 
 out drags, perhaps, brought the house party to a meet, 
 the billiard-room was a most comfortable lounge, with 
 a capital table in it, and dancing seemed the order 
 of most evenings. Nor were practical jokes quite 
 unknown. Lord Charles Beresford had rather a happy 
 knack of carrying them out, as I can attest, for a grand 
 round having been danced to extra quick time, my two 
 neighbours let go my hands, I should think not quite 
 accidentally, and the centrifugal force flung me among 
 some statues and busts, and caused displacement to 
 them, to me some hardish knocks. A rather cruel one 
 was played on a smart pursuer who brought over his 
 best leathers for a meet near the hall next day. These 
 were taken to the hot room of one of the Turkish 
 baths, which I suppose was at very high temperature, 
 for when the snowy buckskins were sought for next 
 morning they were considerably chippy. It was at 
 Stradbally that I made acquaintance with Lord Charles 
 Beresford's heathen Chinee, who waited at table pigtail 
 and all. I believe that soon afterwards his master 
 discovered that he had ways that were dark, and these 
 ways curtailed his liberty for some time. 
 
 Lord Spencer, with some of his hunting staff, was a 
 periodical visitor at Stradbally Hall. I recollect seeing 
 poor " Bay " Middleton going well there, as indeed he did 
 in most countries, and most of us heard him. The Queen's
 
 216 
 
 County was full of fine coverts and wild, very wild, 
 foxes, that would hardly have suited the nobleman of 
 whom we read that 
 
 " There lived an Earl of ancient name, 
 Who hunted the fox, but liked him tame." 
 
 Maryborough, with its heath, was once one of the 
 fashionable racing centres of Ireland. The county has 
 now no hounds, and little chasing within its borders ! 
 
 Would I could take my reader about through Ireland 
 on hunting tours intent, for some of these tours were 
 pleasant enough, and it must be borne in mind that in 
 Ireland the province exists not, as understood in 
 England, as the antithesis to the shires ; for in Ireland 
 grass always predominates over plough, and the latter 
 is generally extremely light, and as different as possible 
 from English plough. Hence sport may be, and often 
 is, just as good in a remote county as in the most 
 fashionable hunt, such as Meath or Kildare, and it may 
 so happen that Western Meath has a better season than 
 its Eastern namesake. To give the reader some idea of 
 the labour involved in giving a weekly synopsis of 
 sport in Ireland, I will take one day as a sample, 
 though I must in fairness say it was an exceptionally 
 hard one. 
 
 Major Mansfield was the Master in Kildare that 
 year. We had a large field out, and a couple of good 
 runs, the second of which came to an untimely end 
 near Tynte Park, a good deal perhaps owing to the 
 pernicious pressing of a one-armed or one-handed 
 pursuer out, who, riding a wonderfully fine bank jumper
 
 217 
 
 (and we were among decidedly large ones), was on top 
 of the pack the moment they had cleared the bank, 
 and were feeling for their fox, who had evidently got a 
 great lead. " Please hold hard, Mr. Thruster," would 
 the exasperated but polite M.F.H. say; when those 
 who were near might have heard muttered sotto voce, 
 " Then, why don't your blessed hounds come on ? " I 
 saw those runs rather better than my wont, as a famous 
 horse I had called " Plum " was in charming humour 
 that day, and when I got back to Old Town, some ten 
 or eleven miles off, I set to to scribble at once, hardly 
 heeding the monition " that dinner was served." My 
 things were packed up, and in a few minutes after I 
 had sat down to my chilled repast, word came that the 
 trap with my fast pony was at the door, and that there 
 was hardly a moment left if I meant to catch the mail 
 at Sallins. However, the train was caught easily, and 
 I took my ticket for Mallow to visit the Duhallow 
 Hounds (Lord Doneraile's) next day. I forget when 
 Mallow was reached, about 2 a.m., I think. I had 
 expected to sleep at the hotel there, but Lord Doneraile 
 had most kindly sent a trap to meet me. 
 
 When I reached Doneraile Court there was a capital 
 supper laid out, and I made up for the deficit in 
 dinners, but, like the lady in the song, " I had my task 
 to finish," or, in other words, to complete my narrative 
 of the day in Kildare, for if you allow arrears to 
 accumulate in your mind and memory, the confusion 
 may become hopeless. This occupied me till it was 
 near breakfast time, and, consequently, the allowance 
 of sleep was somewhat scanty. Fortunately, the meet
 
 218 
 
 next morning at " Two Pot House " was near the Court. 
 The wood was full of foxes, and we had a rather nice 
 rim, though with no particular point. In the evening 
 late, we had a very fast gallop into darkness, which, 
 while light lasted (I mean the gallop) gave one an 
 opportunity of seeing "Johnny Walsh" sailing over 
 that beautiful country with his hounds, horse, man, and 
 pack making a charming combination, flying fox, and 
 Hying hounds (it seemed a beautiful scent medium), 
 and a huntsman tied to them ! We had but a small 
 field out, for there was something like a feud or schism 
 in the county just at that moirient, and the followers of 
 the Montagues would not foregather with the Capulets. 
 I recollect a lady, Mrs. Johnston, clearing a gate that 
 afternoon, a sight not to be seen every day in Ire- 
 land. 
 
 I think Mr. T. Hare was the Master the next time I 
 visited this county (Cork). 1 had seen him ride hard 
 and straight in Meath, and was not surprised to see 
 him go so well in the Duhallow district. They seemed 
 to me to have rare good foxes there, for I saw the 
 commencement of another very fine run near Mallow, 
 but only the commencement, as in crossing a river I 
 did not hit the opposite bank in a very good spot. 
 H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught was riding that 
 beautiful hunter of his, " Black Knight," that day, if 
 my memory does not deceive me. The Duke, who was 
 then in the Eifle Brigade, was a pretty constant 
 pursuer, whether in Meath, or Kildare, or in Dublin 
 with the Ward Union Staghounds. 
 
 It seems like yesterday when H.R.H. came in for a
 
 219 
 
 capital gallop from Ballycrlunin, or Armagh, on the 
 Tuam side of the County Galway, when that past 
 master of woodcraft and venerie, the late Burton 
 Parsons Persse, of Moyode Castle, being in momentary 
 difficulties, as his hounds had got to their noses, and the 
 surrounding circle of horsemen seemed inclined to 
 press them unduly, three or four counties being all 
 represented there 
 
 "Two hundred such horsemen ne'er were seen at a burst, 
 Each resolv'd to be there, each resolv'd to be first." 
 
 (Only I fancy for the poet's two we must read nearer 
 four), saw at about the distance of half a mile, a thatcber 
 on a lonely cottage waving his caubeen in the air. He 
 guessed at once that the fox had been viewed by that 
 thatcher, and lifting his hounds and galloping at top 
 speed for the cabin, hit off the line, and a fine run was 
 the result, over a good bit of light, galloping grass land, 
 no one seeing it better and enjoying it more than His 
 lioyal Highness, though it was a mercy his horse never 
 put a foot wrong, as one or two ladies made him their 
 pilot and leader, and determined to be his very close 
 followers. 
 
 On another occasion I saw the commencement of the 
 breach between the people of Galway and the old 
 county gentry. There was a vacancy in the county 
 representation, and the Parliamentary candidates were 
 Colonel Nolan, E.A., an advanced Liberal, and Mr. 
 Trench (uncle to the present Lord Clancarty), a brother 
 of the Earl's thus representing the territorial aris- 
 tocracy. We were drawing a covert (gorse) near the 
 Xnock Barron course, that brings us to Lever's hero,
 
 220 
 
 Charles O'Malley, Moderideroo, the famous hunter, and 
 all the brilliant personce in that romance. The gorse 
 held a fox, who did not at first seem inclined to go far, 
 for he kept running backwards and forwards between 
 this gorse and another small one half a mile off; this 
 manoeuvre was repeated ever so often, till getting tired 
 of seesawing, I stayed near the original gorse, when 
 like the Roderic Dhu scene, in " The Lady of the 
 Lal^e," I found myself suddenly surrounded by a num- 
 ber of the electors (I presume), who brandished their 
 
 alpeens, shouting " Hi for Nolan ; to with Trench." 
 
 There was nothing very menacing in their attitude, nor 
 do I think they meant me any bodily injury, but it was 
 unpleasant to hear the changes rung on this cry, and I 
 certainly had not the pluck to reverse the sentiment, 
 whatever I might feel about the matter ; so I said to 
 the nearest expounder of the electoral will, " Certainly, 
 why not ' Hi for Nolan ?' " Nor did they expect me 
 to add the consignment of my friend Trench to a climate 
 warmer than ours. 
 
 "While this was going on, back came the fox once 
 more, but whether it was the tintamarre of the bold 
 electors, or a sudden impulse, or the compelling power 
 of improved scent, certain it is that he broke away 
 directly in gallant style, over a fine grass country and 
 big fields, and was killed in the open after some thirty- 
 five or forty minutes. Mr. Persse, in jumping a wall 
 protected by sharp thorn stakes, had his groin pierced 
 by one of these lances, but never felt it till he was 
 going to break up the fox. Mr. Persse rode to perfec- 
 tion ; his eye on his hounds, and never far from them.
 
 221 
 
 His horses were well trained and broken, and never 
 seemed to give him any trouble. Perhaps because he 
 gave them none, but let their mouths alone. When the 
 revolutionary feeling in Ireland set strongly against 
 hunting, stimulated as it was by the rhetoric of agita- 
 tors, who have since recanted the doctrines of their most 
 anti-national crusade, Mr. Persse had to yield, and tc 
 part with many of his well-beloved hounds. The hunt 
 horses, a lot of small, neat, well-bred workmen, were 
 sold at liugby by Mr. Tattersall, and most of them made 
 very fine figures ; but at first their sale seemed to hang 
 a bit, for they looked decidedly small to the English 
 eye, if strong. The on dit is that when one of them 
 early in the list was about to be knocked down at a low 
 figure, Mr. Burton Persse took a pair of scissors out of 
 his waistroat pocket, and cut a bit off the mane, which 
 was shot with grey hairs, a la "JBirdcatcher." The effect 
 was magical, for, argued the buyers, this must be a 
 specially good one, the master seems so attached to it, 
 and up went the biddings at once, the buyers not 
 relaxing till they had cleared most off. Mr. Persse was 
 left with one or two at the time, but a few rides with 
 hounds, owner up, was quite enough to show their 
 quality, and they did not come back to Erin or Galway. 
 Mr. Persse saw the chase once more a flourishing insti- 
 tution in his native country, and himself at their head. 
 He had hunted there for thirty years, beginning with 
 harriers. Some ten or eleven years ago the members of 
 his hunt presented him with his picture by Lutyens, 
 Lord Clonbrock, once the master of the Vale of White 
 Horse Hounds, being the spokesman of the subscribers.
 
 222 
 
 His brother, Mr. De Burgh Persse, who farmed to some 
 purpose in Australia, then hunted the pack from Moyode, 
 with Press for huntsman. Lord Clanmorris has them now. 
 It has not teen my good fortune ever to have hunted 
 much in Carlow, once known as Catherlough, and often 
 styled nowadays " the garden county," par excellence, of 
 Ireland. Its master, Mr. Ptobert Watson, is the doyen 
 of the M.F.H.'s in Ireland, and in his case, if an 
 Amurath does not succeed an Amurath, a Watson does 
 a Watson, for the pack has been in the family for 
 generations, and to show how naturally a Watson 
 inclines to hounds, I may mention that both Mr. Robert 
 Watson's brothers followed the family tradition, and that 
 if it were not hazardous to piophesy till you are sure, it 
 would not be a very venturesome vaticination to predict 
 that his eldest son, Mr. J. Watson, the great exponent 
 of polo, will be, ere many seasons have elapsed, in the 
 purple of office, and hunting first-class hounds himself 
 over a first-class country. A consummate judge of 
 hounds, and with some of the best sources of supply 
 within his reach, both in England and Ireland, it is 
 not surprising that the Carlow pack of foxhounds 
 should be looked upon in Ireland much as the Oakley, 
 or Lord Willoughby de Broke's pack are in England. 
 They have the noses of beagles, or Dachshunds, and the 
 fling, say, of the Belvoir, and for their lord and master, 
 Robert Watson, who is with them constantly in the 
 kennel, as well as in the rapture of triumph and 
 achievement, they would go anywhere and do any- 
 thing. It was and is a great school of hunting, the 
 County Carlow. It produced Lord Eathdonnell, who,
 
 223 
 
 giving (because he could not help it) such men as 
 " Bay Middle ton " and some of his compeers a stone 
 in a point to point race in the shires, beat them all. 
 But perhaps Mrs. Bun bury, his sister-in-law, has proved 
 its most accomplished el&ve, for go where she will in 
 England, she is always a pioneer in pursuit, picking out 
 her own line, and sticking to it resolutely. And yet he 
 would be wonderfully infatuated who could call Carlo w 
 a choice hunting county. It has fine wild foxes, and 
 plenty of them. It has good sections of grass lands 
 every now and then, but it is not for the most part one 
 you can ride freely over, without the most careful of 
 hunters, and a good eye in the pilot. Few get over it 
 with more perfect freedom than their master of many 
 seasons, but then he is a very perfect horseman, in 
 spite of nearly seventy years, and those who saw him 
 galloping horse after horse, at the Dublin horse show a 
 few years ago, where he judged, would fail to acknow- 
 ledge his ease of seat, and mastery over everything he 
 mounted. 
 
 It might be going too far to maintain that Limerick 
 was formed by nature for a Paradise of sport, but it 
 certainly offers sporting facilities that few counties or 
 shires can rival. The salmon-haunted Shannon flows 
 through its extent, and has several tributaries only 
 inferior to itself, and it is the boast of some of the 
 occupants of houses on their banks that in spring you 
 can spend your day with the county pack of foxhounds, 
 and kill a salmon or two either before joining them or 
 after returning, as, for instance, at Carass on the 
 Maigue, where Sir David Eoche and his friends have, I
 
 2;24 
 
 believe, often, if not habitually, accomplished this feat. 
 Then there are pine-clad hills, where foxes abound that 
 can occupy a pack all the autumn without ever infring- 
 ing on what may be termed their artificial country in 
 the verdant vale below, and to part of that vale in the 
 rich grazing tracts round Bruree and Kilmallock I 
 would assign about the highest place in the classifica- 
 tion of hunting countries whether in Ireland or England. 
 It has not the scope or extent perhaps of Meath or 
 Dublin, but so far as it goes and I have followed the 
 stag through it for fully ten miles it is more even 
 than they are, the fences have less variation and 
 trappiness, they are not abnormally or extravagantly 
 large, and with a good bold horse it ought to be crossed 
 with tolerable safety and much pleasure. 
 
 My first visit to Limerick was on the occasion of the 
 advent of the United Hunt from Cork under Lord 
 Shannon, when the followers of both associations came 
 out in their hundreds, if not in their thousands, and 
 the day was one of great expectations, though they 
 were hardly realised in one sense, for though Sir David 
 Eoche had foxes galore for his visitors, the day was 
 dry, dusty, and gaudy withal, and the big battalions 
 that came out had several bits of runs, mere or less 
 good, but nothing epical or memorable. If the day 
 was not, however, brimful of sport, it was very festive, 
 and at some cross roads or other we were met by com- 
 missariat carts, and what I suppose might be appro- 
 priately called a luncheon " equipage," for the pursuing 
 multitudes, who had an opportunity of clearing their 
 throats of dust or cobwebs by copious draughts of
 
 225 
 
 champagne, of which there seemed no stint whatever. 
 So far as I can remember, the last covert drawn was 
 Castletown Conyers. I was to have been mounted by 
 Sir David Koche, then the master of the Limerick 
 hounds, whose guest I was, but the morning after my 
 arrival at Carass he took me round his extensive 
 stables, where every hunter seemed to be suffering 
 severely from what might be called bilious or yellow 
 fever, for their eyes were as yellow as oranges. How- 
 ever, Sir David managed to get mounts for everyone, 
 and I can answer for having had a pleasant ride on a 
 chestnut cob, who proved a capital wall jumper, though 
 it must be owned most we met were small. 
 
 The next day Sir David had a bye-day, I believe 
 mainly to show me a different section of his country, 
 and the horse difficulty was again got over by the kind- 
 ness and liberality of good sportsmen, showing how 
 much Sir David's successful efforts to show first rate 
 sport were appreciated by the members of his Hunt. 
 Instead of hundreds and. thousands in the field, the 
 company might be reckoned by tens, for no notices had 
 been sent out. probably owing to the condition of the 
 Hunt horses. Mr. Harry Croker, of Ballinagarde, who 
 at that time was, consensu omnium, the best welter 
 weight in Limerick, perhaps in the south of Ireland, 
 was the deus ex mackind who solved the mounting 
 difficulty, as several of his chasers, past 01- present, 
 were placed at Sir David's disposal. And here I may 
 remark that Mr. Croker always selected this class of 
 horse for his own riding with hounds, and as .be was 
 a most successful pursuer, in spite of his fifteen stone 
 
 u
 
 226 
 
 odd, we must agree that his theory that it is blood that 
 carries weight is mainly true. 
 
 We found no fox till we reached Kilpeacon Gorse 
 (Major Gavin's), but had found a capital lunch and any 
 amount of jumping powder at Ballinagarde, so when 
 the fox broke away handsomely from that good gorse 
 over a very fair line of grass, our small party was in 
 capital trim for a run, and a very smart one we had, 
 though I have forgotten the points made in the course 
 of it. The people who knew the country said we 
 had traversed some eight miles in, I think, about 
 forty-five minutes (but there was no checking, and 
 scent seemed at its acme), when we were confronted 
 by a high park wall of fully nine or ten feet (park 
 palings are almost unknown in Ireland), with wood- 
 lands inside. Now the fox had with his prehensile 
 pads managed to scramble over this big barrier. The 
 hounds could not, and were taken round to one of the 
 entrance gates of Carass (for this was our park), causing 
 a considerable delay inside the demesne wall. The 
 hounds never really hit off the line of the fox after 
 the delay, and as the earths were open, the chase ceased, 
 everyone being thoioughly satisfied with a brilliant 
 bye-day that had not been calculated on by any of us. 
 Knights and esquires were then summoned to Sir 
 David's hospitable dining-room, where we shed the 
 blood of Champagne's vine freely, and discoursed as 
 freely upon the fine sport the bitch pack had shown 
 us as bony and bonny a pack as could often be 
 seen anywhere. Another capital day's sport I saw in 
 Limerick in the wake of Mr. Gubbius' staghouuds, when
 
 227 
 
 Lord Fermoy mounted me on a very brilliant hunter. 
 We ran right over the vale nearly to the foot of some 
 mountains that I rather think are the spurs of the 
 Galtee range. 
 
 I had very nearly forgotten the sequel of the fox 
 chase on the memorable bye-day. Sir David, after the 
 rites of hospitality had been duly paid, went out with 
 a friend towards the main earths, when, to their sur- 
 prise, they saw, lying stark and stiff in front of them, 
 the hunted fox, who perhaps died from the tremendous 
 bustling he got, or broke his heart in the spring Le 
 made nearly to the top of the park wall. I believe 
 several similar cases have happened within hunting 
 memory ; it is my sole experience. 
 
 I have said very little about the United Hunt pack, 
 and their very pleasant M.F.H., the late Lord Shannon. 
 The hounds were a picture, but the day was most 
 unpropitious for the exhibition of their powers of pace 
 and nose, with slack scent and " an army " behind that 
 would not be denied. I saw part of this pack again 
 when that most keen and intrepid sportsman, Mr. J. 
 Murphy, was their master, in the vicinity of Cork, but 
 game on that occasion was scarce, and what was found 
 showed no sport whatever. Lord Shannon was fairly 
 driven out of Cork by the eccentricities of a small and 
 rather scratch pack that was hunted and owned by a 
 local sportsman, Mr. Edmund FitzGerald, who claimed 
 venatic rights over much of the best part of the United 
 Hunt country, and whether he had them or not, exei- 
 cised them most freely. Lord Shannon, who was very 
 keen about the chase and all belonging to it, then 
 
 U 2
 
 228 
 
 migrated to England, where, for two or three seasons, 
 he mastered the Vale of White Horse country to the 
 entire satisfaction of all his followers, but more espe- 
 cially of the sporting farmers, who liked him as much 
 as he liked and appreciated them. It was my custom 
 then to sell off my hunters at Sewell's, in Dublin, every 
 spring ; and I am happy to say that three bought there 
 by Lord Shannon turned out admirably; indeed, one of 
 them whom he had the courage to buy, when he was a 
 mere " rag " and " anatomy," recovering from a severe 
 attack of what was known as "the American dis- 
 temper," and whom he called " Triviator," made the 
 highest price, save one, at his final sale at Tatter- 
 sail's. 
 
 Those two counties, Cork and Limerick, have had 
 some strange venatic viscissitudes since this period, 
 and fallen considerably from their high estate, owing 
 to the crusade preached against hunting. 
 
 Since the time I write of, Mr. J. Gubbins accepted 
 the mastership of the Limerick foxhounds. He spent 
 more than 30,000 in erecting kennels and stables, but 
 he had to succumb to the agitation. Captain Forester 
 is now their M.F.H., and shows good sport. 
 
 At the time I am writing about the Curraghmore 
 hounds were in the zenith of their fame, and Lord 
 Waterford, their proud and happy master ; the Curragh- 
 more country is now hunted by Mr. Richard Burke and 
 Mr. C. Nugent-Humble, but the pack that Lord Water 
 ford had, so to speak, created no longer ranges over 
 its native heaths and through its native woodlands, 
 having been transferred to England, and at a price that
 
 229 
 
 showed how they were appreciated there. Lord Water- 
 ford's practical banishment from the hunting grounds 
 
 which if not by any means the best or fairest in 
 Ireland were those of his especial predilection makes 
 one sometimes sceptical as to the sporting future of 
 Ireland, for here was a nobleman whose ancestors had 
 been identified with Curraghrnore for many centuries, 
 and who himself was most anxious to spend his days 
 and his money among "his own people," hooted and 
 stoned out of his avital hunting grounds, at the 
 bidding of the agitator and the paid patriot. And what 
 was his crime ? " Seek ye her crime to know," quoth 
 Canning in the " Anti- Jacobin," apropos of Mrs. Brown- 
 rigg. Why absolutely none, for no one ever accused 
 him of harshness or injustice to his tenantry, while he 
 was the means of circulating very large sums of money 
 in his neighbourhood through the fine sport which he 
 promoted, as had his uncle before him, Henry, the 
 marquis of adventure and episode. 
 
 It is quite true that Daniel O'Connell had applied to 
 the House of Beresford some of those alliterative 
 epithets that are generally hurled at Mr. Balfour now ; 
 but the only possible appositeness of them lay in the 
 severity of a remote kinsman, John Marcus Beresford, 
 who flourished his lash in the Eebellion of '98, when a 
 few atrocities were committed on the other side, and a 
 few more would probably have followed suit had rebel- 
 dom prevailed. 
 
 I have a pleasant recollection of a week, or its 
 greater part, spent very enjoyably at Curraghmore, whose 
 extensive chase is crowned by a house, that though
 
 230 
 
 much improved, and a fine pile, is hardly good enough 
 for the park and place ; but the stabling is magnificent, 
 and sheltered as nearly as possible a hundred horses at 
 that time, somewhere in the seventies. I recollect the 
 journey there from the County Kildare was a very long 
 and tedious one, owing, I believe, to lack of coal on a 
 feeder of the Great Southern and Western Line, and 
 occupied the best part of twenty-four hours. Lord 
 William and Lord Marcus Beresford were both staying 
 there then, and we sampled his lordship's country very 
 fairly in some four days, of which one was spent 
 mainly in " the chase " itself. Another in the country 
 round Kilmacthomas, where a woollen factory, main- 
 tained by Lord Waterford's family, gives employment 
 to hundieds of hands. Another was in the Kilkenny 
 country that had been lent or leased to Lord Waterford 
 by the Kilkenny Hunt, whose curtailed hunting days 
 prevented full justice being done to it and to its wild 
 foxes. It seems like yesterday that Lord "VVaterford 
 drove me to the meet, some seventeen or eighteen miles 
 distant, in his mail phaeton, and as we neared the 
 rendezvous, lo ! the road was spanned by a triumphal 
 arch, made of laurels by the bold peasantry, with all 
 sorts of words of welcome, and I note the fact to show 
 the natural proclivities of the people till warped and 
 perverted. 
 
 I saw nothing of the first run, a very good one, I 
 believe, as my hunter (or probably myself) funked the 
 straight banks without grips, that formed the staple of 
 the fences, and then a fore shoe lost, made a favourable 
 excuse for retiring from the fray ; but in the second, I
 
 231 
 
 found my mount accommodate himself charmingly to 
 the iteration of little leaps that divided fields not vastly 
 bigger than a large tablecloth ; it seemed a fine scent- 
 ing, wild country, and' hounds ran fast over it. Of the 
 ladies, very few, if any, saw so much of hounds as 
 Lord Waterfowl's mother, who, in her early wedded life, 
 had few opportunities of " competing." 
 
 Lord Waterford. in spite of his weight, was always 
 with his hounds, which he hunted occasionally himself, 
 though they were generally in Duke's charge. He was 
 superbly mounted, as / must own who bought one of 
 his cast-offs, that yet was very highly thought of in 
 England afterwards. 
 
 Of Lord Waterford's accident in the shires, and its 
 lamentable sequences, the public has heard so much 
 that I will not recur to the painful theme. Within 
 a few months, however, a manifest improvement has 
 taken place, and hope is again in the ascendant 
 scale. 
 
 In writing about Meath the very paradise of pur- 
 suit one feels inclined to paraphrase or parody 
 Tommy Moore's famous couplet somehow in this 
 wise 
 
 " And until they can show us some lovelier planet. 
 This Meath is the best place for sportsmen and me." 
 
 For some seventy miles, and even far further if 
 necessary, from the valley of the Tolka to the small 
 enclosures of Cavan, may the Meath hounds range, 
 monarchs of all they survey in the shape of foxes, 
 without any rivals or competitors. Another diagonal
 
 Would, I believe, give them a clear field of some fifty 
 iniles, and, as a rule, grass culture (or inculture) pre- 
 vails over this enormous area not merely rotatory 
 crops of grass as understood in many portions of Merry 
 England, but perennial pasture, of which many acres 
 may be called " finishing land," from which bullocks 
 and heifers go straight to the stalls and shambles with- 
 out intermediate processes, while much of the northerly 
 section is admirably adapted for sheep walks, as many 
 agriculturists in England, who have seen Mr. J. Lennox 
 Naper's Shropshire Downs competing successfully at 
 shows, have learnt. Land-hunger is an appetite (which 
 in such a country is very natural), seems to have 
 obtained here from the earliest recorded eras, and we 
 can still see abundant traces of the ruling passion in the 
 semi-French filibusters, who, making castellated Trim 
 on the banks of the Boyne their place d'armes, or base 
 of operations, pushed on their " land-graobing " cam- 
 paign by means of strong forts, till at last Hugo de 
 Lacy had his head cut off by some Celtic kerne or 
 gallowglass at Durrow in the King's County, just as he 
 had extended his gigantic grass farm to the banks of 
 the Brosna from those of the Boyne. Later on we find 
 this land-hunger repeated in the very visionary scheme 
 of the Parnellites, by which it was seriously contem- 
 plated to reverse the Cromwellian plantation, which 
 sent Eastern " malignants " to Connaught, by bringing 
 the inhabitants of congested Connaught to the rich 
 pastures of Meath, and settling ihem there, a scheme 
 which would hardly find favour with Eastern men, who 
 have the prescription of several centuries in support of
 
 233 
 
 their claims and rights. In reality, it was all along 
 nothing more than a Meath migration mirage, as 
 notable a failure as the Galway plantation actually 
 essayed by Mr. Charles Stuart Paruell, and indirectly 
 promoted by Lord Spencer, while Lord Lieutenant. 
 
 That so fine a country should have remained in 
 hunting obscurity while hounds flourished in such 
 comparatively uncongenial and stony soils as Kilrud- 
 derry and Killiney (the Duke of Dorset's son was 
 killed among the rockeries of the latter) is one of those 
 modern mysteries which certainly detract greatly from 
 the wisdom and acumen with which we wish to credit 
 our ancestors. Indeed, it was not till the fourth decade 
 of the present century that Sam Reynell (great men 
 want no prefixes like minor mortals) and his brother- 
 in-law, Mr. Trench Nugent, a kindred spirit in sporting 
 enterprise, discerned the capabilities of Royal Meath, 
 and determined to utilise them. Of course there were 
 several little hunting establishments in the shire 
 already. The Tisdals, Nicholsons, Wallers, McVeaghs, 
 Hopkinses, and a few neighbours, had their packs, and 
 a " gentleman and his hounds " was as much a toast in 
 Ireland as in England. The Ballymacad Harriers were 
 a popular pack in the undulating tracts between Old 
 Castle and Virginia Water ; but there was no county 
 pack till Sam Eeynell appeared on the scene. He was 
 an enthusiast, " fanatico per la caccia ; " but enthusiasts 
 are necessary to great enterprises, as " the boy " who 
 walked over during the night from Hayes, in Meath, to 
 Palmerstown, in Kildare, to have a look at Lord Mayo 
 and his pack, told his lordship, when the latter, re-
 
 234 
 
 cognising his tenant's son, informed him he must be a 
 lunatic to have attempted such a thing. "Begorra, 
 my lord, if there were no lunatics in the land there'd 
 be mighty little fox-hunting." His enthusiam was con- 
 tagious, the county backed him splendidly, and gorse 
 coverts sprung up, as if by magic, over the length and 
 breadth of the county. 
 
 In the days I write of, hunting a country was far less 
 expensive than at present, for such claims as right of 
 way and compensation for scarce apparent damage done 
 had not come into vogue, but the very magnitude of 
 Heath's mileage involved a very long purse, and Mr. 
 Ileynell's was a very short one. However, enthusiasm 
 carried him along, and though he could hardly ever 
 compass the purchase of sound weight carriers, screws 
 well chosen enabled him to keep near his pack, and as 
 for falls though over sixteen stone weight he went on 
 never minding them. Like the Jovial Jorrocks, he 
 lectured on " the noble science " in canary tights, and 
 the county colours of red and pale blue, and threw 
 everything, as Mr. Mantalini put it, to the " demnition 
 bow wows " in favour of the sport of kings and vice- 
 kings. Nor was the summer his own, for a man of his 
 ideas hail to keep travelling about on survey, so to 
 speak, day after day, consolidating and strengthening 
 his empire ; and it was said that at one time he con- 
 templated entering Parliament to aid the hunting 
 interests of the kingdom, and to endeavour to get some 
 enactment passed in favour of causing cattle to be 
 wintered in sheds, after the English pattern, rather than 
 in the open pastures to the detriment and checking of
 
 235 
 
 hounds "illic clausa tenent stabulis armenta " (as 
 said of the ' Scythians), but I can hardly credit such 
 ecstasy of enthusiasm. The total neglect of private 
 business for public led, by and bye, to a financial 
 chasm or crisis, but the county came to his relief 
 with several thousand pounds, and hunting history 
 repeated itself; in the Sixties, Sam Eeynell found 
 an invaluable ally in poor " Chicken " Hartopp, nearly 
 us great an enthusiast as himself, with as big a 
 heart and a far fuller purse. How far " the Chicken " 
 helped the sporting Sam I know not, if at all, but I can 
 only say that on my first introduction to the upper 
 portion of Meath, on the occasion of a Red-Coat Race 
 Meeting, I passed under a number of triumphal arches, 
 inscribed with Hartopp's name in large characters, 
 while a few welcomed Lord Spencer, his master, on 
 whose staff he was serving ; and a huge marquee on the 
 hill side w T as Hartopp's banqueting hall for the occasion, 
 where everyone was welcomed with a caed mille failthe. 
 For a few years Hartopp reigned supreme in Royal 
 Meath like bonnie Prince Charlie, King o' the Hieland 
 hearts ' the grandest man " they had ever seen in the 
 shire, the most princely in purse and person, squander- 
 ing sovereigns right and left, and enforcing his will and 
 pleasure by an irresistible right arm, at once the instru- 
 ment of lavish generosity, and inflexible purpose. Of . 
 his court and courtiers, of his jousts and junketings, 
 of the practical jokes played, the bear-fighting, the 
 splendour of his retinue, of the homage paid to him, 
 and the courteseying of great customs to this greater 
 king for whom even the precision of railway puntuality
 
 236 
 
 was foregone or relaxed ; of his harriers kept to fill 
 up any possible vacua in fox hunting fixtures ; of 
 occasional magnificent processions to meets when 
 friends rode " postilion " in full hunting panoply, and 
 outriders were similarly got up, time would fail me to 
 do justice ; but Hartopp had great gifts in addition to 
 these high-spirited and somewhat foolish and fanciful 
 frivolities ; a musician au bout des angles, for he could play 
 most instruments, he had a magnificent instrument in his 
 own voice, and much pathos, sentiment, and good taste in 
 its management, though it rather lacked cultivation, and 
 was best heard perhaps in German licder. He was 
 something of a mechanician too, and would perhaps 
 have shone as a chemist had he given himself fair play. 
 A few seasons of such strong pace sung the dirge of a 
 rather nice patrimony, as might be expected ; but even 
 now his name in Meath is one to conjure by ; of his 
 kindness of nature I will only give one illustration. 
 To a man like " the Chicken " pen-and-ink work would 
 n3t be very congenial, but when he was going on a 
 hunting tour in Southern Ireland with Lord Spencer 
 he asked me if I should like to hear of any good runs 
 they saw and rode. I said I was much obliged, of 
 course, but never thought more of it, when after many 
 weeks there came a huge parcel of hardly decipherable 
 " copy " to my address, unfortunately written on both 
 sides of the page ; I expended some time in trying to 
 read it, then threw the MS. into the fire, as the horrid 
 thought crossed my mind that I was being hoaxed. 
 Lord Waterford told me afterwards that he spent hours 
 in writing: it. On Lord Xorthbrook's staff in India the
 
 237 
 
 Chicken's flights were more eccentric than ever, and 
 when lie returned to Ireland after leaving the 10th 
 Hussars, he took the Kilkenny hounds, and mastered 
 them well, but his constitution was impaired by the 
 Indian climate, and he died somewhat suddenly a 
 splendid wreck. Hartopp introduced polo into Meath. 
 It must have been a heavy blow to Sam Eeynell to 
 resign the presidency of a pack which he had himself 
 created, and with which much of his life's work was 
 identified, but the expenses of the county were waxing, 
 while his private means were waning, and hunting 
 expenses increase greatly with weight and age. As in 
 the case of Veianius, the Eoman gladiator and popular 
 performer in the arena, he might have said 
 
 " Non eadem est set&s, non mens ;" 
 
 but, for all that, I believe his love of fox-hunting was 
 unimpaired to the close. After his resignation, the 
 horn of office was handed to Mr. W. Newcomen Waller, 
 a keen sportsman, a light weight, and a fine rider, bred 
 to hunting, too; for his father had kept and hunted 
 the Allenstown harriers for years. Mr. Waller showed 
 fine sport with that magnificent horseman, McBride, 
 one of the hardest bitten men that ever rode over 
 Meath (too hard, in fact, and the master used to be 
 sorely perplexed occasionally between his love of sport 
 and his anxiety to satisfy his field even the gluttons. 
 and his anxiety about his horses that McBride used 
 to handle in a fearful and wonderful manner, approach- 
 ing almost to recklessness). Mr. Waller, after a few sea- 
 sons, resigned. An extremely fair, sensible man, and 
 as fond of sport as anyone could be, he would not
 
 238 
 
 sacrifice everything to it, as his predecessor and, perhaps, 
 his successor did, more or less ; nor was his physique 
 quite equal to the heavy strain. 
 
 An officer of the oth Dragoon Guards (" the fox-hunt- 
 ing oth ") had lately settled iu Meath, which, after seeing 
 the cream of the shires of England, he consideied in- 
 comparably superior to them all as a hunting arena 
 and a sphere of sport. His riding to hounds in his 
 adopted country was simply perfect, and he had made 
 many friends. To him the county turned in its need, 
 and offered him the mastership. The prospect might 
 easily have dazzled and puzzled a wiser and older head 
 that that of Mr. John Oswald Trotter. Frank Goodall 
 was now the huntsman in Meath ; and if the pack of 
 hounds was not quite first class, the country made up for 
 deficiencies, and with Goodall for chief it might be vastly 
 improved. The subscription list was a very good one ; 
 the field comprised capital elements, both civil and mili- 
 tary; and given a free hand, he accepted the duties and 
 responsibilities of a very arduous, if honourable, office. 
 For eight years, Mr. Trotter, working with a devotion 
 that was almost unexampled, and a singleness of purpose 
 and aim, showed sport in Meath that was probably im- 
 approached in any part of the world, nor could the 
 mise en scfoie have been surpassed anywhere, every- 
 thing being turned out in the highest style, and the 
 hunt horses, of which you would see twelve and fourteen 
 at a meet, being models of symmetry and paragons of 
 performance, of which their enormous prices realised at 
 Sewell's sales in Dublin every spring are the best 
 evidence. Mr. Trotter was very proud of Meath, and
 
 239 
 
 Meath was very proud of Mr. Trotter ! This sumptuous- 
 ness in sport is, however, a most expensive thing. No 
 one had ever taken the trouble to enquire whether Mr. 
 Trotter was a millionaire, though all knew that in 
 hunting matters he acted rather like one. At last, in 
 the middle of some unpleasantnesses, which need Dot 
 now be enlarged on, it became notorious that the finan- 
 cial fabric of Meath's hunting magnificence was crumb- 
 bling fast; and that Mr. Trotter had involved the 
 county as well as himself ; so, after his tenth season, 
 he resigned, and left the country practically a pauper, 
 having spent his patrimony in its service. Mr. 
 Trotter's error was in not winding up the concern long 
 before, when he found out that, as the coachmen used 
 to say, " tongue and buckle would not meet." He 
 struggled hard against difficulties, but the difficulties 
 overcame him in the end, and all but dragged him 
 down to the depths. The worst of the whole thing 
 was, that these difficulties coincided or synchronised 
 with general depression in the grazing interests of this 
 great county ; but Resuryam was ever Mr. Trotter's 
 riding motto, and though the fall was a heavy one, no 
 one doubts that he will be again riding straight and 
 hard literally as well as metaphorically. Misfortunes 
 come not in single spies, but in battalions, according to 
 the poet, and dumb madness soon after these calamities 
 not only decimated but nearly emptied the Meath 
 kennels, and it redounds immensely to the credit of the 
 county that, with Lord Fingall for the new M.F.H., his 
 brother-in-law, Mr. George Murphy, for honorary secre- 
 tary, and a most efficient committee of management,
 
 240 
 
 the financial and other difficulties have been grappled 
 with manfully and overcome, till the hunting horo- 
 scope of the Royal Shire has not read better for many 
 years than in 1891. For, though the hounds may 
 be described, as Poole once classified the company 
 at a princely residence, namely, as " mixed," yet they 
 work together well, are very obedient, draw well, and 
 seem anxious to find their fox (a sine qua non in a hound), 
 and to hunt him to the death once they have moved 
 him. Meath may be said to have been nearly at its 
 apogee when the Kaiserin Elizabeth came from the 
 banks of the Blue Danube to those of the brimming 
 " Boyne Water " to see the sport of which she had 
 heard so much from Lord Spencer and others. I 
 recollect well her first experience in Royal (for the 
 time Imperial) Meath, but it was not with the county 
 pack of foxhounds, but with the Ward Union stag- 
 hounds. All the world was at the meeting place, 
 Batterstown Station, to see the great Queen, who had 
 come, like her Majesty of Sheba, to see the mighty 
 works of those Solomons of sport, Mr. Leonard 
 Morrogh, Mr. Trotter, and Mr. Forbes, representing 
 respectively those corporations of the chase, the Ward 
 Union, the Meath, and the Kildare packs. The Empress 
 rode between Mr. Leonard Morrogh, whose handsome 
 horse " Domino " she had bought and was trying, and 
 Lord Spencer. The enlargement took place somewhere 
 beyond the well-known wooded knoll called " the 
 Derricks " or " the Derks." I forget what stag was 
 enlarged, but he proved a good one, for inclining first 
 towards Lagore, tie led sundry sportsmen to some
 
 241 
 
 newly-reclaimed swamp land that looked lovely to the 
 eye, but was hardly terra firma, and jumping an up- 
 bank out of it, I, for one, came to grief. Mr. Leonard 
 Morrogh kept the Empress on higher and sounder land, 
 and when the stag turned to the left, and left Culmul- 
 len far to the right, working his way with little deflec- 
 tion towards Maynooth, and the Co. Kildare, he really 
 crossed some eleven or twelve miles of the cream of 
 Lower Meath, ere he was taken in the quadrangle of 
 Maynooth College, to which he ran as to a sure sanctuary. 
 The learned dons and professors were electrified, and a 
 scene was enacted such as might have suggested Tenny- 
 son's " Princess." The trio that started together stayed 
 together, and Her Majesty's initial ride was certainly a 
 glorious one. No plough was crossed, nor, perhaps, 
 even seen. Indeed, one may be out half a season in 
 Meath without crossing one. This ride stamped 
 " Domino " as a high class lady's hunter. He was very 
 good-looking, and the Empress told me some time after- 
 wards that she had given him to the Emperor to ride as 
 a charger. The Kaiserin took Summerhill from Lord 
 Langford, and improved the stables considerably. She 
 had a large retinue with her, who all hunted more or 
 less. The Countess Festetics was her dame d'honneur, 
 and in all probability she would have paid annual 
 recurring visits to the Green Isle had not stupid 
 attempts been made by a certain section of the Press to 
 turn a purely sporting sejour in Eastern Ireland into 
 political capital attempts that must have disgusted Her 
 Majesty, as well as the semi-political banners posted up 
 at divers fox coverts. She thoroughly enjoyed Irish 
 
 X
 
 242 
 
 hunting, and made many friends in all classes by Tier 
 affability, geniality, and wish to please. Captain 
 Middleton ("Bay") was her pilot, but, fine horseman that 
 he is and ever was, his hunters were hardly equal to the 
 undertaking. 
 
 Having left Kildare, I had to look out for a pied d, 
 ierre which would enable me to see something of several 
 packs each week, and, after some research, found Bally- 
 macoll, near Duubyone, vacant. It had belonged to 
 Captain Hamilton of the 13th Hussars, but on his 
 death (sine prole) it passed to his brother, the Rev. J. 
 Hamilton, who only occupied it in summer, as he held 
 some preferment in England. It commanded at inter- 
 vals the Meath, the Kildare, and the Ward Union 
 hounds : was almost a ckeval of two lines of railway ; 
 the stabling was very good ; the house most comfortable 
 (the Bishop of Meath occupied it for a term after me, 
 and so did Major Dent, subsequently Master of the 
 Bedale hounds), but I could only secure it for the 
 season. After this I took a house in Dublin for the 
 purpose of promoting the Insurance of Horses in Ire- 
 laud having been appointed the manager for Ireland 
 of a London Company started for the purpose and the 
 appointment was thus made. The Chairman of the 
 Company, Sir Eose Price, was dining with me at my 
 club in town when some papers fell out of his pocket ; 
 lifting them up from the floor, he saw they related to 
 his Company, of which he told me the purport, adding, 
 " If you would undertake the management in Ireland 
 we should be pleased." I think the idea would have 
 taken well there indeed, we got a very fair share of
 
 243 
 
 business there, but one of the chief props and pillars of 
 the Company withdrew from it. This caused some 
 shrinkage of capital, and after a couple or three years 1 
 gave it up. From a typhoidal house in Dublin I moved 
 to Enfield, where I occupied a very comfortable house 
 that had once done duty as the local hotel of the Royal 
 Canal Company, whose " fly boats " conveyed hundreds 
 backwards and forwards, eastwards and westwards, 
 before the introduction of the railway system. Enfield 
 was a junction, and Kildare, Meath, Westmeath, ai.d 
 Dublin counties were fairly easily reached from it. I 
 liked Enfield much, and I recollect showing the en- 
 virons to two English masters of hounds, who declared 
 they had never seen aught like it (in a sporting sense) 
 before, for, to parody Ovid, it was a case of 
 
 " Et quo spectabant nil nisi gramen erat." 
 
 Close to Enfield from the hill next Cappagh Gorse, 
 or from Osberstown Hill, one of the finest hunting 
 panoramas I know of is to be seen, comprising the 
 Liffey Valley, and part of that of the Blackwater, 
 together with a small section of Meath. After a 
 sojourn of some twenty months at Enfield, J had once 
 more " to move on," but I did not go very far on this 
 occasion, finding Major Kearney's house at Culnmllen a 
 very fit centre for my work, and only a mile or two 
 from the station at Drumree. Culmullen, indeed, had 
 had many sporting tenants, Captain and the Hon. 
 Mrs. Candy, with Lord Rossmore, occupied it for a 
 season. Then it was the hunting home of that princely 
 sportsman, " Rufus " Montgomery, who owed the sobri- 
 
 X 2
 
 244 
 
 quet either to his auricomous flowing beard, or trt 
 " Itiitus," his famous chaser, whom all Ireland expected 
 to see returned as the winner of the " Grand National," 
 and while " ftufus " was in occupation he had a bevy 
 of kindred spirits with him, such as Captain McCal- 
 mont, now M.P. for East Antrim, " the Admiral," Mr. 
 Alexander, &c., &c. In later times it was occupied by 
 Count Zborowski, who, when mounted on horses picked 
 for him by his friend Mr. T. Turbitt, and hunted by 
 that consummate horseman " Denny McGer," crossed 
 Meath in a style no stranger has ever done before or' 
 since, eliciting the highest praise from the M.F.H. 
 " Jock Trotter ;" and it is something, as the Latin 
 grammar, or some such authority tells us, " laudari a 
 laudato." In an evil hour Count Zborowski took it into 
 his head that this class of well-bred hunter could be 
 improved on by admitting only thoroughbreds into his 
 boxes. With the latter he won chases, 'tis true, but 
 never repeated the brilliant performances of his first 
 season in Meath, though his nerve was, I believe, as 
 good as ever. Culmullen suited me admirably, but I 
 could only get it for the season, and, that over, I had 
 once more to house myself somewhere, and, after an 
 interval of some months, hit upon a rather pretty villa 
 near the Phoenix Park, of which 1 bought the interest, 
 as these constant changes were ruinous, as well as un- 
 comfortable. 
 
 In England, two moves are said to be equivalent to 
 a fire in your house. In Ireland I think the proportion 
 is far smaller ; and here at last seemed a prospect o 
 some permanence arid fixity of tenure. The Tolka Valley
 
 245 
 
 was below the grounds, with its trout haunted stream 
 winding through its green pastures, and here the hark of 
 the otter might be heard at night, for where fish are, 
 there will otters congregate, and I recollect some very 
 mixed otter hounds of the Liverpool Eegiment killing 
 three cubs in it one clay, while a favourite fixture 
 (though one hardly prolific of much sport) of the Heath 
 hounds, Abbottstown, the residence of the Kight 
 Honourable Ion Trant and Lady Victoria Hamilton, 
 was close by. Man^ of us who hive looked into our 
 Horace since school or college days will recollect the 
 beautiful Sapphics in which the poet lauds his rural 
 retreat 
 
 " llle terrarum mihi prseter omnes 
 Angulus ridet ; " 
 
 and goes on to hope that it may prove a resting place 
 for his maturer years 
 
 " Sit modus lasso maris et viarum, 
 Militiseque." 
 
 I do not suppose the lyrist was aiming a prophetic 
 shaft at our great constitutional force, the Militia, was 
 not he a Militiaman himself ? but I can quite sympa- 
 thise with his aspiration "to rest and be thankful." 
 Such good fortune, however, was not to be mine, and after 
 four years tenure or thereabouts of the villa, I had once 
 more " to move on." I have so far taken the public 
 into my confidence more or less, I may as well enlarge 
 the confidence a bit. e: I'll not tell yer anner a lie " 
 is a common commencement of an artful tale in Ireland, 
 and should be a note of warning to the listener like
 
 246 
 
 plausible Paddy I have my tale to tell, and I do not 
 propose varnishing it too highly. 
 
 I had conie to Ireland for a special purpose and a 
 bachelor ; perhaps apparently like the hero of the 
 song, " a bachelor doomed to die," for though, like most 
 of my countrymen, I have ever been a philogynist, the 
 days for philogynism and philandering, playing with 
 Amaryllis in the shade, and toying with the tangles of 
 Xeaara's hair had passed by with the lapsed lustra. 
 However, we learn in youth, even from that past master 
 and pilot in these dangerous seas Quintus Flaccus, that 
 no man can tell from what point danger may be ex- 
 pected 
 
 " Quod quisque vitet nusquam homini satis, 
 Cautum cst in horas." 
 
 The ball-room may prove innocuous, the dangerous 
 drawing-room or beauty's boudoir may be avoided, yet 
 kismet may overtake you when least anticipated, even 
 in the hunting field. Talk of marriages being made in 
 heaven ! probably far more are cemented in country 
 houses and in "the field," for where can beauty of face 
 and figure find better environments than in the hunt- 
 ing field, and if the dame de vox pensees can ride like 
 an Amazon, without a suspicion of horsiness, it 
 becomes a serious thing, and though she may not be 
 " fooling thee," " beware, beware ! " In looking back 
 those lines of Moore's telling the story of the young 
 Celt who made a hasty love match when by Teal's 
 waves benighted, and had his troubles and trials after- 
 wards, keep cropping up in one's memory
 
 24T 
 
 " Lore came and brought sorrow 
 
 Too soon in its train ; 
 But so sweet that to-morrow 
 T'were welcome again." 
 
 It must be confessed it was a great imprudence to 
 marry on next to nothing on either side ! the pen ia 
 apt to prove a precarious prop, particularly when only 
 taken up in comparative old age and as for politician 
 promises, 1 have learnt that in some cases they are 
 about as reliable as dicers' oaths, for the politician is 
 the slave of his party, and is very often not a free agent, 
 and when some of the appointments in Ireland made 
 in the Gladstone-Spencer era are considered, I think 
 this proposition will be admitted. The conduct of a 
 certain bank in Ireland the Provincial in which the 
 clerks are not permitted to marry under a certain 
 assured income, has been severely canvassed, and re- 
 probated by several, chiefly of the serener sex but it 
 is only common sense after all and if I mistake not 
 a similar rule obtains among officers in Northern and 
 Southern Germany as the nursery waxes, the stable 
 wanes and I may add that in a country of castes, 
 which Ireland has been for centuries, in reality, if not 
 avowedly, the difficulties of genteel poverty are far 
 greater than in England, where the middle class is 
 practical!}' predominant, and a worshipper of comfort. 
 However, of all men, I have no right to complain, and 
 if I have lost some few things, I have gained many ; 
 and as for horses, they cease to be a primary object when 
 between old age, the advance of abdomen and avoir- 
 dupois, and the results of several accidents,, OUQ ia 
 unable to do them justice.
 
 248 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 " I did hear the galloping of horse." 
 
 Shakspeare. 
 
 THE poet Cowper wrote a very interesting little mono- 
 gram about a trio of hares that he kept and made 
 friends with, a bit of natural history that perhaps finds 
 more favour with many readers than " The Sofa " or 
 " The Task :" may I be permitted to call up from the 
 past a few horses that fell into my possession at diffe- 
 rent times, and did me fair service. I will begin with 
 a fine, big, upstanding brown horse by " Shawn Buie," 
 alias " Yellow Jack," not the famous horse of the English 
 turf, whose fate it was always to win the barren honours 
 of second place in good company "Like the hind 
 wheel cursed, still to be second, never to be first." I 
 had come home from the West, Indies on a few months' 
 leave, and was staying at a friend's house in the 
 Co. Wicklow. I had gone out after luncheon to try and 
 kill a few snipe, or possibly partridges, for the larder, 
 but so far as I can recollect the excursion, it was a 
 fruitless or snipeless one, and in the gloamin' I was 
 ploddmg my weary way homeward, when a frieze 
 coated man passed me by in a lane riding this horse, 
 then a tour year old, who had a great look of substance
 
 249 
 
 and quality about him, and I should mention here that 
 through his dam he had derived many good qualities, 
 for her sire was " Elvas," a horse that did Wicklow and 
 Wexford great stud service. Now in Ireland almost 
 every man who owns horses, gentle or simple, is an 
 actual or a potential dealer, though he would not like 
 perhaps to be called one, far more surely than Pope's 
 boasted discovery "that every woman is at heart a 
 rake," which no man of sense believes. I asked Mr. 
 Cloth of Frieze what age his horse was, and would he 
 like to sell him. His age was four, and he would 
 dearly like to get 40 for him. Would he let me 
 throw my leg over him. Most certainly. So I cantered 
 him round, a field, found he was a good goer, and 
 coming in offered him 35 for him, which was accepted 
 at once. Bear in mind, gentle reader, that I was fresh 
 from Jamaica, where unsoundness is unknown, and 
 where veterinary examination is unheard of, and you 
 will make allowance for my ineptness on this occasion. 
 My friends, however, who were all keen and knowledg- 
 able about horses, made no such allowance, and I was 
 the Butt (big B, please) of the evening. Next day they 
 changed their minds when the colt came for delivery 
 and payment, for he stood daylight inspection well. I 
 sent him up to Dublin, and rode him a little with the 
 Ward Union hounds, and found him a wonderful 
 weight carrier, but much keener to go than I was. In 
 Dublin the copers in conclave sat on him and liked 
 him, but said they fancied one hock was "rough" (a 
 mistake), and so on, but a master of hounds who was 
 present said, " Give me the refusal of him at i4U, if
 
 250 
 
 you have to go away, as you think you will." I said 
 " done." But a day or two afterwards a very well-known 
 English hunting man saw him at exercise, grew fond 
 and bid me 150 for him, which ere an hour had 
 expired he increased to 300. I sent to the M.F.H. to 
 know if he wanted the horse, for a bargain is a bargain ; 
 he did, and I lost 260 by the transaction. Some eight 
 or ten years afterwards I saw this horse, who had been 
 felicitously named " Beaumaris," sold at the hammer 
 for 80 guineas ; he had been the huntsman's mount in 
 the interval. 
 
 As I think I said before, I brought over the horses I 
 had in Gloucestershire to Ireland, not having been able 
 to sell them there. Among them was a small but very 
 thick thoroughbred, who had been thought a good deal 
 of when in the Duke of Newcastle's stables, "Clarion," by 
 "Trumpeter" "May Bell." When, after showing a bit 
 of form on the flat, lie was relegated to welter events, he 
 developed a fatal facility for unshipping his jocks at 
 the post, a vice that degraded him to be a racing hack 
 to a training stable, a slave at everybody's beck and 
 call. I bought him for a song, blistered his legs, and 
 summered him well, and rode him as a covert hack, 
 jumping him occasionally over some small hedges, to 
 which he showed no aversion, but I learnt by several 
 falls that he would not stand jobbing with spurs, and I 
 think his back was so strong that ho could throw 
 almost anybody, having done so to " George Eade," who 
 was as strong on a horse as most people. Moral never 
 ride him with spurs ; to this I adhered. I had ordered 
 a T cart from Fuller, in Bristol, and till its arrival the
 
 251 
 
 little bay had to do all my hacking, carrying a small 
 valise with my evening things, and cantering merrily 
 backwards and forwards. Meanwhile I had tried to 
 teach him the art of negotiating Irish banks and 
 ditches, and as there was nearly 16 stone on his back, 
 it may be imagined he did not jump very flippantly. 
 Soon after this I fancied one day he was galloping very 
 fast on some grass going to a meet of hounds, far too 
 fast indeed for my taste, so I determined to try him 
 whenever I got a chance. Allan McDonough was then 
 living at Athgarvan Lodge, now the property of Mr. 
 Pallin, so well known in racing and hunting circles. 
 He told me he had the best trial horse in Ireland, and 
 would gladly give me a spin. I had a capital groom 
 then, and though the little bay, whose name by the 
 way had been changed to " Call " before I bought him, 
 was only in hack condition, he was pretty fit. After a 
 certain distance, I should think about six furlongs, 
 McDonough's horse was dead beat, " Call " as fresh as 
 could be, so McDonough turned to me and said, " You 
 have the fastest horse in Ireland," and made me the 
 handsomest proposals as to terms of training, but I 
 declined them, not wishing to race again. A few days 
 after this the horse ran in the Scurry Corinthians at the 
 Curragh, a mile and a half, I think, or a mile and a quarter. 
 An amateur who kindly rode for me had unfortunately 
 heard of the horse's propensities at the post, so from 
 some cause or another he did not hurry himself at 
 starting, and the horse was more than a hundred yards 
 behind his field, but at the turn for home he looked all 
 over a winner, though he was not placed in the end. To
 
 252 
 
 me this was nothing more than a second trial, and I 
 fancied the result greatly, though McDonough did not, 
 as he had put 50 on him, and he and " Tommy Beasley," 
 who was then riding his horses, fancied he was a non- 
 stayer. I took him down to Galway some few weeks 
 afterwards to try his luck there, but in the meantime he 
 had slipped and cut his leg rather badly, and I had put 
 him 011 low diet. Galway races, which had but recently 
 been established by their sporting M.P., Lord St. 
 Lawrence, now Lord Howth, were then very popular, 
 and a very large number of horses came to the " Citie 
 of the Tribes " to compete for the prizes. The galloping 
 ground was as hard as adamant, so after one try I 
 eschewed it, contenting myself by making " the Call- 
 boy " walk round the square for hours at a time, while 
 I sat in the County Club. I was the object of common 
 derision for my method of preparation, but I fancy I 
 was not far wrong. The Honourable Reginald Greville 
 Xugent, who had, I believe, never ridden before in 
 Ireland, most kindly came over from town for the 
 mount. I told him he must not use spurs, adding the 
 reason why. He acquiesced, and in the first race the 
 lazy little brute was left behind at the pest, but made 
 up much ground and came in a fair second. Next day 
 Mr. St. James said he must have spurs, be the conse- 
 quences what they might the best consequence was 
 an easy win and " every one " wanted to buy " Call." 
 Mr. St. James, however, had the first call or claim ; so as 
 he had some horses in training with Tommy Ryan, the 
 crack Irish jock of the day, it was agreed that the little 
 bay should join them, and we both had the Cambridge-
 
 253 
 
 shire in view with the forgotten " Call " in at 6 stone or 
 6 stone 7 Ibs. Greville Nugent then went off yachting, 
 leaving me as a sort of supervisor in his absence. A 
 horse that had showed a turn of speed is a desideratum, 
 in a training stable that has nothing like a trial horse, 
 as indeed few in Ireland have ; so when I went next to 
 see him in Dublin I found him broken down, havin^ 
 
 * O 
 
 been galloped in the Phoenix Park with high weights 
 on turf baked to brick consistency. So vanished all 
 hopes of a good stake in that direction. 
 
 They asked me what was to be done. I said, reduce 
 the inflammation and have him fired. This was done, 
 but, on going to see him a few days after the operation, 
 I found that the Gothairites had put no cradle on, and 
 that he had gnawed his legs to pieces. A precisely 
 similar thing befell rne once before in a far better stable, 
 namely Market Harborough Brown's, in Dublin, when 
 a horse that I thought as smart as many in Ireland 
 " was destroyed on me " in a similar fashion. " Call " 
 after the mutilation won nearly a dozen races for 
 Mr. St. James, including the big stake at Baldoyle 
 (Chase), so I had a right to think well of him, and the 
 other horse I referred to, " Hornpipe," won the Kildare 
 Hunt Cup for the late Lord Mayo by any amount of 
 distance. 
 
 Another smart little hovse I bought on the advice of 
 the late Lord Howth " Ashgill." He had a fair record 
 in England, and took to jumping as well as any Irish 
 bred horse I ever saw. The first race he was started for 
 at Galway a chase he won in a common canter. 
 He broke down at Cork, where I think he would have
 
 254 
 
 come in alone, for though the jock was at him for half 
 a mile trying to pull him up, he finished fourth, and 
 could probably have been second on three legs 
 
 " Coelum non animum mutant qui trans mare currant." 
 
 " Charlie " was another horse I brought over from 
 Gloucestershire. He was Irish bred, and though a very 
 good performer in England, made a very moderate 
 " offer " at the Kildare banks and ditches, so one clay, 
 knowing what imitative creatures horses are, I asked a 
 welter friend, Mr. Hoffman, one of the best sportsmen 
 that ever came to Kildare, who was riding a very perfect 
 fencer, to let me try to follow him over " an intricate 
 country," promising that I would neither ride into his 
 pocket nor jump into the small of his back. From that 
 day's experience "Charlie" knew " all about it," could go 
 anywhere and do anything. I don't think he ever gave 
 me a fall, save one, but that was a very bad one, and in 
 this wise. The scene was in Meath ; the Empress of 
 Austria was out ; hounds had run from Culmullen 
 towards Suminerhill. Then the stag turned suddenly, 
 and was pointing for Dunboyne, running over pastures 
 sodden with rain. Hounds had beaten one and all. 
 Most pulled up ; but I kept plodding on with a very 
 faint idea what the hounds quite out of sight or hear- 
 ing were doing, because I fancied that " Charlie" would 
 give me indications if he were really cooked and done 
 to a turn, but that no fence he was willing to try would 
 put him down. However, I suppose he jumped short, 
 and I found myself on a bank with my head twisted on 
 one side, and unstraightenable by aught I could do.
 
 255 
 
 Great are the resources, however, of modern science, 
 and I firmly believe that if I could have gone straight 
 to a Turkish bath and got the services of a clever 
 masseur all would have been well ; but I had to ride 
 back for my trap, then drive thirteen or fourteen miles, 
 and then rail up to Dublin and down to Sallins to join 
 my wife at the Kildare Hunt Ball. For some five or 
 six years my neck remained rather rigid ; my left side 
 was a little affected too, and, from lack of power, I was 
 constantly tumbling, " and always on the buttered side," 
 i.e., on my head, for the faculty of " equilibrising " was 
 wanting, and of course I could only ride a very perfect 
 and gentle horse during this period, and ,uch a horse I 
 got one day by accident at Sewell's, in Dublin. The 
 weather was very rough, a^d the yard was almost 
 empty, when an extremely tall man, who had been 
 running a few horses in Ireland with varying success, 
 told me he was going to England that night to try for 
 a Government appointment, that he had only one horse 
 left, a four-year-old he had ridden to hounds himself, 
 could I help him to a buyer ? I asked him a few ques- 
 tions, and, believing the seller to be a man of honour, 
 dismissed the axiom caveat emptor, and took him at his 
 word. After the buy, he said, " Now, take his saddle 
 too, as it fits him." It was made by Day, of Coil, 
 looked nothing very particular, but, having had a large 
 experience in saddles, I may say truly I never rode in a 
 better. The horse took kindly to Meath, and was all 
 his late owner said in his favour, and a bit more. His 
 end was triste ; I lent him to a friend one day; after a 
 scurry of a mile or two, he said, " This is the bust
 
 256 
 
 horse I ever rode." Iii the evening, very late, he broke 
 his fore leg iu the effort to extricate it out of a muddy 
 pond, at the end of which was a small bank. Poor 
 beast ! he nickered and nickered as I was aiming at him 
 to give him his quietus. 
 
 " Bushranger," by the " Lawyer," was faster than most 
 half-breds ; at least, in a fair and square run home on 
 a course he defeated a horse that was fancied for the 
 Liverpool, while " Pioneer," another blood- weight carrier 
 that I got from Lord Rossmore's stable, proved himself 
 a flyer too. He jumped to perfection when galloping, 
 indifferently when going slow. A very curious expe- 
 rience was one I had with a highly bred welter mare 
 that I got for 20 from a disgusted country doctor, 
 who was, however, a good sportsman. The price 
 tempted me, though I knew her character was very 
 moderate, or rather bad as bad could be ; but youth, 
 good looks, and soundness are cheap at a score, even if 
 temper be indifferent. I got a trial ride ; the doctor 
 sent out another horse with rue, but I preferred soli- 
 tude, and the mare behaved very fairly after one battle. 
 Next day she was en route for Galway, when she 
 acquitted herself well, only jumping the walls a bit too 
 big. A friend gave me grass for her in the summer, 
 and when I took her out to see something of the Kil- 
 dare hounds, she gave me some trouble in reaching 
 them, but conducted herself well in the field, only 
 showing vile temper returning home, though I had 
 given her what I hoped were subduing gallops over 
 the broad expanses of the Curragh. 
 
 A day or two after this, my groom announced to ine
 
 257 
 
 that " Corona," by " the Coroner," was in foal. All the 
 wise and learned in those matters confirmed the verdict, 
 so she was thrown out of work and fed low ; only every 
 now and then when a meet was near I rode her to it, 
 when I was pelted with considerable chaff and offers to 
 buy the foal, &c. However, the matron remained on 
 my hands, and having a great deal of spare stabling, I 
 used to allow my friends to send their racehorses 
 for Punchestown, near which I lived. The mare, who 
 had been located in a large loose box, had to turn out 
 for some new arrival, probably a stallion, and every 
 one could then see very plainly that we had made a ridi- 
 culous blunder about " Corona's " interesting condition. 
 There were four or five days to the races, so I deter- 
 mined she should figure there in the Downshire or 
 Welter Plate, no matter how much overweight I had to 
 carry. The day came ; she never cared about going up 
 to her horses, but jumped the course to perfection, and 
 came in about a quarter of a mile behind her field. I 
 did what I wanted, namely, transferred the plague to a 
 very smart English dealer, who, I fancy, did very well 
 with her. 
 
 Here is another horse yarn. Loafing one day at 
 Sewell's the Irish " Tatt.'s" I saw a very likely well- 
 bred mare up to nearly fourteen stone going up to the 
 rostrum. Everything about her seemed taking, and so 
 far as externals went, she might have been a veiy 
 lamb. Then the auctioneer read out a certificate of 
 soundness, while another letter from Mr. Leonard 
 Morrogh, as good a judge as ever was of performance, 
 certified to her perfection of fencing. I fell into the 
 
 Y
 
 258 
 
 trap, and bought the treasure. A few days afterwards 
 I went in to see how she fared, when I found that the 
 boldest and bravest of the grooms had to treat her like 
 a Bengal tigress, with fixed pitchforks. Well ! I had 
 to forget her for a bit as I was crossing over from 
 Kingstown to Holyhead, but on my return I found she 
 had not improved, while my friend, Mr. Morrogh, told 
 me seriously I could never ride her, adding, I think, 
 nor anyone else. I sought out a valiant youth, a hippo- 
 damos, but no ! at Sewelt's the order had gone forth that 
 for fear of accident this daughter of " Gunboat " and 
 granddaughter of " Sir Hercules " was not to be saddled 
 or mounted in the yard ; at last, from pressure on the 
 boxes, she was put into a stall, and, hardening my 
 heart, I went up to her and found that, though demon- 
 strative, her bark was worse than her bite, so with the 
 valiant youth referred to I got her home very peace- 
 ably. Next day she was clipped out, and on the 
 third I took her to a huge meet of the Meath hounds 
 at Dunboyne, when she showed her ecstasy at seeing 
 the pack, by bounding straight in the air twice or 
 thrice, but doing nothing worse. Getting away from 
 the gorse (Harry Bourke's) with so dense a crowd was 
 no joke, so I galloped away over roads towards the 
 " Poor House Gorse," a point I fancied the fox would 
 ultimately make ; but in a quarter of an hour, when 
 hounds never came within sight or hearing, I turned 
 back with the valiant youth following, and learned the 
 melancholy event that had saddened the interval. The 
 best light-weight in Meath, " Whitty Butler," had been 
 cannoned when jumping off the load and received his
 
 death blow, and that there were other minor and major 
 casualties. The hounds were sent home, of course ; but 
 the mare that had so bad a name proved she hardly 
 merited it, and I may state that in five years she only 
 gave me one fall, and then her feet were, I believe, held 
 by wire, invisible from a rank growth of grass and 
 weeds. 
 
 This mare had the honour of " setting " the whole 
 Meath field, master, servants, and some of the best men 
 in the kingdom. But I had nothing to do with the 
 exploit whatever. Mr. Horace Plunkett had given a 
 dance at Dunsany Castle, where the hounds met in the 
 morning. A large field was out, and one full of ride 
 too. Scent, however, was very low, and it was a case of 
 finding foxes only to lose them. So keen for a start 
 were some few of the dancers of the previous evening 
 that they would follow Goodall in his casts a most 
 pernicious practice we were following rather than 
 hunting, a fox towards Killeen Castle Lord Fingall's 
 place when the way was stopped by a barrier com- 
 posed of young fir trees nailed with spike nails to 
 stiff posts, and in front a ditch with some peaty looking 
 stuff thrown up out of it, as if the take off would be deep 
 and boggy. No ! it was not an inviting place, and 
 though we had several splendidly mounted men out 
 whose hearts were as good as their hunters, among 
 them such thrusters as Mr. Trotter, Lord Langfoid, 
 Captain Steeds, Cyril Coleridge, the Honourable Alexis 
 Eoche, Mr. Percy Maynard, &c., &c.; all turned from it 
 with one accord, and went round by a gate, a detour 
 of the best part of a mile. An old man who had seen 
 
 Y 2
 
 260 
 
 better days and been in charge of a splendid stud once, 
 but had been for some time out of sorts with fortune, 
 was riding the mare that day as second horseman. His 
 faults were many, but Dick Christian was not a harder 
 rider, and I think I must have riled him considerably 
 just before, for picking out an almost impracticable 
 place in a fence, which the wise mare declined, seeing 
 her stable mate taking a much smaller one which she 
 probably thought w r as good enough for her too. He 
 waited quietly till everyone, but one eye witness, who 
 told me the story, had gone round for the gate, when he 
 showed the mare the fence, then trotting her up to it 
 was over it in a trice, and as the hounds were going 
 slowly he picked them up, and I have no doubt hunted 
 them noisily enough, for he was as full of " jaw " and 
 iabber as a young magpie. Mr. Trotter was the first to 
 
 come up and he asked the old man " What the he 
 
 was doing there," when the reply came readily enough, 
 " I'm with the Meath hounds, Mr. Trotter, and you are 
 not, and what's more you hav'nt got the horses to be 
 with them," a piece of astounding impudence I did 
 not hear of for mouths. When I came up I rated the 
 gallant old man for his exploit, adding that I would 
 forgive him if he said nothing about it afterwards, but 
 of course he had jumped seven feet before the day was 
 over ; it may have become fourteen by this time, but I 
 believe it was considerably more than four, at any 
 rate. 
 
 The mare being out of condition when I got her ; 
 had her back badly stripped very soon, and as I could 
 not let her lie by altogether, I took the stable clothes,
 
 261 
 
 that rubbed her, off altogether. This brought on an 
 attack of bronchitis en frost supervening rather sharply 
 and she turned noisy after a couple of years. I put 
 her to the stud and she had a foal, but so dangerous 
 was she to passers by in the fields that she had to b.e 
 sold off at a fair for a song. Another experience of 
 mine may prove serviceable, so I make no excuse for 
 giving it to the reader. I saw a very smart cob in the 
 breeder's hands at Enfield, when I was living there. 
 I forget how he was bred, but it must have been very 
 highly, for his galloping was admirable. I bought him 
 at once, but he had not been delivered, and when he 
 was sent to the stable, my groom said : " I think, sir, 
 you had better send him back, for you don't know what 
 happened yesterday. The breaker was having his last 
 ride when something startled him " (a Meath hunts- 
 man was killed, as he was going to a meet, by his 
 horse shying from one side of the road to the other, 
 seeing a washerwoman throw out a lot of soapy water 
 on to the road out of her cottage), and " he shied badly and 
 threw the rider who, however, held on to the reins and 
 was dragged a long distance." " Oh, no," I said, " a young 
 horse will very soon forget all about it, and we'll keep 
 him." He never forgot it. and was a plague to mount 
 from his nervousness ; and at this time I had no power 
 to speak of from the twisting of my neck. However, I 
 got on him one day and cantered him some 12 miles to 
 a meet, which I thought would sober him effectually. 
 It did nothing of the sort. I was not back as early as 
 I hoped, and got on him for the return journey ; but 
 light was waning, and I foolishly attempted a short cut
 
 262 
 
 through the fields over a track I knew well, but which 
 the cob knew far better. A thick misty exhalation rose 
 from the wet pastures and hid everything, including land- 
 marks ; the cob threw me after trying in his fashion to 
 tell me the right road, and I was left to grope my way 
 in the dark. At last I saw a glimmer of light and 
 made for it. The cob was perfectly right, he had made 
 for the farm house and stopped at the gate. They 
 hoisted me on him and I cantered home over the road, 
 but no matter what work this cob got, nothing could 
 cure his nervousness, and as I was incapable of riding 
 him properly, I sold him at a sale. 
 
 I have said nothing hitherto of Westmeath, whose 
 hounds are about contemporary with those of their 
 neighbour East Meath, and therefore comparatively 
 modern as a county pack. But it is not to be supposed 
 that Westmeath was without its cry of hounds, for, as 
 I mentioned before, Mr. Tuite's pack had " free 
 warrenne " over much of the Mullingar country, while 
 Mr. Longworth was the recognised hunter of foxes 
 over an immense area that took in part of the King's 
 County, besides all lower Westmeath, and may or may 
 not have crossed the Shannon and entered Eoscommon. 
 Sir Richard Levinge, of Knockdrin, and Mr. Kochfort 
 Bojd were among the founders of the v enatic fortunes 
 of Westmeath; Col. Dease advanced i\^.m, and so did 
 two "perfervid" Northern Britons, Ivir. Macclonald 
 Moreton, and Captain Towers Clarke, while in enume- 
 rating benefactors, Captain Coote and Sir William 
 Throckmorton should not be passed over sub silentio. 
 From Westmeath, I indited my first epistles or notes
 
 263 
 
 to the " Field," and in this county it was always my lot 
 to meet with the greatest kindness and hospitality ! 
 Perhaps it never fared better than it does at present 
 under the sporting sway of Lord Greville, of Clonhugh, 
 whose combination of the fortiter in re and the svaviter 
 in modo has preserved discipline in the field, and 
 created a kindly good will to the pack, which to a 
 certain extent depends for its efficacy, if not for its 
 existence on popularity, and the kindness of all classes 
 of the community. There is no more homogeneous 
 field in Ireland or provincial England than that of 
 AVestmeath. A regiment of infantry occupies the 
 barracks at Mullingar, and if they hunt so much the 
 better for themselves, and the field money of the 
 institution ; they are always welcomed in the field and 
 in the polo lists near Mullingar, for Westineath cakes 
 high rank as a polo count}. 
 
 Hunting may be said to be the great social piv^ot in 
 this county, for, though there is good shooting, public 
 opinion makes it subordinate to fox preservation, DOI 
 would a vulpicide keeper be tolerated. Time was when 
 the pernicious practice of leasing domains and parks to 
 irresponsible rabbit trappers menaced the very existence 
 of fox life, but strong representations in " The Field " 
 tended much to put a stop to it, and at the present 
 time there are probably twenty brace of foxes well dis- 
 tributed throughout the coverts of the county for every 
 one that existed two decades ago. 
 
 Next to Kildare, I think the ladies are more 
 legionary in the hunting grounds of Westmeath than 
 in any other district, and, as a rule, they need no
 
 264 
 
 piloting. It used to be a beautiful sight to watch the 
 two sisters, the Honourable Mrs. Greville Nugent and 
 the Honourable Mrs. Malone, crossing Westmeath, their 
 adopted county, as it rarely had been crossed before, 
 and at the present time a trio of ladies in Westmeath 
 could probably compete successfully anywhere in 
 England or Ireland. I would refer particularly to 
 Mrs. Locke, Miss Hall, a very perfect horsewoman, and 
 Miss O'Hara,* who has the happy knack of going well 
 on anything. It is fortunate for this midland county 
 that its aristocracy, whether titled or untitled, are 
 sportsmen and sportswomen. Lord Kilmaine, as Frank 
 Browne, was one of the hardest men in the kingdom, 
 and he is as fond of the game, and as capable of 
 playing it as ever he was, while Gaulston Park is never 
 without a leash or two of foxes ; indeed, in cub hunting, 
 it has been drawn two days in succession, a practice 
 which did not find favour with Logan, the well-known 
 keeper there, who was heard to declare that "no 
 respectable foxes would endure such tratement," a novel 
 view of fox life. 
 
 Lord Greville, M.F.H., may be said to have been 
 educated in the purple of office, for he mastered the 
 Windsor Drag whilst in the Life Guards. Lady 
 Greville too shares in his love of hounds and horses, and 
 heredity is shown in the way the family all take to it. 
 Are they not nephews and nieces of that famous 
 " Limb," alias " Mr. St. James," alias " the Honourable 
 Eeginald Greville Nugent," who mastered this pack for 
 a couple or three brilliant seasons, and then unfortu- 
 
 * Now Mrs. Gilbert Nugent.
 
 265 
 
 nately devoted himself to chasing and hurdle racing, 
 which in the end proved fatal ; but for high courage, 
 coolness, and keenness on horseback he had few peers 
 among his contemporaries in Ireland. 
 
 Lord Longford, of Pakenham Hall, is an innate 
 sportsman, and in spite of moderate mounts and his 
 own share of substance, he always rode up to the 
 motto " Be with them I will," and his " leaves " from the 
 regiment of Life Guards in which he serves always 
 bring him to Pakenham Hall, the family residence and 
 park, where foxes are " respectably trated." 
 
 The Dames-Longworths and Longworth-Dameses all 
 hunt comme les Ion chiens of the French proverb de 
 race; so do the Purdoiis and Nugents. The Feather- 
 stonhaughs have, nearly all, the gift of fine riding, 
 whether between flags or to hounds, from Toby Feather- 
 stonhaugh, of Grouse Lodge, to the master of Bracklyn 
 Castle, who, while in " the Eoyals," and on the Staff, 
 was almost an "Invincible," while his younger brother, of 
 the Cameronian corps, kept up the family tradition of 
 not only riding well, but knowing also what to ride. 
 The Malones of Baronston may be said to represent 
 the oldest territorial aristocracy, not only in the county 
 but in the kingdom, for they have been settled in 
 Westmeath for more than 1,000 years. Colonel Malone 
 (late of the 12th Lancers) astonished everyone by hi.s 
 brilliancy with hounds when he walked ONLY 17 stone, 
 now he is far more, but if the horse can be found for him 
 he will supply hands, nerve, and heart. The list could 
 be extended ad libitum, but I feel I must take a puli. 
 
 Louth is a county that depends greatly on Mr. De
 
 266 
 
 Sails Filgate, its M.F.H. of many seasons ; for through 
 him it may be figuratively said to live and move and have 
 its being. If not quite the fans et wigo of its sport he is, 
 and has been for years, its main support, and so vital is 
 the hunting and hound instinct in Mr. Filgate, that so 
 long as he is blessed with health and vigour as at 
 present, it may safely be predicated that hunting will 
 Hourish in Louth, in spite of a not over-abundant sub- 
 scription list, and the casualties in kennel and stable 
 that seem inseparable from the chase, and from which 
 Mr. Filgate has suffered severely, having lost his pack 
 a few years ago from dumb madness, though he worked 
 so hard and successfully at the formation of a new one 
 that few better packs can be found in Ireland than the 
 Louth. Caesar in his famous Commentaries divided all 
 Gaul into three parts or portions ; two will suffice for 
 Louth, the northern and the southern sections. The 
 former is admirably foxed, but it is about as mixed in 
 the way of plough as parts of the Pytchley hunting 
 grounds ; the second, extending from Drogheda to near 
 Dublin, is purely grassy, save bits close to the sea coast, 
 and little better can be found in any part of the world. 
 Foxes here are not scarce, so far as my judgment and 
 observation goes, but they are not always to be found 
 when wanted, for there are no very large woodlands 
 to protect them and keep them together. However, a 
 run in this district, which is also hunted by the Fingall 
 harriers, is really a treat. Mr. Filgate, a thorough man 
 of business, combines hunting with farming and estate 
 work, and never allows one to run into the other. He 
 seldom rides much, but every now and then in a good
 
 267 
 
 thing he will slip away with his pack, and take the 
 fences "as Providence sends them," to quote Whyte 
 Melville. Every one in the county preserves for him, 
 and aids him as far as in his power lies ; and among 
 his best and most active supporters are Lord Massarene 
 of Oriel Temple, Sir Oriel Foster, Lord Rathdonnell, 
 and Mr. Boylan of Hilltown. When the late Mr. Pratt, 
 of Cabra Castle, hunted this pack, he had to winter in 
 Dublin for a season, and used to ride relays of hacks to 
 meets fifty or sixty miles distant ! This vigorous and 
 grand old sportsman rode regularly at the age of 84, 
 when a fall from his horse proved fatal. 
 
 Setting a good example to the country, Mr. Filgate 
 is himself a strict preserver of foxes, and in Lisrenny, 
 the family place, litters of cubs are brought out annually 
 close to the kennels, and, " unconscious of their doom, 
 the little victims play." The same fox phenomenon 
 may be seen at Drewstowu, in the Co. Meath, where 
 foxes are found within a rifle shot, or indeed one may 
 say within a bow shot of Mr. McVeagh's kennels, and 
 the red rovers can hear daily " the moaning of the tied," 
 or rather of the kennelled pack. Familiarity, however, 
 in this case does not breed contempt, for the Drewstown 
 " tods " take a vast deal of catching.* 
 
 Few things have puzzled me more than the total 
 want of the animus revertendi in the Irish race, 
 who claim almost a monopoly or patent of patriotism ; 
 yet who, when they have enriched themselves greatly 
 abroad, rarely think of returning to their natal soil, 
 and improving it by a lavish, or at least a liberal outlay 
 
 * The same phenomenon is seen at Grove, Tipperary.
 
 268 
 
 of the wealth they have accumulated chez V^tranqer ! 
 The Caledonian stern and wild will deny himself very 
 much, that he may be able to come back to dear old 
 Scotland and spend the evening of his life among kith 
 and kin, or at any rate among his fellow countrymen. 
 John Chinaman holds a return to the Flowery Land a 
 divine duty not to be neglected at any cost, and the 
 Teuton means what he says, when he rhapsodises about 
 the " Yaterland." Even a hound will return to his 
 kennel in spite of distance and such obstacles as tidal 
 rivers and the pigeon will cleave long leagues of ether 
 in his "homing" tendencies; but while plutocratic 
 Pat in partibus alienis will thrill over national ditties, 
 especially Tommy Moore's veiled treason, and toast 
 Green Erin as " the first flower of the earth and first gem 
 of the sea," he rarely revisits or returns to the cradle of 
 his race or family, though he may have amassed billions 
 and millions in America, Mexico, the Argentine, or the 
 Antipodean regions. Something of the "homing 1 ' impulse, 
 however, has been seen in Tipperary, where Mr. Richard 
 Burke brought home from California a rich arid charming 
 wife whose ancestors had left Ireland, and made piles 
 of dollars in Western America. Being a sportsman by 
 habit and instinct and having learnt the theory and 
 practice of the chase in a spendid school the Curragh- 
 more Mr. Burke took over derelict Tipperary, his 
 native land, and by means of lavish expenditure, great 
 personal popularity, fine tact, and judgment, and much 
 energy and resolution has raised Tipperary to a very 
 proud position in the hunting scale. 
 
 It is the fashion to style Tipperary the premier
 
 260 
 
 county of Ireland. I do not say it has not some right 
 to the title, chough there is u spice of arrogance in its 
 assertion. It has immense scope, and has mineral as well 
 as pastoral and agricultural treasures within it. The 
 silver Suir and the Golden Vale enrich it. It re- 
 joices in tracts of wild mountain and the softest and 
 most verdant of valleys. It is rich in bipeds and 
 quadrupeds of good type, while, as a hunting county, it 
 can claim good, wild foxes and fme scenting grounds 
 over which to drive them fast; and all these natural 
 advantages Mr. Burke has utilised, with the conse- 
 quence that a gallop in Tipperary, more especially in 
 the Ballingarry district, is among the good things a 
 sportsman should try to realise in Ireland. Sport 
 fluctuates, and Mr. Burke has known its vicissitudes 
 and variations, but, during the past three seasons, sport 
 has followed his standard very persistently; and the 
 gratitude and appreciation of his countrymen has found 
 expression in concrete form in a handsome piece of 
 plate, presented to him on his return from Western 
 America in 1890. Waterford and Kilkenny men come 
 to his fixtures, and, by a happy coincidence, the house 
 which Mr. Burke has taken for a hunting home- 
 Grove, near Fethard was the original home of hounds 
 when the Grove Hunt made sport for the old palatine 
 county. 
 
 I recollect going down to Wexford on the occasion of 
 the presentation of a handsome service of plate by the 
 members of the hunt to Mr. Beatty, with some prettily- 
 chosen souvenir to his wife, Mrs. Beatty. A hunt 
 breakfast at Enniscorthy was the occasion for the pre-
 
 270 
 
 sentation, and, the hour being early, tea and coffee 
 showed in force on the matutinal menu, while there 
 was champagne a discretion for those who preferred 
 the sparkling inspiration to the milder infusions of 
 every-day life. Mr. Beatty, who was an able man, 
 made a very good speech on the occasion, and, as a sign 
 of venatic progress and public spirit, told a tale of a 
 proprietor who had bought a number of rabbit-traps, in- 
 tending to thin his coneys, but hearing that in all 
 probability they would prove injurious to fox life, had 
 them all thrown into the sea to prevent any possible 
 misuse. What amused me more than anything else in 
 the proceedings was the act of a mediaeval sportsman, 
 who, faultless in his " get up," was a little eccentric in 
 his manners, for, I suppose, to show his contempt of 
 tea and its drinkers, he sang out " waither," and ordered 
 that functionary to bring him a slop-basin ; then filling 
 it with the aromatic infusion, he washed his face and 
 hands in the liquid, coram populo. Wexford horses 
 (" Pinnace," " Frigate," and many more celebrities hail 
 from this county) have long been famous for their 
 good qualities as hacks and hunters of high class. 
 
 The Wexford hounds may be said to be, in a measure, 
 a colony from the metropolis of Eggesford, for Lord 
 Portsmouth is a large landowner in the county, and has 
 always aided its hunting as well as its agricultural 
 interests. It has hitherto been very fortunate in its 
 masters ; Mr. Beatty, of Borodale, having presided over 
 them for many lustra (I believe about six), and on his 
 demise a first-class sportsman, " Tain " Walker, late of 
 " the Eoyals " (a regiment that produced a great many
 
 271 
 
 M.F.H.'s), undertook their management for several 
 years, and showed fine sport with its wild foxes, till. 
 finding their numbers diminishing fast in places where 
 he had a right to expect abundance, he resigned office in 
 favour of a young Wexford squire, Mr. Cliffe. of Belle- 
 vue, who brings youth, keenness, and local knowledge 
 to aid him in his patriotic efforts to show good sport in 
 his native county. 
 
 The Ward Union hounds ! What memories do they 
 not evoke from memory's recesses ! Sportsmen of 
 many seasons will go back to that palmy period just 
 prior to the Crimean invasion by the Allied forces, 
 when " Billy " Hutchinson was the master of the 
 garrison staghounds, and "union" was not even con- 
 templated ; when a drag to the meet was de rigeur, and 
 a sort of hare and hounds scurry relieved the tedium of 
 the homeward track. For this purpose, some well- 
 mounted lif'ht weight would be started off across 
 
 o o 
 
 country, and the man who first touched him with the 
 point of his hunting crop took " first spear " honours. 
 Once, however, a union was effected between the civil 
 and military packs (the former owed its introduction to 
 the late Lord Howth, who imported with his pack, 
 bought from Sir T. Stanley., a famous sportsman for 
 huntsman, Charlie Brindley, to wit), two men became 
 very prominent fuglemen, Mr. Charles Barrington, and 
 Mr. Leonard Morrogh (alas, that we should say " the 
 late "). Mr. Barrington was the life of the hunt, as 
 well as its laureate ; he was beautifully mounted, and 
 rode in welter races. Mr. Leonard Morrogh was 
 also quite a first-class performer, but having a wonder-
 
 272 
 
 ful eye for, and memory of, a country, he soon knew 
 the greater part of the Ward Union country as well as 
 his pocket, and used his brain as much as his hands 
 and legs in every run. As a rider, he was seen to best 
 advantage in a strange country, and perhaps on a 
 strange mount, too (if he fancied it) ; his riding was 
 recognised in England as well as in Ireland, and to his 
 foresight and acumen is due the permanent plantation 
 of the pack at Ashbourne, where the club kennels and 
 stables are now freehold property. 
 
 One little instance will show the " quality " of Mr. 
 Harrington, when, long after he had given up hunting 
 altogether, and had reached that period of middle life 
 when vicarious is preferred to personal prowess, and 
 when, -to quote Horace's Sapphics again, the heats of 
 youth are a thing of the past 
 
 " Fuge suspicari 
 Cujus octavum trepidavit setas 
 Claudere lustrum." 
 
 ten or twelve weeks before the Ward Hunt annual 
 race meeting, some one bet him very long odds that he 
 would not ride in and win the Ward Hunt Cup, a 
 much-coveted trophy. The odds were greatly in favour 
 of " the fielder." Mr. Barrington walked a stone over- 
 weight, and he had to purchase a horse and qualify 
 him ere he could start. All this he accomplished, and, 
 making the running, won with ease, 12 stone up, on 
 " Malahide." 
 
 It seems a very short time ago that there was a large 
 post-drawing-room meet of this pack at Dunboyne. 
 The peerage was largely represented at it, and amongst
 
 others there was Lord Cork, who at that time was the 
 Master of Her Majesty's Buckhounds. He was much 
 struck by the sporting scene, and the collection together 
 of so many hundred horses, all of obvious good hunting 
 type. We had a good run over the Caulstown river! 
 which took its wonted toll of the field, over the Fairy 
 House basin, and round by that campo abominato the 
 Bush Farm, where Lord Rossmore at the end of the 
 run jumped some stiff palings out of water, and had 
 no followers. A handsome monument of Aberdeen 
 granite has since then been erected to the memory of 
 Charlie Brindley, whose horn is now carried by his son 
 " Jem," who has adhered to all the old traditions. The 
 Empress of Austria delighted in this pack and its 
 country, which includes the cream of Dublin, Louth, 
 Meath, and Kildare ; for, to parody Byron's lines 
 
 " Far as our stags may range, our ' harriers ' roam, 
 Survey our empire and behold our home." 
 
 Most of the best soldiers of our Empire have 
 graduated in this grand school, and so have many first- 
 class steeplechase 'jocks. 
 
 The Eoscommon staghounds came to a most un- 
 timely end by following a stag across a lake just frozen 
 over, when all were engulfed, and perished. Some 
 three years ago, the leading sportsmen of the county 
 revived them, and Major Balfe once more consented to 
 hunt them. They have shown fine sport ever since, 
 and draw men from all the neighbouring counties to 
 their noble hunting-grounds.* The South Mayo stag- 
 
 * Mr. Talbot, late master of the Cambridge draghounds now 
 masters them. 
 
 Z
 
 274 
 
 hounds are almost the creation of Mr. Lindsay 
 Fitzpatrick, of Holly mount, whose annual show of 
 horses in the park there has been so signal a success. 
 They have done very well indeed; while the County 
 Down staghounds engross the attention of fill ardent 
 sportsmen in Belfast, Captain Ker,* M.P. for his 
 county, a famous welter, hunted them for some seasons, 
 and his successor is equally keen (Mr. Gordon), while 
 George Woodman makes a capital huntsman. The 
 Lissagoan staghounds are or were the private pack of 
 Mr. Humphreys. I recollect one afternoon in his 
 country, when he sent on a most lordly looking red deer 
 for a meet twelve or fourteen miles off. The brute 
 preferred fighting to running, and after a few fields 
 would turn and butt the hounds. This went on 
 half a dozen times ; but at last, in a very wild country, I 
 suggested that the muckle beast should be put up in a 
 barn for a bit and then enlarged de novo; the result 
 was a. very fine run that brought us into the co. 
 Leitrim, a long way from home. IIorvLa vv% had 
 come on suddenly, and it was as dark as a wolf's jowl. 
 I say TTorvia, for we all nearly went to pot in driving 
 across a black bog with abysses on either side. The 
 coachman was frightened by no longer hearing the 
 sound of his wheels on the macadam, and pulled up. 
 We were on the edge of the abyss, and so dark was it 
 that we preferred walking and leading the horses to being 
 driven. However, we got home safely by morning. 
 The Ormonde and King's County hounds have about 
 
 * Captain Ker has, I hear, resumed the mastership ; he had a 
 good season iu 1892.
 
 275 
 
 as respectable traditions as any pack in Ireland ; and, 
 if I recollect right, "Cecil," or "the Druid" noticed 
 them ; but good fellowship and the love of sport must 
 have led to the formation of the pack rather than 
 natural aptitudes of country, for the King's County 
 can only be said to have some bright intercalations of 
 country, though the Ormonde side is better by far. 
 Colonel the Honourable " Jack " Westenra was lon 
 
 O 
 
 associated with their fortunes, and so was his son-in- 
 law, the late Earl of Huntingdon, while my earliest 
 recollections connect them with Mr. J. Drought, who 
 combined " the survey " of a largp post office district 
 with the duties of M.F.H. a hard-working rather 
 than a hard-riding man. You are pointed out a solid 
 masonry wall in the park of Thomastown which Mr. 
 Drought jumped on one occasion, d propos de bottes, I 
 suppose, for it can hardly have been absolutely neces- 
 sary ; but the oration of Single-speech Hamilton in the 
 House of Commons was by common consent of 
 opinion brilliant, and Drought's deed of den-in' do was 
 magnificent in its way. After Lord Huntingdon's 
 resignation of office, there came an eclipse of the sun 
 of sport in many counties in Ireland, but Mr. Assheton 
 Biddulph has, with very slight assistance, revived the 
 venatic fame of this pack, and he now shows sport to 
 no less than four counties or parts of counties. He 
 has built kennels close to his own house, and put 
 together a very useful pack of hounds, who don't mind 
 a very long day more than the M.F.H., who certainly 
 does not spare himself. Mrs. Biddulph seconds him 
 
 splendidlv. 
 
 2 2
 
 2TG 
 
 Having said something about the hounds and grounds 
 of the Green Isle, and thereby magnified my own office 
 to a certain extent, but let me add that I do not wish in 
 the slightest degree to "crab" (to speak " Coper "n fee) 
 those of any other country, for all have their several 
 excellencies (even Jamaica, where the late Provost 
 Marshal General, Mr. Sullivan, started a, pack, and got 
 a few enthusiasts to join, to the infinite delight of the 
 contemplative niggers, who styled it a " poppee show"), 
 and are the outcome of the sporting spirit innate in 
 mortals of all degrees from Nimrod downwards. But 
 it would be a treason to one's own judgment and 
 common sense afcer trying hunting in several countries, 
 not to give the palm to Ireland (as nature has already 
 done, in creating her the Green or the Emerald Isle), 
 with an area of grass almost unbounded, and only 
 " plough " enough to supply local wants. From 
 England came the peerless pastime of hunting, as now- 
 carried on, and the system of kennels, but the classic 
 of the chase, Somerville, erred greatly when, apostro- 
 phising England, he wrote 
 
 % " In thee alone, fair land of liberty ! 
 Is bred the perfect hound." 
 
 unless, indeed, he included Ireland in his rhapsody, for 
 though England is far ahead of Ireland in its packs, 
 the latter land can breed as good hounds as the former, 
 if the same care and capital be devoted to the work. 
 For instance, Lord Doneraile's hounds were bought 
 freely in England, and few packs have sold better in 
 England than Lord Waterford's Curraglunore-bred
 
 277 
 
 hounds ; but if the areas of Ireland are so good, it will 
 be asked, why do not more strangers visit them ? The 
 question is not very hard to answer. There used to be 
 a long doggrel rhyme about the reasons that impelled 
 professing Christians to go to Church, the last couplet 
 running thus 
 
 " Some go there to sleep or nod, 
 But verj few to worship God." 
 
 The reasons for men's hunting are very diverse: 
 some hunt because it is "the thing" to do so, and 
 .slaves to the great Goddess of Fashion, they must do 
 her behests, even at some personal inconvenience. 
 Others hunt because their fathers before them did so, 
 and they are highly conservative in their tastes and 
 instincts. The coffee-house tempts others, costume a 
 very large number, while the love of horseflesh lures 
 others on, and by the spirit of rivalry a large proportion 
 are attracted, but the minority who are devoted to 
 hounds and the chase generally is a small one in every 
 community ; else would hounds fare better than they 
 do, and masters and hunt servants would be less often 
 at their wits' ends. No ! the fashion of hunting is an 
 infinitely more compelling power than the passion for 
 the chase, and that is one of the great causes why more 
 sportsmen and sportswomen do not hunt in Ireland 
 every year, for among the inducements offered by the 
 latter may be named the following grass, and all grass, 
 to ride over, a condition of things that means much less 
 strain on horseflesh, smaller fields and more liberty, the 
 absence of wet woodlands and their miry, mucky rides, 
 in which days are wasted in England, to the profit per-
 
 278 
 
 adventure of the pack, but to the disappointment of the 
 riding element; less precision, less formality, for in 
 England the prestige of a pink has departed since rail- 
 ways poured in their hunting hordes, whereas in Ireland 
 it still means something, and a warm welcome awaits 
 all strangers and visitors who come across the Channel 
 to hunt, both from classes and masses ; moreover, in 
 Ireland the railways occupy but a small portion of the 
 country, whereas in England they gridiron it to the 
 injury of hunting in more ways than one ; moreover, 
 in the economy of the pastime, for from the subscription 
 downwards everything is on a cheaper scale than in 
 Eastern Britain, and in the opportunity of picking up 
 good hunters, whose performance you can see and 
 estimate with your own eyes, without having to rely on 
 third parties. 
 
 Lastly, in the absence of towns and villages, and in 
 the greater wildness of sport, Ireland offers attractions 
 almost impossible to find elsewhere. England, with its 
 huge subterranean and superterranean enterprise, has 
 been defined to be a vast city, with intervals of country. 
 Of course this is a caricature portrait ; but, on the other 
 side of the Channel, towns, villages, and hamlets are the 
 exceptions, and are only to be found at far wider in- 
 tervals than the gorses that dot the green pastures ! Of 
 course this state of things has its inconveniences and 
 drawbacks, but in the duel between hounds and fox it 
 gives an element of great grandeur, while to the lovers 
 of a good ride it is inestimable. In Meath a good local 
 sportsman assured me that it was his unvarying rule to 
 give himself daylight for his homeward ride, and always
 
 279 
 
 to have company, because, if anything went wrong, there 
 were few places where assistance could be obtained. A 
 very promising cavalry officer neglected these precau- 
 tions on one occasion, and attempting to cross the country 
 by way of a short cut parted company with his horse, and 
 it was only by a casual passing by that he was extricated 
 from an unpleasant, perhaps a perilous, position. 
 
 Apropos of the long distances that have to be con- 
 stantly traversed in Ireland, a rather amusing tale is 
 told by a gentleman who was hiring a herd. The mari 
 was very plausible and had good recommendations, but 
 the master was very particular. The cattle were very 
 valuable, and this herd would be in sole charge, so he 
 put a few very pertinent questions to him ; this is one, 
 for instance. " What would you do if a beast were to 
 be suddenly attacked with red murrain ? " " Ah ! now, 
 your anner, let me alone for knowing what to do in a 
 case of that sort ; shure the saycret's in our family for 
 cinturies ! " " But what would you do, what's the first 
 step you would take, tell me, or I can't employ you." 
 The man was cornered, and at last had to come out with 
 the fact of his personal ignorance, but pointing to a hill 
 five miles off, with a broad river running between the 
 proposed limits, he said, " Shure I've a brother lives 
 under the hill, and I'd just step over to him, and 
 get a bottle from him, and he's the greatest man for 
 thim disorders in Ireland ! " The explanation, it need 
 not be said, was hardly satisfactory, for in the interval 
 the beast would be probably past cure. 
 
 But if the inducements to hunt in Ireland are many 
 and great, it must be confessed that there are drawbacks
 
 280 
 
 and discouragements, which may seem lions in the way 
 to the half-hearted, Sybaritic sportsman, hut which 
 are mere trifles to the earnest and energetic. Ireland 
 ought certainly to be the winter playground of our 
 Empire, as Scotland claims, with much truth, to be its 
 autumnal one ; but if Scotland has gained this lucrative 
 influx of gay and guinead gunners, and disputes with 
 Switzerland for the lead in tourist traffic, she has not 
 acquired these sources of revenue by folding her hands 
 in apathetic ease, but by a judicious expenditure of 
 capital in adapting her resources of sport and scenery 
 to the Saxon levels, and introducing an English standard 
 of comfort into the heart, not only of Midlothian, but of 
 the Highlands as well, and by enabling the wayfarer to 
 fare well, and travel with ease. 
 
 In Ireland little has been done in this direction. 
 About August or September, indeed, you are told of an 
 infinite number of hunting boxes to be let "in the 
 centre of the best hunting country," &c., &c., but when 
 you have examined them, either for your own or your 
 friends' n-eds, you have found that either the price is 
 positively prohibitive, or that an immediate outlay is 
 absolutely necessary to bring them up to modern 
 requirements in hygiene and comfort. More especially 
 is this perceptible in servants' quarters, which are too 
 often limited and bad, everything having in old times 
 been sacrificed to the "state apartments." Indeed, a 
 General officer, who took a "mansion" in Dublin, 
 assured me that he verily believed that servants must 
 in the older days " have roosted on the stairs." Of 
 course these observations do not apply to the really
 
 281 
 
 good country houses, where everything is usually on the 
 best scale ; but such houses are not always in the letting 
 market, and, as a rule, only rich people can afford to 
 inhabit them, on account of " the revenue of servants " 
 they entail ; for the co-operative, or clubbing, principle 
 has not yet found general favour in the Green Isle, 
 though a few regiments have adopted it with signal 
 success ! A good deal of this difficulty about " quarters " 
 perhaps arises from the uncertainty of tenure and con- 
 tract that has necessarily arisen from the unhappy 
 combination of heroic legislation and organised agitation 
 that has literally plunged the island into what a 
 Jamaica Mrs. Malaprop used to call " a state of chouse " 
 (chaos) ; but now that the leaders of the people have 
 learnt that in preaching a crusade against the chase 
 they were not' only taking daily butter, if not daily 
 bread, from thousands of their own adherents, but were 
 actually drying up a source of national wealth, and 
 have recanted their hunting heresies, there seems no 
 reason in life why hunting boxes of moderate dimen- 
 sions, with good stabling, should not spring up freely. 
 A vast number of labourers' cottages have thus sprung 
 up within a couple of years (some were a boon and a 
 blessing to the neighbourhood while others were not). 
 A few dozen glorified labourers' cottages would probably 
 prove useful to the great hunting interest of the 
 kingdom, and yield a good percentage. 
 
 A propos of hunting and hunting men's habitations, it 
 seems highly probable that if the princely pastime that 
 has prevailed in England since the Conquest at any rate* 
 
 * King Canute was a great sportsman.
 
 282 
 
 is to continue an institution in the land, something will 
 be devised in the way of erecting masters houses, as well 
 as quarters for the hunt servants ; for, looking at the 
 difficulties which have perplexed hunting associations 
 during the past decade, to go back no further, owing to 
 land depreciation and other causes, in finding a suitable 
 person to fill the onerous office of master, it seems not 
 unlikely that a caste of Nimrods will be developed in 
 our midst, of men who, from love of sport, will be 
 willing to make hunting the business of their lives, and 
 who have sufficient business talent and application to 
 ensure that the revenues of the association are laid out 
 to the best advantage. A master of hounds has been 
 defined as a man who was always putting his hand in 
 his pocket and pulling sovereigns and half-sovereigns 
 out of it, just as in the old dramas heroes and heroines 
 always seemed to have " purses of gold " wherewith to 
 bribe the greedy, or to reward faithful service, though 
 they lived centuries prior to our golden age and the 
 great harvest of the precious metal. Now the men 
 with these long pockets are rarely met with, and the 
 bait, glamour, and glory of mastership is not sufficient 
 to induce them to " spurn vain delights and live labo- 
 rious days," unless the love of the chase be strong 
 within them, together with a certain strength of resolu- 
 tion, will, purpose, and constitution to carry on tin's 
 business of hunting, for there is no denying the fact 
 that it is a business, and one that engrosses attention 
 more than many others that can be well worked by 
 deputy, and do not involve a constant strain on mind, 
 memory, judgment, and forecast. "He's a mighty
 
 283 
 
 smart man, but he can't keep hotel," is an expression 
 often heard in " the States," and pithily intimates that 
 a great combination of physical, mental, and moral 
 qualifications are requisite for the production of a 
 perfect and financially successful Boniface. The same 
 thing may almost be said of the fin de si&de M.F.H., who 
 must have something of the martinet tempered by an 
 infusion of diplomatic address, who should be a sports- 
 man, and, if possible, the premier sportsman of his 
 county, who should have the business talents, method, 
 and aptitude of a bank clerk, with the dash of a 
 Murat, or a Valentine Baker Pasha, the courtesy of a 
 Grand Seigneur, such as his Grace of Beaufort, with a 
 capacity for energetic expression in the event of emerg- 
 ency ; the sobriety of a judge, with the sociability of a 
 Londonderry (to take a modern instance), the prompt 
 decision of a general, with the deliberation and con- 
 sideration of a casuist. He should be an authority to 
 his groom and huntsman on their own subjects, and yet 
 be aufait with the chief topics of contemporary history; 
 a good dresser, yet not a fop; a fine rider, but no 
 bruiser; an asserter of authority on occasion, but 
 avoiding all iteration of such assertion ; a man of the 
 world, yet engrossed by his own microcosmic sphere. 
 That such men are rare, even in mitigated form, is 
 sufficiently evident from the fact that proved masters 
 are gratefully welcomed back into office, as in the case 
 of Lord Spencer and Colonel Anstruther Thompson ; nor, 
 as competition increases with the growth of population, 
 does it seem at all likely that the number of capable 
 M.F.H/S, willing and able to sacrifice much in the cause
 
 284 
 
 of sport, is likely to increase, particularly among the 
 ranks of landowners. 
 
 But in any case the advantage to a county of having 
 a master's permanent residence near his kennels, and 
 central for his work, may be estimated by the case of 
 Meath, probably the best and largest hunting area in 
 the kingdom. There intervals of some twelve or four- 
 teen miles have in the last two reigns separated the 
 master and the huntsman. There is no telephonic or 
 telegraphic communication, and the anxious M.F.H. 
 who considers it a duty to visit his kennels once or 
 twice a week, if not more, has an amount of extra 
 labour imposed upon him, that, handicapped as he is, 
 must tell heavily in the end, and the journeying is a 
 perpetual tax both in winter and summer. Those who 
 come to Ireland for sport may be presumed to be, more 
 or less, independent of what is called " Society," though 
 that is a very expansive term, and has a thousand 
 variations ; but if the hunting man likes social evenings, 
 family circles, the witchery of lovely women, and all 
 that sort of enjoyment, he will find that Irish country 
 life is far less stiff and exclusive than English, and that 
 a good stud and a pleasant presence are better passports 
 here than anywhere ; and once a welcome is accorded, 
 it will be the stranger's own fault if all county comities, 
 such as a little fishing or shooting on an off day, are not 
 freely accorded to him. Many score of soldiers will 
 confirm this statement. 
 
 Of course, too, in estimating the drawbacks to the 
 sporting stranger, so many degrees of west longitude 
 must be taken into consideration, and so many hours'
 
 285 
 
 travel from the capital of civilisation London. But 
 even dear, dirty Dublin has its attractions and advan- 
 tages. There are clubs stately and clubs social, to which 
 access is not a matter of years, as in London, but often 
 of only a few weeks. Suburban racing and chasing is 
 often seen to great advantage half-an-hour's drive from 
 the Milesian metropolis ; while grouse, woodcock, 
 snipe, and pheasants may be shot (with leave, of 
 course) within an hour's drive. The London companies 
 are constantly visiting Dublin, where there are a couple 
 of theaires, and the manners and customs of the citizens 
 are generally of the friendly sort. No capital can, of 
 course, compare with London in the average English- 
 man's estimation, but what will probably please him in 
 Dublin is that it is not an imitation or caricature of 
 town, nor can anyone say, like Hood at Amsterdam or 
 Rotterdam, 
 
 " A sort of vulgar Venice reminds me where I am." 
 
 Moreover, it may be added, that the average fields in 
 Dublin, Meath, and Kildare, if not such monster meet- 
 ings as many in the shires and midlands of England, 
 are composed of equally good elements, and are 
 leavened by the jeunesse doree of three or four cavalry 
 corps, Guards, and Gunners, Staffmen and Linesmen, 
 and generally a Viceregal party of pursuers. 
 
 " Outrages " have, I grieve to say, too often been 
 associated with Ireland in the past decade, but they 
 have hardly even touched the fringe of the counties 
 have referred to, and no visitor at any rate has ever had 
 the slightest ground of complaint, and has been quite
 
 286 
 
 as safe in Dublin as in Derbyshire, in Kildare as in 
 Kent, 
 
 On the whole, it will probably be considered that the 
 inducements outweigh the drawbacks.
 
 287 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 " Quorum pars parya fui." 
 
 Virgil. 
 
 " Should auld acquaintance be forgot." 
 
 Burns. 
 
 LAUREATE LOWTH, in his metrical version of the Great 
 Billesdon - Coplow run, in Leicestershire, gives us 
 silhouettes of several men well known in Ireland, 
 amongst others, of Sir Wheeler O'Cuffe (who was 
 really Sir Wheeler Cuffe, a cousin of the Earls of 
 Desart, a great Kilkenny sportsman, and one whose 
 figure was so perfectly proportionate that, if contem- 
 porary gossip lies not, when writing to a new tailor in 
 London who had not measured him,he described himself 
 as six feet one inch, or thereabouts, figure symmetrical) 
 and of Major Eose Price, whose gifts of good riding 
 have descended to his grandson, Mr. Percy La Touche, 
 who also inherited a considerable share from his father, 
 Mr. John La Touche, of Harristown, once M.F.H. of 
 Kildare. 
 
 In Lowth's days, Leicestershire and its opinion was 
 considered supreme in the world of the chase, and 
 tho' Irishmen and Scotchmen were numerically very 
 inferior to their English brethren, they quite held their 
 own with the greatest Paladins of pursuit; for Gil- 
 mour had no rival till Peter Miles still recollected in 
 Ireland appeared on the scene ; and the Irish brigade 
 as often led as followed. Since that period Irish
 
 288 
 
 hunting grounds have become more and more the 
 fashion, and occasionally in Meath, Kildare, and Dublin 
 there are almost as many Saxons as Celts in the field, 
 and, as might have been expected, it has been demon- 
 strated over and over again, that the good man in one 
 country is almost, if not entirely, as good in another, 
 and that the Troubadour of Tarporley made no mistake 
 when he proposed a qucesitum for the consistent pursuer 
 to whom nought caine amiss who goes well in that 
 country and goes well in this ; his legend and motto, 
 " be with them I will." Paris got into sad trouble about 
 his apple from the peerless Pair, who felt the pangs 
 of spretcK injuria former, so, for fear of committing a 
 similar letise, I will not attempt to make invidious 
 comparisons, knowing full well that good hands, fine 
 seats, quick eyes, and big hearts are not monopolised by 
 any nation under the sun, and that there is still some 
 truth in what the English monarch said to the mourner 
 for the flower of British chivalry, " I have within this 
 realm of mine five hundred good as he." On the 
 whole, it may perhaps be said that in proportion far 
 more Irishmen ride straight, or tolerably straight, over 
 their own country with hounds than Englishmen. They 
 go out very much for the sport of riding, and they have 
 it, though dire grief often overtakes them before they 
 have gone far. This is the fashion of the country, arid 
 has a good deal to do with the horses, who are pre- 
 sumed, for the most part, to be able " to throw a lep " 
 when required ; whereas, only the higher class English 
 horse who has been hall-marked " hunter " is credited 
 with these aptitudes. In the Elizabethan days in Ireland
 
 289 
 
 \vhen the several chieftains had a paper aggregate 
 force of more than eleven thousand cavalry, "Horse- 
 man " described a man's vocation in Kfe and place in 
 the social order as distinctly as tailor, mason, smith, or 
 carpenter might nowadays. I believe they formed a 
 separate caste, commencing as " horseboys," whose num- 
 bers caused much woe and want to the farmers on 
 whom they were quartered under the grinding tyranny 
 of " coyne and livery." Perhaps the number of people 
 who ride fairly and fearlessly over a country nowadays 
 represent more or less that ancient equestrian guild, 
 who, to the disgust of contemporary Englishmen, 
 rejected stirrups, and preferred pads to saddles ! Allan 
 McDouogh and his brother William were certainly at 
 the top of the tree in cross-country riding in England 
 in their day ; but, on the other hand, few Irishmen 
 would deny Tom Pickernell the palm of having nego- 
 tiated Irish countries as well as any native Irishman, 
 including Captain McCraith himself, a very perfect 
 horseman; while Captain Arthur Smith was univer- 
 sally sought for by the owners of Irish chasers, though 
 an Englishman; and the same story may be told of 
 Captain Hope-Johnston, of the 7th Hussars, and his 
 pupil and friend, the late Captain W. 13. Morris, \vlio 
 got a larger number of mounts on account of his light 
 weight. Garrett Moore was quite in as high esteem in 
 England as in Ireland, and now his brother William is 
 as efficient at Punchestowu and Leopardstown as he is at 
 Liverpool or Sandown ; while the brilliant bevy of^the 
 brothers Beasley are equally at home in Ireland, Eng- 
 land, France, or Germany. If we turn to soldiers we 
 
 '2 A
 
 290 
 
 may take exemplars from the 4th Hussars, for " Pigg " 
 Lawrence was notoriously one of the best men that ever 
 rode over Ireland, whether with hounds or between 
 flags. Nor was Mr. Ellis, now Lord Howard de Walden, 
 many pounds behind him, though unable to chase at all 
 without considerable wasting. While, to come to 
 " modern instances," Captain Dewhurst maintains the 
 riding reputation of the corps worthily, whether with 
 hounds or in the chasing area on both sides of the 
 Channel. Among the Foot Guards, Colonel Harford, 
 Mr. St. James, Lord Annaly, Captain White, and Mr. 
 Barton have scored many times and oft, in England as 
 well as Ireland ; while the 7th Hussars, " the Eoyals," 
 and the 16th Lancers have had their hippie triumphs 
 wherever they went, merely to name a few crack 
 wrps that abounded in good men and good horses 
 hunters and chasers ; and D'Albiac, de Eobeck, 
 and Barry will do duty for the Gunners. It 
 seems but yesterday that Captain the Hon. George 
 Beilew Bryan, of the 10th Hussars, carne for a season 
 to Meath (his uncle, Mr. George Bryan, of Jenkin- 
 stown,in Kilkenny, was an almost ideally perfect rider 
 to hounds), and wound up by winning one of the Red 
 Coat prizes ; Captain Burn-Murdoch, of " the Eoyals," 
 and Mr. Peter Flower being among the other suc- 
 cessful competitors ; indeed, the race won by Mr. 
 Peter Flower, after a "ding-dong" finish with Lord 
 Annaly, will long be remembered in Meath, as it cost 
 the lives of, I think, three good horses of the highest 
 class, Mr. Trotter, M.F.H., having lost one he was 
 riding himself, while Mr. Pat Dunne, with Captain
 
 291 
 
 Cecil Featherstouhaugh for jock, had to grieve for the 
 loss of Fawn the 2nd, a very fair chaser. Curiously 
 enough, in this chase both the first and second came 
 from Mr. Dunville's stable. Another fine finish for 
 a red-coat race was in Meath between Lord Lang- 
 ford, Mr. VV. Jameson, and Mr. Watkius, when the 
 judge, Captain Low, had some difficulty in placing them. 
 Another extremely close finish was between Mr. W. B. 
 Morris (alas ! that we should have to write " the late ") 
 and Mr. Percy La Touche, when the former, on " Norah 
 the 2nd," was just done on the post. Lord Herbert Vane- 
 Tempest won a Kildare red- coat race very easily three or 
 four years ago, and Captain Wyndham, E.N., won a red- 
 coat race, too, a couple of years ago, over what may well 
 be called a very " intricate " country, and both were but 
 visitors to Kildare.* Possibly, however, the best illustra- 
 tion of our theme will be found in a passage of sport 
 that took place during Lord Spencer's first Viceroyalty, 
 when His Excellency franked eight or ten of his 
 Northamptonshire tenants in the Pytchley country over 
 to Ireland, and mounting them on well-trained hunters 
 of his own, brought them on his coach to Dunboyne or 
 Norman's Grove to see how they would fare with the 
 Ward Union field over some of their largest lines of 
 country. I bad not the pleasure of witnessing their 
 dtbutin a strange shire, but it is, I believe, a matter of 
 authentic hunting history that, while all went well, Mr. 
 Elliott was conspicuously in front during the greate 
 part, if not all, of the journey; and at the pre 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Prior, of the South Staffordshire Regiment, 
 won both red-coat races in Kildare, last year, with English burners. 
 
 2 A 2
 
 292 
 
 time I feel pretty certain that if four or five competent 
 men were asked to name a dozen or a score of the 
 names of the men who were generally closest to the 
 Meath foxhounds and the Ward Union staghounds, 
 while the lists would vary considerably according to the 
 ideas of those who drew them up, all would contain 
 those of Captain Steeds and Mr. Cyril Coleridge, who 
 are only naturalised, not native, Irishmen while a 
 couple of years ago no one under similar circumstances 
 would have failed to name Jock Trotter and Jack Press. 
 But if it be established beyond cavil that Englishmen 
 are as much at home in riding across Ireland as Irish- 
 men prove in their excursions over England, it seems 
 equally incontrovertible that English and foreign horses 
 can very soon be familiarised with all soits and con- 
 ditions of Irish fences. I recollect buying a tine stamp 
 of welter hunter in London, having had a trial of him 
 over the not too formidable fences of Lillie Bridge. 
 After a little schooling, I ventured on him with harriers, 
 and Mr. Leonard Morrogh, who was out the same day, 
 thought him, if I recollect right, as wild a lepper as he 
 had ever seen. After more lungeing, and a few falls 
 over " narrow backs," I never saw a more careful 
 jumper, and, in fine, in six or seven years he only gave 
 me one fall, which was entirely mine not his fault, and 
 during part of that time I was suffering from a twisted 
 neck, and could only ride a perfect performer. This 
 horse, too, had fair pace as I know, having galloped 
 him with winners in England and Ireland. Some time 
 ago, curiosity prompted me to purchase one of a cargo 
 of Hungarian horses (indeed " Hungarian hunters " l
 
 293 
 
 were constantly figuring in the prints of the day). He 
 was young, seemed sound, and well-bred, and took to 
 Irish fences as if born among its banks and ditches. I 
 don't think I had ever sat on his back till I tried 
 him with hounds one day, when I found him as narrow 
 as a knife, and not the sort to cany weight, so he was 
 put into ray break with a grey horse, and they made 
 rather a smart pair. I sold them for a bagatelle in 
 Dublin to a Scotch dealer after refusing a fair offer, 
 and I learnt some weeks afterwards that the Hungarian 
 had won a small stake in North Britain. 
 
 Will the reader pardon a paragraph about an animal 
 on which for a number of years every rider (and they 
 were changed often) went well. This was " Becky 
 Sharp," a grey mare by "Master Bagot" from a well- 
 known dam.* I saw her at the hammer, heard she was 
 sound from good authority, and thought I had the 
 makings of a weight carrier when my bid bought her. 
 I only rode her for half a day with hounds, and sold 
 her the next to the M.F.H., who liked her performance. 
 She carried the Kildare huntsman brilliantly, as well as 
 other hunt servants, and, falling into the hands of the 
 hardest of the " young Kildares," i.e., Mr. E. Kennedy, 
 they were mutually pleased with each other. At last 
 something gave way, and when it became a question of 
 the actual cautery or the stud, someone suggested (like 
 Archbishop Whately d propos of suttee) that " it was 
 better to marry than to burn." This mare was a 
 mistake for weight, but a wonderful twelve or thirteen 
 
 * She was bred by Mr. Henry Thompson, of Newry, on whose land 
 " Come Away " was bred, I believe.
 
 294 
 
 stone animal. Count Zborowski's Kentucky importa- 
 tions jumped fairly in Meath, and Lord Kilcoursie ran 
 a very close second in a red-coat race in Meath on a 
 semi-mustang, bred by Mr. Kemmis, of the Argentine 
 Kepublic, and that after a slight mishap early in the 
 race, in which he led most of the way. I also recollect 
 seeing a Cape pony jumping admirably in Kildare. 
 
 There are certain things that the average mortal 
 holds to be within his grasp whenever he chooses to 
 stretch out his hand for the purpose. It is or was the 
 water-mark of respectability to keep a gig, and cer- 
 tainly at least nine-tenths of those gig-keepers fancy 
 that they can drive the gig horse. They may do so 
 after a fashion, but in reality only one-tenth of these 
 highly respectable individuals can drive the family gig 
 in an orthodox or workmanlike fashion. And so it is 
 about writing for the Press, which, really within reach 
 of everyone who has taken a pass in the three E's of 
 daily life, is even a more arduous task than driving a 
 gig with safety to all concerned not to speak of style. 
 " Difficile est proprie communia dicere," wrote an un- 
 rivalled master of composition a good many centuries 
 ago ; and I am not sure that the art of clothing the 
 occurrences of our daily life in simple yet, generally, 
 intelligible language, has grown easier since his era ! 
 for otherwise the reporters of the Press, who are nearly 
 always men of at least average intelligence, and some- 
 times of superior culture, would not adopt the stilted 
 shibboleth of forms in which common occurrences are 
 too often presented to a patient public a shibboleth 
 that I am certain I have too often adopted myself, either
 
 295 
 
 from laziness or poverty of expression. I am not going 
 to attempt to be didactic about press writing, for I am 
 a mere outsider of the Press gang, to whom it has never 
 been vouchsafed to enter the penetralia of the temple, 
 or take part in the great mysteries of its Eleusis. I have 
 told my tale about meeting the editor of " The Field," 
 who was, if I mistake not, the first of that corps d'elitc 
 with whom I had had the honour of exchanging words, 
 and how, at his request, I indited certain hunting notes 
 from Ireland, which had their vogue in their day, and 
 were almost the h'rst notices of the sport of kings and 
 kaisers, of princes and princesses, of vice-kin -^s and vice- 
 queens, that I believe were ever written from 1 he Emerald 
 Isle. Having been something of a traveller, and seen 
 men and cities in peace and under the excitement of war, 
 I had golden opportunities of addressing the reading 
 public through the portals of the Press ; but having 
 been brought up to know absolutely nothing of the 
 business of life, though I had acquired some smattering 
 of the dead languages and their mythologies, I had not 
 the faintest conception of the organisation of the Press, 
 or the method for enlisting in its service. For politics 
 I cared in early life as little as Canning's knife grinder ; 
 of business and its myriad complications and avenues 
 to wealth, I had as slight a notion as of the climate of 
 Chiinborazo. Business, whether in its wholesale or 
 retail forms was not held in high consideration by those 
 connected with the land in the time when my ideas 
 were being formed. We never, of course, agreed with 
 Diekens's Mr. Bumble, that " the law was a hass," but 
 we were not brought up with great reverence for its
 
 296 
 
 chief functionaries, the guild of solicitors for the 
 sounds that greeted our ears oftenest in connection with 
 the members of that guild were " a low attorney, or a 
 pettyfogging practitioner." Now that I look back upon 
 life from, I hope, a more rational and enlightened point 
 of observation, I may say, with some truth, that the 
 average youth of the Green Isle v as brought up in a 
 way to confirm him in greenness, and in a manner more 
 suitable to existence in a fool's paradise ! Xor, apropos 
 of pressmen, can I recall ever having exchanged a 
 sentence with one before I came across Lawrence ("Guy 
 Livingstone") at Baltimore, who had been sent out I 
 believe, as a " special correspondent or commissioner " 
 by the " Morning Post." I had known him slightly when 
 he was an undergraduate of Balliol, but we had not been 
 intimate he was so much my senior ; nor did I learn 
 what his mission was till I was leaving Baltimore. 
 
 In my case Press work did not dawn upon me till 
 rather late in medifeval life, and, though I rtruggled 
 through my work with fair success, I am quite con- 
 scious that a proper preparation would have made the 
 tisk easier and simpler, while the result would have 
 been probably far better. One tiling I must say in self- 
 defence, and that is that I worked very hard at it, 
 perhaps because it was congenial labour, and also 
 because in my ignorance I did not know how to over- 
 come the apparent difficulties as easily as a more ex- 
 perienced man would have done. The whole thing was 
 new to me and the only way I could get at materials 
 for "cnpy" was by joining the hounds constantly 
 wherever they were, and mastering the topography
 
 297 
 
 of each county, and making acquaintance with the 
 dramatis personal in all directions. In the latter branch 
 of study there was not much difficulty, for hunting men 
 in Ireland are, as a rule, good-natured and communica- 
 tive, and most of them belonged at that time either to 
 the class of country gentlemen, or were soldiers 
 quartered in the nearest garrison town. I have often 
 heard that nothing is easier than lying, but for my own 
 part I think that literary lying requires considerable 
 resources of memory and imagination ; and, not pos- 
 sessing these, I tried to. jot down things as I saw them ; 
 to extenuate nothing (or very little), and set down 
 jiaught in malice. I have no doubt that 1 have made 
 grievous mistakes, and may even have appeared to 
 romance from want of knowledge of proportion and 
 perspective ; but, on the whole I think my narratives of 
 sport in Ireland were very true and unexaggeraled, 
 however feebly told; certainly they received that 
 sincerest form of flattery imitation ; for if the scene 
 had been China, and the inhabitants Celestials, they 
 could not have followed the pattern set with more 
 scrupulous (query unscrupulous ?) fidelity, the ipsissima 
 verba being constantly reproduced as original inspira- 
 tions ; as a rule I did not care much if they did not 
 tread too closely on one's kibes ; but occasionally one 
 saw in full type replicas of expressions one had coined 
 from one's own mental mint but -a very short time 
 before. Let me give an illustration. I was writing 
 about that gallant and intrepid sportsman, Mr. John 
 Murphy of Middleton, who managed to keep the United 
 Hunt " a going concern " through the greatest opposi-
 
 298 
 
 tion ; and I ventured to apply to him a paraphrase of 
 the usual quotation, making it run, " fiat venatio, mat 
 cceluin," and in a short time I saw the same expression 
 used by the correspondent of a London paper, without 
 any acknowledgment whatever! Of course the same 
 idea might have occurred to two scribblers les beaux 
 esprits, we know, se rencontrent but I cannot say I think 
 it did in this case, for there were so many curious coin- 
 cidences spread over years ! At first the relation of one's 
 own experiences in the daily drama of the chase sufficed 
 for the hebdomadal " copy," but after a time it became 
 necessary to enlarge one's venatic vistas, and sink the 
 personal and particular in the general, giving a con- 
 densed version of what the votaries of sport in the 
 Green Isle had been doing the week or ten days pre- 
 vious, a narrative which, I find, has been appreciated by 
 soldiers serving with their colours throughout our 
 Empire : for even at Aden or Carrachee the few lines 
 that tell of a fox hunted, say, from Punchestown Gorse, 
 and killed in the open ere he could gain the Downshire 
 Park, is as refreshing to a sportsman as " the bless'd 
 sherbet sublimed with snow or the first sparkle of the 
 Desert rill." 
 
 In making this charge of copying, plagiarising, or 
 whatever it may be called, I may state that the offence 
 if it be an offence to prefer the ready-made, even if 
 secondhand, to the original was not confined to Ireland, 
 for I frequently noted the same thing cone in England, 
 and any little curiosities or eccentricities of expression of 
 mine freely repeated : after all, if we are simian in origin, 
 and men by evolution only, heredity only asserts itself.
 
 299 
 
 The " Field " is a liberal paymaster, and I believe I 
 have done the " Field " very good service, but no paper 
 could afford to keep a large stud of weight carriers for 
 its agent and pay his expenses hotel bills and railway 
 fares throughout the country and hence arose the 
 necessity of trying to get other sources of revenue and 
 occupation. With this view I tried the development of 
 the insurance of horses, and devoted a good deal of 
 leisure and money to the purpose, but I think I have 
 already stated the grounds why the undertaking came 
 to an untimely end, and I may add to those reasons the 
 difficulty encountered in Ireland of finding reliable 
 agents who would not connive at " the cleverness " 
 of their friends ; " cleverness " being too often synony- 
 mous with flagrant but triumphant dishonesty. I was 
 also appointed starter to the Turf Club in Ireland, but 
 I only held the appointment for a few weeks, for a 
 portion of the Press of the country wrote the most 
 venomously vicious diatribes against my efforts to show 
 fair play, and the stewards took away my flag. I have 
 no hesitation in alluding to my dismissal, because, us I 
 told these gentlemen at the time, I felt sure they were 
 not acting upon their own judgment, but were influenced 
 by the reports they read. But I certainly have had my 
 revenge ; for after ten or twelve years of chopping and 
 changing, and making "examples" of jockeys, the 
 starting difficulty is nearly as great and grievous as ever, 
 arid the Press fulminated even more ferociously against 
 the present holder of the flag than it did against myself, 
 though I believe firmly that no more conscientious or 
 careful starter could be had than Mr. Harry Croker. I
 
 300 
 
 had my revenge, if I wanted any, at the time, for the 
 stewards, having no official of their own, proceeded to 
 start a handicap, just to show the public how the thing 
 should be done by proper men invested with that 
 " divinity " that they fancied should hedge a steward ; 
 the jockeys, however, did not concur in this view, and 
 were as fractious and recalcitrant as they could be. 
 The whole scene was fantastic to a degree, and I should 
 think a very dubious delight to the owners of horses 
 and their supporters. I may add, too, that having been 
 dismissed from this office I have occasionally since then 
 started fields of horses, and though I was not at all en- 
 amoured of my efforts, the Press was liberal in praise. 
 I had been sent over to learn the rudiments of the art 
 under Mr. McGeorge and Major Dixon. We all know how 
 well, how splendidly, Mr. McGeorge acquitted himself on 
 great occasions ; when I saw him at a rather " chalk " 
 meeting, he was not so fortunate. Major Dixon I 
 thought prompt and effective, but he did not please 
 generally, or I should say universally ; who ever did ? 
 I may add, that riding myself twice in Ireland on the 
 fiat, and having perfectly docile animals under me, the 
 starter ordered me to go back, and the moment I had 
 done so dropped his ensign, and of course I was left out, 
 but the result made slight difference, I think. While in 
 tnis connection I may state that in Jamaica verbal 
 starting was the rule, and much of it was done by a 
 most genial old " salt," Captain Cooper, R.N., Harbour- 
 master of Kingston. He was enthusiastically fond of 
 racing, and had a few horses of his own, but his horse 
 vocabulary was very limited, and savoured more of the
 
 301 
 
 quarter-deck than the stable ; for instance, talking of a 
 " crib biter," he mystified his audience by telling them 
 that the horse had a bad habit of " liting his crib." He 
 had one or two narrow escapes of being trampled on 
 while starting, but he managed to get off with a fright 
 and perhaps a few bruises. He was a man of action 
 too, for as agent to the Royal Mail Company's steamers 
 a,v Kingston he had to see to the coaling, and when the 
 men struck he got gangs of black girls to do the work, 
 and so far as I know they do all the coaling at Kingston 
 still, and I am certain a couple of thousand able-bodied 
 dark girls could be got within a fortnight or three 
 weeks to do the dockers' duty in turn on an emergency. 
 
 Apropos of the phalanx of " filchers " I may mention 
 here that through it [ made the acquaintance of an agree- 
 able, editor, Mr. Watson, of the " Sporting and Dramatic 
 Life," as when I went to his office to point out one or 
 two instances, no one could have been kinder and nicer 
 than he was in the matter. Mr. Watson is perhaps more 
 generally known in connection with the Badminton Li- 
 brary, in which, in the matter of hunting, I found myself, 
 for the first time in my life, quoted as an authority. 
 
 In addition to odds and ends for sporting papers and 
 such magazines as Baily's and Fore's, I occasionally 
 varied the monotony of scribbling on the subject I was 
 most familiar with or ought to have been most familiar 
 with to speak more humbly by contributing to what 
 are called " society papers," of which the " World " was 
 the pioneer, and remains, me judice, the fugleman still ; 
 but Ireland is still more or less a terra incognita to 
 English readers in the mass, and, of course, a cosrno-
 
 302 
 
 politan chart such as the " World," for which I wrote 
 in its earliest days, cannot afford much space to an 
 island which occupies a very small portion of the habit- 
 able globe, but which engrosses more than its share of 
 notice because it is kept by agitators in a chronic state 
 of volcanic disturbance, and because the jealousy felt 
 by other nations of England induces them to magnify 
 greatly the tea-cup tempests of the Green Isle. " My 
 wound is great because it is so small," quoth the swash- 
 buckler, and Ireland's wound is prodigious from the 
 same cause, and because its " vote " attracts the un- 
 scrupulous politician in England as well as America. 
 Hence the necessity for extending one's connection and 
 contributing to as many as time permitted. When one 
 makes " scribbling " the business of leisure hours in 
 lieu of other distractions, it is not unpleasant work 
 though rather wearying to set down one's views about 
 current events in verse or prose as the case may be ; 
 but in all such transactions my advice the advice of 
 one who has suffered considerably from the neglect of 
 the precautions he now suggests is for the contributor 
 to bear in mind the golden rule, " Short accounts make 
 long friends," and never to allow the editor or ac- 
 countant to lapse into arrears on any pretence what- 
 ever. I did so thinking that men who uttered or wrote 
 such charming moralities and denounced dishonesty in 
 such high-flown and transcendent terms must have in 
 their compositions a double dose not only of honesty 
 but of honour too. Hence I agreed that allowing the 
 account to run on was good business, that your deposit 
 was in a sort of savings bank, which if it did not pay
 
 303 
 
 any interest was a very Bank of England for safety. 
 Vain imagining! My experience leads me to think 
 that these professors of ethical purity are certainly no 
 better than other men, while in some cases their grade 
 in the scale of human excellence would be nearer the 
 lowest than the highest. 
 
 An early experience was the bankruptcy of "a 
 weekly," that had some vogue ; but I believe that in 
 this case the proprietor was certainly the victim of 
 circumstances, and since then I can only say that in 
 two or three cases, by allowing " arrears " to accumu- 
 late, I have sacrificed much time and, I fear, money. 
 Most of these editors have in their day taken a tre- 
 mendously high tone about Irish landlords and tenants 
 either personally or vicariously. They have de- 
 nounced the " Plan of Campaign " with a fervour that 
 put Leo XIII's " Eescripts " into the shade, yet the 
 Campaigners offered the landlord half or two-thirds of 
 his judicial rent, according to circumstances but satis- 
 faction from these exponents of the moralities and 
 equities is not to be had on any terms ! You may call 
 till you are black in the face, but you will not see them, 
 though you may have a shrewd suspicion that you 
 have lun them to ground at last. In one of these 
 temples of " typical " virtue and equity I had been for 
 many months cajoled by an artful tale of the cashier 
 having levanted with " thousands" as if such an official 
 ever had, or ought to have, such sums at his disposal. 
 So I did not press for payment for many months, but 
 when my visits began to be made pretty frequently 
 (and perhaps other deluded victims were equally per-
 
 304 
 
 sistent), a porter and an office boy seemed the sole 
 tenants of the office. So I used to amuse myself by 
 asking the porter if he was editor, accountant, and so 
 on, like the story of the single officer of the brig " Nancy 
 Lee," as told by Mr. Gilbert in the " Bab Ballads," feeling 
 sure that my words " carried " further, even to the ears 
 of the gentlemen in the inner shrine. In one case when 
 a small sum was due, and seemed as hopeless of settle- 
 ment as " a Pensylvanian bond " in the days of Bon 
 Gaultier, I repaired to a gentleman who had once 
 been interested in the paper, but had ceased to have 
 anything to do with it. He pulled out his note-book 
 and wrote down the name of his lawyer, adding that 
 only through legal pressure could the debt be recovered. 
 I said I disliked law, would he kindly tell me what the 
 proprietor was like. He did so, and I fortunately found 
 him "m the shop." I waited quietly till he was at 
 leisure, and then told him my business, and was suc- 
 cessful that time in getting paid in instalments. Another 
 time I recovered a debt that seemed very " bad " by 
 quoting a line of poetry to the proprietor, who had not 
 responded previously. This fetched him completely, 
 but I believe this man a pleasant, genial man, by the 
 way was only a careless and postponing debtor. There 
 are as honourable, generous, and large-hearted men 
 connected with the Press as any in the world, and I 
 speak according to my own experience, but, on the other 
 hand, there are literary pirates and sweaters, and men 
 as deliberately dishonest, I fear, as in any class of 
 business, which does not profess such devotion to the 
 cardinal virtues and the Decalogue. " Cucullus non facit
 
 305 
 
 monachum," and even the monachus, when found, din 
 not always turn out a Simon Pure. Let me add that in 
 the small transactions I have had with the Dublin Press, 
 everything has been most satisfactory. 
 
 One is reminded of the Psalmist's sentence about 
 rising up early and going to bed late, and eating the 
 bread of carefulness, by the recollection of these Jeremy 
 Diddlers, only in my case I cannot arrogate to my 
 credit the virtue of early rising. I think, so far as I am 
 competent to form any opinion, that there is a good deal 
 of knack and technique in writing for the Press, though 
 perhaps this is something of a platitude, for into what 
 calling does not knack and technique enter liberally ? 
 But what I mean to convey is this, that great depth and 
 thoroughness is not so essential to success as felicity of 
 style, and some command of language, together with 
 some quickness and insight that is to say, that the 
 sciolist with some smartness of style will beat even a 
 learned Don, who has devoted himself to a speciality, 
 in general power of Press persuasion: but ray range 
 was so small and petty that I feel I am not competent 
 to form, much less express, an opinion ; this, however, 1 
 will say, that I have been impressed by the shrewdness, 
 tact, and savoir faire of several editors, for it was not 
 hard to discover that in many cases they knew very 
 little individually about topics and subjects on which 
 their journals held forth in an ex cathedrd tone, but their 
 tact and discrimination, and knowledge of men gene- 
 rally, carried them through difficulties. London editors 
 are, as a rule, able men, and, like great and successful 
 generals, have the faculty of choosing a good staff. I 
 
 2B
 
 306 
 
 can recall a few paragraphs that made themselves felt 
 for instance, the comparison I drew many years ago 
 between Charles Stewart Parnelland the unjust steward 
 of the famous parable in the Gospels. This I sent to 
 Lord Desart as a joke, when he was editing "Vanity 
 Fair," and he put it in that paper. Only a few months 
 ago I saw it reproduced as original by a leading London 
 paper, as well as a parallel between Parnell and 
 Catiline. It is? just possible that the same idea struck 
 two minds, but mine had the start in type by many 
 years. Another "goak" survived that was that the 
 average Patlander in summer was sure to ask you if 
 you were going to the " O'Toole " (Auteuil) Races. 
 A truce, however, to these trifles and play upon 
 words. I thought I had secured a good summer 
 and autumn bit of work, a couple of years ago or 
 three, in undertaking to collect horses in Ireland for 
 the Irish Exhibition at Olyrnpia, which the Directors 
 had failed to do. I collected a large number, and had 
 naturally to travel about a good deal, crossing the 
 channel frequently. Of course, railway and steamboat 
 passes were to have been mine, only they never were, 
 and when the final fiasco came in the shape of the dis- 
 loyal Cork Band, I tried in vain to get paid for time 
 and trouble expended, not to speak of travelling items. 
 The difficulty on these occasions is to see the principals, 
 who contrive to maintain an invisibility which, accord- 
 ing to the classics, was the appanage of the Olympian 
 deities. Weary of drawing coverts blank, I one day saw 
 the Director's or Manager's carriage at the door of the 
 ortice, and esconced myself in it. I secured an audience,
 
 307 
 
 interview, and promise, if I did nothing else by the 
 move ; but nothing came of it, and I understand that 
 the Manager of the 'concern is himself a heavy loser by 
 the venture. Having some idea of what labour can do, 
 I told the Directors, weeks prior to the date for opening 
 the show, that they could not be ready to receive tho 
 public. They laughed me to scorn, but I was right. 
 Since then Lord Arthur Hill paid me a small portion 
 of my claim from his own pocket. 
 
 I should have stated that while recruiting my health 
 in Gloucestershire I had studied law, or some of the ele- 
 ments that compose it; for about this time a decree 
 had gone forth from the Benchers of the Inns that a 
 digest of laws was required from their students as well 
 as a digeft of dinners. In a few branches I was fairly 
 posted, and had not much dread of the result, but in 
 " Common Law " I felt only weak and ill equipped, 
 and besides paper work that occupied a couple of days, 
 there was a mvd voce examination as well. Mr. Broome, 
 the author of the Commentary on this branch of legal 
 lore was the querist, and we candidates were put on 
 the gridiron for a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes. 
 I forget what the catechist made his first question, but 
 answered it wrongly, or imperfectly, but I did, I fancy, 
 know something relative to it, and it was better, it 
 seemed to me, to harp as long as I could on this single 
 string rather then be led into unknown regions, and ] 
 ventured to set forth my view on the subject. The 
 learned legist was very good natured, in pointing out 
 the right reply in lieu of the muddled one, and asked very 
 few more questions, when he said " That will do." I
 
 308 
 
 fancied I had certainly been " spun," but I was happily 
 undeceived by seeing my " call " duly gazetted in the 
 course of a couple of weeks or three. My object in 
 getting called was to qualify for a stipendiary magis- 
 tracy, in which some legal lore was an advantage, if not 
 indispensable. I never was offered the appointment, 
 though duly noted for one, and a Lord Lieutenant 
 assured me there were only two candidates in front of 
 me. I had taken the trouble of ascertaining from the 
 highest authority the Lord Chancellor that, having 
 been in the Civil Service, the limit of age did not 
 apply, or form any bar whatever. Looking back now 
 on the appointments actually made and my strong 
 claims on the Government, I cannot help thinking that 
 some injustice was done me, though I cannot impute 
 special harshness to the Irish Government, as I was not 
 their child. Even in the matter of age the authorities 
 used the dispensing power very freely, as I pointed out 
 once when a gallant Officer was made an KM. who 
 had been a Captain in his regiment of the Line when I 
 was a boy this I ought to know, for he used to dine at 
 my father's house. I have always fancied that the 
 filling of places in Ireland resembled not a little the 
 pool of Bethesda mentioned in Holy Writ, for at the 
 critical moment the patient sufferer sees himself sup- 
 planted by a more active and enterprising pusher who 
 has a friend at Court. When Mr. Clifford Lloyd was ap- 
 pointed a divisional magistrate a good many of the elder 
 magistrates were forced, I believe, to retire. My cousin, 
 Mr. William Morris lieade, was at that time reputed 
 one of the very best and most efficient stipendiaries
 
 309 
 
 in the island ; he naturally resented an entire stranger 
 and outsider being put over his head and he resigned. 
 Air. Clifford Lloyd was nearly the most signal failure in 
 Ireland, though one or two others ran him close. On 
 the whole the stipendiaries did their work, arduous 
 enough at certain times and places, admirably, and 
 under very trying circumstances too. This Mr. Morris 
 Eeade had a chequered career. His mother in "the 
 bad times " put the family estate into chancery, and 
 my cousin feeling he could not be comfortable in 
 " the Greys," to which he had been gazetted, went 
 out to seek his fortune in Australia. He made a living 
 but no more, and, having married early, found himself 
 father of an immense family, so he came back to 
 Ireland and dispensed justice, in which vocation, as 
 well as in rescuing drowners, he proved eminently 
 successful ; fortunately for the large family, his wife, 
 who had been a Miss Cookes, came in for some money, 
 for he died not very long after his resignation of 
 office. 
 
 I should state that during Lord Derby's administra- 
 tion I had sent in another memorial, signed by many 
 members of both Houses, expressing their opinion that 
 I had been harshly treated in re Jamaica. I learnt 
 that it had received " attentive consideration."
 
 310 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 " Be the day weary or never so long, 
 At length it ringeth to evening song." 
 
 A LADY'S postscript is said to be the most important 
 part of her letter, which should therefore be read back- 
 wards. I wish I could say as much about the chapter 
 that precedes " Finis " in these very disjecta membra, 
 or " rambling reminiscences ;" but having been written 
 hastily (pray excuse haste) and scrappily, here a little 
 and there a little, I have found lots of lacunes that it 
 would be hard to interpolate into theii* proper places, such 
 for instance as the story of negro life on Sir Charles 
 Price's estate, of Worthy Park, Jamaica. Every sugar 
 estate in the slavery era had then its " hot house," or hos- 
 pital, attended by a regular practitioner at intervals, and 
 ministered to by a hospital orderly (or two), who, of 
 course, assumed the airs and mysterious graces of a 
 mighty medicine man. On one occasion the surgeon 
 was absent for a long time, and a patient was brought 
 in, whom the orderly proceeded to treat secundum artem, 
 with the result that the " case " died " a natural death.'' 
 When interrogated formally as to his praxis, the orderly, 
 nothing abashed by the sad sequence, replied, " Me jest 
 gib me broder a 'spuke' (emetic) and a 'spurge '(purge), 
 and when he no recover me order his coth'n." 
 
 This Sir Charles Price, by way of benefiting the colony, 
 introduced the Norwegian brown rat, who very soon
 
 311 
 
 assumed the role of Aaron's rod, by swallowing up the 
 rest of his indigenous cousins, who were, I believe, black, 
 and were one of the acknowledged dainties on a sugar 
 estate.* No one, I fancy, has ever tried the Norwegian 
 importation A propos of rats, I recollect having some 
 sport at the last " pen " I occupied in Liguanea, for the 
 jalousies being open, I can recall my surprise at finding 
 rats sipping a cup of tea in the dining-room, which I 
 had not heard the butler bring in, as I was dozing on a 
 sofa. Closing the doors, and jalousies, I had something 
 of a run after them with a fatal fork in my hand, and 
 I found that this post-prandial tea regularly "drew 
 them." If it had not beeu for rats, I fancy poultry 
 would have increased marvellously in the island ; but 
 they had other foes in the shape of huge hawks, who 
 would perch on cotton trees near your yard, but, wary as 
 crows, you never got a chance of shooting one, save out 
 of a cart, or on pony back, which disarmed suspicion. 
 I knew a man in the island whose fad it was to raise 
 turkeys, and I believe he succeeded in putting together 
 a nock of a thousand, large and small, young and old.f 
 Such a man in England might well call himself a 
 Turkey merchant, as the plutocratic poulterer who sent 
 his son to Eton desired the boy to speak of him there. 
 
 I think I should also have mentioned that in return- 
 ing from Colorado I paid a visit to Mr. Aitcheson 
 Alexander's horse-breeding farm in Kentucky. I saw it 
 under great disadvantages, because there was a " cold 
 snap " prevailing at the time, and with snow and ice ou 
 
 * The mongoose has been proved since as omnivorous, 
 t The writer.
 
 312 
 
 the ground, and the thermometer below zero, one could 
 not see the horses comfortably, or to advantage. What 
 I did see impressed me much, however, as to the capa- 
 bilities of Kentucky as a horse-raising country. A 
 gruesome sight met us as we went out from the house 
 to inspect the horses. A splendid young colt, led out 
 in a cavesson, I think, had reared and fallen back, 
 and his head coming in contact with some ice, he was 
 killed at once. Mr. Alexander was not in the least put 
 out by an accident which would have led to loud 
 lamentation in other and smaller studs. "VVe saw the 
 stout " Lexington," for whom an immense price was 
 paid by Mr. Alexander for stud purposes, though I 
 believe he was stone blind, but what struck me more 
 than anything else was the fact of " Scythian," the 
 Chester Cup winner, having actually been trained, and 
 trained successfully, to trot in a sulky. We learnt 
 that he was actually prepared for a race, but just before 
 his first trial he met with some slight accident that 
 threw him back, and the owner thought him too valu- 
 able as a sire to experiment on again in the trotting 
 track. Mr. Alexander might, it is said, have successfully 
 claimed a British peeiage, but to be a peer of England, 
 he Avould have had to renounce American citizenship. 
 Just prior to my arrival, Morgan, the guerilla Confederate-, 
 had raided the farm, but with great consideration he 
 only took the animals he actually required for warlike 
 purposes. 
 
 I could also have better illustrated the facility 
 there was five-and-twenty or thirty years ago of pick- 
 ing up a hunter in Ireland of soundness and good
 
 313 
 
 performance for little money, by recording how one even- 
 ing, riding home with a friend from hunting in Kildare, 
 he mentioned that he was going abroad and wanted to 
 sell that, his last hunter, for a " song " of 30 or so. I 
 asked him if the horse was sound, and as he replied 
 " perfectly," and the age was right, I bought him, in the 
 dark* as I fancied my friend would not trust himself on 
 a bad one. A few days afterwards, riding a run in a 
 blinding snow storm, when neither horse nor man could 
 see distinctly, he gave me a fall at a fence, and lay on 
 me in a deep ditch, presently using my mle, corpus as a 
 step wherewith to get out. He hurt me a good deal, 
 and sent me to hospital, and so I took something of a 
 dislike to him, but in Sir William Throckmorton's hands 
 afterwards he turned out a horse of great value, and 
 his owner's favourite mount, for several seasons. 
 " Topaz " has a canvas at Buckland, I believe. 
 
 Nothing, I believe, has changed its character more 
 than the chase in Ireland, and this fact may be attri- 
 buted, I fancy, very much to the keenness and cpiiick- 
 ness introduced by pursuers who had taken their 
 pastime in the Shires, and by a few smart huntsmen, 
 who had been brought up in the best Midland schools. 
 A famous M.F.H. told me a story of a neighbour of his, 
 a brother M.F.H., who had been brought up in " the 
 fair and aisy " school, and who never hurried himself 
 save to catch an intruding flea. Moreover, this faineant 
 fox hunter considered himself quite capable of handling 
 hounds himself, and did so, after his fashion. To him 
 on a notable occasion, came the covert keeper, bieath- 
 
 * A dark horse, in fact.
 
 less with excitement, to annonnce the fact that his fox 
 had broken away " The fax has just crossed the 
 widow Moriarty's bottoms, yer anner." " Has he now, 
 Mick ?" " Trotli he has so, yer anner !" " Then, Mick, 
 move that bush out of the gap for me." This was given 
 as, perhaps, an exaggerated sample of the old style, 
 when men had not quite realised the fact that "who 
 hunts quick foxes must himself be quick." But it was 
 not only in hunting that the slow-coaches of other 
 times have given way to the modern marvels of speed. 
 In chasing, pace and progress have been equally per- 
 ceptible. For instance, there is a record of some dis- 
 tinguished amateurs having started some three genera- 
 tions ago for a sweepstakes, when at one of " the horrid 
 leps " that adorned or disfigured the courses of the 
 period, it is stated that every one of the competing 
 horses refused, and so obstinately, that further progress 
 was simply impossible. On this one of the riders, 
 whose residence was handy, proposed an adjournment 
 for lunch, the race (?) to be resumed after that repast. 
 The proposal required no seconder, and was adopted 
 there and then.* 
 
 A f ery little more than a hundred years have elapsed 
 since Arthur Young, the famous tourist, wrote an 
 account of the Ireland of his day, when horses ploughed 
 by the tail, &c. If the accomplished and observant 
 writer could see what a century of improvement has 
 wrought in the island, he would be, indeed, astonished 
 
 * I have been told that a few decades ago something similar 
 happened in Scotland, when one offending lep was left out of the 
 course by the stewards.
 
 315 
 
 and delighted; or if Thackeray, redivivus, could only 
 be planted for half an hour in the Shelburne Hotel, in 
 Dublin, that he once so cruelly ridiculed in his Irish 
 Sketch Book, to view the enormous improvements in 
 living and comfort that fifty years had brought in their 
 train, he could hardly credit the change. A squire 
 of my acquaintance, who is still hale and hearty, and 
 full of physical and intellectual vigour, on arriving on 
 his estace in Ireland fresh from Cambridge, was chal- 
 lenged to ride a match by a neighbour, and accepted ; 
 the date was fixed, but my friend heard in the mean- 
 time that the tenants of his rival had announced their 
 intention of securing the success of their chief by 
 occupying the important fences in force, and making 
 the opposition horse baulk. However, by timely pre- 
 cautions this was prevented, and a friendly garrison 
 took possession of them early in the day. My friend 
 won the match. But if the rival tenants had been able 
 to carry out their intentions quietly, he would have had 
 no chance. Such " fair play " would hardly be tolerated 
 now, though in the co. Clare politics were imported 
 into racing, and at a meeting not very long ago, horse 
 and man were stoned, the former, I believe, to death. 
 The Punchestown pilgrims now find everything con- 
 nected with the meeting quite as orderly and quiet as 
 at Sandown or Kempton Park, but some years ago true 
 tales might have been told of " the pirates of Punches- 
 town," who would swoop down on ham, tongue, or 
 turkey, and carry off the contents of the hamper with 
 great zest and some success ; indeed few things show 
 more forcibly the permeating influence of law, order.
 
 316 
 
 and authority than the reunions held in Ireland, which 
 contrast marvellously with the Gaelic sports held on 
 Sundays, when a pitched battle between the competi- 
 tors is often the sequel of the afternoon's play. 
 
 To be sure there have been " outrages " both on sport 
 and sportsmen, but considering the way in which the 
 credulous Celts were goaded and stimulated by peripa- 
 tetic patriots, one of whom used to take a dead fox 
 about as a "property," to emphasise his arguments 
 against landlords and their pastimes, it is only passing 
 strange that more outrages were not committed ; it may 
 be asked, too, are outrages unknown in England, and 
 does not vulpecidism flourish there in ranker luxuriance 
 of growth than it ever attained to on Irish soil, even in 
 the heat and fury ot the laud war ? As a matter of 
 fact, I rather think there were more atrocities of the 
 sort committed in England last year than in Ireland. 
 
 If, like the wise Ulysses, I have not seen many men 
 and cities (comparatively), yet I certainly can lay claim 
 to having "assisted" at many meets, and to have 
 viewed at different times and seasons some thousands 
 of pursuers, good ; bad, and indifferent. At present I 
 would only glance at a select minority of the first 
 category, and I think I must give the pas to the late 
 Lord Clanricarde, the father of the present peer, though 
 I must own my opportunities of witnessing his per- 
 formances were scant enough. I can, however, recall 
 a meet at Hollywood, in Kildare, where the country is 
 rough enough, so rough indeed that many hypercritical 
 hunting men would decline it in toto. The hounds 
 were in covert, and had found, and I too had found out
 
 317 
 
 that my horse was as lame as a tree. Lord Clanricarde, 
 in the kindest way, offered me his second horse, which 
 I am glad I declined, as his first horse was hors de combat 
 after the run. The covert drawn was on high ground, 
 and from the eyrie I could see a large field hustling and 
 thrusting away, while his lordship, who was among the 
 last to put his horse in motion, cantered along very 
 quietly down the hill, taking the fences as they came, 
 and gradually stealing along, was in a few fields among 
 the leaders, and we may be sure that, once there, bar 
 accident, he stayed in front while the run lasted. 
 Another valiant veteran, Mr. George Gough, of Birdhill, 
 a ci devant master of the Tipperary fox hounds, did 
 much the same thing from one of these hill-coverts, 
 showing his juniors by several decades how fields could 
 be won, even at three score and ten. Another venatic 
 veteran was Mr. Horace Rochfort, of Clogrennan, to 
 whom it was given to skim the cream of the shires of 
 England and Ireland up to much the same period of 
 existence ; his grey cob was undefeated to the end, and 
 I am happy to say this cob was my suggestion, for I 
 had seen him carry a one-handed man, Major Gresson, 
 in very perfect style ; but when I came to Kildare first, 
 there was no man, young or old, who saw more of 
 hounds than Mr. Wakefield 
 
 " A famous judge, tho' bruised to jelly, 
 Of every horse's girth and belly "- 
 
 as sings Butler. 
 
 He could not have been a chicken, for he had fought 
 at the battle of the Nile, but every horse he rode, be he 
 slu" or keen, went well with him. I was out hunting
 
 318 
 
 the day he broke his leg, and, being reduced to wheels 
 for some time, the confinement proved fatal, I believe. 
 Mr. Mclldowney was another first-class old sportsman, 
 
 Doctus sermones utriusque linguae, 
 
 for he had made his mark at Melton before. He, too, 
 almost died in harness, as he never quite got over a bad 
 fall when riding with the Meath hounds in a run, I 
 think, from Cheeverstown Gorse.* Mr. J. J. Preston, 
 the Squire of Bellinter, looks as young and fresh in the 
 saddle as when, on " Brunette," he defeated Allan 
 McDonough, on " Peter Simple," some sixty years ago ! 
 
 In Louth and parts of Meath Mr. Coddington, of Old 
 Bridge, was, I believe, invincible in his seventh decade, 
 and keen as ever, and even slightly jealous. Lord 
 Straithnairn, when commanding the forces in Ireland, 
 rode across country right up to the Fenian camp, in front 
 of his staff and escort, when considerably past seventy, 
 and General Irwin, an octogenarian, hunted in Kildare 
 two or three days before his death, and I could mention, 
 an I would, a pursuing padre who, though about seventy, 
 gives the pas to no one, nor is he a light weight either. 
 
 Among those whom one has seen going particularly 
 well, and eminently well mounted, the difficulty is in 
 culling rather than expanding the list. I have just 
 named a few hors ligne veterans ; let me now add the 
 names of younger sportsmen than those able ancients. 
 Poor " Charlie Ford " is no more, but his memory is 
 green, and Elliott "Warburton's lines, though written 
 about a namesake, are very applicable 
 
 * He has died since.
 
 319 
 
 " The Ford they call Charlie, how cheery 
 
 To sit by his side in a run ! 
 
 At midnight or morn never weary 
 
 Of frolic, or revel, or fun ! " 
 
 An Ulster man, few ever crossed Meath or Kildare in 
 better style, in spite of welter weight, or were more 
 popular generally. Sir James Higgin son, once Governor 
 of the Mauritius, was an eminently good man on a good 
 horse ; he was very light. Mr. Watson, a cousin of the 
 polo paladin, was nearly unequalled in style wherever 
 he went, whether in Dublin, Meath, or Kildare. His 
 health gave way and he ceased hunting some years ago, 
 but to strangers and natives alike his fine style, quiet 
 but most effective, commended itself. Lord Annaly 
 repeats it, and takes his place. Of all the men I have 
 seen crossing a country, for combination of good man 
 and good horse, perfection of style and seat, hands 
 and horsemanship, I do not think Geoffrey Hone could 
 be surpassed. I was disappointed in his race riding, 
 but with hounds it was a treat to watch him, and his 
 mounts were equally perfect. His brother "Willie" 
 was harder, perhaps, on one or two horses, and his sur- 
 viving brother, Tom Hone, late of the 7th Hussars, is 
 stronger probably on a horse, whether at polo or in the 
 hunting field, but Geoffrey Hone for graceful horse- 
 manship stood (or sat) alone. 
 
 Lord Spencer went well and straight in his first Vice- 
 royalty, though not a perfect horseman. The same 
 thing may be said of Major Whyte Melville, his friend, 
 and Lord Suffield went well in Ireland when fairly 
 mounted. I recollect his going well, very well, in a run
 
 320 
 
 which I had the luck to see fairly well myself (rare 
 occurrence). His lordship had just got on a dealer's 
 horse to try him for a few minutes at a gorse called 
 " Turnings," in Kildare, when fox and hounds went away 
 over the fine pastures that surround it, and a very good 
 run was the result, the longest, I believe, ever seen 
 from " Turnings," prodigal as it is in quick scurries and 
 bursts. Of course, as the performance was undeniable, 
 his lordship bought him. He was afterwards trans- 
 ferred to the stable of the Honourable Harry Bourke, 
 and carried his welter weight admirably. He called 
 him " Lord in Waiting." Lord Londonderry and his two 
 brothers always went well in Ireland, and were very 
 well mounted. 
 
 " Dickie " Bernard, like his cousin, " Billy Hutchin- 
 son," Lord Donoughmore's brother, was a very fine 
 horseman, whether with hounds or between flags. Lat- 
 terly he would sell an odd horse after the fashion of his 
 compatriots, and a good story is told of a Caledonian, to 
 whom he sold a high class, high priced horse, who 
 wrote to this effect : " The horse I got from you carried 
 me to perfection in a very fast thing for about four 
 miles. I rode him in a snaffle, but could hardly hold 
 him ; what bit would you suggest to ride him in ?" To 
 which came the rather laconic reply : "Any bit in which 
 a horse has carried you perfectly ought to be good 
 enough. Don't change it." 
 
 Let me tell of a very hard Meath and Ward man 
 who took over a very perfect bold hunter to the shires, 
 and went a few runs right well there. On his return 
 he was cross -questioned about " stake and bounds,"
 
 321 
 
 " oxers," " bullfinches," &c., to which he replied, naively 
 enough, " Oh, if you mean ' the little bushes,' he did 
 them all well enough ! " 
 
 The Blazer baronies have never wanted good men 
 and true. Frank Joyce and Major Butson were among 
 the best of the moderns; both alas! are now dead. 
 Mr. Tully is quite first class after many seasons. But 
 the real kippodamos was Mr. Dennis, who mastered the 
 Tuam side of the county " Black Dennis," as he was 
 generally styled. All England was full of the fine feat 
 of Mr. Crawley in finishing a race minus a bridle. 
 Black Dennis for a bet rode a hunter over an extremely 
 stiff course with nothing in his mouth using a cabbage 
 stalk for a cutting whip, merely to mention one of 
 many similar feats. 
 
 Ireland has always proved rich in steeple chase 
 riders. No family, perhaps, ever produced such a bevy 
 of fine riders as the Beasley, which turns out a quartet 
 of brothers all conspicuously good ;* yet, good as they 
 are, I have my doubts if any Irish jock of modern 
 times was better than " Denny Wynne " on the flat and 
 over a country too. His second for the Derby on " Bar- 
 barian " showed how he could get out a horse who was 
 hardly in the first class. The dislike and dread of 
 timber amongst Irish jocks has now been overcome by 
 practice and familiarity; but a story is told of two 
 eminent artists from the Green Isle, who met quite un- 
 expectedly near Beecher's Brook the night before the 
 
 * Alas ! one of the brilliant band of brothers died from the effects 
 of an accident at Punchestown Meeting, 1892. 
 
 20
 
 322 
 
 Grand National was run, and by a curious coincidence 
 each carried a saw to use on the top rail ! 
 
 I recollect writing a sketch of Leonard Morrogh for 
 " Baily " long ago, and, a propos of Cork, his native 
 place, I ventured to quote Virgil's line 
 
 " Salve magna parens frugum Saturnia tellus, 
 Magna viruin ! " 
 
 It has certainly produced great men, great horses, and 
 great sport, and I can only regret that I have not been 
 able to visit it ofteiier. Among its eccentrics and 
 hunting worthies was Mr. Cross (the father of the un- 
 fortunate Doctor), who kept a pack of hounds, and in 
 his last will directed that his body, when he was dead, 
 should be thrown to them, as his desire a devouring 
 desire, by the way was to be incorporated by them 
 a provision which, of course, was not carried out. I 
 believe many pages could be written about this sports- 
 man's peculiarities and fads, his costume, and more 
 especially his top boots, which were said to have been 
 whitewashed once per annum ; but, if not an orthodox 
 dresser, no fault could be found with his keenness to 
 enjoy sport and to provide it for others. Of the late 
 Lord Ferrnoy, who kept a pack of the Irish breed of 
 foxhounds, and was a decidedly clever man, as his 
 Marylebone constituents, who appreciated him tho- 
 roughly, thought, many anecdotes are, I believe, floating 
 about, as well as of his huntsman, " Davy," who had 
 (and used) the liberty of an old and valued servant of 
 the family. Both had strong and decided opinions 
 about hounds and hunting, and one day, when the hounds 
 had two foxes in front of them in a deep wooded glen,
 
 323 
 
 there was a strong difference of opinion between master 
 and servant, and some dissonance of horns too. Lord 
 Fermoy, who, by the bye, had just been raised from 
 the baronetage to the peerage, was furious at Davy's 
 
 obstinacy, and kept on saying, " Who the made 
 
 you a huntsman ? " " And who the made you a 
 
 lord ? " was Davy's ready, but not respectful, reply. 
 
 Mr. Knolles, the master of the South Union hounds 
 in Cork, was with them very nearly up to his death, 
 though, I believe, something more than an octogenarian 
 a very patriarch of pursuit ! 
 
 Of the Clonmult hounds, Mr. E. Fitzgerald's, I 
 cannot spea'k from personal observation, but I believe 
 that, with some cranks of composition, their owner was 
 a sportsman, a good rider, and a fair judge of hounds 
 and horses. He died from the effects of a fall on the 
 road when going to join a friend's funeral. The 
 United 'Hunt have bought his pack, who, I am told, 
 hunted truly. By all accounts, their kennel manage- 
 ment was not in accordance with " the system of 
 Meynell," for when "flesh" was obtained for them, 
 they were, I have heard, invited to tear the defunct 
 animal, whether horse or donkey, to pieces, without 
 any previous preparation or skinning, much less boil- 
 ing. Actseon would have had a poor chance with 
 them ! 
 
 A good many years ago, when making a tour in the 
 south of Ireland, I was requested by the Editor of the 
 " Field " to find out if the meets of a pack of hounds 
 regularly advertised in its columns were bogus or 
 genuine. I consulted an M.F.H. on the subject, and
 
 324 
 
 his advice was not to meddle in the matter, as I should 
 incur the hostility of an entire family, who, he be- 
 lieved, had a few hounds, and had a special reason for 
 advertising in the "field" on account of some rela- 
 tions or friends in America, from whom they had 
 expectations, or who had given them the pack in 
 trust, I forget which ; hut he added that the mission 
 was not quite safe, and that I had better not under- 
 take it. I took his advice, naturally ; but the general 
 opinion was that the meets were myths, more or less 
 I cannot say. 
 
 Cork and Devonshire have some points of re- 
 semblance the love of hounds, horses, and hunting 
 is common to both. Mr. Donovan, the eminent dealer 
 in horses and a pillar of the hunting state in Cork, 
 will, I am sure, forgive me if I relate a story told to 
 me about him. He was riding a run in his native 
 county, and, "taking a heavy toss," as they put it, got 
 mixed up with his mount and had his leg broken. 
 While he was being extricated by the friendly field 
 from his position of peril, the character and " honour " 
 of his horse was the thought uppermost in his mind, 
 and he said, " Gentlemen, I call on you all to bear 
 witness that it was not my hunter's fault." 
 
 The combination of res anyusta domi and devotion to 
 sport was not uncommon in Ireland, and, amongst 
 others, Mr. Briscoe, of Tiuvane, Co. Kilkenny, one of 
 the best judges of hounds and horses to be met with, 
 possessed it, He mastered the Kilkenny hounds very 
 ably, and among stories told of him is one about his 
 being much mortified by finding a perfectly mounted
 
 325" 
 
 stranger out one day who, without unduly pressing the 
 pack, rode close to them and could not be shaken off. 
 Henry Briscoe saw that he had but one horse out, and 
 he knew that he had in waiting a marvellous stone 
 wall jumper for second horse, and so he soothed his 
 soul by muttering constantly, "Wait till I get him 
 into the pache (peach) gardens," for the walls were 
 something of that architectural type. 1 never heard 
 whether he defeated the visitor in this champ clos, or 
 whether the latter obtained the " mural crown." 
 
 Squire Isted was a well-known deaf and dumb 
 master of harriers in Northamptonshire. He always 
 carried about, even in the field, bits of paper and a 
 pencil to serve for conversation and the interchange of 
 ideas with his field. Lord Carberry in Ireland had a 
 family pack of harriers and was similarly affected. 
 Among the straightest riders to hounds was Mr. Burke, 
 of Carraroe, in the co. Roscommon, a one-armed sports- 
 man. One day, in Kildave, a very large field was jammed 
 in a long narrow lane near Bella Villa Gorse. A high 
 gate tied with straw ropes ("suggauns," in the vernacular) 
 blocked the way. No one would get off in the muddy 
 track, and, seeing the impasse, Mr. Burke said, (i I think, 
 gentlemen, I can help you." So, with only a few yards 
 of a run, his good hunter jumped as far as he could, 
 and smashed it. His brother, Major Burke, of the 
 14th Hussars, is well known. Mr. Burke gave me a 
 capital mount once in Galway, who topped as many 
 walls as he could. 
 
 In the earlier portion of these recollections I ven- 
 tured to make a suggestion as to the expediency of
 
 326 
 
 building houses for masters near their kennels, so that 
 masters, who occasionally, and sometimes very success- 
 fully, hunt their own hounds, might know and be 
 known by them. As example is sometimes the best of 
 arguments, let me illustrate the case of an absentee 
 master from kennel, who, a good sportsman, and a very 
 fine rider, yet was not much of a houndman, and did 
 not often repair to his kennels. The pack had gone 
 the night before to a friend's house, who put up men, 
 hounds, and horses, as well as the master himself ; the 
 day had only begun to shorten perceptibly, and some 
 one suggested a walk out to a small barn or outhouse 
 in some fields, where the hounds had been located for 
 the night ; in an evil hour the M.F.H. took his friend 
 out to the temporary kennels, bringing none of the 
 whips or hunt servants, or even a horn. As soon as 
 the doors were opened, an avalanche of hound flesh 
 poured down from the benches, and ignoring their 
 master and his friend, spread all over the country, to be 
 collected together with great difficulty by their 
 experts. 
 
 Another tale of an enthusiastic M.F.H. who was 
 devoted to his hounds and his county merits mention 
 here. About ten or twelve miles from the county 
 kennels, kept at the master's place, dwelt " a mad 
 doctor," that is to say, a sane surgeon, who kept a 
 private asylum for the cerebrally affected. The M.F.H. 
 was a light bob, the mad doctor a very heavy dragoon, 
 and withal very powerful ; he was as fond of hunting 
 as the M.F.H. in question, and kept a private pack not 
 only for his own delectation and that of his sporting
 
 327 
 
 friends, but also remedially on scientific grounds, 
 knowing that, if music hath charms to soothe the 
 savage breast, this lovely form of hound harmony might 
 touch responsive chords among his patients. I cannot 
 say whether he ever "shook out a fox," but it was 
 reported by ill-natured gossip that he did so, and the 
 rumour reached the M.F.H., who, being hasty and 
 choleric, ordered his trap forthwith, and drove to the 
 mad doctor's. Admitted to the presence, he was so 
 overpowered by his sense of anger and indignation at 
 the violation of the canons of the chase, that he com- 
 menced an incoherent tirade against the mad medico, 
 who conceived that here, if anywhere, was a case self- 
 delivered into his hands, so he rang the bell, and 
 presently an attendant of power and capacity appeared 
 on the scene, and was desired to bring down at once 
 a strait-waistcoat, handcuffs, and other paraphernalia 
 of the prison house. The M.F.H., a sharp sensible 
 man when not carried away by his hunting hobby, 
 instantly saw the situation, and " stole away," like one 
 of his favourite foxes, nor did he repeat the visit or the 
 charges. 
 
 The tale reminds one of Jorrocks' great run with the 
 sequences. 
 
 In writing about Jamaica and my horso experiences 
 there, I mentioned how swimming in the sea had 
 proved a successful method of training in one case, 
 where others had failed egregiously. Let me here 
 introduce to the reader an Irish farmer of most sport- 
 ing proclivities, a capital man to hounds, a capital man 
 between flags, and a somewhat successful trainer
 
 328 
 
 withal. His name is Hanaway, a well-known figure 
 at most courses in Ireland, who hardly looked the 
 perfect jock in silk or satin, but was very hard to 
 defeat, whether in the matter of cool calculation of 
 chances or resolute riding. His most notable feat in 
 the matter of training was winning the Conyngham 
 Cup at Punchestown (a preliminary canter for more 
 than one Liverpool or Auteuil chase) with " John 
 Kane," a well-bred cast-off from some training etable, for 
 he was by " Blue Gown" " Tea Rose," a horse of good 
 shape, but not quite free from some of the infirmities 
 of nobler horses, nor could the win be deemed an acci- 
 dent or a surprise, for he assured me many days before 
 the meeting that he was bound to win. I have, however, 
 my own notion that a slushy course and the fine hand- 
 ling of his jockey, Mr. Phelan, who, en amateur, turned 
 Mr. Burke's hounds to him, had much to do with the 
 result. However, the method of training pursued by 
 Mr. Hanaway was to let the horses train themselves 
 by loosing them riderless and bridleless in his own 
 large fields, when they could gallop about till they 
 were tired, and jump as many fences in his course as 
 they pleased. I believe the stimulus of a few dogs was 
 occasionally added, though he did not copy the almost 
 automatic spur of the Corso at Eome. 1 do not think 
 this " plan of campaign " will meet with general 
 approval or supersede the Newmarket systems I 
 should add that stallions and mares galloped loose 
 together, save under certain circumstances ; while on the 
 subject I may mention that in Jamaica I put a stallion 
 and a mare in harness together with capital result; the
 
 329' 
 
 horse was a huge thoroughbred of great power, but 
 with his head badly set on, arid I could only match 
 him with this large mare. With an American buggy 
 behind them they literally seemed to "devour the 
 ground " and despise distances. Here I may mention 
 that an American buggy may be as handy and useful 
 as any English trap, if built with a fifth wheel for turn- 
 ing easily. 
 
 I confess I was always slightly sceptical as to the 
 tale of " Harkaway," the property of Mr. Ferguson, 
 being regularly hunted thrice weekly, at the time 
 6,000 was offered for him. This Mr. Ferguson began 
 life, I believe, in Cavan, which, though a very grassy 
 county, is hardly an ideal hunting land, as the fields 
 are small and the banks rather " rotten." However, at 
 one time, commencement, pas fin de sieclc, it was occu- 
 pied by six packs of harriers, and the hunting spirit 
 was pervasive in its borders. I recollect hearing a 
 story of a guest who was staying in a country house 
 there opening his window very early, arid starting at 
 seeing what he conceived must be a ghost, in a white 
 figure careering round a field on horseback at full 
 speed. A few minutes enabled him to discover that it 
 was a son of the house giving himself and his hunter a 
 breather, the costume of the rider being slippers and 
 a night shirt. In this county was a family of some dis- 
 tinction, whose four sons carried out their proclivities 
 for hunting, shooting, fishing, and gardening so 
 vigorously that their neighbours christened them 
 respectively " Nimrod," " Ramrod," " Fishing-rod,'' and 
 " Pea-rod." It was in the next county to this, Leitriui,
 
 330 
 
 that a worthy flourished who commanded the county 
 yeomanry, and was so full of poetic afflatus, that his 
 friends actually claimed Campbell's beautiful poem, 
 " the Exile of Erin," as his inspiration, whereas he had 
 really written a poem on a similar theme in the same 
 measure. This C.O. is said to have dismissed and 
 dispersed his regiment in these terms : 
 
 " Attention ! 
 
 From your saddles to your straddles repair, 
 From your boots to your brogues, 
 To the mountains, you rogues, 
 
 As you were ! " 
 
 It was in an adjoining county that a bucolic country 
 gentleman lived, of whom this tale is told. He was 
 doing the galleries, &c., in town, and was a most counj 
 (not horsey) man, and was a fine judge of bullocks and 
 heifers, but hardly a connoisseur in art. " Just look at 
 these Cuyps," quoth his cicerone, enthusiastically. 
 " Cuyps, Cuyps, I tell you they're heifer , and bad 
 heifers too for the matter of that." It was, I believe, 
 a Cavan squire of high degree who was wont to drive 
 his coach to the market of the county town. There he 
 usually dined, and his " hearty " habits were so well 
 known by hisjidus Achates, that he had a set of reins 
 fastened to the terrets, which he used to place in the 
 squire's hands, while he himself tooled the team with 
 the real ribands, safety and honour being thus pro- 
 vided for and respected. Irish horses have become 
 hard to buy and dear in their native land now, but 
 bargains are still to be picked up there. The Master* 
 of the Plains of Boyle harriers bought four years ago
 
 331 
 
 from a small farmer for 28 a chestnut horse that had 
 been purchased by the farmer at a fair for 9. The 
 next sale was, I think, 150 ; the fourth, 250 ; and 
 at '' Tatt.'s " this horse made 560 guineas, although 
 blemished. One of the finest welter weight horses I 
 recollect seeing run in Ireland was " Rory of the Hills," 
 a favourite mount of Garrett Moore's man3 r years ago. 
 I cannot say what he realised when sold, but some one 
 probably bought him cheap, as 'twas said that one of 
 his early owners, a sporting farmer, was so out of hay 
 and straw, and perhaps corn, that he robbed a roof 
 of its thatch to give him provender and bedding ! 
 
 I introduced an anecdote about the late Lord Fermoy 
 just now. He Hid not in Ireland, I believe, sacrifice 
 greatly to the graces, though his son and heir, who 
 follows in his sporting footsteps, does so considerably, 
 and this is stated to explain the point of the anecdote. 
 At his death his horses were sent to a famous repository 
 in the south of Ireland for disposal, and the proprietor 
 of this mart was a man of ready repartee and much 
 shrewdness of mind and tongue. One of these hunters, 
 a horse of great power and high character, had been 
 his lordship's favourite mount, and so may have been 
 presumed to have done an extra share of work, of which 
 of course he bore the marks, high in the bone and 
 low in the flesh ; but he was well known, and many 
 wanted him ; at last a Saxon sportsman outbid all 
 Celtic competitors in his bids (by letter), and he was 
 transferred to a palatial establishment in England, 
 where little work and exuberant condition was the rule 
 of the stable. A few months after this, 'tis said, the
 
 332 
 
 present Lord Fermoy, who had been invited to look 
 over the hunting stable, saw a magnificently capa- 
 risoned horse in a box in front of him, and was asked 
 by the owner if he recognised him. " Indeed, I do not," 
 was the reply. " What ! not recognise your fathers 
 favourite ? " The metamorphosis that feeding and 
 hours of idleness had caused, added to the splendour of 
 sheets, however, prevented all recognition ; and, upon 
 this, emptor's suspicions were aroused, and he wrote a 
 furious letter to the seller in Ireland, stating that he 
 feared he must have been imposed upon, and sent the 
 wrong horse. No mistake had been made, and the 
 seller added as a postscript, " Maybe, my Lord, if Lord 
 Fermoy were to have met his ow r n father in a new suit 
 of clothes he would not have recognised him ! " 
 . On another occasion a dealer in Dublin had been 
 endeavouring in vain to find a suitable charger, blood, 
 bone and breeding, style and action, for a smart cavalry 
 colonel, who, educated in the Cardigan school, was 
 fastidious to a degree. At last the despairing dealer 
 had a happy inspiration, and said, " I think I can show 
 you the horse you want." He drove him there and then 
 to Foley's statue of Field Marshal Lord Gough in the 
 Phoenix Park, who is mounted on a bronze beauty among 
 chargers. A philhippic Bishop once wrote to " Market 
 Harborough Brown " to ask if he thought eyes were 
 absolutely necessary for a hunter, as he had a fine colt 
 who had but one. " I think, my Lord," was the answer, 
 " that hunters want at least two eyes in their heads, 
 and, if possible, one in their tails." 
 
 I think this tale of a boot, nay, of a pair of boots,
 
 333 
 
 may not prove bootless in the event of a similar 
 emergency, and we know history has a trick of repeating 
 itself, 
 
 New boots are one of the minor plagues of life. The 
 wearing of a new pair of snow-boots that came up 
 almost to my thigh in " the Rockies " nearly cost me 
 my life, for their weight wearied me out, and when I 
 returned to camp I fell asleep before the fire, and one 
 foot got frost-bitten, while no medical comforts were at 
 hand to dress it. On another occasion I was asked to 
 a pleasant house in Ireland for a meet of the county 
 hounds on the following day; the weather was broken, 
 I missed a train, and had to drive a long distance on a 
 car, not too well horsed so far as speed went, while 
 snow retarded our progress greatly. Wishing to travel 
 with as light a portmanteau as I could, I put on a pair 
 of new butcher boots, and travelled in them, thereby 
 hoping to economise space, and adapt the leather to the 
 natural last. The dinner hour had long been passed 
 when I arrived, and I was requested to come down as I 
 was, after the necessary ablutions ; after dinner there 
 was a long sederunt in the tabagie, and the morning 
 hours were beginning to wax large rather than small 
 ere we broke up for bed. As bad luck would have it, 
 there was no bootjack in the room I occupied, and, of 
 course, it was too late to riug for assistance. I had. 
 tried everything, even to the bannisters, but the new 
 leather stuck like glue, or a shirt of Nessus (if we 
 must have a classical simile). The prospect of sitting 
 down all night before your fire and getting broken bits 
 of sleep only for restauration and refreshment was not
 
 334 
 
 pleasant, but it seemed inevitable, when the happy 
 thought struck me that the tongs in the grate might 
 give one the necessary fulcrum if applied to the rung 
 of a chair. They acted perfectly, and since then I have 
 looked upon bootjacks as, of course, most useful, but 
 not absolutely indispensable. The average pursuer may 
 not be aware that in the absence of " trees " oats 
 poured or shovelled into your boots will supply their 
 place after a fashion. 
 
 While one is recounting ana of Ximrods old and 
 Nimrods young, that " tale of a tuft " that has often 
 leen heard in " Peckwater " should not be forgotten; 
 its hero has long since blossomed into a very leading 
 light of the turf. The practice of " grinds " was a very 
 favourite one at Oxford on days when from some cause 
 or another fox-hunting or the Christ Church drag were 
 impossible. They very often led to rows, more or less 
 serious, but a little timely largesse, and a quiet tongue 
 full only of the soft timely speech that turneth away 
 wraih, generally availed to extricate the victim of 
 bucolic fury when his horse failed to do so. On the 
 occasion referred to half-a-dozen of these lively 
 " larkers " were caught in a cul de sac ; the farmer was 
 present with his labourers, all armed of course with the 
 instruments of husbandry. Triptolemus was on this 
 occasion inexorable ; he said his crops had been 
 ravaged by " the hoof of the ruthless invader" for a lon<r 
 
 O / o 
 
 time, and that flesh and blood could not stand the out- 
 rages perpetrated by academic youths on " hirelings " 
 any longer. Would they give their names and colleges ? 
 No. Well he would escort them into Oxford, and hand
 
 335 
 
 them over himself to the authorities. So with his body- 
 guard he marched the prisoners towards the City of 
 Spires, but on the way he indulged in friendly conver- 
 sation with them, and found them all good fellows. 
 One, the hero of the yarn, professed to be greatly struck 
 by the cob Triptolemus was riding, and showed a 
 desire to buy, and got down to inspect him, look at his 
 mouth, &c. The farmer was full of selling hope, and 
 had let go the reins, when our friend, who had furtively 
 undone the throat-lash, whipped off the headstall, while 
 a "pal" gave him a sharp cut with his whip, and 
 Dobbin making a volte-face, galloped home with his 
 burden the terrified Triptolemus while the " grinders" 
 spurred on their hacks and escaped. 
 
 I do not know what hunting county this yarn pertains 
 to, but I think the scene of it was in England rather 
 than Ireland ; a well-known young sportsman had 
 come down to join a smart pack, where the M.F.H., a 
 beau of better days, or at any rate younger ones, was a 
 martinet so far as he could be about dress, and set a 
 splendid example in his own well-groomed, well 
 valeted person. This stranger sportsman was not 
 arrayed with the neatness characteristic of the Fopshire 
 followers, and his hireling hunter and his appointments 
 did not show the polish customary to the cavalry of 
 this chase ; but whether his hide was psoric or not, 
 the first thing he did when he reached the ploughed 
 field near the covert, where the beauty and chivalry of 
 Fopshire was congregated, was to roll in the loam, 
 utterly regardless of his rider or appearances. 
 
 Now this rolling trick is as contagious as yawning
 
 336 
 
 among humans coughing in church or a concert room 
 or the tarantula dance among the Mediterranean 
 mediaevals, especially the Sicilians, and presently the 
 master's gee-gee and half a dozen more were rolling in 
 ecstasy, and fouling the exquisites who rode them 
 sadly. When the M.F.H. had recovered, and got 
 partially cleaned, he rode up to the stranger and asked 
 him what he meant by bringing that circus horse into 
 the field, with such horrible tricks ! " Well, yes," said 
 the visitor, " it's true he is a circus horse, but if he had 
 not met ' the merryman ' he would not have thought it 
 necessary to perform!' 
 
 Among memorabilia of hunting annals in Ireland, 
 two cases occur to -my recollection of strangers being 
 rashly entrusted with county packs, with hardly any 
 enquiry into credentials or recommendations. The 
 county suffered severely in both cases. In one, a 
 gentleman of means, whom I had met in England in 
 the hunting field, was very anxious to be appointed 
 to the vacancy. I duly submitted his name to the 
 Committee, and said all E knew about him, which, 
 however, did not amount to a great deal, as our 
 acquaintance was slight ; and I could not assure them 
 of my own knowledge that he had all the sporting and 
 other requisites for mastership, though he may have 
 possessed them in an eminent degree. Instead of this 
 solvent sportsman, the reins of office were handed over 
 to " a gentleman from England," who, I have no doubt, 
 had plenty of keenness and sporting "element,'"' but he 
 lacked cash, and the result was rather disastrous 
 financially. Another gentleman was similarly invested
 
 33? 
 
 with the horn of" office in a western county without 
 enquiry or production of reference. I believe this 
 man, too, would have succeeded had " his ship " arrived 
 in time ; as it did not, he decamped, and I fancy left a 
 few lamenting. Gossip, too, was busy with the internal 
 arrangements of "the castle," which he rented, and, 
 indeed, a Surtees might have added a new novel to his 
 charming series that tells of "Soapy sponge" and 
 " Facey Eomford," et id genus. How this ex-master 
 must laugh at the recollections of his seasons in the 
 Green Isle, and the Green Landers he met, for he was a 
 humourist, and, indeed, I may add, a very pleasant 
 fellow to ride home with. The Irish have ever been 
 held to be incuriosi suorum, but experience has now 
 taught thorn that native masters often prove first-rate, 
 though, like prophets, they find scant honour in their 
 own country. Several Irishmen have done well abroad, 
 as, for instance, at Pau, and English countries have been 
 offered to well known Irish masters. 
 
 I intended to have said something about the more 
 remarkable riders I had met in the course of my 
 journeyings to and fro the labour would be light, for 
 it is a pleasure to write about the doers of " deeds of 
 derrin do " in the saddle, and to chronicle the chivalry 
 of the chase, but when the number is so large, the nation 
 being qud riding goes "chivalrous," it would be 
 both a tedious task and an invidious one. " Come here 
 my lad and ride this horso over the river," said a well- 
 known peer, who had made his mark in the Shires 
 some decades previously, to a boy who was looking on 
 from a rustic bridge at the " divarshbn" of a run, " and 
 
 2 D
 
 338 
 
 I'll give you half-a-crown." "Faix yer anner, I'd be 
 glad to do that same for nothing" was the lad's 
 reply, and a lad like this might have been found 
 within many Irish hunting limits. A few paragraphs 
 might, however, be devoted to distinguished hunt 
 servants, whether born on the eastern or western side 
 of the dividing Channel. In Kildare my memory 
 carries me back to Stephen Good all, who hunted the 
 hounds during the mastership of Lords Clonmell and 
 Mayo, a tall, thin, hatchet-faced man, sitting on his 
 horse like a pair of tongs, intent upon what his hounds 
 were doing, and little else. His riding looked auto- 
 matic, if I may use the term, horse and man being, for 
 the moment, machines in connection with the pack. 
 Both masters mounted him well, and he well deserved 
 the best that money and judgment could buy, as he 
 hardly deviated from the direct line, and his hunters 
 seemed one and all to sympathise with him, though he 
 hardly touched their heads. While he was at Palmers- 
 town, where the kennels were kept in Lord Mayo's 
 time, a curious thing happened which can, I believe, be 
 well vouched. Coming home one spring evening, he 
 saw a bitch that was rearing some puppies carry off a 
 baby that was in a perambulator towards her sucklings. 
 Goodall was off his horse in a second and, finding a 
 loaded gun in the hall, shot the bitch then and there ; 
 the bitch was a very valuable one, but Lord Mayo, of 
 course, approved of the action ; the baby had a wonder- 
 ful escape, for it was uninjured. In the last century 
 there were instances, I believe, of hounds eating hunt 
 servants ; now they occasionally eat each other.
 
 339 
 
 "Will Freeman, who hunted this pack for some 
 seasons, was a very resolute rider, and the current joke 
 was " where there's a Will, there's a Avay." 
 
 Frank Goodall, who now hunts the Kildare hounds 
 so successfully, made his cUlut in Meath, where he and 
 Mr. Trotter were always in front (rival riders some 
 said), although the latter was far less particular about 
 his mount than his huntsman, and would often 
 exchange with him. Always hard, Frank Goodall has 
 moulded by degrees into a very judicious and fine rider 
 over any Irish county, and as a huntsman he has 
 managed to please an almost hypercritical field. 
 
 W. Scarth, who hunted the Kildare hounds under 
 Sir Edward Kennedy, was a beautiful horseman, and 
 sometimes rode to perfection. He was, however, what 
 the French call journalier. He had his day, and was 
 very uneven. Sir Edward told me that so particular 
 was Scarth about " hanging a good boot," that he wore 
 no stockings, not even silk ones. A serious sacrifice to 
 TO TrpeTTov (toe). 
 
 Johnny Wallis, who hunts the hounds of the United 
 Hunt in Cork, is said to do so admirably, and to be ever 
 near them. But few men in Ireland have ever elicited 
 more universal admiration than the late Lord Doneraile's 
 huntsman, Johnny Walsh the darling of the Dnhallows ; 
 he was as quick as thought, and as good in the kennel 
 as in the field. 
 
 Jack Press was considered by many in Meath, where 
 he hunted the county hounds for several seasons, a 
 first-class huntsman ; a few critics placed him in the 
 second : but of his fine riding there could be but one 
 
 2 D 2
 
 340 
 
 opinion, for he learned the secret of getting over Meath 
 in a very few weeks, and got wonderfully few falls 
 considering how he rode there, hunting six days a week 
 regularly ; for, though the county pack only came out 
 five days per week, Mr. Trotter invariably made him 
 accompany him to the Ward meet on the sixth by way 
 of giving him a holiday, and the distances in Meath are 
 more than double the usual ones in England. He is 
 now in Galway, and takes to the walls like a child of 
 Connaught or Connemara, 
 
 In marshalling eminent hunt servants in Ireland, 
 the illustrious name of Charley Briudley should never 
 be passed over sub silentio. He was brought into 
 Ireland from Staffordshire by the late Lord Howth, at the 
 time he bought Sir Thomas Stanley's pack, and trans- 
 ferred them to the Dublin county. Charley Brindley 
 was rather in the sere and yellow leaf when I first saw 
 him hunting the Ward Union Staghounds, but even 
 then he was quite a personage, as well as a persona 
 grata to all hunting men ; and his knowledge, good 
 judgment, firmness, and admirable manner combined to 
 make him an authority, and like Wordsworth's ideal 
 woman formed " to guide, to govern, and command.' 
 Even staghounds fail to " go on for ever " like the Tenny- 
 sonian brook, and when his hounds were at fault and 
 threatened by a thrusting mob, his "really, gentlemen, 
 this is scandalous" brought the field to ' attention/' 
 He was splendidly mounted, and the Empress of 
 Austria purchased his well-known grey mare, " the 
 Widow," for her own use. When he found years and 
 infirmities creeping on him (he rode straight to the last,
 
 311 > 
 
 Imt could not ride every horse),- he. resigned in favour of 
 his son, Jem Brindley, who, with very scanty field 
 support from his executive, manages to keep up the 
 prestige of his pack untarnished and undiniinished ; 
 though it must be confessed that a vox audoritatis 
 would help him greatly in his duties, for hounds get 
 demoralised by constant overriding. Neither father nor 
 son ever were gallery riders; but, crossing about the 
 largest county in the world, few have ever gone 
 straighter, with fewer falls, or smaller strain on horse 
 llesh. Jem Brindley every now and then has "a 
 flutter " with foxhounds, but he considers the sport very 
 secondary to stag-hunting. Leather was considered 
 supreme in the same way. Few men in life com- 
 manded more respect than Charley Brindley ; his 
 funeral cortege was enormous, and a very neat obelisk 
 was erected to his memory, near Ashbourne. 
 
 George Woodman, now the huntsman of the County 
 Down Staghounds, was another first-rate importation 
 into Ireland. He turned for Jem Brindley for several 
 seasons ; then followed Lord Spencer to the North 
 Pytchley country, and, I believe, wherever he has been 
 he has given the utmost satisfaction. I am pleased to 
 be able to state this, as I was responsible for bringing 
 him over at the request of Mr. Leonard Morrogh. 
 
 Will Matthews is identified with the Westmeath 
 Hounds. He has served many masters there, and 
 ] 'leased all ; and though no longer in his first youth, is 
 as fond of a good gallop, and as keen to ride as ever. 
 
 Harry Hardy, too, is almost part and parcel of 
 the Louth establishment, with which he has been con-
 
 342 
 
 nected for many years, to the great advantage of the 
 pack. 
 
 Mick Connors, now, I believe, emeritus, served many 
 years as first whip in that admirable but arduous 
 school of Ballydarton, whose principal is Mr. Robert 
 Watson, and who still not un frequently, after a hard 
 day's hunting in his "Wexford country, has between 
 twenty and thirty miles to ride to his Carlow home. 
 Mountains here form a barrier between "the garden 
 county " and the sea-board ; mountains that are light 
 enough to ride over in many places, but very severe in 
 their gradients. From some unexplained cause or 
 other, Mick's mount, as first whip on a day when the 
 Carlow and Island Hounds met in that wild region, 
 was a highly bred young horse, who was notorious as a 
 hard puller, and who was wonderfully free with his 
 hind legs. Mick was not young, but he was very 
 brave, and remarked as he mounted, " that Slieve Buoy 
 was a remarkably good bridle " (or as others might have 
 put it, curb). After a fine hill run, some one asked 
 Mick how he had fared, " Faith," said he, " by the time 
 we were on the crest of the ridge, the baste was quite 
 paceable, and at the end of the run, a child might have 
 milked him." 
 
 The language of the country folk in regard to the 
 chase is often veiy pointed and picturesque. I was 
 asking a man about a horse's performance across 
 country, when his description was, " Well now, he's a 
 very stammering lepper." A volume of epithets could 
 not have given a more graphic picture cf a nervous, 
 faint-hearted hunter. " Have you seen the hounds ? "
 
 343 
 
 quoth a belated or thrown out pursuer to a labourer. 
 " No, Sorr, I havn't, but there's great ' horning ' going 
 on down in the valley." " What sort of weather have 
 you had down here this week ? " " Well, yer anuer, 
 there's been a great ' wrastle ' between frost and snow of 
 late, and the weather's mighty ' brittle.' " " Foxy Jack " 
 was the name by which Lord Spencer was known 
 among the proletariat of Paddy Land, while the haute 
 vutte only got as far as the " Eed Earl." His brother, 
 " Bobby " Spencer, whom some of the wits of the H.C. 
 christened the "Inarticulate Adonis," from his good looks 
 smartness of style, and silence, used to hunt a little in 
 Ireland, and on one occasion fancied that a brigade of 
 brigands were about to loot him, when he was cut off 
 from his company by his hunter's refusal of a fence, or 
 some such cause. He had a very large note in his 
 pocket, for whose safety he was solicitous, and when a 
 few runners and " corner boys " swarmed round him, and 
 told him to " stand." he compounded by tossing them 
 all the silver he had, and riding off; really "the boys" 
 only wanted the price of a drink, but then, even a 
 Liberal M.P. from England does not know " all about 
 Ireland and the Irish," though these pundits fancy they 
 do, and claim to be the patentees of all knowledge of 
 the Irish question. 
 
 When I wrote, a few pages ago, about the general 
 acumen of editors, who may be, and probably are, 
 utterly ignorant of many matters treated in their 
 columns, I had in my mind's eye an ins'.a ice within my 
 own ken and purview. When at one of the horse shows 
 at Olympia, I recollect I was asked to judge, along with
 
 3*4 
 
 Lord Tredegar and Captain Ker, our proceedings were 
 commented on in the Press, and what was my surprise 
 to tind that a writer of considerable vogue and ability 
 had imagined that he was looking at a race or steeple- 
 chase when the competing horses were sent round the 
 ring or course, and wrote accordingly. His description 
 was good enough, if he had only had connaissance de 
 cause. As for sporting solecisms in the Press, and 
 occasionally in books too, there is no lack of them ! I 
 read in a journal of immense circulation an account of 
 a hunted stag " going to ground," though the details of 
 this new subterranean departure were unfortunately 
 omitted. I can hardly credit the assertion that fox- 
 hounds hunted a fox in a plough county in England for 
 an hour and three-quarters without a check, though I 
 read it vouched by high authority ; nor can I conceive 
 what manner of hunters could have lived with them in 
 this ploughy pursuit, and I may add that, having in 
 my day found it hard enough to kill snipe with small 
 shot, I am amazed at the accounts hazarded of their 
 being brought to bag by rifle bullets. But this is an 
 age of progress ! On another occasion, writing about a 
 gentleman whip to a pack of hounds, in describing his 
 turning the pack, the editor improved the copy by sub- 
 stituting " returned," or some similar word ! We can 
 recollect Surtees' skit about the pack that " scorned to 
 cry," and " the ravi Jiing bouquet," but I was astonished 
 to read in a clever, well edLed paper the other day of a 
 fox pointing his snout to such a place ; as to " the clogs 
 barking," as a description of hounds in full cry it is 
 common enough.
 
 345: 
 
 I have said nothing about politics, which in Ireland- 
 are nearly as sickening as in America, where politicians- 
 are looked upon somewhat worse than "the pirates" 
 were in early Attica. In the almost complete exclusion 
 of the upper classes of all creeds from the management 
 of the affairs of the country, circumstances, legislation, 
 and, to a great extent, the want of patriotism and 
 prudence in the gentry, are responsible. An O'Connell 
 was impossible, had wise or generous counsels prevailed 
 in England and Ireland.* The Parnell phalanx a 
 fighting phalanx was the outcome of neglect, apathy, 
 and jobbery on the part of the natural leaders of 
 the people, a people most eminently ductile, and 
 inclined to follow their chiefs with blind obedience. 
 This fighting phalanx, weak, as a rule, in the advantages 
 of birth and breeding things greatly prized in Ireland 
 but strengthened by severe drill and discipline, and 
 by its singleness of aim and purpose, and with fair- 
 business capacity, mastered the rules of the House, and 
 became by degrees une quantitd pas ntyligeable. We 
 know its history, and how it became the arbiter of 
 parties in the State, gradually achieving its ostensible 
 aim and purpose, the crushing of landlord influence 
 and power, and the aggrandisement of the peasantry. 
 The resistance encountered was feeble to the last 
 degree. There was no cohesion, no union to speak of, on 
 the part of the lords of the soil, and the wedge was 
 driven in deeper and deeper by a matchless organisa- 
 tion of priests and people. It is true the popular com- 
 bination was occasionally led into serious mistakes, ana 
 
 Or Mr. Sharman Crawford's proposals considered.
 
 S46 
 
 their very successes led to arrogance and outrecuidance in 
 action on several occasions ; on the whole, however, 
 they were most ably generalled; bub the opposition was 
 very weak, for it has been seen that wherever there was 
 cohesion and organisation on the side of the landlords 
 there complete triumph followed. 
 
 It may be said that I am a shoemaker guilty of not 
 sticking to his last " ne sutor," you know but, on the 
 other hand, I may say, 
 
 " Equitantern dicere verum 
 Quid vetat?" 
 
 and having been born and bred in the country, I may 
 be supposed to know nearly as much about it as some 
 of the Dulcamaras of the day. I have not ever gone 
 into politics, or expressed opinions on the subject, till 
 within the years of the present decade, when indifference 
 or neutrality became something of a civic crime. I 
 forget how many years ago but I should think about 
 ten or eleven I was living at Enfield, in a house 
 which had been the hotel of the Royal Canal in the 
 pre-railway days, when the passengers of the fly-boats 
 stopped for their breakfast en route to or from the west. 
 Seven or eight minutes only were allowed for this rapid 
 repast, but 011 one occasion a clever passenger managed 
 to extend the time thus. There had been a crowd, and 
 he had hardly swallowed a mouthful when the signal 
 for starting was made. The passengers ran off, but this 
 man stuck to his rashers and eggs, and, seeing the room 
 clear, put all the silver spoons in the big teapot. The 
 waiter came in, and, missing his plate, ran to the boat 
 to give the alarm of robbeiy and "silver guilt;" by thi*
 
 time our friend had quite assuaged his appetite, and 
 going to the boat told the perturbed waiter to look in 
 the " taypot." This digression over, let me state that as 
 my hours for returning home from distant hunting 
 grounds varied from 6 p.m. to 3 a.m., I gave a standing 
 order that cold meat, liquors, &c., should be left on the 
 table, with a kettle to make tea, if desired on the 
 hob. 
 
 Returning one evening pretty early, I went into the 
 dining-room and found a number of gentlemen sitting 
 round the fire. I asked them what I could do to serve 
 them, and so on, when their spokesman asked me if I 
 should like to be returned to the House of Commons 
 for my county. Of course I said " Yes, very much, but 
 that I could not compass the expense." "Oh, never 
 mind the expense, we'll see to that." " But then, gentle- 
 men, I suppose I should have to take some pledges?" 
 " Of course," was their reply. " Well then, gentlemen," 
 I said, " let me assure you that I am greatly flattered 
 by your proposal, but that every idea I have in the 
 world in the matter of politics is probably directly 
 opposed to yours ; so let us have a drink together, and 
 part the best of friends." I have not repented my 
 decision since. 
 
 The Irish landlords, like Sarmatia, have fallen 
 
 " Unwept without a crime." 
 
 The law found them weak, and neither laws nor law 
 makers interest themselves greatly about the weak. 
 They were an anomaly, one cf many hundreds in 
 Ireland, having very little in common with the occu-
 
 piers of the soil; of "which they held the" fee, and whose 
 fruits they often spent in countries more congenial to 
 their tastes. In Tudor times the " sell or sail " principle 
 was applied to them, and absentees were forced to elect 
 between settlement or sequestration, just as the 
 pioneer in the Far West holds his prairie lands solely in 
 virtue of improvement and occupation ; but for subse- 
 quent centuries absenteeism flourished, and Ireland was- 
 depleted. The potato famine created a regime of many 
 new men and old acres. These novi homines looked 
 upon land as an investment, and required it to yield a 
 high percentage, at the expense of their tenants ; while- 
 land jobbers cleared the country wholesale of the 
 smaller holders, who failed to meet their views. These 
 clearances led to bloody reprisals on the part of the 
 evicted, and brought a bad name on the landlords of 
 Ireland, of whom the majority and these of old family 
 erred far more on the side of leniency and long 
 Gufiering than of hardship or inhumanity. Here is the 
 testimony of a hostile writer from the Nationalist 
 camp. " The majority of resident landlords did all in 
 their power when the famine appeared. Many land- 
 owners found themselves on the verge of ruin. They 
 had inherited property that was heavily mortgaged; 
 the money paid for rent did not remain in their hands, 
 but went to pay their creditors. The loss of a year's 
 rent brought them fatally near seizure and bankruptcy ; 
 yet it must be acknowledged that a great many of them, 
 who might have escaped disaster by hardship towards 
 their tenants, preferred their own ruin." 
 
 Nor should it be forgotten that while a great number
 
 349 
 
 of the proprietors were English or Scotch in blood and 
 ideas, and the descendants of grantees, undertakers, and 
 adventurers, another large proportion of proprietors 
 were bond fide English landlords, and therefore, it may 
 be presumed, incapable of the harrying and extortions 
 which are laid to the charge of their class by the 
 Parnellites, whose chief is himself a landlord and by no 
 means a lenient one ; indeed, he has confessed that, "a 
 Celtic Saul, "he persecuted the landlords" for his 
 purpose, namely, power and aggrandisement, for it 
 seems hard to believe that this hybrid Hibernian, said 
 to be a clever calculator, could have calmly contemplated 
 separation, or Home Eule, save as means to an end. 
 He was returned for Menth on the cry of migration, or 
 bringing the congestion of Connaught into the fertile 
 pastures of the Royal shire ; yet not a man was ever 
 " migrated," and his own scheme in that direction 
 attempted in Galway proved a miserable failure. As 
 the Dictator of Ireland, holding the representation as 
 "pocket " boroughs, he certainly succeeded ; but even 
 Sejanus fell as heavily as Hurnpty Dumpty, and 
 Lucifer's doom was " never to rise again " after lapsing.* 
 There can be no doubt that the Irish farmer owes 
 murh to Mr. Gladstone; but, after all, the average 
 farmer in three provinces is in a not much better 
 plight than he was when the Laud Bill was first . 
 passed ; nor is this condition due entirely to foreign 
 competition, as claimed, but rather to increased 
 expenditure (especially in liquor), to relaxation of 
 
 * This was written long before the split in the camp, and Mr. 
 ParneTs sai death in harness.
 
 energy, the demoralisation caused by uiromc agitat, 
 and the mirage of prairie rents and abolished, disestab- 
 lished landlords constantly floating before his eyes. 
 The Land Bills have enormously enriched the country 
 attorneys of these provinces, many of whom have been 
 making judicial incomes out of judicial rents. 
 
 In ancient Athens, Mr. Gladstone would probably 
 have been tried for the capital offence of debauching the 
 public mind, in which he has succeeded wonderfully. 
 
 One figure rises, like that of the King of Israel, a head 
 and shoulders above his fellow legislators and adminis- 
 trators, and that is Mr. Arthur Balfour's. His ccs triplex 
 of honesty of aim makes him invulnerable to the 
 attacks of the Patriots, and his determination to see 
 things for himself and brush away all cobwebs, whether 
 official or oppositionist as shown by his unarmed tour 
 through the West was a statesmanlike stroke of policy, 
 such as this generation has not seen. " Veni, ridi, vici " 
 might well be inscribed on his banner, and if ever 
 sculptor wanted a model for a statue of " Justice to 
 Ireland," Mr. Balfour should be taken as his model. 
 Opinions differ greatly as to the wisdom or unwisdom 
 of his inchoate Land Purchase Act. It is a desperate 
 remedy for a country to weed out its highest, most loyal, 
 and enlightened class ; for it is idle to imagine that 
 many, or at any rate the majority, of the present pro- 
 prietors will stay on in Ireland, powerless and future- 
 less ; but perad venture the Gordian knot had to be cut. 
 The attitude of the landlords who rally round Mr. 
 Balfour under these circumstances is truly touching. 
 It is a case of " Ave Caesar ! morituri te salutant."
 
 351 
 
 !N"o one can have lived long in Ireland without seeing 
 ho\v very much successive Ministries have governed ard 
 dealt with her for purely party purposes, and not in the 
 interest of the country ; from the Woolsack to the con- 
 stabulary recruit, partisanship is pervasive sometimes 
 glaringly, in other cases sparingly hut, all the same, it 
 is there, to the great detriment of the body politic, 
 however advantageous it may be to the body political. 
 This systematic jobbery partially led to the Home 
 Rule movement, and there can be no doubt that this 
 movement has done the State some service, and acted 
 the part of a vigilant opposition. Of course no one for 
 a moment supposes that if the Home Rule movement, 
 as shaped by Mr. Gladstone in 1886, proved a reality, 
 there would be a cessation of jobbery. It would 
 probably be greatly aggravated, only the channels of 
 promotion and influence would be different ; but no 
 shrewd, sensible Irishman, however he may shout for 
 this sort of Home Rule, really craves for it, or would be 
 satisfied to live under its sway, unless, indeed, he were 
 in the governing circle, the ruling ring! He is per- 
 fectly aware that he is subject to no practical coercion 
 under the present regime, that he is the freest agent in 
 the world, but that under native rule he would be a 
 comparative slave, as in many parts or Ireland he has 
 been, more or less, all his life, between spiritual coercion 
 that permeates his entire existence and tithes all his 
 earnings most scrupulously, and the coercion of political 
 tyrants, whose yoke he has lightly assumed, under the 
 plea of patriotism ; nor is it any relief to say, in the 
 language of the poet,
 
 352 
 
 " A tyrant, but our tyrants then 
 Were at the least our countrymen," 
 
 for domestic tyranny is even more galling than foreign. 
 There is one aspect of the Home llule cry and the 
 agitation that has been going on for the past decade or 
 more that has been generally overlooked. I mean the 
 social side of the question. The diffusion of education, 
 emigration, and the facilities of travelling, gradually 
 opened the eyes of a younger generation of Irishmen to 
 what they deemed the hardships and indignities of their 
 position in life. The equals, sometimes the superiors, 
 of the lords of the soil and their sons in knowledge and 
 capacity, they were socially their inferiors, and quite 
 excluded from any familiar intercourse with them, for 
 they knew and felt that the system of caste was almost 
 as rigid here as in India. The professions opened 
 avenues to ambition, to be sure, for la carritre was 
 ouverte a tons les talents, under certain conditions, but 
 the process seemed slow, and it was an easier and more 
 congenial work to pull down the landlord interest than to 
 level themselves up to it, and the attitude of some agents 
 to farmers and their sons even more distant and 
 haughty than that of the landlords aggravated the 
 mischief. Even the chase was, to a certain extent, 
 " privileged " arid exclusive, and the wisdom of broaden- 
 ing and popularising the institution had not revealed 
 itself. Allan McDonough, the famous cross-country 
 rider, for instance, who had settled in Kildare and had 
 good means, for a long time made it a grievance that he 
 was not allowed to ride in several races at the great 
 county meeting, either as farmer or gentleman ! Busi-
 
 353 
 
 ness had not, as in England, created an aristocracy of 
 its own, that would not be excluded, for business was 
 considered a degradation. For instance, when a friend of 
 mine, an English lady, remarked to the wife of a station- 
 master, at a very petty station, that it must be a com- 
 fort to them to live so near a country town, where the 
 shop-keepers formed a respectable class, she was quietly 
 shut up by the reply, " We never mix with business 
 people." This beats Castille ! 
 
 The Tories have been styled "the stupid party" 
 (though I think the reproach has been abundantly 
 wiped away within the last lustrum), and the majority 
 of the Irish gentry belongBd to this stupid party, who, 
 to a certain extent, enacted the role of ostriches, and 
 were blind to the signs of the impending storm, blinder 
 than the birds of whom we learn from that great 
 naturalist Virgil that 
 
 " Nunquam imprudentibus imber 
 Obfuifc." 
 
 However, that class has furnished both Church and 
 State with brilliant exceptions to this incriminating 
 sentence. From it arose our two greatest contemporary 
 strategists ; as Viceroys and diplomatists it can cite the 
 clara et venerabilia nomina of Lords Mouck, Dufferin, 
 Mayo, Abercorn, Lansdowne, Londonderry, of Lawrence 
 and Gillespie. Few men have wooed and won the muse 
 of poetry with greater success than Aubrey de Vere. 
 Among philanthropists, Lords Meath, Ardilaun. and Sir 
 Edward Guinness* are contemporaneously conspicuous. 
 Sir Howard Grubb and Sir Eobert Ball have enabled 
 
 * Now Lord Iveagli. 
 
 2 E
 
 us to learn on easier terms than before " The story of 
 the heavens." The late Doctor Magee and Doctor 
 Alexander are certainly not the least eloquent suc- 
 cessors of that brilliant Barnabas whom the contem- 
 porary crowd styled Hermes or Mercurius. In 
 mastering Parliamentary tactics, who has shown him- 
 self more consummately skilful than Parnell ? Who 
 has read the riddle of the Sphinx more deftly than Mr. 
 Villiers-Stewart, or who could have made a more 
 masterly application of the law to the business of life 
 and the facilitating of land purchase than Lord Cairns ? 
 These are but a few selections from a crowd of witnesses 
 in proof that the intellect of the Irish gentry has not 
 degenerated from its old high standard, though it must 
 be confessed that the plaint of the poet as to the virility 
 and patriotism of modern Greece found an echo in 
 Ireland during the past crisis 
 
 " Of the three hundred grant but three 
 To make a new Thermopylae ! " 
 
 But it may be asked why, -\\ith so much mental 
 power, did not the landed gentry and their scions make 
 a better stand in the battle of life? The condition of 
 tlrngs in Ireland was mainly against them, coupled 
 with the pervasive idea, in at least three provinces, that 
 trade and business were derogatory to dignity. Let me 
 take but a single instance, "e pluribus unum," as the 
 Yankee legend has it. A good many years ago, a clever 
 and enterprising aristocrat, Lord James Butler, uncle 
 to the present Marquis of Ormonde, essayed to fill 
 a vacuum, valde deflendum, in the milk supply of 
 Ireland's capital. He was met with such immense 
 indirect and semi-passive opposition from interested
 
 355 
 
 parties that he had to abandon a seemingly promising 
 enterprise. Instances of this kind could be multiplied 
 a volonte. The " fair field and no favour" was wholly 
 wanting, and even allowing that the details of such or 
 similar projects were not always planned with perfect 
 judgment, such failures prove abundantly that the 
 spirit of enterprise was not wholly wanting in the upper 
 classes, and that they were rather in advance of, than 
 behind, the masses. 
 
 A cause, not often cited, has done a good deal to 
 paralyse industry in Ireland that is, the pastoral 
 character of much of the country, in which the beasts 
 of the field made the rent revenue, besides an ample 
 margin of profit, by the mere process of mastication, just 
 as their owners helped to pay a portion of the National 
 Debt by quenching their thirst in the liquors of the land. 
 Agriculture is a far better school for thrift and 
 industry than " grazing," pure and simple. " E pur si 
 muove," Galileo's famous dictum, is true of Ireland, 
 however poets and patriots may rave as to " the Mobe 
 of Xations," and call Erin the Celtic Cinderella. Let 
 us trv to marshal a few names of those who have most 
 conspicuously contributed to her advance and improve- 
 ment within the last few decades, and among them I 
 would put Sir Robert Peel and Lord Derby quite in the 
 first rank, for the former statesman established the 
 Constabulary Corps, who have for the most part kept 
 the Queen's peace under all trials and circumstances ; 
 while the latter lit the torch of knowledge, " the wing 
 whereby we mount to heaven," according to Shake- 
 speare, in the establishment of national education. 
 
 2 E 2
 
 CTConnell broke the chains of intolerance and bigotry, 
 and achieved with apparently feeble means the eman- 
 cipation of some millions of his countrymen a Milesian 
 Moses. Mr. Gladstone, up to a point, did good to 
 Ireland. Michael Davitt, as the author of the National 
 League perverted as this great engine has been, and 
 soiled by all ignoble use must be looked upon as a 
 great power in the land, and to a certain extent a bene- 
 factor to the Milesian masses. Canon Bagot found a 
 land flowing with milk and honey indeed, but milk 
 without method of manufacture, and butter branded as 
 inferior. His energy and application have taught the 
 people generally " a better way." He has been a true 
 farmers' friend. Mr. Vere Poster, a Celtic Cadmus, has 
 improved the writing of the masses marvellously ; but he 
 did more. He went out in an emigrant ship to America 
 spontaneously, realised the horrors of the " middle 
 passage," and induced the Government to correct and 
 mitigate them. Lords Caledon, Ormonde, and "Water- 
 ford were pioneers in reviving the woollen industries of 
 Ireland, now very fairly flourishing. The Guinness 
 family have done much to recast and recreate Dublin, 
 while the Eoes and Findlaters have aided in this cause. 
 Harland and Wolff, Marcus Ward, and many similar 
 Belfast worthies have raised Belfast to the summit of 
 commercial fame. Father Davis and the Baroness 
 Burdett Coutts have aided materially in developing the 
 fishing industries of Ireland. 
 
 In the earlier portion of this volume, I introduced a 
 story, possibly apocryphal, of a padre who had threat- 
 ened to metamorphose a contumacious " gossoon " into
 
 357 
 
 a goat. Here is a pendant to it, but again, like 
 Herodotus, I must decline responsibility for its authenti- 
 city. A farmer had offended his priest for some cause 
 or another perhaps, like Jockon of Norfolk, he had 
 been "too bold," but, at any rate, "the holy man" 
 threatened to turn him into the form of a rat. The 
 man went home to his Lares and Penates, and boasted 
 how he had bearded the spiritual tyrant, and how the 
 latter, discomfited in argument, menaced his meta- 
 morphosis into the form of a rat. " Of course," he 
 added, " I know he can't do that, but, Molly, it might be 
 prudent not to leave the cat under the bed to-night. The 
 hierarchy of Ireland, with a few noble exceptions, 
 floated on the rising tide. They have reaped their reward 
 in loss of power and prestige and the respect of their 
 flocks. But to show the duresse laid upon some priests 
 who refused to go with the multitude to do evil, I would 
 cite the case of a man who refused to have League 
 meetings in his parish, and took measures to enforce 
 his will. " The powers " sent down two curates of the 
 National creed and cult to the parish. To these men 
 the farmers " attorned," and gave them free-will offer- 
 ings galore, while their parish priest might have starved 
 for all they cared. The latter stood the blockade as 
 long as he could, but seeing no relief, he in his turn 
 became a rat, and verted round. 
 
 No one who has endeavoured to scribble even a little 
 has failed to have relations with publishers. Now 
 publishers, posing often as Maecenases, are as often 
 styled, in Swinburnese, Barabbases. As a rule, they ar* 
 neither one nor the other, but shrewd factors and
 
 358 
 
 middlemen, who, knowing their business and sticking 
 to it, make money in spite of considerable risks, though 
 their failures are occasionally conspicuous. Like the 
 famous fat knight in the matter of wit, they are some- 
 times literary themselves, but always the means of the 
 diffusion of literature in the land. They sometimes 
 entertain angels unawares, in the shape of poets and 
 novelists of high class in embryo, and sometimes they 
 hit upon real rich veins and lodes, to pursue another 
 analogy, but the mass of their material is trap rock, 
 pure and simple. Therefore, caution marks the guarded 
 way, and enterprise gets chilled ; but the cacoethes 
 scribendi may always be calculated upon, seemingly, and 
 the vanity of the scribbler may be depended upon for 
 an income. Of course they make hard bargains and 
 some mistakes, but, on the other hand, how graciously 
 have they often acted ! That their rules and methods 
 are sometimes Procrustean, I can answer by a little 
 personal experience. I had read bits of the Baron 
 Mandat de Grancey's little volume on Ireland, and was 
 much taken by its insight and cleverness, and, knowing 
 one or two mutual friends, I wrote to the Baron, pro- 
 posing to translate it into English. Meanwhile, I tried 
 in vain to get a publisher to undertake the issue of the 
 translation. The same answer came from all, " Trans- 
 lations don't pay." 1 gave up what seemed a hopeless 
 enterprise, but I tind that the translation, admirably 
 done as it was, ha? paid magnificently. 
 
 I remarked on the introduction of " law and order " 
 into the favourite national pastime of steeple chasing 
 or " lep racing." Let me illustrate it by an anecdote,
 
 359 
 
 which I believe to be authentic, though; as I was miles 
 from the scene of the tragedy, I cannot verify it as a per- 
 sonal experience. An officer in the old 36th regiment of 
 the line, Captain Shaw, the brother of the famous chief of 
 the London Fire Brigade, rode well, and made some 
 money by racing in Trinidad with an old mare of mine. 
 When lie sold out of the Service he hankered after 
 riding greatly, and would take a mount as an amateur 
 on anything available. This raised the jealousy of the 
 professional jocks, who said he was spoiling their trade, 
 and vowed vengeance. Soon after this Captain Shaw 
 was ridden on, and died from the effects of his injuries. 
 If this was done designedly, and with malice prepense, 
 it was akin to murder pure and simple. Such a thing 
 could hardly occur now, the punishment would be so 
 exemplary. 
 
 A distinguished General told me not long ago that 
 when getting up as a subaltern to ride a chase in Ire- 
 land, he was warned to go off at score, as the jocks 
 meant " to go for him." Ho did so, took the lead and 
 kept it fortunately ; else might the Service have lost a 
 leading light. 
 
 En qualitede clironiqueur des chasses, I suppose I ought 
 to relate my sole experience of organised opposition to 
 hunting in Ireland. It happened in Kildare about 
 1886, when at this time, owing to poison having been 
 laid for hounds on roads by a few malevolent miscreants, 
 they went to covert muzzled. The earlier draws proved 
 foxless, and as we went along some bye road or other a 
 couple of hounds picked up something, and I rather 
 think one died at once, while butter and mustard
 
 360' 
 
 promptly administeied to his mate ultimately, I believe, 
 saved his life. If I recollect right, we found a fox at 
 " the Bowery Gorse," who was accounted for somehow, 
 without mncli achievement About a mile off, on much 
 higher land, was the good gorseof Hatfield, that clothes 
 a large depression between two grassy little hills. Three 
 sides of the qnasi-parallelogram which it forms can be 
 ridden round without obstacle, the fourth was protected 
 by two huge fosses with rather peaty banks, impassable 
 to the ordinary hunter; in this place forte was a large 
 vociferous mob, presumably hired for the purpose, for 
 they were not natives. They had a reservoir of stones 
 that they threw with great precision at the hounds, who 
 had found a brace of foxes, and were driving them 
 through and round the gorse. Every hound hit howled, 
 outwent on pursuing gallantly, and the foxes for a long 
 lime seemed loth to break. At last one went away, and 
 broke through the opposing cordon ; so did the hounds, 
 ^ogardless of st-oues, shouts, and minatory missiles, at 
 least two-thirds of them, for the remaining third was 
 " tied " to the second fox, and would not forego the 
 chance of killing him. Of course the stoners concen- 
 trated their energies on this third, and would perhaps 
 have succeeded in cutting them off had not Colonel the 
 Hon. C. Crichton ridden at them, as they stood behind 
 a stone-faced bank, while the tail of the field rallied to 
 his support. There was no contest, and the stone- 
 throwing ceased ; but I am forgetting the best episode 
 of the day. Major St. Leger Moore, though a light 
 weight, can use his fists, and to save his hounds he rode 
 across the gorse nearly up to the ringleader, and told
 
 361 
 
 him that if he liked he would accommodate him with a 
 round or two. The hero declined the ordeal by bare 
 knuckles, but the crowd evidently sympathised with the 
 Major, whom they declared to be " a very pleasant man." 
 Two miles from this scene of strife everything was most 
 peaceful. A fox was found, and a smart run crowned 
 the day's divarshon.* 
 
 Land League meetings, or parochial parliaments, oc- 
 cupied much of the national energy and life of Ireland, 
 and were supposed to be the precursors of that Home 
 Rule that was to create a Milesian millennium. I only 
 attended one, and a drearier or more dismal function I 
 never witnessed ; my presence there was in this wise. 
 I had attended a Protesrant church service in the parish 
 church, at the top of a small village. Suddenly, while 
 our rector had got half way through his hebdomadal 
 homily, there was a sound of drums and fifes very 
 audible, and the worthy homilist and pious predicacor, 
 with a fine touch of national exaggeration, turned his 
 discourse on these martial musicalities, and pointed out 
 the perils of his little flock, who were probably as safe 
 in their pews as in their beds at home ! After the 
 blessing and dismissal the little flock dispersed. I went 
 to the hotel for my trap, but on the way met the Con- 
 stabulary inspector in uniform, who invited me to 
 accompany him to the magnificent demonstration a few 
 yards off. In the chair was a good sort of jolly hunting 
 farmer, whose fast friendship with John Jameson proved 
 ultimately fatal. He was called to the chair because pos- 
 
 * In another county an armed Amazon cut the M.F.H.'s reins with 
 a knife.
 
 362 
 
 sibly he might have had some difficulty in standing, and 
 two young curates of sinister aspect, "sickled o'er with 
 the pale cast of thought," perorated to thirty or forty 
 gaping rustics ahout the rights of man (particularly the 
 Irishman) and the wrongs of land tenure. I could not 
 listen to their dialectical dulness for more than a quarter 
 or half an hour; there was DO enthusiasm, no life, no "go" 
 about the whole thing. The meeting was al fresco, 
 with a platform for the chairman and speakers, and the 
 listeners would have been the despair of the owner of a 
 booth at a countrv fair ; such was my sole experience. 
 I believe it was more " magnificent " than many.
 
 363 
 
 CHAPTEE XIII. 
 
 " Life is a jest, and all things show it ; 
 I thought BO once, but now I know it." 
 
 Gay. 
 
 I FEAR the following story is not genuinely Irish, 
 though witty enough to come from Paddy Land. A 
 buyer at a fair had, as he conceived, made a most 
 eligible purchase, and for that reason suspicion was a 
 little aroused in his breast; so, after paying the seller, 
 he begged him to tell him of his hunter's shortcomings, 
 if any. " Well," says the latter, " I can only think of 
 two at this moment." "And pray what are they?" 
 " The first is that if you put him at a fence he is 
 certain to fall, and get away ; and the second is that 
 when you've caught him he ain't worth a cent." 
 
 Ireland is overrun every month by English dealers, 
 amateur and professional, all seeking for that philo- 
 sopher's stone a cheap, good horse. That he exists 
 there can be no doubt, for I have given the reader one 
 or two " modern instances," but they are nearly as rare 
 as a four-leaved shamrock or a Killarney fern, and far 
 more than the price of a good horse is paid by the un- 
 wary and sanguine quester in his search, and in the 
 number of melancholy misfits that must be the result 
 every sportsman fancies he knows a horse, or, at any 
 rate, his horse in reality, not one in a thousand is 
 really a first-rate judge, even of his own requirements 
 in horseflesh, and the average buyer will find much
 
 364 
 
 profit and ease of mind in leaning implicitly on the 
 authority of recognised past masters in the science of 
 picking up hunters. 
 
 There are, however, one or two golden rules to adopt 
 in casting about for horseflesh through the country, and 
 the first of these is, I think, never to get on a young 
 horse till you have seen him tried and ridden first. I 
 recollect being asked to moimt a colt at the Dublin 
 Horse Show for a friendly farmer. A new double bridle 
 looked suspicious, but he assured me it was his horse's 
 bit, so to oblige him I got up, but was hardly in the 
 saddle when the brave beast reared bolt upright and I 
 fell back upon some iron tools, and was in bed for some 
 time in consequence. The horse probably had never 
 had a double bit in his mouth previously, and resented 
 it. On another occasion I was staying with a master 
 of hounds and he begged me to come and look at a very 
 fine, blood-like colt of a neighbour of his, who, of course, 
 was not averse to a deal. Looking down his forelegs 
 I fancied I saw a blister trace and declined getting on, 
 and it was fortunate I did not, as his owner, who w r a,s 
 a first-class rider, had some difficulty in retaining his 
 seat, so fresh and above himself was the flatcatching 
 colt, and when he had tamed him, he proved dog lame 
 on the leg I had suspected. 
 
 In the next place, pedigrees must be received with 
 caution ; most horses in Ireland have " family " enough 
 for hunting purposes, and if they show breeding and 
 quality that ought to suffice. 
 
 In the third place be sure to be accompanied in your 
 exploration of the country by not only a veterinary
 
 365 
 
 surgeon, but the lest that the neighbourhood affords. It 
 will prove infinite economy, even on the ground that 
 two heads are better than one, and if you can, get a 
 veterinary surgeon who is in the habit of hunting in 
 proprid persona. Of course there are numbers of things 
 in a horse that even veterinary acumen and your own 
 experience cannot discover, for, in a horse, as in a 
 woman, there are undiscovered, uudiscoverable depths 
 of goodness or perhaps its reverse 
 
 " Yet Chloe sure was formed without a fault, 
 
 Nature in her then err'd not but forgot. 
 "With every pleasing every prudent part, 
 
 Say what can Chloe want ? She wants a heart " 
 
 and " heart " is beyond any diagnosis. 
 
 In "faking" horses I think the English coper is 
 supreme ; but even the simple Celt in a frieze coat 
 proves very ingenious and ready ; and in the frays at 
 fairs between buyers and sellers the Saxon is not 
 always the victor. The story is told of a shrewd York- 
 shireman who bought a horse of apparently good class, 
 a bargain, at a fair, because he did not go quite 
 evenly the owner saying he thought he must have 
 trodden on a stone ; but when he was taken to the 
 nearest forge it was found that two little pebbles had 
 been specially inserted to make the action evener than 
 it would otherwise be. There are magnificent dia- 
 monds to be picked up in the Transvaal, as well as 
 nuggets of gold ; but it is very long odds against any 
 enterprising Englishman picking up either by going out 
 as an adventurer ; and it may be well to state that, in 
 addition to the great hunter dealers, such as Messrs.
 
 36i) 
 
 J. Daly, E. Macdonald, T. Donovan, together with a 
 few eminent and well-known amateurs, there are 
 legions of professional or semi-professional horse buyers 
 throughout the country, and that every one of them 
 has his retinue of retainers in the shape of touts, run- 
 ners, and spotters ; so that it would he very hard in- 
 deed for any well-bred likely horse to escape their 
 lynx-eyed vigilance. Hence the casual coper or 
 quester has necessarily to content himself with " their 
 leavings ; " and as the dealers I have referred to are 
 able and willing to give very long prices for the genuine 
 article, and, as a rule, know it, the casual has but a poor 
 selection, for 
 
 " Big fleas hare little fleas, 
 
 That constantly do bite 'em, 
 And these again have lesser ones, 
 And so ad iiifinitum." 
 
 We introduced, some pages ago, a story of a well- 
 known good hunter escaping recognition w T hen clothed 
 in splendid stable sheets, and introduced to high life 
 and high condition. Here is a sort of pendant to it : 
 A well-known and most accomplished Horse Gunner 
 quartered often in Ireland, was remarkable for his ad- 
 mirable turn-out with hounds, though generally credited 
 with the habitual ownership of showy "screws" rather 
 than sound hunters. One of his friends met him at 
 Ballinasloe fair, and was taken to a box where, bandaged 
 up to the knees, sheeted, and double sheeted, was the 
 outline of a blood-like horse, whom we may call 
 " Archimedes " f run his leverage. " How much for 
 ' Archimedes '? " " 250 guineas." " I'll give you 25,"
 
 867 
 
 was the reply. "Done," said the owner delightedly, 
 and with a hearty hand grasp, "Archimedes" was 
 transferred to his new master. I recollect losing the 
 sale of a colt in this wise: while I was living at "Old 
 Town," near Naas, somewhere about the close of a 
 hot July, a friend of mine drove up to the cottage and 
 introduced me to an ex-master of hounds in England, 
 to whom he was showing the country. As there were 
 no lions in the vicinity, I showed him a few hunters, 
 and sent them round a little course which was rarely 
 hard, and could be used all the year round. Among 
 them was a good-looking chestnut colt who got a prize 
 at the Dublin Horse Show a few weeks subsequently, 
 but he looked very well on that day, as his rich early 
 coat had not begun to break up. The ex-M.F.H. or 
 ex-M.H. became very " fond " after he had seen him 
 ridden round, first by my man, then' by myself, and 
 kept on saying, " What would Murray of Manchester 
 ask for a horse like that ? " I said I really did not 
 know, but that I fancied 250 guineas would be a 
 big price for him. " Would you really take 250 
 guineas for him ?" " Indeed I would, gladly." " May 
 I try him ? " " Of course ! " In imagination I saw the 
 cheque, and told my man to alter the stirrups, &c. ; but 
 it was a day of horse flies on the rampage, and the 
 chestnut was black with them, and kept pawing with his 
 forelegs, and stamping with the hind ones to get rid of 
 the irritating incubus, though without an idea of kick- 
 ing. Judge of my astonishment when I saw the would- 
 be buyer, instead of mounting by the colt's shoulder, 
 trying to do so from his hind quarters; and, as he was
 
 368 
 
 hesitating over the job, the maddened horse hit him on 
 the leg as he was preparing to climb, and I heard 
 nothing but " Oh, the unmannerly brute," and so on. 
 But really the want of manners was in the man, who 
 ought to have known more about mounting a young 
 horse. 
 
 Little mention has been made in these jottings 
 about M.RHs.' wives! Possibly the typical M.F.H. 
 is the unencumbered bachelor who is absorbed by his 
 devotion to Diana, or, in other words, to his pack and 
 pursuit; but that an M.F.H. can be materially aided by 
 a cara sposa who shares his ambitions and furthers his 
 views, and makes his house pleasant and popular is 
 abundantly proved by several modern instances in 
 Ireland, that need not now be referred to. In the case 
 I am about to quote, my lady M.F.H. was rather Vere de 
 Verish in her ways and ideas, and had not quite as- 
 similated those democratic notions that her husband 
 had adopted with his horn of office. On one occasion 
 two gentlemen had come to see the M.F.H. on business, 
 and, as it was luncheon time, he invited them to join 
 the family party, though he was busy with something 
 or other, and did not accompany them, merely intro- 
 ducing them to his wife. These gentlemen were rural 
 rather than urban, and perhaps more at home with 
 hounds and horses than in ladies' society, so Mrs. 
 M.F.H., en bonne femme, tried to make them com- 
 fortable, and in vain pressed them to partake of the 
 good things going. " Fou seem, gentlemen, to have 
 very poor appetites," she observed to the least shy 
 of the stranger pair ; " I wish I could think of some-
 
 369 
 
 tiling you would really relish ! " Why yes, my Lady," 
 observed the addressee, " I have indeed a very small and 
 poor appetite, but what little I have 1 reserve for tlic 
 drink." 
 
 This reminds me how long ago an English or Scotch 
 family came to settle in a midland county in Ireland 
 for farming and other purposes. Of course their advent 
 created some excitement in a dull Boeotian neighbour- 
 hood, and any bit of gossip that could be gathered anent 
 them was acceptable. One quidnunc paying a morning 
 visit, said he had discovered that these people dined 
 at one o'clock, when a gentleman of the elder school 
 interposed with the query, " And pray, sir, do you mean 
 to tell me that they drink punch from 1.30 p.m. till they 
 go to bed ? " his respect for their capacity of absorption 
 being evidently vastly enlarged by the conception ! 
 
 Apropos of punch, a story is told of an Irish landlord 
 who was a familiar and by no means an unornamental 
 figure on the pave of Pall Mall, and the steps of its 
 clubberies. He had business in Ireland, and crossing 
 over to Dublin found himself in the smoking room of 
 one of the chief clubs of that city which Lady Morgan 
 has pelted with those adhesive alliterates of "dear 
 and dirty." "Waiter," he said, "bring me the last 
 ' Punch.' " It was early in the day, but the waiter 
 probably looked upon him as a bond fide traveller, and 
 so in two minutes he appeared with " the groceries," 
 or " the matarials," in the shape of a small decanter of 
 the craythur, a tumbler, hot water, sugar, lemon, &c., 
 to the Pall Mailer's infinite surprise. 
 
 Whiskies and sodas have now replaced punch, but in 
 
 2 F
 
 370 
 
 my early days, even after a bottle of claret, punch was 
 sometimes invoked as a settler and stomachic, and well 
 I can recollect the amusement a parson's wife, who 
 affected " the highest social flights," afforded a company 
 of ladies and gentlemen after dinner, when asked if she 
 would take some punch by the host, exclaiming 
 " Punch, sir, what is punch ? "* 
 
 I suppose the question will nes^er be satisfactorily 
 settled as to whether we moderns are equal in wit 
 or humour to our forbears, and whether counterparts 
 to Curran, Burke, Goldsmith, or " Father Tom " could 
 now be found. Perhaps the fountain of wit plays as 
 brightly and sparkingly as ever, but the opportunities 
 for its production and reproduction are not so common 
 as of yore, when conversation was a fine art, conver- 
 saziones a reality, and burlesques were hardly thought 
 of. Lord Morris keeps up the tradition of Hibernian 
 humour in London, where, if a Lord of Appeal titu- 
 larly, he is responsible for almost as many peals of 
 laughter as was in his day Sydney Smith, the comical 
 canon ! What could be neater than his reply to Lady 
 Barbara Battleaxe, when she cross-questioned him about 
 the use of the Druidical misletoe in Ireland ? " Oh yes, 
 of course we kiss in Ireland, but then we prefer doing 
 it under the rose" 
 
 His O'Sheana jokes are too new to quote. 
 
 Ireland hailed Charles Stuart Parnell as her "un- 
 crowned king." Sir Oriel Foster was soon afterwards 
 styled " the half-crowned king," because the Land Com- 
 
 * Millions of bottles of aerated waters are consumed annually in 
 Ireland, diluted with whiskey, of course.
 
 missioners had ordered the rent of one of his tenants 
 " who took him into court " to be raised half a crown 
 per acre ! 
 
 There was a touch of real wit in the nicknames given 
 to three lovely young ladies going out in Dublin, one 
 of whom had rather weak eyes, namely, " Cherubim," 
 " Seraphim," and " Continually do Cry." 
 
 A witty little Peer was quite " on the spot " when 
 hearing that Mrs. - was engaged to the fiery-faced 
 Commander of H.M.'s brig " Volage," declared it must 
 be a case of " scorbutic affection," and when the same 
 little Lothario was supposed to be in the running for a 
 lovely widow, Dublin dubbed him forthwith as the 
 " widow's mite." 
 
 Allusion having been made to the pleasant practi- 
 calities of joking in some families in Ireland, let me 
 illustrate it by a sketch of a scene that actually took 
 place in a great house somewhere about the fifties. A 
 certain venerable M.F.H., known to be a first-class 
 judge of hounds and horses, was also reputed an admir- 
 able sampler of the wines of France and Spain, as well 
 as of the insular nectar concocted by John Jameson 
 and his peers ; but that sublime knowledge (" e ccelo 
 descendit yvwdt veavrbv ") of his own powers enabled 
 him always to order his carriage at the critical time, 
 and on one of these convivial occasions " the con- 
 vaniancy " had been ordered to the door, and as he was 
 a general favourite he was followed to the hall, and his 
 Gotta Mor was duly hoisted on to his manly frame. It 
 felt ponderous to a degree, and no wonder, for one of 
 the young bloods of the house had filled it with every 
 
 2 F 2
 
 372 
 
 bit of loose silver that could be collected spoons, forks, 
 salt cellars, cups, &c. and beneath the unwonted 
 weight of this top and bottom hamper the hunter of 
 foxes began to reel, and when a rug caught his foot he 
 was entirely unable to right himself, and tottering, fell 
 heavily, whilst the silver ballast rolled all over the 
 place, to the intense amusement of the guests, who 
 rushed to the hall at the silvery summons, and the 
 hardly-disguised delight of the men in powder, while 
 the victim looked like a bemuzed Benjamin, when the 
 cup was found in his sack ! 
 
 Mr. Beatty, for many years master of the Wexford 
 Hounds, has been referred to before as a good specimen 
 of a past generation of keen sportsmen. His old kennel 
 huntsman, Morrissey, however, has not been among our 
 dramatis persona, and represented a caste of sporting 
 servants in Ireland now, alas ! nearly extinct, seeing 
 that now service is no longer, as erst, inheritance, and 
 that identity of interests between masters and men is 
 almost a thing of the past. It was not so, however, 
 with old Morrissey, who was nearly as much identified 
 with the fortunes of the Wexford kennels as the 
 Smiths were with those of the Brocklesby Hunt, and 
 being a good deal senior to Mr. David Beatty, he was 
 wont to talk of that venerable venatic as " the Gossoon," 
 and was fearlessly outspoken to him ; a Celtic Pigg in 
 fact. "Will ye take your second horse, now master?" 
 he said on one occasion, riding up to Mr. Beatty ; and 
 when the latter replied, " Not now ; bye-and-bye I'll 
 take him." " Faith ye'd better take him while ye can 
 get him, for ye won't have the chance again."
 
 373 
 
 The Royal Dahlia Society, founded in the year 
 1731, is an institution of which every Irishman may 
 well be proud ; for thoroughly lion-political and unsec- 
 tarian, though Catholic in its aims, it has done more to 
 develop the resources of Ireland than Acts of Parlia- 
 ment or Koyal Commissions, One of its departments 
 is hetter known, orbi et urbi, than any other, namely, 
 that of horse breeding and horse culture, through its 
 annual August exhibitions in the meadows by the 
 banks of the devious Dodder classic ground, tor near 
 there was held the famous fair of Donnybrook, origin- 
 ally a horse mart of many aays' duration, but latterly 
 devoted to the cult of the shillelagh and the Eros of 
 Erin. With the Government grant that enabled the 
 Society to annex these show grounds, the Exhibition 
 sprang at once from the second to the first rank, until, 
 for the last eight years or so, it has easily held the pride 
 of place among all such gatherings. Every year seems 
 to bring a fresh crop of improvements which are at 
 once acknowledged as such, though in the previous one 
 everything seemed nearly perfect The highest tribute 
 to the excellence of its arrangements is the enormous 
 annual influx of visitors to Dublin, notwithstanding the 
 claims of moor and mountain, foreign travel, and yacht- 
 ing engagements. Judging, too, has much improved, 
 though it cannot be said to be perfect yet ; witness the 
 oversight and neglect of such a horse as " The Sinner," 
 who combined splendid action and true shape with the 
 highest quality, not long ago. But many of the faults 
 that marred the show when held in Kildare Street have 
 been eliminated, and it must be called decidedly " pro-
 
 374 
 
 gressive." ID. one thing only is it somewhat stationary 
 and slow, and that is in not adding to its attractive 
 programme a hound show, such as that held at Peter- 
 borough every year. We have already shown that well- 
 bred and cared Irish foxhounds can compete with the 
 world. Lords Doneraile and Waterford have proved 
 this to be a fact ; but, as a rule, Irish hounds are 
 inferior to English, and want the stimulus of science 
 and competition to raise their standard of excellence. 
 From the abundance of milk, Ireland is eminently 
 fitted for hound raising, and 'twere needless to point 
 out the impetus such a show would give to hound 
 breeders and to hound " walkers " as well, thus broaden- 
 ing the basis of the chase. The Society has ample 
 space at its command, as well as ample funds ; and it 
 need not be stated here that hunters depend upon 
 hounds, and form a corollary to them ; nor need it be 
 shown how such an exhibition would, if merely in the 
 matter of colour, impart much brightness to the build- 
 ings, and be a great treat to hunt servants on either side 
 of the Channel. liather a good story may find room 
 here. A well-know T n welter weight exhibited a cob 
 which would hardly have been placed by judges in the 
 first or second rank, but he was thick and " stuffy," and 
 had manners, and some Belgian buyers seemed to fancy 
 him much. " I saw them put a ' bon ' to his name in 
 their catalogue, and as I am a linguist I saw my 
 market, and asked and got 250 for him!" Moral 
 foreign languages should be cultivated, for where would 
 Greek, even Gaisford's Greek, have been in such a con- 
 tingency ?
 
 375 
 
 In the days of one's youth one constantly heard of 
 Henry Marquis of Waterford and his practical jokes. 
 How he had his guest's or visitor's horse whitewashed 
 while he was busy entertaining him ; and how he scared 
 timorous neighbours by driving about with young lion 
 whelps in his trap (by the bye, Lady Wodehouse 
 always went about in Dernerara with a tame tiger cat), 
 in fact, there was no nd to the tales of similar 
 pleasantries, which caustic French critics might call 
 mauvaises plaisanteries. One, however, of the more 
 famous practical jokes may, perhaps, merit a revival cr 
 exhumation in this dull age, and this dull volume, for 
 there was some fun in the conception, and some wit in 
 the carrying out of it. It seems that his lordship was 
 a constant visitor at his uncle's, the Irish Primate's, 
 house in London, and was, in fact, domesticated there 
 in his early career. To this house came one day an 
 infuriated tailor, whose long suffering had been ex- 
 hausted, to complain tc the Primate of his nephew's 
 treatment in proprid persona, and Lord Waterford 
 knew that he had written to his uncle to the same 
 effect before. So when he learnt who the visitor was, 
 he desired the footman to show him into the study, and 
 tell him his Grace would see him in a few minutes ; 
 meantime the young Peer was arraying himself in his 
 uncle's garments and wig, and when he came into the 
 room he asked the visitor what he wanted, and so on, 
 whereupon the artist unfolded his tale, and unbosomed 
 himself of his griefs, speaking in the most opprobrious 
 manner of the defaulter. "Come, come," said the 
 pseudo-Primate, "I cannot allow my nephew to be
 
 376 
 
 vilipended in that way ; he may be careless, he may be 
 impunctual, but a scoundrel and a swindler! never!" 
 The man persisted in his language, whereupon the 
 Church militant told him to defend himself as best he 
 could, and gave him a practical proof that he had not 
 been a bad pupil of Dutch Sam's. Needless to say, the 
 Primate, on his return, made his nephew pay up hand- 
 somely for this little joke and Primatial personation. 
 Dean Swift was not an Irishman, though the wittiest 
 man in all Ireland, and the appreciator of wit in others, 
 as evidenced by the thrice-told tale of his finding his 
 riding boots unpolished one day when he proposed to 
 ride from Larracor to Dublin, his butler declaring that 
 it' was not his business, while the groom declared that 
 they would be dirty again in a few minutes, so sloppy 
 were the roads, and that it was no use cleaning them, 
 whereupon the rector, knowing that neither had broken 
 his fast (though he had), ordered them to accompany 
 him to Dublin at once, and go to the stable for their 
 horses. It is a very long road, and when a countryman 
 met these two hungry men in the Doctor's wake he 
 asked them where they were bound for. " To heaven," 
 said the readiest of the pair, " for the master's praying 
 and we are fasting." The rector was immensely pleased 
 with this ready repartee. The Doctor, in the evening 
 of his life, when his brain was not always under his 
 control, wrote the following quatrain on the Magazine 
 which was being built in the Phoenix Park, Dublin 
 
 " Here is a proof of Irish sense, 
 
 Here Irish wit is seen, 
 When there is nothing worth defence, 
 They build a magazine."
 
 377 
 
 Who shall say that a similar censor is not required 
 occasionally in comparatively modern Ireland ? Wit- 
 ness the following three resolutions passed in a certain 
 city, that is not known as Gotham : 
 
 1. That a new gaol be built. 
 
 2. That the new gaol be built out of the materials 
 
 of the old one. 
 
 3. That the old gaol be not pulled down until the 
 
 new one be built. 
 
 The late Bernal Osborne, a citizen of the world, was 
 Irish by domicile and by marriage ; he was the father of 
 as many bon mots as any of his contemporaries, perhaps. 
 Here is one, "e pluribus unum." Cashel, in the co. 
 Tipperary, used to return its member to the House of 
 Commons prior to the Eeform Bill ; and its corruption 
 in the matter of votes was notorious. Some one at New- 
 town- Anner, his Tipperary home, was discoursing about 
 its storied past, and its having been the capital of 
 Minister at one time, known generally as " Cashel of 
 the Kings." " Cashel of the Kings ? " said Bernal 
 Osborne, " nay rather, Cashel of the sovereigns ! " j 
 
 Having alluded to Sir Edward Kennedy as one of 
 the keenest and most earnest of M.F.Hs., let me illus- 
 trate the characteristic by an anecdote or two. A large 
 field from Dublin had come to one of the Saturday 
 meets, and conspicuous at the side of the gorse was a 
 stranger to Sir Edward, who was as keen for a start as 
 
 * One of Bernal Osborne's mieux mots was his rejoinder to the 
 O' Gorman Mali on at an election in Ireland, when " he hurled back 
 the imputations of the last speaker in his teeth, if he had any."
 
 378 
 
 if he was riding in silk for a T.Y.C. sprint. The fox 
 had broken and got headed back again, and one or two 
 young hounds had followed the line, with the thruster 
 after them. In vain did the irritated M.F.H. appeal to 
 him to " hold hard," vociferated from the tone of appeal 
 and entreaty to that of command. So he rode straight 
 up to him, exclaiming, " Arretez vous, monsieur, arretez 
 vous, je vous en prie " The foreign tongue turned him, 
 and lie apologised in English, when Sir Edward replied, 
 " I addressed you, Sir ! several times in English, and you 
 took no heed, so I fancied you must be a foreigner, and 
 not accustomed to hunting." It was said " sarkastic," as 
 Artemus Ward puts it. 
 
 He had the greatest aversion to a crowd of carriages 
 on a road parallel to a covert over which the fox might 
 wish to cross to make his point, and seeing a string of 
 vehicles blocking the way where the fox would pro- 
 bably try to pass, he rode up to the coachman of the 
 first, and asked who was dead. " No one, sorr," was 
 the reply. " Oh, indeed," quoth the master, " I fancied 
 there must be a funeral, from the throng of carriages." 
 
 A propos of funerals, a story is told of a huge funeral 
 breaking in on a fox hunt in Kildare, when the hounds 
 had just come to a check at a road which was bordered 
 by woodland on both sides. The field had drawn up 
 respectfully to let the cortege pass, and hats and caps 
 had been duly doffed in respect, when one of the bier 
 bearers turned round to the huntsman and asked, 
 " Did yez kill him ?" Needless to say, the bathos of 
 the query took away the sense of solemnity. 
 
 From the earliest glimpses into history we see man
 
 379 
 
 ever striving, and more or less successfully, to over- 
 come the limitations put by nature to his ambitions. 
 The " oceamis dissocidbilis " has been bridged over by 
 steam and sail, and a girdle has been placed round the 
 world that in one sense annihilates space and time. 
 Horace tells us that " wings were not given to man " 
 (" pennis non homini datis "), yet man has been attempt- 
 ing to fly since Icarus' essay, and between the balloon 
 and the parachute has gone some way towards the 
 attainment of this goal ; but the wings that commend 
 themselves most to the ordinary individual are the 
 speed and the stoutness of horses. Nor are even very 
 heavy men deterred from adopting these means of 
 flying over a county to the music of hounds ; and there 
 have been some verv jood welters among the names I 
 
 V O 
 
 would jot down, for I suppose a welter weight may 
 range from 15 to 20 stone. Let masters or acting 
 masters of hounds come first Sam Eeynell, the 
 Marquises of Waterford (uncle and nephew), Captain 
 Ker, Colonel Malone, Jack Gubbins, Frank Joyce, Pat 
 Dunne, Lord Mayo, Simon Mangan, the Hon. Harry 
 Bourke, James and John Meldon, ,T. Sawyer, J. Chap- 
 man, O'ConneU Murphy, J. B. and T. Carew, Anthony 
 Browne, Tom Gerrard, E. Purdou, Mr. McCall, A. 
 Allen, Major Allfrey, Alfred West, Lord Carlow, 
 General Fraser, V.C., M.P., Colonel Tomkinson, Lord 
 Enniskillen, Captain Gore, Tom Leonard, and Wray 
 Palliser. Most of these men I have seen going right 
 we ll_ a f ew extraordinarily well yet their average 
 avoirdupois would be over 16 stone considerably. 
 The question is sometimes asked, Can a good man
 
 380 
 
 get over Ireland fairly well on a bad or very moderate 
 horse ? It is quite true that some men can make shift 
 with a middling horse far better than others. They 
 will find out his peculiarities promptly and humour 
 them ; but I believe that the man is not born yet vho 
 can cross an average Irish country, with or without 
 hounds, on a bad horse, or one whose formation forbids 
 the hope of making him a hunter. An immense 
 number of men who "fancied themselves" have 
 attempted the task, but in eleven cases out of twelve 
 the failure has been signal, and within the last few 
 weeks I saw Mr. J. 0. Trotter, who had renewed his 
 acquaintance with his old hunting grounds, completely 
 discomfited in a, few fields by a brute; and what 
 Mr. Trotter cannot accomplish is hardly worth attempt- 
 ing. True it is, that natural jumpers, on whom little 
 schooling has been bestowed, are met with occasionally 
 in Ireland. Perhaps in these cases " heredity " asserts 
 itself ; perhaps, as Whyte Melville suggests, they have 
 learnt while yet suckling from a lepping mother, who 
 would wander over the country in search of fresh 
 fields and pastures new (I believe the quotation says 
 " woods," but that's a detail). But such a horse was 
 " Blood Royal," Captain Davis's famoiis hunter and 
 chaser sire, who passed when, a colt into the possession 
 of that very eminent Dublin dealer William McGrane. 
 Tom Pickernell and Captain Lawrence were among his 
 amateur jocks, and the latter was given a mount on 
 " Blood Royal " with the Kildare hounds, whose meet 
 was within seven or eight miles of the Milesian metro- 
 polis Castlebagot, perhaps, or Kingswood. William
 
 381 
 
 McGrane and some friends were driving on the car of 
 the country, and Captain Lawrence was riding alongside 
 of them on this handsome colt. A tempting looking 
 gap, offering potentialities of a mile or two of grass 
 pastures parallel to the hard high road, made Captain 
 Lawrence ask Mr. McGrane, who really knew hardly 
 anything about the colt, if he should put him into the 
 country. " By all means," was the reply ;" and 
 McGrane and his friends were delighted, and not a 
 little astonished, to see the horse sailing away straight 
 for several miles just like a hunter of many seasons! 
 He won the Downshire afterwards from thirty odd 
 competitors when the course at Punchestown was twice 
 as severe as it now is, for amongst other obstacles it 
 included the wall behind the grand-stand that is now 
 left out of the running track. 
 
 I recollect staying with a master of harriers in the 
 south-west of Ireland a long time ago, and asking him 
 if he knew a likely weight carrier following his hounds. 
 " No," he said, " but yesterday I saw a big farmer going 
 right well on a grey." Snipe shooting took me to this 
 farm very soon, and I asked for a view. The farmer 
 gave it readily. I asked for a bridle and a saddle, but 
 there was no saddle in the place, and the farmer, jump- 
 ing on the grey, bare-backed, performed prodigies of 
 bank jumping, while the price was right, and I even 
 hardened my heart to throw a lep or two myself ; but 
 when it came to a deal and looking at mouths my 
 .gallant grey proved a two-year old ! 
 
 It would not be fair to dismiss the subject of Kildare 
 and its hunting grounds without a little reference to
 
 382 
 
 the founders of this great corporation of the chase that 
 perhaps has no peer in the realm in the matter of 
 stability and financial prosperity ; for at Oxford we 
 learnt to make due rehearsal and commemoration of 
 the benefactors to colleges and universities. A century 
 ago a few county gentlemen had hounds and amused 
 themselves and their neighbours, Squire Conolly, of 
 Castletown, being their promachus. This state of 
 things lasted into the 19th century, till Sir John 
 Kennedy, of Johnstown-Kennedy, arose and laid the 
 foundations of the present edifice, and stretched the 
 boundaries of his dominions into the borderlands of 
 Meath, Dublin, \Vicklow, and the Queen's County. 
 He was by no means a rich man, even among county 
 squires, and his subscription would go but a short way 
 in paying damage and fowl funds in the shires ; but 
 there was sport galore going, and Kildare became very 
 popular, and no one was more generally liked than the 
 Baronet, or, as they called him, " the Sir " of Johns- 
 town-Kennedy. Of course he could not pay high 
 salaries to his officials, who were rather of the typo 
 illustrated by Surtees in the opening chapters of 
 " Handley Cross," wherein a gallant old huntsman is 
 described as "sending in his papers" after a run in 
 which some warm words had been spoken, but not till 
 after he had done up his own hunters. 
 
 One of the most curious records in the Kildare 
 archives early in the century was a vote of thanks on 
 the part of the Hunt to Miss Digby, of Landenstown, 
 for dismissing her butler because he had shot a fox, but 
 whether of malice prepense or by misadventure is not
 
 383 
 
 stated. Nowadays a large income is supposed to be in- 
 dispensable to keeping a subsciiption pack of hounds 
 arid perhaps it is ; but a hundred years ago or more it did 
 not involve so very much revenue to keep a pack entirely 
 proprio sumptu. For instance, the famous exemplar of 
 Hibernian hospitality, Mr. Matthews, of Thomastown, 
 in the County Tipperary, who literally kept open house 
 for all comers, and gave his guests of the very best of 
 everything, maintained no less than three packs of 
 hounds in his place buckhounds, foxhounds, and 
 harriers, to wit for the use of his visitors if venatic- 
 ally inclined, and used to mount them, too, from his 
 own stables. The chronicler records that this free- 
 handed hospitality of house and hearth, plus hunting 
 hospitality, was maintained on a paltry pittance of 
 8,000 a year. 
 
 In some of the colonies, hospitality is the (/enius loci, 
 and knows no stint or measure. For instance, I can 
 recollect an Englishman coming to Jamaica and staying 
 a year at a house to which he had oulvcome as "a 
 
 t/ 
 
 casual," both host and guest being equally pleased. 
 
 The hospitality of a few families made hunting pos- 
 sible in some of the outlying districts, notably on the 
 Wicklow frontier, and had it not been for such houses 
 as Tynte Park, Grange Con, and Ballynure, a cry of 
 hounds would seldom have gladdened these grass lands, 
 literally flowing with milk and butter (possibly honey, 
 too). Let me begin with the last, Ballynure. It was 
 occupied then by a most hospitable couple, Mr. and 
 Mrs. Carroll, and their hospitality was only limited by 
 the size of their house Mr. Carroll had been one of a
 
 884 
 
 trio of hard riders in Kildare, who were sometimes, 'tis 
 said, brought home on doors or hurdles ; but he was no 
 longer an active sportsman when I knew him, but the 
 cause and promoter of much hunting in others. He 
 was said to have been the last of an old Irish sept or 
 clan, and the mot of one of his tenants may be recorded 
 here. " Why, Sir," said he to a neighbour, " if I saw 
 Mr. Carroll's head floating on that pond, I'd know 'twas 
 the head of a gentleman." Thanks to a few enlightened 
 " statesmen," such things are rarely said of their land- 
 lords by the tenants of 1891. 
 
 " Sic placitum vano qui nos distinxit Othoni." 
 
 Mr. Tynte, of Tynte Park, was the younger brother 
 of Mr. Pratt, of Cabra Castle, who once mastered the 
 Louth hounds, and finding he had to winter in Dublin 
 one season, used to ride 50 and 60 miles to his meets. 
 Mr. Tynte wos perhaps the man in most esteem among 
 gentle and simple in Kildare when I first knew it. His 
 hospitality was boundless, and his word was law among 
 his neighbours, who made him general arbiter in matters 
 of dispute rather than the legal authorities. Mrs. Tynte 
 knew more about fox hunting than any one, and was 
 constantly appealed to. She, alas ! has passed away, 
 and Mr. Tynte's eyes have failed, so the chase knows 
 him no more ; but Tynte Park is not passed by when- 
 ever the hounds are near, for the field, no matter how 
 large, must come in and have a hot lunch, and all the 
 etceteras : it is a lex non scripta. Mr. Tynte was very 
 particular about his own horses, weight carriers of the 
 highest class and perfect performance. Once he had
 
 385 
 
 mounted a friend of mine who was his guest, and in a 
 good gallop this friend dropped into a lane, and his 
 hunter presently went very tender. Though his eyes 
 were even then weak, he saw the limp, and getting off 
 his own fresh horse, insisted on his guest finishing the 
 run on him. This I saw myself. 
 
 Grange Con is the residence of Mr. David Mahony, 
 who has long filled the onerous office of honorary secre- 
 tary to a hunt, to whose prosperity he has greatly con- 
 tributed. His house is always filled with hunting 
 guests, whenever hounds come Wicklow-wards, and 
 when he found that his statles were not elastic enough 
 for his wishes, he built hunting stables in his village, 
 set up a forge, and thus enabled himself to really help 
 hunting men. A branch line of railway has now 
 opened out this great country. The hospitality remains, 
 but the fields no longer depend upon these hosts, as in. 
 earlier days. 
 
 I can well recall another experience at Tynte Park. 
 The hours were waxing small, and Punchestown was 
 past. In the days I refer to there was invariably a meet 
 or two of the Kildare hounds, post Punchestown, just 
 to give the stranger within the gate a chance of fore- 
 gathering with the pack, and more especially English 
 masters of hounds to whom the change of venue would 
 be agreeable (at one meet there were no less than 
 thirteen English M.F.Hs. in the field at the Downshire 
 Park, and the fox proved quite worthy of the occasion). 
 Mr. Tynte had made arrangements for all his guests, 
 but found a single solitary r-x- Lancer unmounted. The 
 Lancer had put on much avoirdupois since he had left 
 
 2 G
 
 386 
 
 the Service, and the host had nothing fit to carry him, 
 but knowing of a friend's horse that might be available, 
 he sent off a special courier to bespeak him, and 
 Mr. Tynte was so obliging to others, that no one could 
 refuse him anything. Let me add, too, that the friend's 
 house was some 1 2 miles distant. Well ! next day we 
 were all taken to the tryst, distant about the same 
 mileage, and the Lancer found a hunter in almost as 
 " jolly " a condition as himself awaiting his advent. The 
 day was piping hot, and the ground rather dry, but after 
 one or two petty excursions, the hounds, at one of the 
 gorses tried, got off on the back of a good fox, who gave 
 his field a regular steeplechase for about four miles. 
 No one saw it better than the ex-Lancer, who finding 
 he could not quite control his "jolly " mount with a 
 single snaffle, trusted his honour, and had no cause to 
 repent of the confidence reposed in the brave beast. 
 
 A propos of Tynte Park, a story may be told which 
 is certainly vero if not ben trovato. There was a dinner 
 party a hunting party, as usual, with nearly every one 
 in the evening livery of dear Diana, white and scarlet. 
 At the table was a stranger guest, who had the doubtful 
 taste to make conversation a monologue, and his dis- 
 course at the dinner dwelt upon great Etonians, and 
 his intimacies with them. At last, when the magnums 
 were becoming marines, an old sportsman, about the 
 doyen of the hunt, who was himself full of anecdote and 
 repartee, but liked to give every one a chance of airing 
 his views, leant forward just as the illustrious raconteur 
 had disposed of a duke or two, and catching the host's 
 eye, said, " Tynte, old man, do you recollect when you
 
 387 
 
 and I were at school at Armagh ?" (This in an assumed 
 brogue that you could cut with a knife.) " To be sure 
 I do !" " Well, do you recollect when you and I were 
 sent to the infirmary for having the itch?" This 
 curiously improvised reminiscence had exactly the 
 desired effect. The monologist was subdued, and dukes 
 and princes were bottled up for future occasion, like 
 the genii in the " Arabian Nights " tale.* 
 
 Lords in Ireland are no longer in the high esteem 
 they once possessed, socially and politically, for a hun- 
 dred years ago a birthright would have been freely 
 bartered for a coronet by many silly folk, and possibly 
 even more sacred trusts. But even forty or fifty years 
 ago lords were in immense request ; for instance, an 
 early memory is of a country gentleman (who being of 
 unexceptionable family, ought to have been superior to 
 such pettinesses) meeting a neighbour, and at once 
 telling him, " I've just had letters from Lord Scatter- 
 cash, Sir John Yaurieu, the Duke of Dumbbells," and so 
 on. His neighbour, who was an M.P., a man of the 
 world, as well as a man of sense, stopped him at once 
 with " My dear Fred, tell me, do you ever hear from a 
 commoner ?" 
 
 I suppose one ought to say something about great 
 runs and flood runs in Ireland. Mr. Anstruther Thomp- 
 son who is an authority, has written a charming sketch 
 
 * A pendant to this story might be found among the socirl ana of 
 Dublin, for wVen Squire * * * appeared at a bachelors' dinner 
 party in list slippers, and apologised to his host, adding, "The gout 
 in our family is hereditary for many generations," Councillor 
 Dogherty chimed in with, "Just like my case : we've had the mulli- 
 grubs in ours since the famine year." 
 
 2 G 2
 
 338 
 
 of his own wonderful Waterloo mn, and of others such 
 as the Great Wood run in the Duke of Beaufort's 
 domain, that made men talk for a season or two. 
 Great runs are like great victories achieved by an 
 army, more especially if they end tragically for the 
 fugitive fox, but in a country like England, full of 
 woods, spinneys, and hedgerows, where foxes do often 
 congregate, and near which they were perhaps brought 
 out, there is always the strong suspicion of a change of 
 quarry, There have been some great runs also in 
 Ireland, but they too labour under the same suspicion, 
 and the narration of such episodes has often such a 
 mythical character, that one hardly knows what to make 
 of several such true tales of a fox, but, to come to more 
 authentic times and records which can be verified by a 
 cloud of witnesses, I think the great run from Cope- 
 land's Gorse, in the co. Wicklow, ending at Humewood 
 in a kill, in which the Kildare hounds running over some 
 snow-sprinkled heathery land, were never approached 
 by riders, after the first two miles, is the best hound 
 record I ever heard of ; as the distance run could not 
 be much less than twenty miles.* and no coverts or 
 gorses, or wood lands were touched en route, because 
 there were none to touch. A few years prior to this 
 achievement, on their opening day, the Kildare hounds 
 had it, classical chase commencing, I think, at Kerdiffs- 
 town or Palmerstown, then by Bishopscourt and Kill 
 Hill Gorse^past Kilteel, Johnstown-Kennedy, the Wind- 
 mill Hill and Coolmine Gorse, to the broad-acred pastures 
 of Kingswood, and thence towards the green hills near 
 Dublin, where tbe hounds suddenly threw up their 
 
 * 111 a bee line.
 
 389 
 
 heads and owned defeat, after some fifteen miles of 
 good close hunting of a straight running fox. Not 
 more than perhaps seven or eight sportsmen had per- 
 severed so far, and one of them, Colonel the Honourable 
 C. Crichton, fancied he winded the fox himself sure 
 warrant for the hounds not being able to do so. At 
 any rate, led by the aromatic chain, he went on to the 
 next field, where, stiff but hardly cold yet, he found 
 the quarry at the bottom of a dry ditch into which he 
 had fallen, having been unable to compass his spring to 
 the bank above it. This run was parallel in nearly 
 its entire extent to the coach road between Naas and 
 Dublin, and the point made was perhaps twelve English 
 miles ; interesting, however, as these achievements are, 
 and glorious to the pursuing pack, the master, staff, and 
 indeed the whole hunt, the majority of well-mounted, 
 hard-riding men prefer something shorter and sharper, 
 and if pace be first class, the field will be well weeded 
 out in three or lour miles. I am not going to quote the 
 well-known lines conveying the sentiment about our 
 fathers wanting long runs and their sons short ones, 
 but I think the philosophy of the thing is wrapped up 
 in the Latin couplet about an epigram, for a perfect 
 gallop over a perfect line has more or less the nature of 
 an epigram : 
 
 " Omne epigramma, sit instar apis, sit aculeus illi 
 Sint sua inella, sit et corporis exigui." 
 
 A free translation may run thus 
 
 " A run, like an epigram, should not be long, 
 Like a bee it should have a small waist ; 
 It should have both the pting and the sweetness of song; 
 And so fast that the field is outpaced;"
 
 390 
 
 or 
 
 " A rhythmical run, lite a bee, is a treasure, 
 
 There's no lumber, some sting, and there's honey sans measure;" 
 
 or 
 
 " A. recordable ran, like our bees, should hare stings, 
 
 Like an epigram let it be terse : 
 
 Like a bee, it should hare little waist, but strong wings, 
 And should more with the smoothness of Terse." 
 
 I think that on the whole, if a Saxon stranger -wants 
 to see Irish riding fairly sampled, he cannot do better 
 than take a few days in spring, when English hunting 
 grounds have begun to get hard, and scent has waned 
 there, with the Ward Union staghounds, for there lie 
 will see collected together one of the hardest-riding 
 fields that Ireland produces, and a fair probability of ster- 
 ling sport, for though deer To sometimes run twistingly, 
 and even macadamically, these are quite the exceptions. 
 Moreover, the visitor will do well to make his first 
 experience on a Wednesday, when the trysting place is 
 somewhere in the Drumree district, and a well 
 appointed " special " will bring him very close to the 
 scene of action. One thing -will perhaps strike him as 
 peculiar, namely, that every single sportsman out 
 travels with a portmanteau or kit bag, and he will do 
 well to imitate the Roman fashion while he is at Eome ; 
 for the greater part of the Ward district is pierced by 
 rivulets or rhenes that in depth and width are some- 
 times far more repelling than the ordinary brook, and 
 with such opportunities for immersion, partial or total, 
 no one cares to remain for hours without a change. 
 Some have despised this precaution as effeminate, but
 
 391 
 
 very seldom adhere to this view very long. Another 
 peculiarity will perhaps impress itself on the sporting 
 stranger, namely, the corps of " wreckers " or runners 
 who attend the meets, and post themselves at certain 
 spots where their services as extricators may be invalu- 
 able. These sporting commissionaires maybe thoroughly 
 trusted as a rule.and though rumour says they were styled 
 "wreckers" because .they lured the unsuspecting and 
 unwary to put their horses at places where it was six 
 to four or more on a fall, I think rumour was men- 
 dacious, and mixed up the regular runners, of whom 
 poor Hartopp's henchman Hobbs is the fugleman, with 
 some unaccredited imitators who like the fun and the 
 cash of a catastrophe dearly. 
 
 The Ward Union country is very large, but if your 
 hunter be bold, and your own heart beats in unison 
 with his, it is comparatively easy as well as uu trappy. 
 
 Many years ago, a gallant General who bore himself 
 bravely in many parts of our Empire, and who now 
 " emeritus " can tell of hard-fought fields and perils 
 past, was serving on the Staff in Dublin, and of course 
 hunted with the Ward or possibly with the garrison 
 hounds,ere their amalgamation, now signified by the word 
 " Union." He had " taken a heavy toss " one day, and 
 the wreckers seeing him knocked out of "time, laid him 
 out on the bank and diagnosed the case. When no 
 symptom of revival came, matters looked more serious, 
 and they proceeded to loosen his cravat, and other- 
 wise aid nature ; in doing so, they came on layers or 
 strata of under-waistcoats gorgeous of hue and silky of 
 sheen, and one of the first of the attouied wreckers ex-
 
 392 
 
 claimed, " Jabers, boys! this is no man, this a pay- 
 cock ! " Soon after this clinical exposition, the " kilt " 
 mau came to. 
 
 But Pegasus is pulling too hard, and must be stopped 
 somehow, as otherwise, if I take him to the broad pas- 
 tures of Meath, he will fairly run away with me, and 
 the narration of much good fellowship therein, much 
 bear fighting, mock duels, and so on, must be abandoned. 
 One only bit of hunting history, illustrating no little 
 heroism, must not be passed over sub silentio, more 
 especially as the hero of the true tale has lately passed 
 away Mr. Pratt of Cabra Castle. He was hunting in 
 Meath one day, and took a toss that fractured an arm or 
 collar bone. He had it set by the nearest surgeon, and 
 drove back to Cabra Castle, some 16 or 17 miles, got 
 dressed somehow for dinner, and never told a soul of 
 the accident he had met with, for fear it might prevent 
 some of his party from losing the hunt ball that was to 
 come off that night, and to which he went himself. 
 
 Nor must one or two of the kind deeds of Meath 
 men and their many visitors be passed over, as, for 
 instance, when one day a hunter belonging to a good 
 sportsman dropped down dead from heart disease, how 
 the field then and there subscribed a very substantial 
 sum to replace him ; while the Bishop of Meath (K.C.) 
 can testify to the collections made annually for the 
 poor of Navan by the hunting visitors. One of these 
 venatic visitors, Mr. Henry Powell, generally known in 
 the hunting world as "Timber" Powell, was the head 
 and front of all liberal measures in the county of his 
 adoption. He was a man with a history, for when his
 
 393 
 
 elder brother was killed by a tribe of Abyssinians while 
 shooting in the Dark Continent, his younger brother 
 started off and took exemplary vengeance on the 
 plundering sept, and recovered some of his brother's 
 guns and property. It is said that he was able to 
 recognize his skull by the gold stuffing of a particular 
 tooth. Another brother, Walter, M.P. for Malmesbury, 
 met a tragic fate while ballooning, having been carried 
 off by a strong gale, and wrecked off the coast of 
 Spain. 
 
 A patriotic young gentleman in Ireland was boasting 
 one day that there were more gentlemen in his county 
 than in any other. " I should think there must be," 
 said a listener, " for I never saw one out of it ! " Almost 
 equally happy was the suggestion of a barrister who, 
 when engaged in a case in which the possession of a 
 hand-loom was the vexed question, was asked by the 
 County Court Judge why the loom was always spoken 
 of as " she," replied, " I suppose, your honour, because 
 it's a spinster." Not quite so felicitous, perhaps, was 
 the dictum of a magistrate who, being invoked in a case 
 in which hubby had cruelly maltreated and maimed 
 his cara sposa, and finding that the latter had relented 
 and wished the case dismissed, adding, " We'll leave 
 him to God," declared, ex cathedrd, " Oh dear, no ! It's 
 far too serious a matter for that." 
 
 But a line must be drawn at Bar stories, even if 
 not " chesnutty," for their name is legion, and many 
 are sparkling. 
 
 T ; iat the schoolmaster is not only abroad throughout 
 Ireland, but very much at home, too, in most of its
 
 394 
 
 provinces, has been demonstrated to the world lately, 
 if only by the fact of a number of men perfectly 
 ignorant of the litcrce humaniores or public schools, 
 having been able to hold their own in the great council 
 of the nation without many more advantages of educa- 
 tion than national schools, or similar aids supplied to 
 intellect, and we no more see, or very rarely, such 
 grotesque affiches as used to be conspicuously visible to 
 passengers from Dublin to Kingstown, or vice versa, large 
 letters intimating to the world that here were " Baths 
 for Ladies Hot Cold or Tepid." 
 
 Occasionally, however, the eye of observation will 
 see some quaint advertisements in Irish journals, 
 such as the following, that found its way into 
 " Piccadilly." " "Wanted respectable woman to mind 
 baby at her own house ; there must be no other children, 
 and have a cow; of these one sober preferred. Address 
 7486, ' Freeman ' Office." The comment of the editor 
 of " Piccadilly " is worth inserting. " I quite agree 
 with Flanagan, who says he wants an intoxicated cow 
 to supply him with milk punch. He says that the 
 beverage he obtains at present must certainly be pro- 
 cured from a temperance animal." 
 
 Does not this remind one of the young gunner who 
 said he was going out to the West Indies to shoot 
 " spatch cocks " he heard they were so good there ? 
 
 A propos of appropriate and original phraseology in 
 connection with Hibernian horse coping, what could be 
 more to the point than the commands of a reverend 
 padre to his servant when the latter was parading and 
 showing a mettlesome mare to an English dealer ?
 
 395 
 
 " Coax her, Mick, I tell ye," was the first order, as the 
 mare came out of the stable, with a view of putting her 
 in a good humour. " Control her, Mick ! " was the 
 second, when the mare seemed' a little above herself. 
 " Now coort her ! " was the third, when the mare had 
 gone through her paces and trial leps most satisfactorily, 
 just to show how pleased her owner and rider were 
 with the performance. 
 
 He was a crafty man who adopted the following plan 
 of campaign to cure a sportsman who " shadowed " him 
 and jumped fences right in his track or "pocket" after 
 many warnings. Having a very handy horse, he rode 
 at a hedge on the far side of which was a duck pond 
 concealed by copious green weeds. Nearing it, he made 
 his hunter simulate a baulk, while the shadower was 
 soon struggling in the duck domain, having been carried 
 on by the uncontrolled impetuosity of his horse. 
 
 Three acres and a cow ! I suppose I ought to have 
 been very fortunate, for I had about about fifteen acres 
 and several kye, and here, without claiming any know- 
 ledge of stock beyond the most cursory, I think I hit 
 upon a breeding secret that might prove serviceable if 
 generally known, and hence this true tale. When I went 
 to reside at Ashtown of course the milk supply became 
 a serious question, and I found it necessary at once to 
 purchase a milch cow. An auction a few miles off 
 enabled me to satisfy this want by buying a young 
 Devon, for what Mr. Montague Tigg would call the 
 ridiculously small price of 7 15s. My boundary fence 
 was weak in one spot, and the young cow, filled with 
 nostalgy, discerned the penetrable place and presently
 
 396 
 
 burst through it, and went to her old home, nor was she 
 content with doing this once, and she became something 
 of a nuisance ; no one had a good word to say for her, 
 till after a week or two she grew acclimatised and re- 
 signed to her new home, and her milk-giving power was 
 wonderful I A neighbour had a very good short-horn 
 bull close by, and the produce was about the roundest und 
 fattest young heifer I ever saw, and I realised for her 
 thirty odd pounds without having had to give her a 
 handful of hay or cabbage or turnip or any artificial food 
 whatever. 1 am not aware that there is a much better 
 record in the kingdom than this among hybrid or 
 rather cross-bred cattle. The Devons seem wonderfully 
 adapted for the climate and soil of Ireland, and to nick 
 with the short-horns. 
 
 Having horses it was necessary to have hay, and 
 having had a little experience in haymaking in 
 England and Ireland, I must say the method in the 
 former country is infinitely better than in the latter, 
 and I think the improvement in the form of hunters, 
 chasers, and racehorses transferred to England from 
 Ireland is mainly due to the superiority in hay. Grass 
 is as good in Ireland, probably, as in any part of the 
 world, the herbage there is probably better than most 
 English, but the confection is abominable sapless and 
 desiccated ; the reason is, chiefly, the exposure to 
 weather in Ireland and the neglect of proper rick fer- 
 mentation. In point of fact, very little is done with the 
 grass once cut down, and the weather is the chief 
 factor, or malefactor. A great improvement has taken 
 place in the vicinity of Dublin of late years, and
 
 397 
 
 in a few places as good hay and as aromatic can be 
 found on some farms as any in England , the major 
 part, however, is poor stuff, and mainly fit for packing 
 bottles, as a captain of a trader found out when he 
 brought over a cargo to England in an exceptionally 
 dear year. As a rule, too, ricks are made rather too 
 small in Ireland, for, as the miser said of his hoard, 
 
 " Suave est de magno tollere acervo." 
 
 The combination of old hay and old oats is hard to 
 realise in Ireland, and,as a rule, the owner of hunters must 
 be satisfied with good new hay and old oats. Of course 
 some allowance must be made for the greater dampness 
 of Ireland, and one wet season I recollect deriving some 
 assistance from a framework of hurdles driven into the 
 ground and roofed with a cross hurdle, for by this 
 means the half-made hay is kept from the wet earth 
 and can wait for a spell of sunshine. 
 
 The sempiternal question, whether cavalry or in- 
 fantry furnish the best riders to hounds, will probably 
 never be satisfactorily settled. The cavalry furnish 
 most men and horses, perhaps, as might be expected, 
 and a quartet from such corps as " the Royals," the 9th 
 and 16th Lancers, the 10th and 7th Hussars, would, 
 perhaps, be very hard to beat ; but, on the other hand, 
 some infantry regiments, not to speak of the Foot Guards 
 and Gunners, have been conspicuously good in the hunt- 
 ing fields of Ireland, and there is no necessity to go 
 further back than the last few seasons, when the 85th 
 Shropshire regiment, the 23rd Fusiliers, the Royal 
 Rifles, and the Cauieronians were competing in Ireland,
 
 398 
 
 and proving themselves most efficient in the field ; in- 
 deed the last-named corps had a fine tribute paid to 
 them in Kildare, where they were quartered for some 
 time, and where they hunted much, for Colonel 
 Crichton, one of the leading sportsmen in that county 
 of his adoption, got up a sort of valedictory red- coat 
 race meeting in their honour, and presented a cup to be 
 run for by the corps as well as by all Kildare, a sort of 
 last ride together. It was a true point-to-point affair, 
 several well-known gorses had to be rounded or passed 
 in a five-mile heat, and, while the starting-place was 
 Punchestown racecourse, over a bit of which they ran, 
 the run home was in Colonel Crichton's racecourse. 
 Lord Drogheda acted as clerk of the course, Mr. Percy 
 La louche as judge. Thirty-nine started, and though 
 some first-class Kildare men were among the compet- 
 itors, two Cameronians, Captain Kennedy and Captain 
 Cooke, took the lead and kept it throughout. Few 
 finer sights of the kind were ever witnessed in this part 
 of Ireland. A propos of cavalry and infantry, I may 
 tell a story here which, though it does nothing to estab- 
 lish superiority on one side or the other, shows that 
 " the Grabbles " are not without their champions and 
 admirers. The Chaplin family is by no means unknown 
 in the annals of our cavalry. General Chaplin, long 
 the Commanding Officer of the 4th Dragoon Guards, 
 was remarkable for the good selection of his horses 
 while in the Service, as well as while master of the 
 Kilkenny hounds during two or three brilliant seasons. 
 Another brother commanded the 8th Hussars, and gained 
 his Victoria Cross ; in fact, the family rather gravitated
 
 399 
 
 to the cavalry arm, save one brother, " Clifford," a con- 
 spicuously brilliant rider at Oxford, who, when urged 
 to go into the cavalry branch declined decidedly, giving 
 as his reason " that it would spoil his seat on horseback." 
 Lords Drogheda and Howth and a few more sports- 
 men founded Punchestown, and Lord Drogheda has 
 ever since watched over its expanding prosperity, and 
 succeeding in making it one of the most popular 
 reunions of the kingdom. But Lord Drogheda has done 
 much more than this, for he has practically been the great 
 controlling power of the Irish turf, legitimate and ille- 
 gitimate ; and if he has not proved himself an absolute 
 Hercules in purifying an Augean stable, he has cer- 
 tainly done much to raise its tone and prestige by the 
 most vigilant watchfulness and knowledge of his 
 subject ; indeed, one of Lord Drogheda's moves in the 
 earlier days of the National movement did much to 
 convince " the Patriots " thai; they were not omnipotent ; 
 for, when they did their best to disestablish hunting in 
 Kildare, his Lordship closed Punchestown, and thus cut 
 off the Pactolian wave that had enriched a whole county 
 side ; and by his firmness created a revulsion of feeling 
 in favour of the National sport, of which Punchestown 
 is at once the corollary and the apotheosis. Lord 
 Drogheda has certainly proved a benefactor to his 
 country in at least one department. Father Matthew, a 
 Welshman by nationality, saw, as a parish priest in the 
 County Cork, the awful consequences of drunkenness 
 and at once set to work to arrest the evil. His success 
 was marvellous, and bore good fruit for a generation or 
 two, but by degrees the magic of his name lost its
 
 400 
 
 quickening spell, and though his centenary has led to 
 demonstrations and the promise of a statue, there can 
 be no doubt but that a second Father Mathew would 
 be a great blessing in a drink-devoured land ! " Sure," 
 said a padre, " it not only debases ye, but it prevents 
 yee're aiming straight at your enemies the landlords " 
 (or words to that effect). 
 
 Bianconi came to Ireland as an Italian pedlar or 
 pedlar's assistant. He very soon saw that the country 
 wanted to be opened out by means "of locomotion. This 
 end he accomplished by the aid of his long cars, the last of 
 which, in the Dublin district, was only recently sup- 
 planted by a steam tramway. He died rich and 
 honoured, as such a benefactor should be. Mr. Peter 
 Purcell aided much in the same line. 
 
 In a minor manner the Honourable Horace Plunkett 
 has done the State good service, by successfully spread- 
 ing the co-operative principle, and giving it wide ex- 
 tension in stores, creameries, &o., while Mrs. Power 
 Lalor has vindicated the rights of her sex by extending 
 their spheres of usefulness, and making them self- 
 reliant. 
 
 I have ventured to tender advice to horse questers 
 invading Ireland from parts beyond the seas in the 
 hopes of picking up wonderful bargains in horseflesh, 
 and, so far as I could, I have pointed out the difficulties 
 of bringing the search to a successful issue. Let me, 
 however, in all fairness, state the " pros " of the case as 
 well as the " cons ;" beginning with " Bendigo" cer- 
 tainly one of the cracks of the century it may possibly 
 surprise some to hear that he was picked up in Ireland
 
 401 
 
 at what may be called hunter's price ; while " The 
 Sinner " and several others proved wonderful bargains 
 to their purchasers. " Scots Grey," who was nearly a 
 first-class chaser, if not absolutely within that rank, 
 was, on dit, a trooper cast by the Colonel of the Scots 
 Greys ; while " Jonah " was another case of rejected 
 addresses, size, perhaps, being his weak point ; and 
 " Bryan," who proved quite a triton among military 
 minnows, in the hands of his o \\ner, Captain Gilroy, of 
 the 11 tli Hussars, and who always ran up well in high- 
 class company, though never perhaps absolutely done 
 full justice to, was a horse without any particular 
 pedigree, a first-class hunter, and bought solely, 1 
 believe, with a view to hunting ; and I may add that, 
 seeing Mr. Cyril Lambart with a colt that he had just 
 bought at Ballinasloe Fair, out with the Meath hounds, 
 I ventured to suggest that lie looked worth training, 
 though he had no authenticated pedigree so far as I 
 could gather at the time. He took my advice, and the 
 horse lias proved very useful ever since, and won a 
 very fair share of races He is known as " The 
 Drummer" by "Tattoo." These are a few of the 
 " pros" that suggest themselves in favour of enterprise. 
 It must not be imagined that the art of blending 
 and mixing of metaphors in speeches delivered even in 
 Saint Stephen's expired with the past master of such 
 rhetorical ornaments as the famous Lord Castlereagb. 
 Only a session or two (more or less) ago, an Irish 
 Member delivered himself, a propos of rent arrears and 
 legislation on the subject, somewhat in this fashion, 
 " I tell you, sir, that evictions in Ireland are falling as 
 
 2 H
 
 402 
 
 fast as flakes of snow in a snow storm. They may be 
 mild now, comparatively speaking, as a shower in 
 April. But believe me, sir, they will soon blossom 
 forth into a tornado or a hurricane." Nor was the 
 utterer of these tangled tropes a native. 
 
 Among Davisiana that may perhaps be worth repro- 
 ducing is the following : We had been talking horses 
 more or less for some time, and the theme* led the 
 Englishmen present to say something about hunters 
 and hunting. Mr. Davis had been listening atten- 
 tively, and when there was a pause in the conversa- 
 tion he remarked, "You know, gentlemen, I've never 
 seen a hunter, perhaps not even a picture of one ; 
 but my idea of a really good hunter is an animal that 
 at the bidding of a thoroughly resolute rider would face 
 fire, and jump over it or through it if required. The 
 voice was semi-prophetic, for at that time no one had 
 ever seen horses or hunters jumping hurdles with gas 
 jets on top of them, as we have many times and oft 
 probably, at the Westminster Aquarium and other 
 places. Lord Waterford at Loseby jumped a hunter 
 over a five-barred gate placed in front of a roaring fire 
 in a room.* Mr. Davis had a black Rarey on his 
 premises who after a few hours (alone) with a colt 
 could do almost anything with him ; but the how was 
 never explained. 
 
 It would perhaps be hard to find in any language a 
 more powerful and expressive figure of speech than 
 that contained in a description of a keen cutting blast 
 
 * The Kev. J. Allgood, as an undergraduate, did something similar.
 
 403 
 
 of Eurus " Why its sharp eno' to cut the pearl out of: 
 a blind man's eye." 
 
 Even the terse Tim Healy, if reporters report accu- 
 rately, gets a little mixed in his metaphorical flights 
 occasionally, as when he asserted that if Parnell 
 remained the leader of the Irish party, " Mr. Gladstone 
 could not carry the cause of Ireland to a successful issue 
 with the millstone of the Divorce Court, like a knapsack 
 of foulness, clogging the wheels of his car of victory." 
 
 A learned Thane of Northern Britain wrote an erudite 
 disquisition on " Progression by Antagonism." This is 
 embodied in the common car-driver's advice to a new 
 Jehu " Hit him and hould him" advice which is 
 sometimes given to a rider as well when his steed is 
 rather recalcitrant. 
 
 Here is another illustration of the verve and force of 
 common country talk in Ireland. A Saxon stranger 
 was driving on a car (outsider of course), when at a 
 turn of the road they were encountered by a huge 
 funeral cortege, and the stranger naturally asked who 
 was the tenant of the coffin, borne on stalwart 
 shoulders, and followed by such a crowd of sympa- 
 thetic mourners ! " Oh, y'er anner, that's Mick 
 Muldoon, of Curraghweena, down there, as fine a young 
 fellow as ever you clapped eyes on ! " " And pray what 
 did he die of ? " quoth the querist. " Well, now, he 
 died of a fatague ! " "A fatigue, man, why that surely 
 would never kill any young fellow ! " " Well ! no ! 
 not a common fatague, your anner, but a whaskey 
 fatague, and there's plenty dies of that complaint in 
 this country ! " 
 
 2 H 2
 
 404 
 
 " Will he jump, Mick ? " asked a buyer of a country- 
 man who was trying to sell him a horse. " Why, if 
 you was to bring him to the Hill of Howth, and let 
 him know what you wanted, he'd spring as far as he 
 could towards the Holy head (Holyhead)." 
 
 A big bet had been made by a young squire that he 
 would ride his hunter in and out of a certain church- 
 yard, where not only did the rude forefathers of the 
 hamlet sleep, but his own ancestors too, with many 
 slabs and headstones commemorating their styles and 
 titles and ages, &c. The squire jumped in over the 
 wall all right, but *' revocare gradum " was the difficulty, 
 and the hunter seemed frightened by the gravestones, 
 and unwilling to repeat the spring. There was a great 
 deal of money on it, and his younger brother bade him 
 force him on to the paternal tombstone, which com- 
 manded the wall, and on which the newly-carved 
 capitals and arms would give the horse some foothold. 
 " Keep him among the letters, Frank, dart the spurs in, 
 and he'll clear it, never fear." The family won their 
 wager. 
 
 Something of a pendant to the story of the mail cart* 
 (meal cart) in the years of the real sore famine in 
 Ireland may be found in one that happened during the 
 consulship of Secretary Morley, when more men were 
 killed and wounded in Belfast than in one or two of 
 the recent rebellions, such as that one in which Mrs, 
 Steel describes Mr. Arthur McMurrough Kavanagh, for 
 
 * The tale runs that, after the famine, the relieving officer drove 
 about in a red-bodied trap, which was at once christened " The Mail 
 Phaeton" (Meal).
 
 405 
 
 instance, as riding out (his custom of a moonlight 
 night) to make observations on the enemy's " outposts." 
 Then parts of the west of Ireland were given daily doles 
 of out-door relief. One of " the relieving officers " was 
 found out to have relieved a considerable number more 
 individuals than the townland or barony his bailiwick 
 contained ; he confessed to the extra rations, and when 
 pressed to say where he got the names of the recipients 
 from, owned that he had taken them from the tomb- 
 stones ! 
 
 A rather good story is told of a slightly autocratic 
 M.F.H., in Ireland, who was leaving a district without 
 drawing a certain holt or haunt from which a run might 
 have been obtained, at a comparatively early hour, when 
 a pertinacious pursuer, who lived " convanient," pressed 
 him hard, and with iteration, to draw it there and then. 
 The master had a long journey home, and declined, 
 politely at first, but after the request had been urged 
 once too often, he told the postulant to hie him to a 
 worse and warmer place. " I fear, my lord, it ain't 
 stopped," said the latter, and the ready wit disarm?d all 
 wrath. 
 
 This hunting yarn reminds me of an electioneering 
 one, when P. Magan, of Clonearl, aspired to represent 
 Westmeath on inoderatel} r Conservative principles. In 
 
 his canvass he called on Father , and explained his 
 
 views, asking the padre for his vote and interest. " My 
 vote, sir ? " said the latter, " Why I'd rather give it to 
 the Devil ; " " but suppose your friend won't stand," 
 replied Magan, " What then ? " 
 
 In the course of hunting in Ireland it has naturally
 
 406 
 
 been my fortune to meet several statesmen and senators 
 and people of all degrees who have emerged from the 
 crowd ' viru.ni volitare per ora." The greatest lady 
 that honoured the hunting grounds of Ireland in my 
 time was the Empress of Austria, of whom I have 
 already said something, but may add now one or two 
 more impressions, from what 1 can recollect. Of Her 
 Majesty's horsewomanship there could be but one 
 opinion. She had learned the art of riding thoroughly 
 by theory and practice, could do circus manoeuvres, and 
 maintain her equilibrium perfectly, even over fences, 
 without reins a very high trial indeed. I think, too, 
 she had more than ordinary insight into a hunter's 
 qualifications and capabilities, as I recollect her saying, 
 when a new purchase was being discussed, " I fear 
 ' Sennacherib,' brilliant as he certainly is, will prove but 
 a holyday horse " in other words, one that would not 
 come out very often. I do not know whether the 
 Empress was a customer of Busvine's or not, but her 
 habits were very perfect, and the most hypercritical 
 could only cavil at two of her hunting properties the 
 fan which she used freely, and the high heels of her 
 hunting boots. Her Majesty's rule was never to ride 
 a second time a horse that made the slightest mistake, 
 which, considering the inequalities of ground in Ire- 
 land, was a severe one. The Empress thought that 
 there could be no comparison made between hunting 
 in Ireland and England, giving the palm to the 
 former. 
 
 Of H.E.H. General the Duke of Connaught I have 
 already spoken. He showed infinite tact and the savoir
 
 407 
 
 faire of his family in his Irish experiences, making 
 many friends and no enemies : a happy consummation, 
 to which his equerry, the Knight of Kerry, contributed 
 in no small degree. He had some good horses, as shown 
 by the way they won when tried in public, and on some 
 be went right well; but I arn not sure that all his 
 hunters were quite his horses. Perhaps the same thing 
 might be said of the studs of other great men, but il 
 faut souffrir, occasionally, pour etre bean. One of the 
 best horses I ever saw going was one H.Il.H. the Prince 
 of Wales rode in a good gallop with the Duke of Beau- 
 fort's hounds, from Beanwood through the Sodbury 
 Yale. I believe he refused 500 guineas for him, but 
 that standard was not always maintained. 
 
 Count Maffei (now Marquis and Ambassador) was, 
 when I knew him, Secretary to the Italian Legation in 
 London. He used to share my little hut occasionally 
 in Gloucestershire, and have a turn with the Duke of 
 Beaufort's and Lord Fitzhardinge's hounds, when, if not 
 the best mounted cavalier, he was about the best dressed 
 and the most amusing. 
 
 The late Earl of Mayo was one of the best and most 
 thorough sportsmen I ever met. Heavily handicapped 
 by weight, he managed, while master of his county 
 hounds, to stay very near them by jumping moderate 
 places on his horse, and very big ones ivilh his horse, 
 being very active and a fine fencer. So popular was he 
 with the farmers that they enclosed a gorse for him, 
 known since as " Farmers' Gorse." His two brothers, 
 " Charlie " and " Harry," are well-known figures in 
 various hunting fields, and so well mounted that they
 
 408 
 
 can be Charles the First (though he got rather a bad fall) 
 and Harry the First pretty often if they so will. " Bobby " 
 Bourkewas not so often seen in Irish hunting fields, but 
 when he was, he rode like a boy, con amorc, and actually 
 slipped a Meath field once from Corbalton on a hireling. 
 Mr. Horsman (good name for a sportsman), when Secre- 
 tary to the Lord Lieutenant in Ireland, declared that to 
 fill up time it was necessary to hunt. Irish members 
 had not developed obstruction and political catechisms 
 in his day ; so he hunted pretty regularly, and several 
 of his successors have followed in his ibotsteDs since. 
 Of those I have seen, I think Mr. James Lowther and 
 Sir Michael Hicks-Beach made the best track ; indeed, 
 the former I can recollect quite in the first flight, though 
 he seldom came out. I have seen Lord Hartington, too, 
 going well with the Ward Union staghounds. 
 
 Lord Spencer devoted himself greatly to sport during 
 his first Yiceroyalty, and then he was well mounted, and 
 able to enjoy himself in his progresses of pursuit 
 throughout his dominion, when he paid visits en route 
 to country houses, and was le lien venu at all. He had 
 a fine eye for country, and knew what hounds were 
 doing. In his second Viceroyalty things were different. 
 Good horses and only good ones can get over Ireland, 
 as a rule had been getting scarcer and dearer, and his 
 new mounts were not, invariably, good; hence ridiculous 
 situations ; for what can be more out of character than 
 to go out hunting with horse, foot, and dragoons follow- 
 ing, and get " dyked," or thrown out, very early in the 
 fray ? Lord Spencer, too, made rather a mistake in 
 hunting invito populo, but then he was a Radical !
 
 409 
 
 However, Lord Spencer was a great promoter of sport, 
 and his Staff chases became an institution. Lord 
 Londonderry hunted, as he did most things, en prince. 
 He was well mounted and rode straight and hard, 
 though perhaps not quite so hard as one of his brothers. 
 When in the turmoil of party it was hinted to him that 
 some malcontents disliked his presence in the field, he 
 at once retired from the fray, to the general regret. A 
 lawn meet at Mount Stewart, his place in the County 
 Down, is a thing to see. Like O'Rourke's famous feast, 
 " it will ne'er be forgot by those who were there and by 
 those who were not." Some eight or nine hundred 
 lunching sumptuously, prior to the enlargement of the 
 stag, is a phase of fin de siecle hunting not often seen. 
 
 Lord Cowper hunted very little during his Vice- 
 royalty, and was, I think, unlucky in his days. 
 
 Major Whyte Melville, though holding Northampton- 
 shire in great affection, was enamoured of Ireland and 
 its hunting grounds, as his books show. Lord Spencer 
 asked him over several times to The Lodge, and in 
 Kilkenny he was the friend of Mr. George Bryan, of 
 Jenkinstown, and of Mr. Smithwick. both first-class 
 sportsmen. Few men have ever described hunting of 
 all kinds more graphically and poetically; few have 
 been so correct in their theories. Perhaps it was only 
 a poetic licence that he took when he enjoined his hero 
 to hustle his horse at a brook, for I cannot help thinking 
 that " hustling " is fatal to a generous horse, and very 
 apt to fail with a slug, a nervous, or a craven horse. It 
 seems mechanically wrong, and almost as absurd as the 
 old idea of "lifting" a horse over a lep, which is
 
 410 
 
 putting the cart before the horse, for he lifts the rider. 
 Tom Oliver was supposed to be an adept in this 
 impossible art. I think he knew better. Mr. Marum, 
 M.P., was quite a first-class man in his day. Mr. Logan, 
 M.P., when mounted on one of Captain Steeds' hunters, 
 is never very far from the Ward Union hounds, be the 
 country never so big. The following skit about his 
 election was picked up somewhere near the Reform 
 Club: 
 
 " Our Logan at timber's a topper ! 
 
 Sure the laying of rails is his trade, 
 But ' Hardy,' poor lad ! got a cropper, 
 Tho' he picked himself up undismay'd." 
 
 Among other M.P.'s who have gone right well in 
 Meath and Dublin maybe named Mr. Watson Jarvis and 
 Mr. Mildmay. Lord Cork and Lord Dungarvan are quite 
 at home in Eastern Ireland. Lieut.-General Sir Charles 
 Crawford Fraser was a right good welter till weight for 
 age beat him. The three brothers Beresford charging 
 the ultimate or penultimate fence at Williamstown, 
 all together in a line in a chase, is still talked of. Lord 
 Cholmondeley finds Meath very pleasant, and Lord 
 Greville goes sometimes as if mindful of the time when 
 the flying " Fulke " was master of the Household drag. 
 
 Among the lights of the chasing world Garrett 
 Moore, Tommy Beasley, the late W. B. Morris, Jem 
 Barry, Mr. Cullen, Mr. Cunningham, and many more 
 were good to hounds, while, among men who have 
 graduated between flags and in the hunting fields, few 
 illustrated the French proverb (vielle ecole, bonne ecole) 
 better than Colonel Frank Forster and Mr. J. J. Preston, 
 the late Squire of Bellinter, and the owner and rider of
 
 411 
 
 " Brunette." 1 cannot recollect seeing more than two 
 Duchesses in the hunting fields of Ireland, her (literal) 
 Grace of Leinster, who comes out only too rarely, and the 
 Duchess of Hamilton, who flew over Meath and Dublin 
 as if they had been her early schooling grounds. Lady 
 Clarendon also took kindly to Irish fences, while Lady 
 Hesketh, once a visitor only, is now looked upon as one 
 of Meath's habited habitues. 
 
 The Duke of Marlborough's sporting propensities 
 during his Viceroyalty in Ireland only led him to the 
 banks of the Boyne, to kill salmon in the Blackcastle 
 reaches ; but her Grace drove to meets within reach of 
 Dublin, and may be said to have hunted vicariously 
 through Lady Curzon and Lord and Lady Eandolph 
 Churchill, who were generally very happily mounted, 
 and went well in Meath and Dublin. After his depar- 
 ture from the Private Secretary's Lodge, Lord Eandolph 
 staited a pack of harriers for a short time in England, I 
 believe. 
 
 I cannot say that I ever met the late Mr. George 
 Moore in the hunting field, though he had made his 
 mark there before my time ; but I came across him in 
 Several country houses, and have rarely seen a man of 
 more versatile accomplishments or brighter intellect. 
 Perhaps it may be said of him that 
 
 " He gave to horses what was meant for man ;" 
 
 but ilfaut hurler avec ses loups, and the men of his day 
 were much given to horses.* He was a great friend of 
 the late Earl of Howth, who, with a small stud, gained 
 
 * According to Heine, the Patricians were asset always talking 
 about horse*.
 
 412 
 
 more successes than most of his contemporaries, racing 
 the horses of his own breeding. But Mr. Moore was 
 for some time the partner of Henry, Lord "Waterford, 
 and I think they shared the famous "Wolf Dog," 
 eponymous to George Moore, who rode him in the 
 Corinthian Slakes. One of his greatest coups was with 
 " Coranna," whom I think he bred himself. At that 
 time the Chester Cup was a great wagering race, 
 specially for Irishmen, and when Frank Butler came to 
 him a few hours prior to the race and announced that 
 " Coranna " was " dog " lame, it was too late to hedge, 
 so he told that fine rider he must do what he could, 
 and bide his time. He did so, and the owner netted 
 28,000. Luck is volatile, and for some time he had 
 none, but a horse he bred, called '' Croagh-Patrick." 
 showed fair form at the Curragh, got a few gallops at 
 Howth, and eventually won a couple of good stakes at 
 Goodwood that proved a rate in aid to a rent-roll 
 rather curtailed by liberalities. He represented his 
 native county in Parliament, on rather Eadical princi- 
 ples. Heredity is shown in the talents he transmitted 
 to his sons, who have proved their power of writing 
 well, if, in the opinion of some, not always wisely. 
 
 Foreigners sometimes afford our insular sportsmen a 
 fund of amusement, which is really as often as not 
 wholly misplaced and mistaken ; for there can be no 
 greater mistake than the laying down of Procrustean 
 rules and canons, and measuring everything by them. 
 Foreigners do us honour by joining in our sports and 
 pastimes, and not seldom, after a little experience and 
 practice, prove quite as successful as the best natives ;
 
 413 
 
 and we may recollect that our own canons of wood- 
 craft and venerie, as well as its terminology, are 
 derived from foreign sources. We may be quite sure 
 that some of our visitors to Continental chases are quite 
 capable of making the same sporting solecisms as the 
 Frenchman who, when asked if he wanted to catch the 
 fox himself, replied that at any rate " he would try to 
 do so," or of another who would talk of the " dogs' 
 meets ! " We have had some gallant sporting strangers 
 in Ireland, and none more so than those from Southern 
 Germany, who have taken their pleasure most plea- 
 santly with the Meath, Kildare, and Ward Union 
 hounds. The earnestness in pursuit of a couple of 
 young gentlemen from the banks of the Danube led to 
 a rather funny little incident not long ago. Lord 
 Fingall was the master of the Meath hounds, and a 
 fox who had run a short ring was just being broken up 
 by the pack, when one of these gentlemen, taking him 
 for whip or huntsman, rode up to him and told him he 
 would give him a sovereign, or even more, for the 
 mask, pads, and brush of the quarry. It was a pity 
 Lord F. did not take the money ; but he at once 
 directed the spolia opima to be given to his venatic 
 visitor. However, we have heard of a similar mistake 
 being made in England, and the master crowning the 
 joke by touching his cap to the stranger, and saying 
 something about " Christinas time," which extracted 
 gold from the querist. I recollect an old M.F.H. tell- 
 ing me of his having been followed through a sharpish 
 run by a foreigner who, at its close, congratulated him 
 on his wonderful keenness of vision ; for, said he, " I
 
 4U 
 
 suppose you never had your eye off the fox, while I 
 never once saw him." 
 
 A good many years have elapsed since the S. War- 
 wickshire had a notable run from Debdale, in the first 
 stages of which many were engaged, but the close of 
 which few saw. It was a quasi-Billesdon-Coplow 
 chase, and found its laureate in a most accomplished 
 Hibernian hunting-man, whose headquarters were 
 Leamington. The run was described with great topo- 
 graphical accuracy and considerable spirit, and the 
 heroic fuglemen and first-class funkers were dealt with 
 most impartially. Here is one verse 
 
 " But talk of a Paddy ! there's PlunJcett, 
 
 Who says that he rode like a man ; 
 But his name sounds so very like funk it 
 That (credat) believe it who can." 
 
 Mr. Plunkett was, I believe, seen in the club with a 
 horsewhip prepared to castigate the author of this 
 aspersion ; but it turned out that this was what 
 Jorrocks calls a " rouse" (ruse) to divert attention from 
 himself, for he had been " Jim the Penman." A story 
 is told of a powerful politician, who was once terribly 
 objurgated by an M.F.H. of a provincial pack, who 
 went so far as to ask him what he meant by coming 
 out with his hounds. Time brought its revenge, for a 
 few days afterwards the man of politics was speaking 
 in the town hall de rebus omnibus, and the M.F.H. in 
 question was there. He declared himself devoted to 
 hounds and hunting, and, of course, specially to the 
 chase of the fox, when possible. " But," he added, 
 " failing foxes, I would hunt stags ; failing stags, I
 
 415 
 
 would hunt hares ; failing hares, I'd try rabbits ; and 
 failing rabbits, I'd try rats ; and if even that resource 
 failed I'd hunt in the country presided over so ably by 
 your M.F.H. ! " 
 
 I believe few more splendid specimens of perseverance 
 in pursuit could be found than when on one occasion 
 Mr. J. Going, the M.F.H. of Tipperary, after drawing 
 a series of coverts blank, declared that, as there was a 
 most luminous moon shining, he would draw on till he 
 found ; and I believe patience and perseverance were re- 
 warded. 
 
 One of the great difficulties inseparable from fox- 
 hunting is the fowl fund, wherewithal to pay the losses, 
 real and fictitious, of poultry keepers, by fox raids, and 
 of course the poorer the county is the more important 
 is it that all damage claims should be met promptly and 
 liberally and that too stern an inquisition into the 
 validity of any statement made should not be held ; 
 that in fact the fox should have the benefit of the 
 doubt like the prisoner in our courts of justice. That 
 the fox is felonious by nature and practice is universally 
 admitted. It is not so many years since the majority 
 of a Kildare field saw a fox evicted from Major 
 Borrowes' good gorse at Giltown, take up a young rabbit 
 who had the misfortune to cross his path, as he was 
 fleeing for his life ; nor did he abandon the prize till he 
 had, so far as I can recollect, secured salvation. A duck 
 of mine was said to have been carried off in a similar 
 fashion by one of the Duke of Beaufort's foxes in a run, 
 but to the best of my belief that was the sole bit of feather 
 lost in two or three years from my little homestead,
 
 416 
 
 though it lay in the run of foxes, and between coverts. 
 Chancellors of the Exchequer have invented various 
 little income taxes in aid of this important fund, and I 
 recollect a concert being given in Meath for the purpose 
 that realised a very fair amount, my wife being one 
 of the corps de cantatrices. In Gal way, where in some 
 districts la petite culture prevails, and it is of the 
 utmost importance to satisfy all claims promptly, Lady 
 Clanmorris, sister to the famous Burton Persse, M.F.H., 
 undertook for some years the collection of this subsidy 
 for the sufferers from fox forays, and the following 
 spirited lines, written expressly for her, and appro- 
 priately etched and illuminated, may be seen framed 
 and glazed in the hall at Cregclare, the family residence 
 in the Co. Galway : 
 
 " The witches in Macbeth declare 
 That fair is foul and foul is fair ; 
 The truth of this is plain to show, 
 For foxes' fare is fowl we know. 
 So sportsmen all should be agreed 
 To pay for fowl is fair indeed." 
 
 The jeu dc mots here is well sustained, and the moral 
 well drawn : indeed it is only a matter of common 
 prudence to secure the female suffrage by liberal fowl 
 payments, for the noctivagous marauder can be easily 
 killed by those who know his habits, and I can well 
 recollect a warm spring afternoon on Cullenagh Hill, in 
 the Queen's County, a stronghold of foxes, when a Meg 
 Merrilies sort of virago appeared, and boasted before the 
 master, Lord Spencer, and a very large field, that she 
 herself had done away with nine foxes, owing to some
 
 417 
 
 neglect, real or fancied, of her claims. At the same 
 time liberality must be tempered by justice and even- 
 haudedness, for many a fox has been sacrificed on 
 account of what seemed partiality to a favoured suitor. 
 In an article I wrote in "Bailey's Magazine" some 
 years ago, I tried to prove and I think I succeeded in 
 doing so that the fox hunted by scent as well as sight. 
 Cumin is generally credited with more sparkling 
 witticisms than any single member of the Irish Bar or 
 Bench. What, for instance, could be wittier, neater, or 
 more classical than the motto he selected for a rich 
 client of his, who, a tobacconist, had just started a 
 carriage and a coat of arms " Quid rides?" But even 
 within comparatively recent times, Baron Dowse was 
 esteemed the wittiest man in the House of Commons, 
 while many of Judge Dogherty's bon mots are still 
 current. One occurs to me while writing, though it has, 
 I think, been sometimes attributed to Archbishop 
 Whately, who, though a logician, was a mine of wit and 
 puns. " Did you ever see anything so decolletee ? " said 
 a guest at an evening party in Dublin, to the Judge, 
 pointing out a very fashionable lady ; " I certainly never 
 did since I was born." " Can't say I ever did either since 
 I was weaned," was the Judge's ready rejoinder. Nor 
 would it be easy to beat the apology made by some 
 forensic wit of the day for a rather famous publicist 
 of the period, by name ^Eneas Macdonald, who walked 
 home rather erratically, after dining with Dr. Troy, the 
 Eoman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin " Oh ! its only 
 pius jfineas returning home from the sack of Troy." 
 Foote, the actor, too, was very happy in his reply
 
 418 
 
 when some one asked him if he had ever seen the city 
 of Cork. " No," he said, " but I've seen many drawings 
 of it ;" though, after all, this is but a variation on a very 
 well worn theme. Here is another bit of wit of legal 
 stamp, uttered when a peerage was offered to Sir John 
 Scott, the Attorney-General of the period, and which 
 may be quoted, as so many rob the Earl of Clonmell of 
 his final L. Clonmel is the capital of Tipperary, as 
 even a lesser luminary than Macaulay's schoolboy 
 could tell us, and it was selected by the Attorney- 
 General for his title, but he insisted that it should be 
 spelt with the double L ; in vain did the authorities resist 
 the demand as unreasonable. They had to yield, " for," 
 as a barrister remarked, " John Scott is that sort of man 
 that if you give him an inch he'll take an ell " (L). 
 
 The famous Duke of Wellington has never, perhaps, 
 been quoted as a wit, but who ever said a more preg- 
 nant or mordent thing than his reply to Souit, who, 
 notorious for his acquisitions of spoil and loot in Spain, 
 asked his Grace on one occasion after dinner, if he had 
 been equally fortunate. " Nou, monsieur/' replied the 
 Iron Irishman, " car je vous ai suivi." 
 
 I think it was Lady Morgan, the " wild Irish girl," 
 who told us of Dr. Higgins. who declared in a lecture 
 that " Roger Boyle was the father of chemistry, and son 
 to the Earl of Cork." 
 
 The famous pentameter of our school days put in the 
 classic lips of a Eoman " masher " in the days Im- 
 perial, 
 
 " Nee tecum possum rivere nee sine te," 
 
 may be said to be applicable to the horse fancier in
 
 419 
 
 Ireland in the matter of veterinary surgeons, however 
 much he may rely on his own judgment and experience. 
 However, vets, are not always infallible, as this anecdote 
 will show. I was sending up seven or eight hunters to 
 the Dublin show, then held in Kildare Street, and they 
 were being done up at Sewell's for the night after 
 walking up from the country, when a dealer came in 
 and bid me a long price for two of them. By 
 Mr. Sewell's advice I agreed to take it, and the horses 
 were to be sent to Mr. D. Paley's yard early in the 
 morning to be examined. I arrived there about 9 a.m., 
 and asked Mr. Paley if the horses were sound. He 
 said, "Sound eno", only one of them has been ' unnerved.'" 
 I was staggered, for this horse was only five years old, 
 and had come to me direct from the breeder ; and I asked 
 Mr. Paley to show me where the operation had been 
 performed, when he pointed to a scar on his fetlock. I 
 tried a rough test at once, and came to the conclusion 
 Mr. Paley was wrong, but went to the breeder, who 
 assured me the horse had never been under veterinary 
 treatment, while an M.F.H. gave me a certificate that 
 the scar was done in the hunting field, under his own 
 eyes, at a coped wall. However, Mr. Paley persisted, 
 and, of course, the deal was off. Naturally the affair 
 was much talked of ; the horse went to the show, and 
 the whole lot were under severe taboo, while the chaff 
 and persiflage of one's hunting friends and acquaintances, 
 at first amusing, became at last an infliction, and I 
 determined to take the unnerved horse to the Veterinary 
 College in London, and have the question decided ; but 
 while I was considering poor Paley broke his leg, and 
 
 2 I 2
 
 420 
 
 this disarmed me ; and, to satisfy myself, I submitted 
 the animal to the veterinary talent of Dublin, com- 
 mencing with Professor Ferguson (a consummate judge), 
 and they all pronounced the horse perfectly sound and 
 in possession of every nerve he had at his birth. Not 
 long after this unfortunate episode, that cost me a good 
 deal of money, Mr. Paley became insane. He was a 
 fine fellow, a first-rate man to hounds, and a stone wall, 
 with a fearful drop into a road at Russborough Park, in 
 the Kildare hunting country, which he jumped in a run 
 with the Kildare hounds, is still pointed out. Let ma 
 state that this much " vetted " horse was sold by me for 
 a very small figure to a master of hounds, that he turned 
 " whistler " with him, and that he even then made more 
 than a third over my price, that he went to England, 
 and, as a huntsman's horse, gained, I hear, a great 
 character. 
 
 In my experience valeat quantum I think the 
 " Lawyer "-sired horses made about the best hunters I 
 came across in Ireland ; for a rather plain son of his I 
 was bid, I think, about the highest price I have known 
 offered for a hunter for many years. I fancied him per- 
 fectly sound, but the acute ear of Mr. Charles Allen, V.S., 
 after a very long examination, detected the little rift 
 within the lute which mine could not ; he made 
 155 guineas as a "cast" horse at Sewell's auction. I 
 got a mount on him next season, when, after a good 
 summering, he looked 50 per cent, improved, and heavy 
 ground presently revealed how correct was the pro- 
 fessional diagnosis. 
 
 If there be one thins more significant than another
 
 421 
 
 of how " tempora mutantur " and how " nos mutamur 
 in illis," it is the abandonment as a rule by M.F.Hs. of 
 their special privilege of " bargeing" ad libitum, and talk- 
 ing at individuals with a licence of language that would 
 not be tolerated anywhere else than in the hunting 
 field, where the M.F.H. was a chartered libertine in his 
 lingo, too often, with an anthology of abuse specially 
 his own, and a conimination service at his command at 
 a minute's notice. "To butter a booby and snub a 
 snob " was his special privilege, and constantly used 
 and abused too ! Nous avous changes tout pela, and 
 moderation in language is now the rule in Ireland. In 
 Meath, Mr. Trotter, who was almost always near his 
 hounds, was harclly ever heard to raise his voice, and 
 Lord Fingall and Mr. W. Waller were equally mild of 
 speech ; while, in Kildare, Major St. Leger Moore rarely, 
 if ever, speaks unadvisedly with his lips, though the 
 temptation to do so must be very great at times. The 
 counsel as to hospitality in holy writ is coupled with 
 the consideration that " angels " have been entertained 
 unawares, and that what has been may be historically 
 repeated. In England, latitude of " language " obtains 
 far more than in Ireland, and " a customer " has some- 
 times been confounded with a maledicted mob of 
 thrusters, termed generically " tinkers and tailors and 
 candlestick makers." On one occasion a choleric 
 M.F.H. stopped hounds, including in his abuse of a 
 promiscuous field a genuine Irish " customer," who, if 
 a manufacturer, was "a rum 'un to follow a bad 'un to 
 beat," and in no way ashamed of the business or of " the 
 dips " that brought in " the dibs." In the evening it
 
 422 
 
 fortuned that he and the choleric M.F.H., whose coat 
 was in ribands, were left alone after a great gallop, 
 and the stranger did all he could to turn hounds to him 
 and help him in every way ! The M.F.H. recognised 
 him as one on whom the vials of his venatic wrath had 
 been freely poured out in the morning, and was as nice 
 to him as he could be, and almost apologetic. " I'm 
 not a tailor," quoth the visitor, " and I'm really sorry for 
 it, as I'd try to sew up your coat for you, nor am I a 
 candlestick maker, tho' I make the things they hold, 
 and what's more am proud of my profession." 
 
 Hunting may have been said to have been at its 
 zenith in Ireland in some respects twenty years ago, 
 for at a famous dinner party at a country house, the 
 owner insisted on taking in a certain great M.F.H.'s 
 daughter before all the ladies of rank in the room, 
 saying as his reason that he held her father to be the 
 first man in Ireland. 
 
 lioom may be made for one little anecdote, illustra- 
 tive of poor Chicken Hartopp, as it is more or less 
 typical. His own special wrecker and runner asked 
 him one day at a crowded covert side for " a few shil- 
 lings," on the ground that he was hard up. Upon this 
 Hartopp tossed him a sovereign, which was thankfully 
 accepted. A rich and anr/ient member of the Hunt, 
 who was not given to lavishness, seeing this, rode up to 
 the Captain, and remonstrated with him on his extra- 
 vagance. " You know," said he, " the man only asked 
 for ' a few shillings,' and I could have given you 
 change." " Indeed ! " quoth the Captain, " that alters 
 the case ! Here, Pat, give me back the sovereign," and
 
 423 
 
 he repocketed it ; then getting twenty shillings from 
 the remonstrant sportsman, he handed them to Pat as 
 a gift from the money-changer, with, of course, the 
 original sovereign, convulsing the field, as might be 
 expected, by this practical joke and charity sermon, 
 for there may be sermons in shillings, I trow, as well as 
 in stones. 
 
 1 fear that the divinity that used to hedge round the 
 M.F.H., and gave him the quasi-regal privilege of being 
 incapable of doing wrong (in the opinion of his 
 admirers) lias vanished, like Astrsea, from this work-a- 
 day world of ours. Precise punctuality is now expected, 
 from a master of subscription hounds at any rate, and 
 the degaye master, as depicted in one of Whyte Melville's 
 delightful tales, cantering up a quarter of an hour late, 
 and pleading the necessity of reading over Parliamentary 
 papers and letters by way of an apology to his field, 
 would hardly be encouraged in such laches by them 
 now. In the good old days of " Divine right " master- 
 ship, I recollect seeing a funny little episode. A well- 
 mounted sportsman towards the close of a smart run, 
 when the fox was probably sinking, and falling back 
 on strategy to make up for want of condition and 
 " go,'"' was seen to be tremendously excited as to the 
 Lssueof the run, and to be quite ready to take command 
 of the pack when any difficulty arose. " Perhaps, sir," 
 said the master, with withering sarcasm, " you'd like to 
 hunt my hounds." " Indeed, I would," said the 
 stranger, and began to cap them on. It turned out 
 that the impetuous sportsman had just come out of a 
 maison de saute, and the excitement of the chase had
 
 424 
 
 upset his faculties, and led to this curious conduct. 
 Few masters of hounds rush into print in praise of their 
 own packs ; but this lapse from good taste is not un- 
 known , and in one instance where the authorship was 
 traced, the hunt went by the sobriquet of " the paper 
 chase " ever after. I think it was Mowbray Morris, of 
 the " Times," who went by the name of " the Leading 
 Article " whenever he appeared in the shires. 
 
 " From the Minister down to the Clerk of the Crown 
 all were cracking their jokes," may have once been said 
 of groups of Irishmen of all sorts and conditions col- 
 lected together. The beggar man and woman were as 
 full of bon mots and ready repartees as the baron and 
 baroness, possibly fuller ; ecce signum ! A very learned 
 prelate, whose thorn in the flesh was a strong determi- 
 nation of gout to the feet, was taking his walks abroad 
 beyond the confines of his palace, when he encountered 
 a beggar-woman cum baby, for whom she craved coppers 
 with the earnestness and celestial . appeals common to 
 her class. The prelate was penceless on the occasion, 
 or at any rate would not part, so when the peripatetic 
 postulant found that her prayers were not likely to be 
 fruitful, she turned to philosophy and cynicism and 
 remarked, "Well your holy reverence, if your heart 
 were only half as tender as your toes, you'd grant rnee 
 prayer." " Is your servant a dog, that he should do 
 this thing?" was the well-known witty reply of Svdney 
 Smith to Landseer, the great animal painter, when he 
 asked him for a sitting. Something of a parallel to it 
 may be found in the reply of a doctor to his patient, 
 when the former was trying to convince him of his
 
 425 
 
 peril if he did not pull up at once " Ah, doctor dear, 
 I've the constitution of a horse." " I know that," was 
 the latter's reply, and " that you've always used it like an 
 ass." 
 
 Even the drill sergeant of Irish corps could not go 
 through his manoeuvres without a little leaven of wit, 
 punning on the names and peculiarities of his " squad." 
 This to Private " Common" " Yes, common ye are hy 
 name, and common by nature, and common, I fear, ye'll 
 ever be," while, to a fat recruit, conspicuous by his 
 protrusive abdomen he would remark : 
 
 " Xow Plunkett Kelly 
 Tuck in jour belly," 
 
 and so on throughout the piece. 
 
 "Poor Noodles has got brain fever, I hear," said 
 Colonel H. to Dr. B. one morning. " Brain fever, did 
 you say ? Nay, that's impossible, for Noodles never 
 had any brains to inflame." " Is it true that the ruffian 
 knocked Major B. senseless ?" said a quidnunc in a club to 
 his pal. " Nay," said the latter ; " that could hardly 
 be, for the Major never had any sense." " Did you tap 
 Sir Francis ?" said an eminent surgeon to his assistant, 
 ''and what did you draw off?" "Why two quarts of 
 water," was the reply. " Indeed you did not, but two 
 quarts of whiskey and water." 
 
 The beggar-woman's yarn may be capped by another, 
 who, standing at an hotel door in Dublin, begged an 
 alms from a passenger. He refused her, when his valet, 
 coming up, "my- lorded" him, whereupon she remarked, 
 "Well! if the likes of him be lords, from lords Good
 
 426 
 
 Lord deliver us." A propos of sturdy beggars, I recol- 
 lect going up to Calton Hill to get fresh views from it 
 of beautiful Edinburgh. After a while I was joined by an 
 extremely well-dressed Northern Briton, who expounded 
 the scenery to me, and quoted largely from Sir Walter 
 Scott's poetical works. When Calton Hill was duly 
 done, I wished my cicerone good-bye, but he had no 
 idea of letting me off so cheap, and informed me that 
 he expected " a graateueety." Mild measures were, 
 I saw, useless, so I repeated "'a graateueety?' why, I 
 took you for a gentleman, not a beggar ! " He blessed 
 me in strong terms ere I departed. 
 
 There was rather a good story going about a mot of 
 Lord Chelmsford's, when somebody remarked how Lord 
 Campbell had murdered the French tongue, on some 
 public occasion. " Don't say ' murdered,' " was the reply ; 
 " he only ' Scotched ' it." This reminds one of the tale of 
 Louis Napoleon and a certain Mayor of Cork, who, with 
 one or two of his fellow-townsmen, went on a deputation 
 to the Emperor, and was graciously received by him at 
 the Tuileries. The Mayor, in virtue of his office, was 
 the spokesman, and proceeded to read his memorial in 
 what he conceived to be intelligible French ; but after 
 a minute or two Louis Napoleon enquired if an inter- 
 preter was to be found, " for,'' he added, to the deputa- 
 tion in admirable English, " German I know, Italian, 
 and English, but I regret extremely that I have had no 
 opportunities of mastering the Irish tongue." A botanist, 
 newly arrived in Jamaica, one day was talking to a 
 witty lady there of the native flora, to which he gave, 
 one and all, Latin titles ; " Dear me," said the fair florist,
 
 427 
 
 " I did not know that our blooms had such grand titles, 
 I fancied there were only two flowers in the island with 
 Latin soubriquets, namely, the Aurora borealis and 
 Delirium tremens. 
 
 There was a time, and not many decades ago, when 
 Irishmen in Ireland were judged very much by their pro- 
 nunciation of their mother tongue, which was English, 
 of course, for Gaelic has not been generally spoken for 
 several generations, save by the peasantry in remote dis- 
 tricts, and " hillside " men and women. Thackeray's 
 quick ear soon detected the mincing dialect of would-be 
 " genteel " folk, who talked to him of the " Bee " of 
 Neeples, to which they compared that of Dublin ; while 
 the story of the Jinickin Judge who told his tipstaff to 
 bring in three cheers for tlie-leedies, and was surprised to 
 find that functionary huzzahing a pleins poumons is old, 
 and Lady Morgan is severe on the " Meejors " of her day. 
 So inveterate was this mincing meanness of tongue that 
 even in Sir Jonah Barrington's time, a worthy Lord 
 Mayor of Dublin, who was baronetted on the occasion 
 of the Jubilee of the third George, was forced by public 
 opinion to change his patronymic of "Stammer" into 
 " Steemer," as more grateful to English ears and euphony, 
 as he tells us in a very amusing chapter of his " personal 
 sketches;" and the habit was so common that the 
 multiplication of instances in illustration would be 
 quite superfluous. Of course the affectation was ridi- 
 culous, and we can well afford to laugh at it now that 
 tongues are suffered to wag more naturally ; but who of 
 age mediaeval does not recollect with what jealous care 
 the youthful tongue was guarded from the contagion of
 
 428 
 
 " brogue " by a cordon of English servants, tutors, and 
 governesses galore, till English schools could effectually 
 train ingenuous youth into the pure timbre of Saxon 
 speech ? 
 
 All that is changed DOW, and a little Doric is now 
 not only no disgrace, hut is sometimes accounted quite 
 an accomplishment, and a sort of key in which Iiish 
 tales and stories are to be said or sung. Indeed, one of the 
 most rdpcmdv, men in London Society talks certainly with 
 a bocca Hibcrnica not to be easily mistaken. It was of 
 this eminent jurisconsult that this tale is told, that when 
 old shoes or slippers were wanting to cast after the de- 
 parting figures of a bride and groom, along with the rice, 
 &c., a young lady suggested that he should cast his 
 brogue after them, as it would answer every purpose. 
 Brogue Hibernice means a shoe of the rougher order. 
 
 Shooting in Ireland has, even in my day, undergone 
 great revolutions ! Time was when siiipe were nearly 
 as plentiful as .sparrows, but drainage and breechloaders 
 have thinned their numbers, till, save in exceptional 
 spots, 8 or 10 couple is a very good day's work for one 
 gun. Last season I heard of 25 couple being shot in the 
 kingdom of Kerry, and Colonel Yernon bagged 40 brace 
 of snipe in one day in the co. Waterford, but then he 
 " holds " very straight. Woodcock, too, are not as plen- 
 tiful as they were ; but last winter Lord Ardilaun's party 
 shot over 200 birds in one day, at Ashford; and at 
 Castle Hacket, near Tuam, Mr. Percy Bernard's party 
 got 115 cock in a short day. Hares are in some places 
 nearly extinct in Ireland, but wherever they are fairly 
 preserved, as in the park of Howth Castle, they are as
 
 429 
 
 numerous as in any part of England. Within a few 
 miles of Dublin, 100 brace of grouse may be bagged in 
 a day's driving ; while at Lord Carysfort's place, Glenart, 
 the pheasant shooting is extremely good, as it is also at 
 Slane Castle. 
 
 I recollect a good many years ago going with a friend 
 to Kerry, which we heard was full of snipe. We made 
 our headquarters Listowel, where there was a fair hotel, 
 but it was a very good day that we picked up more 
 than 20 birds between us ! My friend left in utter 
 disgust. I stayed on, as mine host assured me that at 
 a certain period of the moon things would improve. 
 They did not, however, and I soon learnt the cause 
 when taken to a game-dealer's place, whence quantities 
 of game of every kind were sent off periodically to the 
 English markets. On my expostulating with mine host, 
 he told me that he had heard I was a very bad shot 
 (which was not wholly untrue), and that when Major 
 Snapshot came immense bags would be made. The 
 Major came and I made a little wager with the land- 
 lord that if he would concede me a brace or two by way 
 of a handicap, I would back myself against him. We 
 shot all day, " from morn till dewy eve," and I won, if 
 not by a head, by a bill or two. Poachers in Ireland 
 are often desperate men, living in glens and seques- 
 tered places, and maintained in everything by the local 
 game dealers, who export by the thousand head weekly, 
 Ireland being a leppiiig land, par excellence, something 
 ought to be said or sung as to the feats of its centaurs ; 
 but unfortunately one does not go about with a measur- 
 ing tape, and one can only speak approximately, Irish
 
 430 
 
 horses have not attained to the best performances of 
 American nags, as recorded, and perhaps Australian 
 " whalers " can beat them, too, but 6 feet of height has 
 been jumped in the Royal Dublin Society's show yard, 
 in Kildare Street, which has not been quite equalled in 
 their apparently springier arena at Ball's Bridge. I 
 believe the late Major Butson and the late Frank Joyce 
 attained to this standard, but did not transcend it ; and 
 this without disturbing a sod or stone. 
 
 Of Mr. Drought's single feat of clearing a high coped 
 wall of masonry, solid and very broad, I have spoken, I 
 think, already; and Mr. Harry Croker jumped a very 
 similar obstacle in cold blood, without the stimulus of 
 hounds in full cry, and when asked why he did it, he 
 replied that he had been looking at the wall for years, 
 and always intended to have a try at it. I was pointed 
 out a broad wall in Upper Meath, by Mr. Trotter 
 and one of the whips, which must have been about 
 5 feet, and was coped with sharp flags, that, if touched, 
 must have cut a horse to pieces, that was jumped by 
 Captain Hall and his sister, while hunting. Mr. C. 
 Allen, V.S., on a well known grey mare, has jumped 
 iron gates galore while hunting with the Ward Union 
 staghounds, and Mr. Eitchie, of Newtown, has been 
 equally venturesome in Kildare. For " drops " Mr. 
 Trotter had few peers, and Mr. Tom Leonard, a welter 
 weight, jumped a huge stone-faced bank, near Culmulleu, 
 that puzzled the following field. Mr. " St. James," and 
 two others only, at intervals, jumped the boundary fence 
 of the Bush Farm, which is an awesome chasm, and 
 Captain Cotton, in his day, cleared " the loch of the bay,"
 
 431 
 
 in a very wide place. Colonel Forester's " Lady Lang- 
 ford " was a prodigy at width, and indeed, as a rule, the 
 best of the Ward Union hunters cross great breadth 
 some time or other in the course of the season, though 
 not often called upon to compass any great height. One 
 of the biggest jumps within my recollection was made 
 by a hunter of Captain Kincaid Smith's, in Meatli. 
 This horse had just won a red-coat race, and had so 
 much " way " on him that, after passing the winning 
 flags, which were on a slight hill, he cleared a chasm of 
 18 feet with steep sides a hundred yards or so beyond 
 them ; of course it was not a judicious thing to have put 
 the flags in such a position, but it was hard to realise that 
 at the end of a severe four miles, interspersed with large 
 leps, any horse would have much superfluous steam left. 
 
 D'Israeli, in " Coningsby," makes a young officer dis- 
 course eloquently about the size of the jumps in Kildare. 
 There are considerably bigger boundaries in Meath ; 
 indeed a good many of them are " caviare to the 
 general," and only to be attempted by extraordinary 
 men on exceptional hunters. This is certainly a draw- 
 back in parts of that pleasant land. 
 
 Sir William Fraser, in his pleasant volume on the 
 subject of " D'Israeli and his Day," talks about his hero 
 having ridden for 30 miles across country, and having 
 stopped at nothing ! Such a feat could not be achieved in 
 Royal Meath by mortal man. I should question its being 
 very feasible anywhere ; but Burnaby talks of the Kir- 
 ghese starting for a race of 28 miles over the steppes ! 
 
 To the list of high jumps recently lepped in Ireland 
 may be named a park wall near Thomastown, cleared
 
 432 
 
 by Mr. J. Phelan, the well-known amateur, and Mr. E. 
 Burke, M.F.H. of Tipperary.* 
 
 A wide gulf separates the manners and customs of 
 the chase in Ireland from those recorded in the 
 personal sketches of Sir Jonah Barrington. In a 
 Meath or Kildare field will be found many of the 
 elements that compose a Cottesbrooke crowd, a Mel- 
 tonian miscellany, or a Badminton bevy; and country 
 houses in both are not dissimilar in their modern 
 methods to those on the eastern side of the Channel, 
 whereas Sir Jonah's picture of a frost recess at a 
 hunting lodge in the Queen's County shows very 
 differently a hogshead of claret was put on the tap, 
 not to speak of strong waters, a cow was killed and 
 hung up, a piper was procured, gamecocks galore were 
 kept handy, and with these preparations the orgy went 
 on till the supplies were exhausted. In the guest 
 chamber where the shake downs were distributed, the 
 walls had just been fresh plastered, and some of the 
 convives, laying their heads too near the damp wall, 
 found themselves fixtures in the morning, and had to 
 be cut out of the wall with mason's tools, not without 
 loss of hair and scalp. Something similar to this 
 may be found in Miss OTlaherty's "Jug of Claret," 
 as narrated in the first vol. of Lady Morgan's life. 
 
 There is a capital account too of a paterfamilias of 
 the day arguing the point about the debut of his 
 daughters with materfamilias who wanted them to be 
 launched into some neighbouring gaieties, to which the 
 
 * Tliis measured over 5 feet, arid the approach to it was up a rather 
 steep hill.
 
 433 
 
 former would not consent. " ' Fore Gad, Kate, you had 
 better send the girls a visiting to the ANTIPODES than 
 be turning them upside down at Blandsfort. No 
 rational man would have anything to do with them 
 afterwards. There it is, pull-haul and the devil take 
 the hindmost. Eh ? ' ' And for Heaven's sake, Stephen,' 
 replied my aunt (who was no cosmographer), what 
 family are these Antipodes whom you would send our 
 daughters to visit in preference to their nearest rela- 
 tions ? I never heard of them : they must be upstarts, 
 Stephen; I thought I knew every family in the 
 county.' ' Fore gad, Kate,' rejoined my uncle, laughing 
 heartily, ' your father, old Sir John, ought to be tied to 
 the cart's tail for so neglecting your education. Why, 
 Kate, the Antipodes are at this moment standing on 
 their heads immediately under you upside down, just 
 as you see a fly on the ceiling, without the danger of 
 falling down from it.' 'And for heaven's sake, 
 Stephen ' said my puzzled aunt, ' how do the ladies 
 keep down their petticoats in that position ?' ' Ask Sir 
 Isaac Newton that,' said my uncle, ' but let me hear no 
 more of the topsy-turvy of Blandsfort.''''* 
 
 I am reminded of a hunting yarn here that has the 
 merit of being vero. In a certain southern county 
 came out one day a visitor from a neighbouring shire 
 who if not a very hard rider claimed to be an en- 
 thusiastic houndsman, and addressing himself to one of 
 the fliers of the field, kept on asking the name of every 
 hound within eye range ; " Can't think of it just now," 
 was the reply, but as the querist persisted, and it was 
 
 * Barrington's "Personal Sketches." 
 
 2 K
 
 434 
 
 necessary to say something forcible, he told him once 
 for all. " I can only recollect ' War Horse ' (ware 
 horse)." This proved final. 
 
 I think it was St. Ruth who in narrating his expe- 
 riences in Ireland declared it was a country in which 
 he had found ni pain, ni vin, ni verite. Of course, as a 
 Frenchman, he was bound to be epigrammatic and 
 terse, even if guilty of some little exaggeration, but in 
 the main his description of what the political econo- 
 mists of the day style the congested country is tolerably 
 true. Untruthful agitators and conspirators had lured 
 him as they had the Spaniards in the days of the 
 Virgin Queen to hopeless enterprise, and given him and 
 his countrymen scanty support when they arrived. 
 Ireland, by a very slight transposition, can be made to 
 sound very like Liar land, and as it was then so is it 
 still, and truth is set such slight store by that the 
 great majority of the population accepted with their eyes 
 open for their leader and champion a man to whom mis- 
 representation was not strange, and who acknowledged 
 in open court that he had attempted to deceive the 
 great council of the nation, who had commenced his 
 career as an exacting landlord, till, circumstances favour- 
 ing, he thought lit to pose as a patriot and the leader of 
 " our race," with which he had not one quarter part as 
 close a connection in blood as had some of the land- 
 lords against whom he waged a war a entrance. It may 
 truly be said of Ireland, Populus vult dccipi et decipitur. 
 It is probable, however, that light has been let into the 
 Celtic or Cimmerian darkness, and that duping will not 
 be quite as simple a process as in times past. That the
 
 435 
 
 Irish have always been extremely ductile and liable to 
 be led astray by strong will and masterly purposeful 
 men is evident frem a treatise written by an English- 
 man in Queen Elizabeth's reign, who was apparently a 
 Philo-Celt, and could see much good in the country 
 and most of its denizens. This is what he says anent 
 the latter : 
 
 "First the people are of three sorts. The better 
 sort are very civil and honestly given : the most of 
 them greatly inclined to husbandry, although as yet 
 unskilful, notwithstanding, through their great travail, 
 many of them are rich in cattle ; some one man there 
 milketh one hundred kine, and two or three hundred 
 ewes and goates, and reareth yearly most of their breed." 
 
 Then the writer gives a very favourable picture of 
 this class, whom we should put down as good citizens. 
 
 " The second sort being least in number are called 
 kernes : they are warlike men : most of that sort were 
 slain in the late wars. 
 
 " The third sort are a very idle people, not unlike our 
 English beggars, yet for the most part of pure com- 
 plexion and good constitution of body ; one of the 
 greatest oversights of the better sort is for that they 
 made not that idle sort give account of their lives." 
 From Queen Elizabeth's time the worst and idlest sort 
 has ruled the better disposed. The tail has wagged the 
 head, instead of vice versd, and the " corner boy " 
 element has dominated the more peacefully disposed by 
 threats and terrorism. 
 
 This pair of stories was not picked up in my Irish 
 experience, but in England, and as I have not heard of 
 
 2 K 2
 
 436 
 
 them much in the currency of the chaff of the chase, I 
 give them for what they are worth, though I must say 
 they do not do credit to the hospitable habits of the 
 district they come from. 
 
 A squire who certainly had the merit of being very 
 hard to beat in the field, as he was to " draw " when at 
 at home, once astonished a sportsman who had ridden 
 homewards with him, and who was an immense distance 
 from his own lares and penates, to turn in and have a 
 glass of wine. The offer was welcome, because the 
 wayfarer did not take it in its literal sense at all, but 
 had visions of " fixins " of some sort or another, beef 
 " fixins " or chicken " fixins," and " the way was long 
 and the wind was cold," and he fancied too that hospi- 
 tality might be extended in the shape of a white drink, 
 oatmeal or flour, to his jaded hunter. He had, how- 
 ever, reckoned without his host, for the latter opened 
 his garde de vin in the dining room, and ostentatiously 
 filled him out a tiny glass of some white wine, adding, 
 " You will find it good, my boy ; hie, hcec, hoc, you know, 
 as we used to say at school." Looking out he saw his 
 horse being led about, and tossing off the petit verre, 
 bid his host farewell, adding, by way of a Parthian part- 
 ing shot, "Yes, the wine is hock, but your glasses 
 certainly are not hujus, huy'w, hujus." 
 
 It was the same squire who enticed another witty 
 wayfarer in, and, pouring out a glass of claret for him 
 from a half-filled decanter, added " There's not a head- 
 ache in a hogshead of it." " No, but," said his guest 
 when he had swallowed the Gladstonian black draught, 
 " I should think there was a severe stomach-ache in a
 
 437 
 
 pint of it." In Ireland such meannesses could hardly 
 occur, for the vin de pays abounds, and is offered without 
 stint, a third glass being constantly pressed on the 
 bond fide traveller after he has been beguiled into the 
 second, on the plea that " a bird cannot fly without two 
 wings." 
 
 Having been the first to introduce Irish hunting and 
 hunting grounds to the reading public of Great Britain 
 and Ireland, it may readily be imagined that I have had 
 an immense deal of travelling about, and received many 
 mounts through the kindness of friends in general and 
 masters of hounds in particular, though for several 
 years I maintained a great staff of hunters, hacks, and 
 harness horses, prepared to go anywhere to see as much 
 as I could of the various phases of the chase ; and I 
 may state here, as a specimen of the arriere condition 
 of railways and their directors in Ireland, that, except 
 latterly on one line the Midland and Great Western 
 I never received the slightest assistance in the shape of 
 passes, though I have spent a great deal of money on 
 their lines in travelling and training horses ; and the 
 directors, who in some cases say that they disapprove 
 of the principle of passes, evidently do not discounten- 
 ance the practice, as they travel free over the United 
 Kingdom, and sometimes further, by means of their 
 passes. In Kildare, when I began to scribble about 
 sport, I naturally at first did not want mounts, save in 
 out-of-the-way places, but I have a very grateful recol- 
 lection of getting an admirable conveyance from the 
 honorary secretary to the Hunt. Mr. David Mahony, of 
 Grange Con, who gave me a bay horse to ride, named
 
 438 
 
 " Six days shalt thou labour," for, whether in leather or 
 in the saddle, he was at work every day in the week, 
 and I am not at all sure that his sabbath was always 
 held Levitically sacrosanct. I cannot recall more than 
 one ride upon this brave beast, a great strong animal, 
 with perfect temper and manners, fit for the plough one 
 day and pursuit the next, and with, moreover, a slight 
 infirmity of respiration, which did not affect his going 
 in the least, and improved, apparently, the further he 
 travelled. On this useful horse I saw the beginning, 
 middle, and close of one of the best hunting runs that 
 ever came off in that part of Ireland (we finished in 
 Carlo w) ; and I speak gratefully of my mount, as I 
 rarely am able to see so much on the ordinary animal, 
 be the fault mine or his probably the former. I recol- 
 lect, in the course of that run, seeing a heavy (but very 
 capable) rough rider steering a rather wilful young 
 horse, who, from pulling and greenness, must have gone, 
 if not over half as much again of ground as we did, at 
 least over a third more, and the moment my visit was 
 over I wrote to the owner of the horse with a view to 
 negotiate a purchase forthwith. My letter probably 
 stimulated a sporting farmer in the neighbourhood to 
 "spring" in his offers for him, as he there and then 
 secured him^and won the Farmers' race at Punchestown 
 on him from a large field, in a common canter, a few 
 weeks subsequently. A Milesian millionaire then 
 bought him, at a long price, to chase, and he was sent 
 to a training stable ; but his head was badly set on, and 
 when they tied him up, by way of " flexing " his neck, 
 instead of that result, they broke it.
 
 439 
 
 I got a charming mare to ride from Lord Doneraile 
 (M.F.H.). It was in this wise. My first mount was an 
 old chaser, 4 stone, at least, under my weight, but a 
 very perfect animal ; it overjumped itself every time, 
 nearly, and his lordship, seeing this, said he feared I 
 must have very had hands. I said I had about the 
 worst going, but, I added, I see your breaker on a young 
 mare that I think I could manage. He consented, and 
 when we found our fox in a beautiful gorse late in the 
 evening, hounds went off at score, and I suppose my 
 " bad hands " put the mare down very early. However, 
 Anteeus-like, she was the better and bolder for the con- 
 tact with mother earth, and we went on very comfort- 
 ably in a rapid stern chase, to find the field and hunts- 
 man on the brink of a nice Meath or Kildare fence a 
 rarity there, for it consisted of a litile brook, a broad 
 bank, and a little brook on the far side. "Johnny 
 Walsh," the huntsman, was on a valuable piebald four- 
 year old, that has carried Mr. J. J. Preston, the squire 
 of Bellinter, so well since, and he said to me, " Go on, 
 sir; that young mare will do it, I'm certain," and so she 
 did. Meantime, darkness came on, the hounds ran up 
 to the hills, and I turned towards Doneraile Court. The 
 present Lord De Ramsay, then on the Duke of Marl- 
 borough's staff, had a very similar experience on her a 
 few weeks afterwards. She was perfectly sound then r 
 but the next thing I heard of her was that she had 
 turned "roarer;" so sad it is to think that a perfect 
 hunter, or even racer, is but "the Cynthia of the 
 minute !" 
 
 " Xedum gratus honos caballum aut gratia
 
 440 
 
 Of another mount I have a most affectionate recollec- 
 tion, namely, of " the Butler," lent me by Captain 
 Claude Cane, of St. Wolstans : a trapper who knew all 
 about banks, a rare merit in a hunter in Ireland, and 
 whom you could hardly throw down if you did. not 
 tempt fate by putting him at a wide, or too large a flying 
 fence. From Major St. Leger Moore I have had a few 
 very good mounts ; nor can I recollect riding any 
 horses in better condition or fitter than his. Colonel 
 the Honourable C. Crichton has put me on one or two 
 very perfect performers, and so have Major and Mr. 
 St. Leger Woods, Mr. Eichard Burke, M.F.H., and Sir 
 Charles Crawford Eraser, V.C., M.P., but I can hardly, 
 at this moment, recollect ever riding a more peri'ect 
 animal than a cob lent me by Major Butson, then 
 Master of the County Galway hounds, in spite of the 
 burden of seventeen seasons, and slight noisiness. This 
 cob was so level, and had such good shoulders, that I 
 feel sure even a Washbally-seated rider could hold a 
 couple of full wine-glasses in either hand and hardly 
 spill a drop over any ordinary fence. The day I rode 
 him we found three foxes, and had three short gallops, 
 with much " schooling " between coverts ; winding up 
 with a capital lunch at Eyre Court, then the residence 
 of that fine sportsman of the old school, "Johnny Eyre." 
 In the evening Major Butson asked us who would 
 volunteer for a school home, and, full of lunch and 
 confidence in the cob, I joined the party, nor was my 
 faith (or seat) shaken in the least. 
 
 From Mr. Carew (a brother of the M.P.)~I have had 
 one or two particularly good mounts; and from the
 
 441 
 
 Honourable Harry Bourke T got a pony, a dwarf horse, 
 once to ride over Meath, that proved a marvel of resolu- 
 tion and achievement ; and I owe two very good rides 
 with the Eoscommon staghounds to Captain Waldron, 
 B.A., and to Mr. Sweeney. To Lords Howth, Kilmaine, 
 and Fingall, to Mr. A. Biddulph, Mr. W. Waller, Mr. J. 
 Watson, Mr. Cliife, Mr. Trotter, Colonel P. Carew, 
 Captain Towers-Clarke, Mr. Longworth Dames, Colonel 
 Dease, Captain Tuthill, Captain Featherstonhaugh, 
 Mr. Locke, Colonel Malone, Mr. L. Morrough, Sir T. 
 Hesketh, Mr. .Ritchie, my thanks are due for some 
 pleasant rides. Whatever Mr. Henry Thompson puts 
 you on is sure to be very well trained ; and I can well 
 recollect riding a young Haymaker horse of Lord 
 Greville's, who was said to be a very slight " whistler," 
 and thinking, at the end of a good run a very good 
 run in Westmeath that I had never ridden so well- 
 winded or clear-piped an animal, or, let me add, a much 
 better fencer. The late Captain Fosberry and the late 
 Captain Ralph Smythe also put me on good hunters. 
 I can't say I have equally pleasant recollections of all 
 the horses I was mounted on ; as, for instance, of a 
 loose-necked, star-gazing hunter I was put on once, 
 when, passing by a classical hussar, at a rapider pace 
 perhaps than I cared for, I delivered myself of the 
 appropriate quotation : 
 
 " Os hornini sublime dedit, cselumque tueri." 
 
 To this day I have a recollection of being put on a 
 very smart-looking horse, that might not have looked 
 out of place at Aintree. I was astonished at getting
 
 442 
 
 such a gee to ride, and I thought I detected a snigger 
 on the countenance of the stud and other grooms in the 
 yard. His back was ominously reached, and seeing, as 
 I thought, some beautiful turf in front, I galloped on 
 for it, but found a barrier of wire between me and it ; 
 upon this the brute reared bolt upright, repeating the 
 operation a volonte. A pad-groom, on toot, was going to 
 the meet, and I asked him what ailed the horse, when 
 his reply came quickly, " He's a blessed rogue " (he did 
 not say " blessed," though), " and you'll never get to the 
 meet unless I lead him for you." So he did, and when 
 we were within measurable distance of the hamlet 
 where it took place, I thought dignity should be con- 
 sulted : so I asked the lad to let go the bridle, and, no 
 sooner had he done so than he stood on his hind legs 
 and deposited me on the bank above a foul sewer that 
 I just missed, though he had not. I held on to the 
 reins, but the throat lash was loose, so off came the 
 head stall ! The horse galloped home, and I walked 
 thither with the bridle on my arm. Once there, I asked 
 for another and more peaceable horse ; but the master of 
 the horse was absent, and the second in command was 
 unable to comply with my request, so the rearer was 
 re-saddled for me, and I got on very well for half the 
 way, when he began his old tricks, and I made no pro- 
 gress till a belated sportsman came up, and we caught 
 the hounds very soon at a gorse. Let me add that I 
 never rode a better or pleasanter horse than he proved 
 for the rest of the day when in company. 
 
 This true tale of being ignominiously led to a meet 
 reminds me of an earlier episode in the history of a
 
 certain baronet of long pedigree and wonderful pedes- 
 trian powers. The baronet belonged to a regiment 
 quartered in the south of Ireland in which was a 
 captain who figured in the Grand National several 
 times, and won the Goodwood Cup with a horse of his 
 own subsequently. The sporting centurion used to 
 keep the baronet in constant training, backing him freely 
 as a runner and walker, a sprinter and stayer, with, I 
 believe, great success. Let me add the bart. was a very 
 poor if highly honourable man, and, probably on account 
 of the res angusta domi, his saddle education had been 
 wholly neglected, while his running and walking pro- 
 clivities had been greatly stimulated; the journeys such 
 as you and I, gentle reader, would take by rail or on 
 wheels he negotiated on foot. Moreover this bart., 
 though a clever man, was decidedly short of worldly 
 wisdom, or the power of coping adequately with 
 rogues. As he was returning from one of these journeys 
 over a muddy road, a horsebreaker, riding a smart 
 young horse, accosted him, with a " Morning, Sir 
 Francis," and was duly and courteously replied to. 
 Then the breaker, who had a glib tongue and the craft 
 of his calling, assured him " How grieved and ' deso- 
 lated ' he was to see a j in tie man like ' his honour ' pad- 
 ding the hoof, while the likes of him rode." In the 
 end he over-persuaded the bart. to mount (much 
 against his will), while he walked along " discoorsing " 
 him, and giving the bumping bart. a riding lesson. 
 When they neared the terminus the latter wanted to 
 dismount, but the mare was near home, keen to get to 
 her stable, and so fidgetty that she would not " stand at
 
 ease " to favour the descent, and we may be sure the 
 breaker did nothing to facilitate the operation, so the 
 bart. had to unloose his purse strings, and hand the wily 
 breaker all the silver he had, ere he was permitted to 
 get down quietly. 
 
 A friend once asked a neighbour why he had taken 
 to " mains of cocks " instead of a stud of racehorses, and 
 the reply was " because rogues don't ride the former." 
 Perhaps, however, he ascertained, ere long, that " the 
 tricks of the trade " can be introduced even here, in 
 " spurring and cutting out." Cock fighting is carried 
 on very extensively in Ireland just now ; so it is in 
 parts of America and the Spanish Main, where large 
 sums are staked on the issue of a battle. It was the 
 solace of the declining years of St. Anna, and repre- 
 sented to him " the image of war," as there was no 
 hunting carried on in those parts. 
 
 A quasi-pendant to the anecdote of the houndy man 
 and " Ware Horse " may be found in the following true 
 tale : A lady who used to hunt regularly in Daisy- 
 shire, and was mounted on horses that would jump 
 anything in reason, but were rather deficient in quality 
 and galloping power, found herself one day towards the 
 end of a run over a "pewy " ploughy country in a situation 
 that was rather unusual to her, considerably in the rear of 
 the fun. Fox and hounds had just run through a small 
 spinney,and acertain hound, who perhaps considered fox- 
 hunting an overrated amusement, and haddevoted himself 
 to breaking up a coney in the aforesaid spinney for a few 
 seconds, ran out of it right in front of her horse, who, 
 having no steam left in him, galloping with high action
 
 445 
 
 in a mechanical sort of fashion, struck him with a fore- 
 foot in the centre of his back, causing an ululatus to be 
 heard far and near. A gentleman who was coming up 
 at the time said, " How unlucky ! I hope his Grace 
 won't hear the howling." " I don't think he will," said 
 the sporting spinster ; " the hound ain't really much 
 hurt, and if he were it would not matter much, as he 
 must be a very bad one to be so far behind ! " 
 
 I think for my own part that, if there is one sight more 
 impressive than another, it is to watch hounds who 
 have perhaps been engaged with another fox in gorse 
 or spinney, threading their way through the ranks of 
 horsemen to regain their companions in front, conscious 
 of their danger, but animated solely by the irresistible 
 impulse of " be with them we will." 
 
 I have alluded to wrecks and wreckers several times. 
 As an institution, this useful corps is only to be found 
 in Meath and Dublin and a bit of Kildare ; there are 
 also pseudo- wreckers whose main object seems to be to 
 get bold of some gate near an impassable fence, and 
 then levy black mail, or white mail, rather, in the shape 
 of shillings, on unwary and unsuspecting pursuers. In 
 the county hunts (I will not call them provincial) the 
 natives have not been educated up to this fertility of 
 resource, but, as a rule, are willing and eager to facilitate 
 the progress of pursuit, by opening the gates and similar 
 courtesies of the chase free gratis and for nothing, 
 though glad to accept a shilling or even sixpence when 
 gracefully given. 
 
 I have in my mind's eye a young nobleman of very 
 ancient lineage, who came out hunting one day on an
 
 446 
 
 indifferent young horse, just as the Iron Duke was said 
 to have ridden to Badajos on too bad a horse to take it, 
 before which town, from lack of artillery and ammuni- 
 tion, other wits of the period averred that he " sat down " 
 in formd pauperis. Well ! the country run over was 
 one of deep ditches and drains, and his lordship's 
 green young mare fell wholly or partially into several. 
 At the thirteenth peccadillo she got involved in a 
 deep chasm and wanted much extrication and many 
 hands! His lordship's shillings and sixpences had 
 fallen like snowflakes at the earlier lapses, and fifteen- 
 pence only remained to remunerate eight or ten 
 " stalwarts " to whom he was a total stranger. He told 
 them the state of things, but they cheered him for his 
 candour, put the mare on terra firma, and I have no 
 doubt drank his health afterwards. 
 
 Not very long ago, Westraeath attained to a bad 
 eminence in the annals of assassination. A small band 
 of desperadoes terrorised the entire county, and like 
 the gallery in the old gladiatorial contests at Home, 
 
 " Verso pollice vulgi 
 Quemlibet occidunt populariter." 
 
 A short Act gave the police increased powers, and in 
 a few months, the brigands and cut-throats were forced 
 to clear out of the country, and no shire has been more 
 orderly or peaceful than Westmeath ever since their 
 departure. Mr. Forster divined the exact state of 
 things when he began to wage war with " the village 
 tyrants," but he dealt with the system in too ped- 
 agoguish a style, arresting as " suspects " men who, in
 
 447 
 
 many cases, were wholly guiltless in thought or act, as 
 I can state from my own little experience, as I can 
 recollect my second horseman coming to me and asking 
 for leave to go into Dublin to see a play. He had not 
 returned next day, so I went into the Milesian 
 metropolis, some four miles off, and ascertained that the 
 little man, who was as free from political proclivities as 
 Canning's knife-grinder, had been locked up all night 
 as a " suspect." Thinking that he might have " had a 
 glass," I asked the sergeant of police, but he told me 
 that he was perfectly sober, and on my going to court 
 the magistrate ordered his immediate release. He had 
 probably been mistaken for someone else. To Lord 
 Salisbury's Government is due the pacification of 
 Ireland, and more especially to the able administration 
 of the law by his nephew Mr. A. J. Balfour. This was 
 called " Coercion," but, so far as I can ascertain, no 
 innocent law-abiding man suffered in purse or person 
 from its exercise, and probably no country in the world 
 was so free as Ireland during the last five years ! The 
 scales have fallen from men's eyes, as erst from those 
 of Saul, and the selfish tyranny of their spiritual and 
 political guides has been exposed. 
 
 " That spell upon the minds of men 
 Breaks, never to unite again, 
 
 That led them to adore 
 Those pagod things of sceptre sway 
 "With head of brass and feet of clay ! " 
 
 If the agitation of the past decade has done nothing 
 more, it has let a flood of light in upon Ireland and 
 England too. The inhabitants of the two islands need
 
 448 
 
 no longer misunderstand each other, or require the 
 interested intervention of intermediaries to remedy any 
 legally curable ills. The revulsion of public feeling has 
 been enormous, and is nowhere, perhaps, more patent 
 than in the hunting fields of the country. Hounds and 
 horsemen are welcomed now as in old times, and 
 perorating patriots carrying about dead foxes as 
 properties, to point the moral of feudal tyranny and 
 the down-trodden condition of the peasantry, would 
 make little impression upon audiences who have learnt 
 that hunting means the circulation of much money in 
 the country, as well as the injection of new capital into 
 a land that cries and craves for capital. The old 
 slogans of " I'm a poor dissolute (desolate) Protestant 
 orphan," and " I'm agin the Government " are no longer 
 efficacious as of yore, and a wave of partial prosperity, 
 acknowledged by bank dividends and railway returns, 
 has done much to exorcise the demons of discontent and 
 agitation, and to open out vistas of industrial progress ; 
 in fact, much of the stock-in-trade of the political fire- 
 brand has been removed, and the advantages of union 
 with England clearly demonstrated. 
 
 With regard to Continental travelling, I may remark 
 that no capital commended itself half so much in its 
 store and variety of agremens as Vienna, which, to my 
 taste, exceeds even la mile lumiere of Victor Hugo. 
 I saw it under what ought to have been the gloomiest 
 auspices, just after the disastrous close of the six or 
 seven weeks' war, and the fatal fight of Koniggratz, but 
 the gaiety of the population seemed unquenchable by 
 calamity. As we moved northwards towards the battle-
 
 449 
 
 field we heard it openly stated, without contradiction, 
 thai the Austrian advance had been considerably de- 
 layed by the necessity of making a detour to avoid 
 marching over Count Clam-Gall as' cultivated farms and 
 estates. This may be only gossip, but it impressed me 
 at the time greatly, nor do I think aristocratic influence 
 could for centuries have been carried to such a pitch in 
 England ! I forget whether I stated that I was travel- 
 ling with an officer of our 14th Eussars, who assured 
 me that the officers of his corps had the privilege of 
 going to Court functions at Vienna without further 
 passport than their uniform, on account of some special 
 services rendered to the House of Hapsburg. We are 
 wont to rail at our unmilitariness, but I hardly think 
 that in any of our regiments such a thing could have 
 occurred as we saw at the Hofburg. The familiar 
 manoeuvre of "trooping the colour" was attempted before 
 the Emperor, who was looking out of a window of his 
 palace, but the officer in command clubbed the men, 
 and failed in toto ; a sergeant having to take his place ! 
 The Semmering line of railway is child's play to sundry 
 engineering feats of modern times; then it seemed 
 wonderful and awesome. At one station in Styria 
 where we " descended," we saw the biggest boar 
 hounds that ever came within our eye range ; they 
 seemed as tall as well-grown calves ! No one should 
 leave Vienna without paying a visit to the fashionable 
 Baths of Baden, where a grape diet can also be plea- 
 santly tried. The salt mines of Salzburg should also 
 be visited, with all the beautiful mountain scenery 
 around it for many miles. I confess that nothing for a 
 
 2 I/
 
 450 
 
 few seconds or moments filled me with greater dread 
 than the sensation of being whirled about in a salt car 
 or truck over the rails, in the Cimmerian darkness of 
 those salt mines, many hundred feet below the earth's 
 crust. "Walking under the Palls of Niagara on a seuii- 
 slippery ledge is a joke to it, for there you hold the 
 guide's hand all the time. It adds greatly to the in- 
 terest of your tour through Southern Germany to take 
 your Thiers with you, and follow Napoleon and his 
 victorious eagles from place to place. 
 
 The Pinakothek of Dresden, or whatever they call it, 
 holds the picture that, of all I have ever seen, enthralled 
 me most with " the might, the majesty of loveliness," 
 Kaphael's Madonna di San Sisto ! 
 
 What impressed me more than anything else at 
 Berlin was the supremacy of authority. As an in- 
 stance, I may mention that in one of the galleries a 
 well-dressed "tout" rather fastened upon us, and 
 wanted to do cicerone ; he did not annoy me, but he did 
 my companion, who reported him to one of the autho- 
 rities, whereupon the poor fellow was " haled " off like 
 a common malefactor. On some grounds near Potsdam 
 a race meeting was held. We went there, and nothing 
 could be more primitive than the arrangements. The 
 most curious spectacle was the chargers' race, ridden in 
 full uniform, and, I think, catch weights. The day was 
 piercingly cold, and there were any number of " princes 
 and sceptred men" there. They were continually 
 coming down from their stand (a paltry affair) to eat 
 hot hard-boiled eggs and drink petits verres de Cognac 
 (so styled).
 
 451 
 
 No object lesson could be better for some of our Irish 
 patriots than to see how hard the Pomeranian peasant, 
 man and woman alike, has to work for a scanty living, 
 when they are too full of the down-troddenness of their 
 compatriot dupes. 
 
 Tramway Trail was once a conspicuous figure in 
 London, where, however, he found that the carriage in- 
 terest was too strong for his most beneficial, if demo- 
 cratic, schemes, whose usefulness is now universally 
 acknowledged and adopted. He was also unsuccessful 
 in Dublin, where he was actually imprisoned ; and, in 
 fact, he was a pioneer man in advance of his contem- 
 poraries. We were staying at the same hotel in New 
 York, and, of his " yarns," only one has escaped the 
 Lethe of long years. He was talking of a wonderful 
 day's duck shooting he had somewhere South or West, 
 "and how many ducks do you think we totalled up at 
 the end of the day ? Why 999 ! " " What a curious cir- 
 cumstance," said an ingenuous youth from his arm-chair 
 in the smoking-room, with a suspicion of incredulity in 
 his tone. " Do you doubt me, sir ? " shouted Traill, " do 
 you think I'd tell a lie for one blessed duck ? " 
 
 I recollect driving about in the State of Missouri 
 when a curious-looking, ruined tower struck one of our 
 party, and he asked our coachman if it had ever been 
 a windmill or a fort. "No, sirree," was the reply, 
 " but in the infancy of this yere State the buffaloes were 
 that numerous, and that fierce, that they used to charge 
 in platoons on our citizens who were out hunting, and 
 the State Government, for their protection, erected this 
 building." The story did not quite take in the querist ; 
 
 2 L 2
 
 452 
 
 "but I daresay not a few tales, almost equally far-fetched, 
 were poured into the willing ears of the English 
 travellers (as to landlord atrocities) who came over for 
 three or four weeks during the Long Vacation in 
 autumn, to learn the entire Irish question on the spot. 
 
 In no county, perhaps, is the principle of heredity 
 better illustrated as applicable to those gifts and graces 
 that go towards fine riding than in Ireland. The Wat- 
 son's are hereditary hunters of foxes, so are the 
 De Eobeck family, who, men and women, all seem im- 
 bued with " the genius genuine." The Fowler family, 
 in Eoyal Meath, seems to run on the same lines ; the 
 Halls and Fetherstonhaughs in West Meath, the Beau- 
 mans and Blackers in Kildare, and, whether the gift 
 be avital or not, few families have been so well repre- 
 sented by ladies in the hunting field as the Howards of 
 the County Wicklow. for all the daughters have proved 
 very perfect artists in the saddle, and few would care 
 to deny to Mrs. S. Garnett* the qualities and externals 
 that made up the perfect horsewoman. 
 
 It is a rather curious circumstance, too, that ladies in 
 Ireland are very large owners of horses, Miss Magan 
 keeping some hundreds for the most part in happy idle- 
 ness at Killynon, in Meath, and Miss Anderson having 
 a large breeding stud in Ulster, while latterly the 
 Duchess of Hamilton has commenced to lay the founda- 
 tion of a hunting stud in West Meath 
 
 I have already given a specimen of hound vagaries 
 in an instance which has been fully authenticated to 
 ine, as has also the following freak of hound nature 
 * Now Lady H. Paulet.
 
 453 
 
 that only occurred last season ! Lord Greville does not 
 van his hounds to his more distant fixtures, but uses the 
 Midland and Great Western trains whenever available, 
 or else sends them on overnight, so as to be fresh for 
 the day's work, and the return journey in the evening 
 to kennels, sometimes a very long one. Clonyn Castle, 
 his brother's place in Westmeath, a splendid pile of 
 building erected by the late Lord, has a spacious riding 
 school attached to it, and here the hounds are lodged 
 and bedded for the night. One morning early Will 
 Matthews, the huntsman, counted his hounds after they 
 had "lain out" in the riding school, but one was 
 missing ; there were no windows available for his escape,, 
 and not a trace of him could be discovered, so Will took 
 on the remainder of the psck to the fixture of the day, 
 and when he was gone one of the helpers took a fork and 
 dug up a lot of the peat mould that forms, the floor of 
 the school, and soon came on the skeleton that the other 
 hounds had carefully buried, and put out of their sight. 
 I cannot say I ever heard of a similar case, though only 
 last year there were several instances in Ireland, 
 especially in the idler months, of obnoxious hounds 
 having been killed by their fellows in kennel, but the 
 distinction in the case I have recorded is the burial. 
 Within my time there has been no instance of hounds 
 in Ireland turning upon whip or huntsman and rending 
 them, but such things were not unknown 100 years ago, 
 when hunt servants were far more brutal to their 
 charges than they are now, for mutual confidence is 
 now the keystone of kennel treatment and discipline, 
 and of service in the field, too. Assheton Smith was
 
 454 
 
 said to have been beloved by his hounds, so was the 
 late Burton Persse, of Moyode Castle, and so is Mr. 
 Robert Watson, the doyen among Irish M.F.H.'s. And 
 here I would, in the interest of hounds and humanity, 
 venture a suggestion. Hounds, as we all know, get 
 kicked, and ridden on, and maimed, and it is necessary 
 occasionally to destroy them in the field, there and 
 then, a painful process, accomplished by knocking them 
 on the skull with a loaded limiting crop ; but surely a 
 strychnined meat lozenge would do the work far more 
 effectually, more quickly, and more mercifully. As I 
 have seen foxes hunting by scent with their noses to 
 the ground, I should think they might be utilised for 
 sporting purposes as cormorants are, but I never saw it 
 attempted ; nor, after the terrible fate of a late Duke 
 of Richmond and the late Lord Doneraile, are foxes 
 likely to grow in favour as parlour pets. Mr. Henry 
 Persse, of the county Galway, had a fox a few years 
 ago that was quite as tame as any dog, and followed 
 him in his walks abroad everywhere. He disappeared 
 mysteriously one night, some Lurline having probably 
 enticed him away from civilised life to her wilder woods 
 and waters. Foxes, as we all know, are great" pilgrims of 
 love," a fact which leads in spring very often to long runs. 
 Steeplechasing is the corollary of hunting, or ought 
 to be, at present it fills the popular mind far more 
 than the chase, and, in some respects, never flourished 
 more in Ireland than in 1891, that is to say, more 
 horses are bred and trained with a view to chasing than 
 ever, and bigger prices are obtained for the elite of such 
 horses, even if they have only made their mark in such
 
 455 
 
 minor meetings as the law actually overlooks, for here 
 as elsewhere the rule holds good, De minimis non 
 cured lex. Such little meetings spring up here, there, 
 and everywhere like mushrooms, are well attended, and 
 create betting ; but in such characteristic and truly 
 national reunions as Punchestown fields dwindle 
 more and more every year, while the gallery grows. 
 This points to some radical defect in management and 
 administration, and requires remedy. Possibly the 
 once swelling fields of horses were more or less brought 
 together by ignorance of the elements of chasing, and 
 now that " form " can be gauged more correctly, " the 
 off chance " is not considered good enough to venture 
 a home trained animal against Curragh cracks, who, it 
 is contended, can by constant schooling be made greater 
 certainties for chases than they once could be for flat 
 races ; and it is agreed that Curragh supremacy stalls 
 off competition and starves fields. Perhaps the first 
 remedial measure will be found in abolishing the dis- 
 tinction between hunters and handicap horses.* For 
 nay own part, I do not think that, given equal horses, 
 the Curragh need scare away competition. I have in 
 my recollection a certain thoroughbred horse who was 
 bought for an old song by Mr. Granby Burke, who 
 trained him in the hunting field, giving him an odd 
 gallop at long intervals. This animal, ridden by his 
 owner, who was not much used to silk, easily defeated 
 a large professionally trained field for " the Ward Hunt 
 Cup," though his rider lost some ground in the track he 
 took, and the horse would probably have repeated his 
 * This lias been done.
 
 456 
 
 triumph a short time afterwards at Baldoyle, had he 
 not broken his fetlock in the hole made by a hurdle, 
 which owing to some negligence had not been filled up. 
 
 The Curragh is a magnificent galloping area, but 
 horses can be, and are, very well trained outside of it. 
 Among the best chasers I have seen I should be inclined 
 to name "Heraut D'Armes" and "Koyal Meath," 
 giving the palm to the latter, who if he had not been 
 put to jumping, might have done very well on the flat.* 
 Of Irish flat-racers, pure and simple, I would name 
 " Barcaldiue," " Bendigo," " Lady Patricia," and " Um- 
 pire " as the best of the comparatively modern ones. 
 " St. Gatien " I should place as among the best goers I 
 ever saw, though not a very taking horse otherwise. 
 
 Nothing shows how natural hunting is to Ireland 
 better than the easy manner in which the chase in that 
 country seems to draw all sorts and conditions of men 
 and women into its vortex. The Quaker would not 
 generally be credited with hunting proclivities, but the 
 sons of the Quakers are in many parts of Ireland the 
 very keenest and best supporters of hunting, the 
 hardest to go, and the most liberal to subscribe. They 
 are also in some cases famous judges of horses. Thus, 
 I well recollect " a Friend " telling me, as we came home 
 one day, when I noticed his riding a very high-class 
 young hunter, that he had given a longer price than 
 he generally did for horses, and in his father's absence 
 too on the Continent. "When the latter returned, he 
 told him at once that he had given 250 for a bay 
 hunter of promise, adding " I hope you are not angry 
 
 * Usna ought to be joined to this pair.
 
 457 
 
 with me for going so high." Whereupon the father 
 replied, " No ! but I'd have been very angry if you had 
 not bought him, for I've seen him ! " 
 
 A propos of Quakers, I think, on the whole, among 
 the religious sects that sway the Irish conscience, none 
 have done more good generally than they have by pre- 
 cept and example, for they have not been a church 
 militant save against the evil in the world, and have 
 not fought against the existence of other forms of 
 Christian development, while they clung tenaciously 
 to their own ritual, as in their opinion the best.* 
 
 Shrewd business men, too, have taken very kindly 
 to the chase in the distressful country. Judges and 
 high lights of the law may often be seen " pursuing." 
 The Scotchman takes to it as he does to " Mountain 
 Dew." The college Don recollects with pleasurabie 
 pride that even the porters of his alma mater wear 
 velvet hunting caps, and why should not he sport a 
 hunting hat, and the other properties of pursuit ? and I 
 have heard of a famous Dublin doctor who relaxed the 
 overtaut bow by an occasional gallop with hounds, 
 having previously instructed his butler, or fidus Achates, 
 to tell callers in the interim that he had gone off to an 
 important consultation " With Dr. Pox." Nay even 
 " mad doctors " prescribe the chase for patients and 
 keep packs in their asylums for this purpose. Cardinal 
 Cullen, whose mind was cast in a rather ascetic or 
 monkish mould, banned hunting in his clergy in Ire- 
 land, to their own great regret and that of the county 
 gentry, and to a certain extent to a widening of the 
 
 * Was Jacob a Quaker ?
 
 458 
 
 breach between classes, who could find a common and 
 pleasant platform in the hunting field. However 
 canon law, it is said, does not debar them from hare 
 hunting, or even a fleeting flutter with the stag Only 
 one padre, however, hunts regularly, and de jure, for 
 he holds a dispensation from the Pope, permitting him 
 to join the chase for the good of his health. He is 
 always admirably mounted, and, though no longer 
 young, leads nearly all the young men in the field. It 
 seems not long ago when a co. Leitrim labourer, to whom 
 I had shown some small kindness when I was living near 
 the Phoenix Park of Dublin, said as he was going off 
 westwards, " Good bye, sir, I'm going back to Ireland, 
 for I look on this part of the country as England." 
 There is, however, a very considerable difference, and, I 
 think, that an hour a single hour spent in driving 
 or walking about Dublin would convince the most 
 sceptical that a very wide gulf separated even this 
 capital city from a close likeness to any portion of 
 England. This difference may be advantageous to 
 Dublin, or the reverse, but it exists. Let us suppose 
 the observer has got on to an outsider, he will be struck 
 by the reverential way in which the Jarvie or Jehu 
 lakes off his hat as he passes any chapel, and the pro- 
 found obeisance he makes whenever he passes by a 
 priest. He may have been told that the priests are 
 une quantity neyligeable, that their power temporal and 
 spiritual has waned and is waning. Here is some little 
 evidence to the contrary. In some streets he will see 
 shops full of holy images, which iconoclastic Protestants 
 would term Nehustan like the famous King of Judah.
 
 459 
 
 In others he will see affiches inviting him to hear the errors 
 of Rome demonstrated and denounced. Here he will 
 see the curious titles " Roman Catholic Bookseller or 
 Publisher," while the term " Habits sold here " will 
 puzzle him greatly until he learns the secret of these 
 mortuary costumes.* In Sackville Street he will notice 
 one house marked " No. 43, Upper O'Connell Street," 
 though curiously enough he will have observed other 
 streets and places called by the Liberator's name as 
 well. This is the home of the National Leagus that a 
 few years ago used to hold its select seances in a 
 vTrepwov, or upper chamber, nearly opposite, over a 
 tobacconist's shop. Then a few yards further on he 
 will see on the eastern side of Rutland Square two good 
 square brick houses, of which one styles itself on a big 
 brass plate, "The Orange Hall," while the second is 
 "The National Club," with symbolical emblems and 
 wolfhounds on the blinds. In another thoroughfare he 
 will observe a Masonic Hall, which is regarded as a 
 Tophet by sundry pious Papists. But why go on 
 further through this Scandinavian city, whose oldest 
 fane tells of Danish dominion ? No ! Dublin is 
 occupied by several " nations," or septs, or factions. 
 And the central authority of England is absolutely 
 necessary to maintain the Queen's peace, at least till 
 peasant proprietaryship, creating an entente cordiale with 
 England, induces the advent of a Milesian millennium. 
 In the partnership between man and horse, or man 
 and hunter, over a country, there is no manner of doubt 
 
 * " Biduums, Triduums, Novenas," " Retreats for men," " Re- 
 treats for women," " Months' mind?," are among the notices that 
 puzzle the stranger.
 
 460 
 
 but that both partners must use their heads as well as 
 their heels in any country whatever, but this is eminently 
 the case in Ireland, where fences vary so very much, 
 as well as conditions of ground, and I think the familiar 
 proverb " Qui va piano va sano, et va lontano " is 
 eminently applicable to the latter country, and was 
 certainly the giiide and rule of the most successful 
 sportsmen, among whom Mr. J. 0. Trotter and Mr. 
 Leonard Morrogh were pre-eminent. There are 
 parts of Ireland where when a horse jumps on to a 
 bank he may find the spring to the far side impractic- 
 able, or extremely dangerous, and the course then is to 
 walk along the top of the bank till you come to a or the 
 practicable place, and this manoeuvre, on which your 
 continuance in the chase depends, involves training and 
 common sense in both horse and rider, and would be 
 perfectly impossible if a horse were driven too fast at 
 its obstacles; indeed such a recognised canon of the 
 chase is this in Ireland, that it is often observed that 
 when a man puts on extra pace he must be losing his 
 nerve ; and here I am reminded of a very wise saw of 
 Charlie Brindley's, namely, that even temper was almost 
 the first requisite in a weight-carrying hunter, a fact 
 that most observing welters will not fail to acknow- 
 ledge. 
 
 One of the commonest expressions used among hunt- 
 ing men is " He cannot ride a yard." I have heard it 
 recklessly misapplied to the very best exponents of the 
 science of crossing a country in England, as, for 
 instance, to Colonel Anstruther Thompson when he 
 first took the Pytchley country, and made his horses
 
 461 
 
 creep through fences and down drops which some of 
 his critics could not accomplish from the lack of his 
 head, hands, arid judgment. I have also heard the 
 same thing said of huntsmen because they nursed there 
 horses as much as they could when they thought they 
 were in for a long run. Bat critics do not always 
 understand the subject on which they dogmatise a 
 discretion. 
 
 ]Sk> one could deny that emulation and rivalry is 
 a powerful factor in making men (and particularly 
 " the lesser man ") ride hard, more especially in the 
 opening chapters of their hunting lives. I saw a 
 funny instance, or rather I should have seen it had I 
 not been too far behind, of this sort of rivalry in a good 
 gallop which terminated at the top of a sharp hill, up 
 which a number of old hands would not bustle their 
 hunters. " The regiment did well," said a smart subal- 
 tern, all aglow with excitement, who had not hunted 
 much, and fancied the finish was something like a race ; 
 " Captain Narcissus was third ; Jorrocks was fourth, 
 and I was sixth." Well, it was a good performance for a 
 green man on a green horse ; but the placing of the 
 field was a standing joke for some time. 
 
 There is a species of literature in connection with 
 sport that boasts its professors and anthologists, and 
 secures a large number of faithful (I will not say con- 
 fiding) readers. I mean the dossiers and descriptions of 
 the individual horses in studs, some of which amuse 
 me greatly ; and I confess whenever I read of a 
 brilliant fencer I think of potential galaxies of stars 
 that such a performer might cause me to see against
 
 462 
 
 my will ! The professors, however, are sometimes 
 literally correct ; as, for instance, in the case of one 
 horse whom I have in my mind's eye at this moment, 
 who was described " as hard to beat over any country," 
 and so he was, for he took any amount of "stick" 
 kindly. 
 
 It has been my fortune to go a good deal about 
 Germany. I owe something to its thermal therapeutics, 
 for, after being given up by Sir Prescott Hewitt, I found 
 recovery in the hot springs at Aix-la-Chapelle, where I 
 received much kindness from many fellow sufferers, 
 amongst others from the late Lord Hampden, then 
 Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Julian Gold- 
 smid, and Lord Dunkellin, who had just made himself 
 famous by upsetting a Government. "Wishing to 
 return for another course of waters, I found the place 
 choke full of pious pilgrims, who had come to view the 
 sacred relics of the Madonna and the Holy Family and 
 others, some of which were hanging like banners from 
 the outward walls of the Dom Kirche. Perhaps the sight 
 would have much moved the British bile of pious Puritan 
 Protestants ! (after all, however, George "Washington's 
 " pants " and paraphernalia are carefully enclosed in a 
 glass case in a museum in "Washington, U.S.) ; but the 
 effect on myself was annoyance at not being able to get 
 quarters in the ancient city of Charlemagne, and at 
 having to go on to its suburb, Borcette. Here I saw a 
 sight that I think worthy of mention possibly of 
 imitation in some shape or another. The marriage 
 state in England is, as we know, becoming every year 
 more difficult for people of limited means and some
 
 463 
 
 cultivation. Possibly one of the causes of this de- 
 cadence of an institution described as " honourable " by 
 a celibate Apostle is the decline in housewifery among 
 our young spinsters, who hardly know how to order a 
 dinner, much less how to buy one, or cook one, and are 
 therefore at the mercy of servants, butchers, bakers, &c. 
 Now, in the hotel at Borcette were a number of 
 frauleins who had been sent by their parents or 
 guardians to the lady of the establishment to learn, 
 on a large scale, the duties of the haus frau ; far be it 
 from me to say that a month or two at Borcette would 
 make these young ladies accomplished cooks. German 
 cookery does not stand very high beyond the national 
 boundaries, but they had here an opportunity of learning 
 something about culinary mysteries, that practically 
 remain mysteries to many thousands of our maids and 
 matrons during their natural lives. 
 
 I have tried to point out a few of the great natural 
 superiorities of Ireland over other countries in the 
 matter of the chase, but it must be owned there are 
 drawbacks and deductions. The Irish have few points 
 in common with the Dutch, but in the commerce of life 
 they do rather resemble them in one respect, 
 
 " For in matters commercial the fault of the Dutch 
 Is in giving too little and asking too much," 
 
 and for such matters of accommodation as hunting 
 boxes and the like Irish proprietors do open their 
 mouths considerably wide. For instance, in my own 
 humble capacity of a scribe of sport, I could never, 
 save in one instance, get my lodgings under 100 for a 
 season of a few months, and then there were extras
 
 464 
 
 that mounted up very considerably ; while in the last 
 place I took I was forced to billet my biggest horses 
 elsewhere, as the boxes were small, and I had to 
 procure a boiler, as there was none on the premises ; 
 and if I, who knew something of the country and had 
 but a modest establishment, have experienced a diffi- 
 culty in getting what I wanted, strangers must have 
 been in a much worse case. 
 
 I was rather amused with one little experience I had 
 a bit of rough shooting went with the place ; but on 
 the day I entered into possession, the landlord besought 
 me in most larmoyant fashion not to shoot a hare on 
 the property, as he had given leave to some friends to 
 course over the lands, and, above all, not to shoot a 
 pheasant, as they were ornamental ! I did not shoot a 
 pheasant, and but one hare, but I got a few duck and 
 snipe in outlying places. In that place, too, I shot a 
 woodcock in September, therefore, probably, Irish bred. 
 He " panned out," or rather dished out, badly enough. 
 
 There are hotels in Ireland, but very few and far 
 between, and they hardly affect the hunting population, 
 for they merely tap the tourist traffic to such lovely 
 spots as Killarney and Glengariffe. Hotel accommo- 
 dation is one of the main wants of Ireland, though it 
 has improved in this respect since Sir Jonah Barring- 
 ton's time, when he tells a tale of a traveller who, 
 complaining that he fancied the sheets on his bed were 
 rather damp, was countered by the reply that every 
 gentleman that had come to the house, for I forget how 
 long a period, had regularly slept in the same ! There 
 was a tale current in my time in Jamaica of a pro-
 
 465 
 
 prietor who had neglected to send proper stores of linen 
 to his various properties, and when, on one occasion, he 
 took a friend or two about, one of the latter, who was 
 weary and sleepy, was forced to tumble out in the 
 morning by the sable housekeeper informing him that 
 she could not lay the breakfast table till she got " de big sheet 
 off de buckra's bed !" Ireland loses many hundreds and 
 thousands of pounds yearly by the want of good hotels, 
 and I am quite sure the great guide, philosopher, and 
 friend of the tourist tribe, Mr. Cook, will confirm these 
 observations. At Dunshaughlin, in the co. Meath, 
 some notable efforts have been made to meet this 
 want. 
 
 I do not think I mentioned in my Transatlantic 
 reminiscences a levee at the White House, held by the 
 great rail splitter President Lincoln : a man whom all 
 Anglo-Saxons and Anglo-Celts must admire, however 
 much they may differ from him in thought. A duller 
 or more depressing function 'twere hard to conceive ; 
 20,000, including the writer, attended it. We crushed 
 through rooms and corridors, tightly wedged together, 
 till we passed a door, behind which the great man, in 
 funereal black, was posted, and as everyone passed by 
 he had the honour of a grip from an iron fist which 
 everyone felt belonged to an honest man. I do not 
 believe he exchanged a word with anyone till this vast 
 human wave had passed by. Twenty thousand hand- 
 grips is rather an undertaking ; and they say that my 
 Lady Presidentess, or Mrs. Presidentess, has to order 
 right-hand gloves a size or half a size larger after a season 
 at the White House. I have had the honour to belong 
 
 2 M
 
 to four clubs in the United Kingdom. My first was 
 " The Alfred," in Albemarle Street, which Sir William 
 Fraser tells us was called the " Halfread ;" but of this 
 I know nothing. It was an extremely nice, well-ordered 
 club, and when I came back to England from Jamaica 
 I found that it had merged into the Oriental or " Rice 
 and Curry Club," which, if rather out of the way and 
 archaic, had the merit of being fairly well administered, 
 specially in its guest department, which was admirable. 
 Here, of an afternoon, you could see Prince Dlmleep 
 Singh all riugs and bangles playing pool, and our 
 British Bayard, Sir James Outram, reduced to gout 
 shoes : 
 
 " Quantum mutatus ab illo Hectore." 
 
 The Unionist Club, in Pall Mall, has the best situa- 
 tion in London, but it has not been made the most of. 
 Kildare Street Club, in Dublin, is said to be "The 
 Landlords' Piest," and no doubt it is largely leavened 
 with the acred aristocracy ; but other elements come in 
 and prevent one good custom (or class) from corrupt- 
 ing " the microcosm." For instance, a man came to see 
 me there, an Englishman, a few years ago, and I showed 
 him over some of the rooms till we came to the morn- 
 ing room, which was pretty full at the time. At the 
 door I said to my friend, " Would you like to see the 
 richest man in Ireland, the hardest rider, and one of its 
 best orators ? " Whereupon I pointed out to him Lord 
 Iveagh, Mr. J. 0. Trotter, and either Lord Ashbourue or 
 Mr. David Plunket, I forget which. With a few admirable 
 things about it, I fear this great club rather symbolises 
 the lapsed and lapsing fortunes of those who were its
 
 467 
 
 raison (T&re, for it is too big for its members, and re- 
 presents the overbuilding so common in Ireland. It 
 is an off-shoot of Italy's Coffee House, so famous in 
 Lever literature, and has many very good peculiarities, 
 to one of which only we can refer now. On the 20th 
 of February in every recurrent year there is a house 
 dinner, and the Club gives wine a, disci 6tion very good 
 wine, too. Then, after dinner, a list of members who 
 have forgotten or neglected to send their subscription 
 to the secretary is read out ; and any member may 
 answer for his friend ; the consequence is that no one 
 loses the number of his mess. This is real fraternity 
 and camaraderie ! On this night only gambling is per- 
 mitted : hazard being the favourite ; baccarat does not 
 find favour there yet. 
 
 One of the things one learns by going about the 
 world is the absurdity of many of our social stud-book 
 shams and pretensions as to purity of race and blueness 
 of blood. As a matter of fact, some of our great houses 
 have a little infusion of black or brown blood in their 
 veins, which, so far from doing them any harm, seems 
 to gift them with piquancy and brightness. 
 
 In the Jamaica days though there were some very 
 nice " coloured folk " to be found there public feeling 
 ruled against miscegenation, as the Yankees style the 
 cross. But England rises superior to these pettinesses, 
 and takes black and brown blood under her broad 
 social ceyis, as well as the azure-hued ichor of eclectic 
 aristocrats. 
 
 I recollect attending a very pleasant function in 
 western Kent, some years ago, on the occasion oi a 
 
 2 M 2
 
 468 
 
 presentation of plate being made to the old retiring 
 honorary secretary to the Hunt.* There were many 
 yeomen and farmers present the best of good com- 
 pany, too, full of song and speech ; but when one of 
 them got up and praised the landowners of Kent for 
 their liberality, contrasting them with Irish landlords, 
 whom he denounced, I pitied his ignorance, more espe- 
 cially when he added that he felt sure that there was 
 not one drop -of Irish landlord blood in any of their ter- 
 ritorial magnates. Why ! many of the best and oldest 
 families in England have a very considerable infusion, 
 not only of Irish landlord blood in their veins, but of a 
 far older Celtic strain ! Moreover, this enthusiastic 
 speaker might have known, had he only inquired, that 
 many English landlords are Irish landlords as well ; 
 though ever since the famine the number has been 
 dwindling somewhat ! 
 
 I do not think wire jumping will ever become a 
 popular pastime with English hunting men or women. 
 Australian " whalers " are familiar with \vire from colt- 
 hood. Our horses, happily, are not, and the fierce light 
 of an Antipodean sun makes the bearings of the " lep " 
 better defined than they would be in our dimmer and 
 duller latitudes. But conceive the valour of a sports- 
 man who, after a fast 27 miles of a drag hunt in Aus- 
 tralia, would face 5 feet of wire ! Yet this is not an 
 ideal picture. I read the record of mileage myself last 
 winter in one of our great oracles. I recollect an 
 Irishman, Mr. Elliott Armstrong, riding an Irish hunter 
 over irou hurdles in the Duke of Beaufort's country; 
 
 * Mr. Russell.
 
 469 
 
 but this is the nearest approach I have seen to the 
 audacity of the Antipodean ! 
 
 Since writing a few paragraphs about the alleged 
 decay of wit in Ireland, it occurred to me that I ought 
 to have stated that much of that wit that found its 
 essor and end in sdlons and symposia now flows into 
 weekly wit motors, such as "Punch "and its fellows, 
 and, for aught we know, an Irishman may have origin- 
 ated the well-known degrees of comparison in the 
 House of Commons : " Spoon, Spooner Newdigate," or 
 invested Lord Alcester with his shore-going title, " The 
 Swell of the Ocean." Qui'en sabe ? Of happy puns in a 
 dead language, what could be happier than this one, 
 uttered by a Don to an undergraduate 40 years ago ? 
 The quotation conies from one of Juvenal's Satires 
 
 " Nullum numen (Newman) babes si sit prudentia." 
 
 The inhabitants of Ireland may be roughly divided 
 into two groups or bodies, namely, those who, from 
 various reasons, hold on to the English connection, and 
 those who abjure allegiance to it; and without any 
 special personal reason for disliking either England or 
 the English, are taught, from their youth up, to detest 
 them. As everyone should have a reason for the 
 political faith that is in him, I give here the main 
 articles of my credo. 
 
 Istly. Ireland, from its circumscribed area, must 
 belong to some great Power. As a matter of fact and 
 history, it belongs to England, and has done so for 
 some seven hundred years and more ; and, as self pre- 
 servation is tbe first law of state as of individual
 
 470 
 
 existence, no English statesman could, unless traitor- 
 ously inclined, consent to sever the ties between the 
 two countries, any more than he would try to sever 
 Cornwall from Kent, seeing that V union fait la force, a 
 recognised principle. 
 
 2ndly. That no -argument founded on race is of the 
 slightest weight, seeing that the elements of racial 
 distinctions, if admitted for a second, are as rife in 
 England as in Ireland. 
 
 3rdly. That Ireland never was united or homogene- 
 ous, so far as we can gather from history, as, even at 
 the great battle of Clontarf, the Danes found Irish 
 allies. 
 
 4thly. That English rule in Ireland has, on the 
 whole, been beneficent rather than maleficent. That 
 she has preserved her from invasion. That the popu- 
 lation has increased wonderfully under her sway, till it 
 even exceeded the resources of the land, arid that the 
 only foreign invasions of Ireland were induced by Irish 
 malcontents. 
 
 5thly. That freedom such as no other country has 
 known has been enjoyed by Irishmen in Ireland. 
 
 6thly. That the penal laws and commercial restric- 
 tions, utterly indefensible as we acknowledge them to 
 be, must be judged by the existing standards, that made 
 a revocation of the Edict of Nantes possible. 
 
 Tthly. That the intervention of England is necessary 
 to maintain peace between the warring elements of 
 which Ireland is composed, a fact evidenced at every 
 recent election. 
 
 Sthly. That prosperity being the goal of statesman-
 
 ship, such prosperity is more attainable under English 
 rule than that of any other Power, while Home Eule 
 would increase taxation greatly. 
 
 ythly. That, even allowing that improvement might 
 lie made in the Irish administration of affairs, in the 
 cutting down of ridiculously redundant officials, and 
 more especially the Bench ; and in the purchase and 
 centralisation of Irish railways by Government, and the 
 devotion of some of the money thus saved to the 
 creation of a quicker route to America, together with 
 the redress of the social stigma involved in having no 
 Irish Guards allowing that improvements and altera- 
 tions are called for in many quarters it must be 
 evident to moderate-minded men that a revolution, 
 such as the proposed Home Eule would be, is not 
 necessary to effect many, if not most of them. 
 
 In writing about the chivalrous sports of Ireland, 
 polo should not be omitted from the category. It was 
 introduced into Ireland almost simultaneously by the 
 10th Hussars and the 9th Lancers, and, with the sup- 
 port of a large garrison strong in cavalry, has flourished 
 there exceedingly ever since ; indeed, duce John Watson, 
 it was the local habitation of " The Freebooters," who 
 made a successful invasion of America, and performed 
 other polo prodigies One of the fiercest polo battles 
 ever fought in Ireland was between the Carlow team 
 and that of " All Ireland," when two of the former 
 quartette had to retire from the fray, hors de combat, 
 Mr. Watson, M.F.H., pbrc, having broken his leg, Mr. 
 John Watson, fils, having had his eye nearly knocked 
 out. Mr. W. Stewart did much in connection with the
 
 472 
 
 All Ireland Polo Club, whose lists are on " the nine 
 acres of the Phoenix Park," as he was its honorary 
 secretary for many years, as well as a regular playing 
 member. Of cavalry corps distinguished for their polo 
 play in Ireland, may be named the 7th, 3rd, 4th, 15th, 
 and 18th Hussars, the 5th, 9th and 16th Lancers, and 
 the Scots Greys; and among infantry regiments, the 
 7th Fusiliers and the 5th Fusiliers furnished many good 
 players. 
 
 It is not easy to cast an Hibernian horoscope. The 
 heroic legislation of the past decade may have been a 
 State necessity, but it has perils manifold in front of it. 
 If the Irish Land Purchase Bill get a good start of a 
 few prosperous years, it may do wonders for the island 
 by the growing sense of proprietorship ; but a few 
 storms might wreck it. As in the days of Queen 
 Elizabeth, there is a class opposed to order and indus- 
 try, nor, indeed, is sustained and continuous labour 
 much more popular than when Mickey Free liberated 
 his soul iii song 
 
 " I'm not very partial to work ! 
 
 It's not in the blood of the Braaies, 
 But I'd make a most illigant Turk ; 
 For I'm fond of tobacco and ladies ! " 
 
 Nor are national habits often reformed by Act of 
 Parliament ! 
 
 We are constantly told of Irish farmers they are 
 really few and far between, if by a farmer is meant a 
 man who makes the most of his land by capital and 
 industry. The land of Ireland is expected to be like 
 that Milanese of which Yirgil wrote
 
 473 
 
 " Quibus ipsa procul discordibus armis 
 Fundit liumi facilem victum justissima tellus." 
 
 It is not easy to believe in farmers who leave their 
 cattle out all the winter months ! 
 
 Here is an account of an early steeplechase which 
 may serve to illustrate one or two anecdotes I intro- 
 duced about the early efforts of the promoters of that 
 art in Ireland and Scotland. The race, that came off I 
 think early in the century, was a sort of triangular 
 match between Mr. Bullivant, of Sproxton, Mr. Day, of 
 Wymondham, and Mr. Frisby, of Waltham, for a sweep- 
 stakes of 100 guineas, and the course was from Womack's 
 Lodge round Woodal Head and back, estimated at a 
 little more than eight miles ; it was not flagged, but the 
 riders were bound to take as straight a line as they 
 could. After keeping together for upwards of six miles, 
 Mr. Bullivant shot ahead on " Sentinel." Mr. Day, who 
 was next, collided against a gate post and was thrown, 
 but, remounting, gained second place from Mr. Frisby 
 by only half a neck, and the race was run, 'tis said, in 
 25 minutes 32 seconds, admirable time if correct. 
 
 In Ireland, differences of opinion have occurred on 
 several memorable occasions between master and hunts- 
 man, and we have alluded to one or two impromptu re- 
 partees on such occasions ; another may be added to them, 
 when a very keen, hard-riding huntsman had, after a lot 
 of desultory hunting and checking, got his hounds well on 
 the line, the M.F.H. was heard shouting out to him, " Bill, 
 stop the pack, stop the pack !" ' ; D'ye take me for a 
 fool ?" was the huntsman's first ejaculation, but, seeing 
 the M.F.H. was in real earnest, he, with the aid of the
 
 474 
 
 whips, did stop the pack, and then learnt that the 
 M.F.H. was afraid the fox would lead them near a house 
 where a lady one of the ornaments of the hunt was 
 lying ill. However, such a contretemps as the follow- 
 ing never, so far as I know, occurred in the annals of 
 the chase in the Green Isle. An M.F.H. in England, 
 remarkable for "nagging," provoked his huntsman to 
 give him a rather sharp reply, and the consequence was 
 instant dismissal. The huntsman gave up his horse 
 and left the field, but next day, as the master was bring- 
 ing out the pack, the ci-devant huntsman, who was 
 perched in the fork of a tree, began hallooing, and the 
 hounds, recognising the well-kno\vn voice of their leader 
 and feeder, guide, philosopher, and friend, swarmed 
 round the tree, and could not be induced to leave it. 
 The ruse led to the reinstatement of the huntsman. 
 
 Since the world began there have probably been 
 questers for bargains in horseflesh, for pint pots that 
 w r ould hold a quart, nowhere more than in Ireland, 
 where the four-leafed shamrock is supposed to grow 
 " spontaneous." To such, the practical joke played by 
 an Irish peer, Lord Barry more, on a crowd may be com- 
 mended. After the preface of Oyez ! Oyez ! his lord- 
 ship, addressing the gapers, said, " Who wants to buy a 
 horse that can walk five miles an hour, trot eighteen, 
 and gallop twenty?" "I do," said one man with 
 cmpressement. Then replied the noble joker, " If I 
 see such an animal to be sold, I'Jl be sure to let you 
 know." 
 
 Here is a rare definition of an " honest horse," which 
 the purchaser requested to have explained to him by
 
 475 
 
 the seller (after delivery). "'Honest!' why I never 
 rode the brute that he did not threaten to throw me, and 
 hang me if he ever deceived me." 
 
 We have spoken of the keenness of Quakers or their 
 descendants in Ireland, but in the more primitive ages 
 of that illustrious body, the members were not so well 
 up in hunting etiquette as many are now ; for instance, 
 with the Duke of Grafton's hounds, when the pack had 
 got well on to their fox, a Quaker on a hill, seeing the 
 fox afar off, took off his hat and gave a rattling view 
 halloo, which got the hounds' heads up, whereupon his 
 Grace rode up to Mr. Broadbrim and asked him, " Art 
 thou a Quaker?" "I am, friend," was the reply. 
 "Well, then," rejoined his Grace, who was in no 
 gracious mood, " as you will not take off your hat to a 
 Christian, pray do not do so again to a fox." 
 
 Herodotus tells us that some of the yarns the 
 Egyptian priests (or others) wove for him inclined 
 greatly to the mythical; so do several of the "well 
 authenticated extraordinary chases " of a hundred 
 years ago. Thus we read how "a stag was once 
 hunted from Wingfield Park, in the county of West- 
 moreland, until by fatigue, or by accident, the whole 
 pack was thrown out, except two fox hounds, bred by 
 Lord Thanet, who continued the chase during the 
 greater part of the day. The stag returned to the 
 park from whence it had been driven, and as a last 
 effort leapt the wall, and died as soon as he had 
 accomplished it. One of the hounds ran to the wall, 
 but being unable to get over it, lay down, and almost 
 immediately expired. The other was found dead about
 
 476 
 
 half a mile from the park. The length of this chase is 
 uncertain, but as they were seen at Eed Kirks, in Scot- 
 land, distant by the post road about forty-six miles, it 
 is conjectured that the circuitous course they took 
 could not amount to less than one hundred and twenty 
 miles. 
 
 Another extraordinary, very extraordinary, fox chase 
 may be cited as a companion to the last recorded stag- 
 hunt. "A pack of fox hounds, consisting of twenty- 
 three couples, belonging to Thomas Panton, Esq., of 
 Newmarket, found a fox at Abyssey Wood, near 
 Thurlow, in the county of Cambridge, which imme- 
 diately quitted the cover, and ran two rings to Blunt's 
 Park and back to Abyssey. He then flew his country, 
 and went in a line through Lawn Wood, Temple Wood, 
 to Hart Wood, where there was a brace of fresh foxes. 
 The pack then divided, fifteen couples and a-half went 
 away close (as it is supposed) at the hunted fox, to 
 West Wickham Common, then to Weston Circle, near 
 Charlton Wood, and over Willingham Green. He then 
 took the open country to Balsham, turned to the 
 right, and away to the Six Mile Bottom, going to New- 
 market. He was headed by a chaise, turned short to 
 the left, and stood away from the heath in a line to 
 Gog Magog Hills, and was run from scent to view, lay 
 down, and was killed upon the open Heath at the 
 bottom of the hill. He stood an hour and three- 
 quarters without a minute's check ; and it is supposed 
 in that time he ran a space of near thirty miles. The 
 only gentlemen who were in at the death were Thomas 
 Panton and Benjamin Keene, Esqs., with the hunts-
 
 477 
 
 man, Thoman Harrison. The pack, as observed before, 
 divided at Hart Wood ; six couple and a-half of hounds 
 went away with one of the fresh foxes, and killed him 
 without any assistance, at Wether's Field, near Havers- 
 hall. The remaining couples of hounds went away 
 with the other fox, and killed him at Thurlow Park 
 Gates." 
 
 Dominie Sampson's comment of " Prodigious " alone 
 meets this narrative ! 
 
 I think I have stated somewhere in these random 
 reminiscences that the Irish Agamemnons of the chase 
 had long lain in the night of oblivion till the " seventies/' 
 from the lack of the vates sacer. This is true, as a 
 general proposition, but not absolutely ; for a lively re- 
 corder, who subscribed himself " Little Legs," occasion- 
 ally chronicled in " Bell's Life " some of the red letter 
 runs of the Ward Union Hunt. Here is one of the 
 most memorable in " the fifties," and I may add that a 
 good sportsman, who rode his own horse to the meet 
 and back again, and saw the run as well as most out, 
 vouched for the accuracy of the topographical details 
 seven horses were either killed or broken down from 
 its severity. " Mr. Editor, the great Dunshaughlin 
 event came off on Saturday, in presence of the most 
 numerous fields that ever yet assembled with ' the 
 Wards,' and in thus attempting a description of the 
 longest and by far the most trying run of the season, 
 my only regret is that some abler pen than my humble 
 one does not undertake the onerous task. As the affair 
 will speak for itself, without any of my usual notes or 
 comments, and as your space is just at the present time
 
 478 
 
 rather limited, here goes to begin this plain, unvarnished 
 tale. 
 
 " The elite of the Meath as well as the Ballinter men 
 were out upon this great occasion, and as the Invincibles 
 belonging to the Ward were fully resolved either to do 
 or die, it is much easier to imagine than describe the 
 splendour of the entire scene. The day was everything 
 the most ardent lover of the chase could desire, and the 
 country being rather heavy and holding was a further 
 inducement for those who were resolved upon finishing 
 the run to adopt the hold-harding system, and reserve 
 all the go in their nags for the final struggle. 
 
 " In consequence of the distance of the meet from the 
 good city of Dublin, the Messrs. Allen kindly allowed 
 an additional half hour's law for the sportsmen to 
 arrive, and a field of nearly one hundred and fifty having 
 assembled, the deer, a large red one, was unearthed about 
 one mile from the meet, upon the lands of Bonestown ; 
 and the pack having been laid on the hunt commenced 
 at a respectable but not very fast pace, heading away 
 towards the bog of Dunshaughlin, and pointing to 
 Rosetown, the pace gradually increasing up to the 
 Trivett, away forward into Jarristown, or as some call 
 it Gerrardstown, skirting the demesne of Killeeu, run- 
 ning through the lands of Lishenstown, straight ahead 
 at a clipping pace into Warrenstown ; the pace increas- 
 ing, and the fencing being of the most testing descrip- 
 tion for a hunter, bearing again away and pointing for 
 Culmoylan. ' Catch them now if you can, my lads,' 
 being now the cry, away through Curraghtown, and 
 into Kilmore, through Aghar, the field here getting
 
 479 
 
 'smaller by degrees and beautifully less,' those being 
 with the hounds riding with all their strength and mi<fht 
 
 <-> O O 
 
 away still onwards, ' Forward, forward,' still being the 
 word ; and through the fallow lands of Ardrum, wheel- 
 ing to the right, and up to the Ferns Lock at the Grand 
 Canal, through Cappagh, and up to Mr. Coates' of Clon- 
 curry, where this unparalleled run was brought to a 
 termination after a splitter of twenty Irish miles (not 
 hunting ones mind) over as intricate a country as ever 
 was ridden." 
 
 My friend rode a well-known hunter, " The Tanner," 
 to the meet, about twenty English miles. The run was 
 about twenty-eight miles, and from Cloncurry to Dublin 
 twenty-six miles, altogether about seventy-four miles 
 a great day's work for a horse, as must be admitted ; the 
 rider was a rather light weight. One or two other 
 celebrities among the Ashbourne red deer such as 
 " Boyne Water " and " Fog-horn " rivalled this long 
 run subsequently. 
 
 Had space permitted, something might have been 
 added to this mingled yarn, iii the shape of reminis- 
 cences of partridge shooting at that " urbs aquensis, 
 urbs regalis " Aachen. Any one who has vigour enough 
 left in him after making his cure, and is on good terms 
 with his landlord, can, I fancy, get permission to join a 
 few of the jolly burghers in the vast unfenced tracts 
 outside the walls of the ancient city of Charlemagne. 
 There are plenty of birds, and they lie well, so far as 
 my experience went, but when an unfortunate hare is 
 wounded then the real fun begins, instinctively when 
 the lamed leporine passes within forty yards of your
 
 480 
 
 gun, you cover her to put her out of her misery, but 
 this is not orthodox in Rhineland, and you will soon 
 hear a chorus of " Schisseu nicht, schissen nicht " 
 (Don't shoot) all around, and laying down your "piece " 
 you will see that your fellow sportsmen are very excited 
 about the catching and retrieving properties of their 
 pointers, who course the wounded ones like greyhounds, 
 and he is a proud man whose pointer brings him the 
 hare in his mouth. Thirst is quenched by liberal liba- 
 tions of Ehine wine, and perhaps the shooting is not 
 quite so straight in the evening as in the morning ; 
 probably a westering sun becomes dazzlingly bright. 
 
 I own I quite, agree with John Jorrocks that a fall is 
 a "hawful" thing, and a calamity to be avoided by every, 
 legitimate means. I have always used such means, and 
 yet I have had not a few that reminded me at the time, 
 and remind me still, of the brittleness of this vile 
 corpus. I recollect getting a bad one in a curious way. 
 I wanted to go one way ; my hunter had his eye on the 
 hounds, and was loth to leave them, and stood bolt up- 
 riht in sign of non-acquiescence. I do not think he 
 meant to turn over, but the ground he stood on M'as 
 honey-combed by rabbit burrows, and he turned turtle, 
 crushing me rather disagreeably. But the crop of falls 
 I got off horses and out of traps when my neck was 
 twisted, and I had lost much power of gripping the 
 saddle and maintaining my equilibrium in it, nearly 
 did for me, and for several years I was obliged to have 
 a second horseman always in my wake to pick me up if 
 I fell, and to help me to remount. 
 
 On the whole, though I have seen a fair crop of
 
 accidents, I do not think the falls in Ireland are gene- 
 rally nearly so bad in their sequences as these sustained 
 in riding to hounds in England. As a rule, Irish 
 horses are better trained than English, and the instinct 
 of self-preservation leads them nearly always to steady 
 themselves in approaching an obstacle ; while the light- 
 ness and elasticity of Irish turf perennial in many 
 cases takes much less out of a hunter than the average 
 English fields, be they pasture or plough. But the 
 secret of success in an Irish hunter is the art of 
 " changing his feet " on almost any perching place. The 
 story goes that, on one occasion, a smart Saxon sports- 
 man was looking at the performance of a young horse 
 in a dealer's schooling ground ; he bounded over every- 
 thing, and seemed to do doubles as featly as the best 
 old stager ; but he never " changed " on the bank. The 
 Saxon was enchanted, declared the horse a prodigy of 
 talent, and so roused the bile of a veteran present that 
 he went up to him, and remarked : " I'd give any reason- 
 able sum for your ignorance ! " However, ignorance of 
 horse flesh is often great bliss. 
 
 I think there is little doubt but that hunting in Ire- 
 land was at its zenith when the Empress of Austiia 
 determined to visit the Green Isle, and see and try for 
 herself the hunting grounds of which she had read so 
 much in the " Eield," and heard so much from Lord 
 Spencer and other Solons of sport. Her Majesty was 
 very difficile in the selection of her hunters, and wanted 
 a perfect combination of caste, perfect performance, with 
 good looks and manners, that is not easily found. I 
 recollect that on hearing that the Kaiserin's stud was 
 
 2 N
 
 482 
 
 located near Dunboyne, at Mr. Wardell's stud farm, I 
 vent across from Enfield, where I was living, to look 
 them over. I found the groom in charge had been 
 servant to an old friend of mine, and he showed me the 
 entire stud willingly. They were undeniably a good-look- 
 ing lot, but when I asked the groom if they were really 
 hunters of character, he an Englishman said, " that 
 is a question I cannot answer, but I do know that they 
 are being severely schooled almost every day, and are 
 in a very fair way of becoming hunters." Thereupon I 
 asked him if he would like to see a lady's horse that I 
 had actually followed in a good, if twisty, run in Meath, 
 and felt proud of having been able to stay for a time in 
 the lady's wake. He said he would, and took down the 
 address. Soon after this I met the purveyor of hunters to 
 the Kaiserin, and he told me " that H.M. would not be 
 seen on such a horse, no matter how good he might be." 
 I said, "Very well, but I think H.M. would prefer being 
 carried over fences safely, to sounding their depths " (and 
 they are very deep in Meath). In the meantime the 
 horse, a grey, was bought by Mrs. W. Jameson, who on 
 his back was never far from hounds ; and I had the 
 satisfaction of hearing that a blank cheque had been 
 sent by the Empress to Mrs. Jameson to fill in for the 
 horse, but that the owner declined parting with such a 
 faithful servant. In reality the grey, if not a hunter of 
 the highest class, qua looks, had plenty of good hunting 
 shape and quality, but a grey very often looks less 
 " classy " than a bay or brown. I cannot recollect this 
 grey, highly tried as it often was, ever giving Mrs. W. 
 Jameson a fall during several seasons.
 
 483 
 
 Among men in Ireland whom even physical dis- 
 abilities could not restrain from joining "the glad 
 throng" was the late Mr. Arthur MacMorrcgh 
 Kavanagh, of Borris House, Co. Carlow, who rray be 
 said to have proved " adversis rerum immersabilis 
 undis" for while nature had been niggardly to him in 
 the matter of limbs, she had been prodigal and lavish 
 in the endowment of his heart and mind, and he was 
 thus enabled to overcome almost all impediments, and 
 to have even excelled in what one may term the curri- 
 culum of sport^ and pastimes, having proved an able 
 yachtsman (vide his " Cruise of the ' Eva ' "), a success- 
 ful shot, and an intrepid follower of hounds. This is 
 not the place, perhaps, to marshal his services to his 
 county, his country, and his class ; whether as member 
 of Parliament, organizer, and champion of his brother 
 landlords, they were great, ready, and spontaneous, 
 and if the Kavanagh courage had been contagious or 
 catching the landlords of Ireland would have fared 
 better. 
 
 Mr. Eodney Purdon, of Westmeath, is another 
 instance of indomitable resolution to act up to the 
 motto " Be with them I will," for in spite of a series of 
 minor and major accidents, of legs cruelly crippled by 
 an infantile misfortune, and a chronic tightness in the 
 " chest," he rarely misses a chance of joining the 
 county pack, and even goes long distances occasionally 
 for the purpor.e. From the causes I have mentioned, 
 he has to be put on his horse at starting, and hoisted 
 up again in the event of a fall. Horses seem to go 
 well and kindly with him, so he must have good hands, 
 
 2 N 2
 
 484 
 
 and under all difficulties lie steers his own course appa- 
 rently without effort or aid. In the Kaffir War he got 
 attached to a corps of mounted tirailleurs, and his 
 gallantly was referred to in "General Orders." For 
 years he rode a thoroughbred sire of the late Mr. 
 Gully's "Athens," who fathered some good hunters. 
 I know few greater instances of the triumph of mind 
 over matter 
 
 " Ce noble courage perit mal-aisement." 
 
 Another instance that occurs to my recollection of 
 physical infirmity being overcome by strong will was 
 that of Mr. Kenny, who, though deaf and dumb, rode 
 steeplechases regularly as an amateur, and with some 
 success. Of course every sense is required in race 
 riding, and though the ear is not so often called into 
 play, one can easily conceive a win being snatched from 
 your grasp by a horse stealing up from the inside, 
 or even the outside, when acute hearing would have 
 detected his approach. In hunting he was terribly 
 handicapped by his deafness. A propos of hearing, I 
 recollect a tall welter weight declaring that he rejoiced 
 in noisy hunters, because the trumpeting saved him the 
 trouble of shouting at the men in front of him as he put 
 on steam for a big fence, and this reminds me of a 
 widow woman (of quality) who had been left with a 
 large farm to cultivate in a poor part of Ireland. She 
 was her own steward, and when some one suggested 
 that her cart wheel s that shrieked and squealed moc. 
 dolorously should he greased; she remarked, "I leave
 
 485 
 
 them like that on purpose, because the noise tells me 
 my men are at work." 
 
 In some respects the wave of lawlessness that passed 
 over Ireland during the last decade has proved detri- 
 mental to sport ; in others we hold that it may have 
 improved its prospects by broadening the foundations 
 on which sport rests, and making its maintenance a 
 matter of general interest socially and pecuniarily. 
 After all, sport must depend mainly on the good will of 
 the public. If the public approve of its conditions, it 
 is likely to flourish in the land ; if the public be 
 antagonistic, it must lead a very chequered existence, 
 and eventually disappear ; in fact, sport should be like 
 the throne of Great Britain " broad based upon the 
 people's will." One of the first outward and visible 
 signs of the hostility between the masses and classes in 
 Ireland was the opposition to the chase and the whole- 
 sale raids made by parties of poachers on the preserves 
 of obnoxious landlords. The great majority of the 
 attacks made upon sport and sportsmen were not spon- 
 taneous ebullitions of an injured peasantry, but organ- 
 ised demonstrations, got up for political and partisan 
 purposes, paid for in coin of the realm, and stimulated 
 by liquor ad libitum. But this sort of thing soon died 
 out when the fuel that fed it began to wax scarce, and 
 the classes interested in the welfare of sport began to 
 see that they were being martyred for no adequate aim 
 or end, while the resources of the country were being 
 visibly sapped and weakened for the aggrandisement of 
 a clique of mushroom patriots, or patriotic " Grand 
 Pensioners." Hence hunting, which is the mainstay
 
 486 
 
 and raison d'etre of the great horse industry of Ireland, 
 has revived, and is probably established now on a better 
 footing than ever. Shooting, in the same way, will 
 revive when pains are taken in preservation, and co- 
 operation is maintained among the owners of contiguous 
 estates ; for all must see that it is not for the public 
 welfare that game should die out in a country naturally 
 prolific, and that professional poachers, who are far 
 more feared than loved by the farmers and graziers, 
 should monopolise its game supply for their own sole 
 enrichment. As a rule, the people have been sickened 
 by the terrorising tyranny of political factions, and 
 would willingly place themselves under the segis of 
 law were they only convinced that the law could and 
 would protect, as well as avenge, them, and that its 
 shield was broad enough to cover them ; for the ineffi- 
 ciency of the law has been the source of much of the 
 agrarian crime of the country ; and, surely, much 
 allowance should be made for a peasantry placed be- 
 tween two fires : the one close and frequent, the other 
 magnificent in the roar and echo of its great guns, 
 but distant and remote, and uncertain in its aim. 
 One cause that tended considerably to weaken the 
 beneficial influences of the chase in Ireland was a 
 certain Pharisaism that was very observable in several 
 hunting corporations. The Pharisees of pursuit kept 
 aloof from the vulgar herd, and constituted themselves 
 a sort of corps d'i'lite, which was not looked on favour- 
 ably by their Eepublican confreres ; for the chase is a 
 Republic, with a " carriere ouverte a tons les talents et 
 tons les ambitions."
 
 487 
 
 Now, some of these Pharisees were not only good 
 fellows in themselves, but, by virtue of good hearts, 
 good heads, and good mounts, the natural leaders of 
 the chase; many of their brethren, however, were 
 nothing of the sort, and were only like them in the 
 cut of their coats and the hang of their boots and 
 spurs ; and it was only the exclusivism and clanship of 
 the Pharisaic phalanx that made it obnoxious and un- 
 popular to many. These coteries and cliques have 
 greatly disappeared of late years, and much good Las 
 been done by widening and extending the suffrage <>i' 
 sport, and admitting many into the corporation who 
 were long held as rather outside the pale the pale- 
 makers having, in the first instance, no divine or human 
 right for their eclecticism. 
 
 Of course it is not meant in these observations to 
 decry neatness of costume and propriety of panoply for 
 the preliminary parade. Dandies ride hard and fight 
 hard, too, and if hunting is to be maintained as the 
 image of war, some uniformity is desirable ; but then 
 these details should not exclude the weightier matters 
 of the laws social as well as venatic. I fear if the 
 ukase went forth from competent aiithority that men 
 were henceforth to pursue in sad or " subfuscous " 
 raiment, fields would be thinned considerably, though 
 less in Ireland perhaps than anywhere. Here I am re- 
 minded of a little anecdote that bears upon this question 
 more or less. I was going to stay at the hunting box 
 of an ex-captain in the Navy, in, say, Mudshire. Trains 
 or something made us both late, and we arrived at the 
 
 O * 
 
 box with barely five minutes to get into our hunting
 
 488 
 things and canter on to the meet, which was at a mag- 
 
 O " 
 
 nificent magnate's a few miles off. My things were all 
 right, but what was my friend's digust to find that a 
 brother salt, a kinsman whom he had mounted, had 
 hurried off before us, having encased his legs in two odd 
 top boots, thus spoiling the only eligible two pairs that 
 were in the boot case. I don't know what the choleric 
 captain would have done had he been alone ; but I 
 took care to point out to him that only one leg could be 
 seen at a time, and that no one was going to ride 
 round his horse to see if one top was nut-coloured, the 
 other creamy of hue ; at any rate, we rode to the rendez- 
 vous, and though I never heard what passed between 
 the brother salts, I feel sure there was no drawback to 
 their complete enjoyment. On another occasion I recol- 
 lect a particularly well-got-up pursuer was cannoned by 
 an undipped, woolly-coated colt, who was lathering freely 
 early in the day ; the consequences may be imagined, 
 and the besmirched and soiled sportsman liberated his 
 soul by exclaiming, " I wish you'd mind where you're 
 going," when the other retorted, " I'm really very sorry, 
 but it can't matter much, as I'm sure you don't clean 
 your own clothes." 
 
 It is not so very long since a practical joke was 
 played on a peer who was always boasting of his 
 sartorial skill ; his " continuations " were abstracted 
 from his room, which he found locked from the outside, 
 but scissors, needles, and thread, and a plentiful supply 
 of green baize were left in the chamber, and in less 
 time than might be fancied he rang his bell so furiously 
 that somebody came to the door and released him, when
 
 489 
 
 he went downstairs in what he had every right to call 
 " his own trousers." How few could have gone and 
 done likewise ! 
 
 A propos of things sartorial and the eccentricities of 
 costume, the late Mr. Mclldowney, who was a beautiful 
 horseman, and fastidious about his hunters, never was 
 seen in the hunting field save in white cord continua- 
 tions ; nor can I recollect ever seeing the late Major 
 Whyte Melville in leathers or top boots. Mr. Cross, of 
 Shanley Hall, a famous Cork sportsman, was, save in 
 the hunting field, always conspicuous in white "ducks;" 
 and the story goes that at some wreckage sale he had 
 purchased several hundred pairs made for soldiers or 
 sailors, and liked them so much that they were ever 
 after his sole wear, both in summer and winter ; doubling 
 them in very cold weather. Of course there is some 
 natural affinity between foxes and ducks ! 
 
 A good many decades have run their course since the 
 Wizard of the North wrote his famous poem, based on 
 the tale of a melancholy and depressed Sultan, who 
 learned from his Hakim that his spirits and gaiety 
 could only be restored to their normal level by his 
 taking and wearing the shirt of the merriest mortal to 
 be found in the course of his globe trotting. This 
 merriest mortal was found in the person of an Irish 
 pauper, whose laughter was out of proportion to his 
 linen, for he literally had no shirt to his name or body ! 
 Something of a similar sort may still be noticed in the 
 poorer parts of the country, when two " corner boys," 
 at fair or market, quarrel, and one " dars " the other 
 to take off his coat, and fight it out, " if he has any
 
 490 
 
 confidence in his shirt," i.e., if it is in good enough con- 
 dition to expose to the public gaze. The confidence in 
 his shirt must have been unbounded when a late 
 " chieftain " proposed never putting on his coat again 
 till the last links that attached Ireland to England 
 were riven. 
 
 It is impossible not to admire the pluck and tenacity 
 of that " chieftain," ever since his party deserted him; 
 and one is reminded of Byron's lines 
 
 "He dared depart in utter scorn, 
 
 Of men who such a yoke had borne, 
 And left him such a doom." 
 
 But admiration has its limits ! As a public man he 
 posed simply as " a conspirator." and threw in his lot 
 with " conspirators," reckless of the means employed. 
 His attempts at constructive measures were ill-devised, 
 and worse executed, and it is very hard to say how far 
 any of the ideas he broached in his speeches were 
 original or not. As a ruler of " our race " he showed 
 great qualities, but it seems rather ridiculous to find 
 men talking and writing didactically about a lost 
 leader who did not even confide his address to their 
 keeping. 
 
 It is, perhaps, not a perfect argument against Home 
 Rule to say that its advocates have not shown any 
 great civic or home capabilities. Home Rule is simply 
 a translation of olnovofiia, the ruling of a home, and 
 I can recollect telling an ardent propagandist of Home 
 Rule doctrines, with whom I travelled right across 
 Ireland some years ago, that I would give some con-
 
 491 
 
 sideration to his theories if he could show me one 
 single sample of a well-managed farm or estate on 
 either side of the line in the possession of a " patriot ; " 
 he gave it up. The thing sought might be found now, 
 but not easily. Home Eule, like Saturn, has devoured 
 its own offspring. 
 
 Old men have not only the vice of garrulity, but 
 apply that garrulity to the laudation temporis acti, 
 or the " good old times." Heaven forbid that I should 
 join in the chorus ! The improvement of Ireland, both 
 in Church and State, has, even within my day, been 
 prodigious. The " Established " Church was full of 
 scandal. The Disestablished Church, if pcorer, is 
 purer, while the State has not only striven to dispense 
 justice and maintain law and order among the Queen's 
 present subjects, but has shown a disposition to make 
 some atonement for past harshness and inequity, even 
 at the risk of alienating its most loyal adherents. 
 
 The stars, in their courses, have fought against 
 Home Eule, which means in Ireland practical inde- 
 pendence or autonomy. The first great blow was struck 
 when Imperial France succumbed to Germany under 
 the hegemony of Prussia, the second when England 
 and America began to pull amicably together. Why 
 the Castle, symbol of provincialism, and in these days 
 anachronistic, should be retained in Dublin, passes com- 
 prehension. The Secretary is the Power ; the Viceroy- 
 well ! the Queen's representative. Scotland does with- 
 out a Vice King or Queen ! 
 
 As for sport, I think it never was in so healthy a 
 state as at present, or, perhaps, better conducted in its
 
 402 
 
 ^reat centres, such as Heath, Kildare, Louth, Tip- 
 perary, Galway, and Westnieath, uor was horse culture 
 ever placed upon a better footing. 
 
 I had intended, had space permitted, to have sampled 
 a few notable runs from different hunts in Ireland, and 
 I have already referred to two or three in Kildare. Xo 
 better run is recollected in Royal Meath than that 
 metrically (and geometrically) told in verse by a first- 
 class sportsman, who was in the van all throughout, 
 though I am sure his modesty would shrink from his 
 name appearing. The Master was J. 0. Trotter, the 
 huntsman, Jack Press ; the lady was Miss de Moleyns, 
 now Lady Hopetoun ; " The Dormstown lad," is J. 
 Roberts ; " Ewing-Orr," Captain Orr-Ewing of the 
 16th Lancers ; and the line was almost mathematically 
 straight till the fugitive fox turned, or was turned, at 
 the Dublin road. The line led over the cream of 
 Meath, and was, of course, " grass and all grass " 
 
 THB GEBAEDSTOWN Eux. 
 
 Found at Gerardstown Gorse, killed close to Priestown, 1 hour 
 exactly, 8 miles as the crow flies. Sot. 30th, 1886. 
 
 I sing a fox's glory, I sing a mighty hunt ; 
 
 I tell the stirring story of those who rode in front ; 
 
 Although my muse is feeble, I'll do the best I can, 
 
 To honour give, where honour 's due, to horse, to hound, to man. 
 
 The day November's last one, Lismullen was the meet, 
 Each, hoping for a fnst one, had brought his courser fleet ; 
 The morning we'll pass over, though, if the truth be told, 
 He was no bad red rover that half the field then sold.
 
 493 
 
 At Gerardstown united, once more the gorse we draw, 
 No chance for those benighted, we started off at score; 
 Once more we cross the douole, and o'er Trivett's grassy plain, 
 We haste with toil and trouble, we urge with spur and rein. 
 
 We cross the road at Galston, on to Lagore we press, 
 We feel he is no false one that leads us thus express ; 
 The boggy wood safe passed, one moment brief we pause, 
 One moment ouly Forrard ! by the Fox Eviction Clause. 
 
 The Poor-house gorse he enters not, its earths he scorns to try, 
 His life is on the venture, to-day he'll do or die ; 
 Alas ! brave fox, you know it not, your tide has seen its flood, 
 Those bitches, with their hackles up, are racing for your blood. 
 
 Across the grass we onward fleet, for Fairyhouse he points, 
 No time to think of horses beat, of curbs or gummy joints ; 
 If at the end you'd wish to be with glory to your horse, 
 I prithee lose no time, but quick urge on your merry course. 
 
 The lane of Fairyhouse we reach. Fow tell me, Muse, I pray, 
 Who up to this of man and horse were foremost in the fray ? 
 Hone, Ev'rard, Haig, our Master, one lady by their side, 
 Across the fences as they came right cheerily did ride. 
 
 The laird of Mouutainstown was there, Steeds, Barnewall, Mack'son, 
 
 Gore, 
 
 The Dormstown lad, John Press, of course, excuse me, Ewing-Orr! 
 Your name transpose I surely must, or else it will not rhyme, 
 And Watkins, too, the roll call here no more would bring to time. 
 
 The lane ther cross not, though 'twas crossed, with shoulders up, by 
 
 Gore : 
 
 Alas ! he made a fatal cast, we never saw him more. 
 On to Kathbeggan sped the hounds, we followed keen as keen, 
 Our joy it surely knew no bounds, our horses did, I ween. 
 
 Back from the Dublin road he turned, his course was nearly run, 
 But still across the pastures wide his gallant way he won ; 
 The earths at Molinam are stopped, once more he holds his way, 
 No coward this, no craven brute, he '11 go while go he may. 
 
 Alas ! brave fox, 'tis all in vain, you've never once looked back, 
 Nor all your speed nor all your pluck can cheat the lady pack ;
 
 494 
 
 Within two fields of Priestown your earthly race was run ; 
 All honour to you ! how I hope you've left a gallant son! 
 
 The circle charmed is quickly formed, the hounds are baying round ; 
 One or two more the fleeting pack before the death have found ; 
 Mat D'Arcy, Owens, Murphy, were at hand to see the kill ; 
 "Who-hoop ! who-hoop ! that glorious shout ! my ears are tingling 
 still ! 
 
 In wine that pours out creaming, in wine of rosy red, 
 
 In bumpers hot and steaming, before we went to bed, 
 
 We drank the health of Master, fox, of huntsman, horse, and hound, 
 
 Of the lady, of each other, of our glorious battle ground. 
 
 And now my story 's finished, to its faulto be, reader, blind, 
 And if our gallant fox has left one of the gallant kind, 
 I'll try, when next like this we have an out and out good run, 
 To those who were not there, in rhyme, to tell how it was done. 
 
 WANDEHER. 
 
 During Mr. John Watson's short terra of mastership 
 two of the best runs ever seen in Royal Meath have 
 come off: the first from Mulhussey Gorse, crowned by 
 a kill near Lagore ; the second from Harry Bourke'a 
 Gorse. Its points measure eleven miles. 
 
 A fine and almost sensational run occurred in 
 Galway a few seasons ago with a well-known fox, 
 hight " Dempsey's," who used to occupy some tall 
 heather in a huge tract of wild country vestured with 
 heath and grass ; he ran nearly straight for ten miles, 
 even to the verge of Galway Bay ; but he did not pick 
 a line very attractive to riders ! It was one of the 
 sights in Galway to view Dempsey's fox breaking away 
 from his heather home, and looking not unlike an Irish 
 red setter.
 
 495 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 MR. MAURICE O'CONNOR MORRIS, lately Deputy Post- 
 master-General of the Island of Jamaica, begs leave to 
 submit the following statement of circumstances con- 
 nected with the abolition of the office he held, consequent 
 upon the transfer of the Post Office Department in the 
 West Indies from Imperial to Local Government. 
 
 That having been a scholar of Worcester College, 
 Oxford, on an open foundation, which would have led 
 to a Fellowship and a College living, and having passed 
 the final examination for the Degree of Bachelor of 
 Arts, he was appointed in 1850 to the office of Deputy 
 Postmaster-General of Jamaica, having previously been 
 employed as a clerk in the Secretary's Branch of the 
 General Post Office in London. 
 
 That at the time of his accepting the appointment in 
 question, Mr. MORRIS had every reason to be assured 
 that the office was, like all similar offices, a life tenure, 
 subject of course to the condition of the faithful dis- 
 charge of the duties involved; and in virtue of such 
 belief he elected to forego his prospects at the University 
 and in the London Post Office Department.
 
 496 
 
 That from the year 1850, to July, I860, when it \vas 
 abolished, the emoluments of the office in question 
 considerably exceeded the sum of 1,000 per annum. 
 
 That during this period of nearly ten years, Mr. 
 MORRIS was in receipt of the emoluments of the office 
 referred to, and fulfilled the duties of the same, as he 
 submits, faithfully and successfully, in proof of which 
 he begs to refer to several votes of the Legislature of 
 Jamaica, approving of his administration of the depart- 
 ment, to the letter from his Excellency the Governor 
 of the Colony, dated 13th April, 1860, in which 
 reference is made to the public tribute to the success of 
 Mr. MORRIS' administration of his office, to the very 
 numerous addresses Mr. MORRIS received from his 
 employe's, and from all parts of the Colony, expressing 
 entire satisfaction with his conducl during his tenure 
 of office, and to the fact that his Crown Bond, which in 
 1850 required two securities of 5,000 each, was 
 reduced to 1,500. 
 
 That by the statute, 23rd Viet., cap. I, sect. 3, the 
 office of Deputy Postmaster-General of Jamaica was 
 abolished, and that no provision was made in this Act 
 for compensation or retiring allowance. 
 
 That on the 13th of April, 1860, the Governor of 
 Jamaica, on whom devolved the duty of carrying out 
 the Act referred to, and effecting such abolition, wrote 
 through his Secretary the letter marked A, to which 
 Mr. MORRIS begs to refer, and which he submits was an 
 intimation that he must vacate his office of Deputy 
 Postmaster-General of Jamaica, without any offer of 
 compensation or re-employment.
 
 497 
 
 That on the 16th April, 1860, Mr. MORRIS wrote in 
 reply the letter marked B, to which he begs leave to 
 refer. 
 
 That on the 26th of April, 1860, the Governor of 
 Jamaica wrote through his Secretary to Mr. MORRIS, 
 the letter marked C, to which he begs to refer, and 
 which Mr. MORRIS submits contains only the intimation 
 that only under some unexplained contingencies could 
 Mr. MORRIS have even an offer of re-employment under 
 the Colonial Executive, as Postmaster of Jamaica, with 
 a salary only guaranteed for a few months. 
 
 That on the 28th of April, 1860, Mr. MORRIS wrote 
 in reply the letter marked D, to which he begs to refer. 
 
 That Mr. MORRIS having submitted his entire corre- 
 spondence with the Colonial authorities to the Post- 
 master-General of England, he received the letter 
 marked E, to which he begs to refer, from Mr. F. HILL, 
 Assistant Secretary to the General Post Office, which 
 Mr. MORRIS submits is merely an intimation that if the 
 contingencies alluded to in the letter of 26th April 
 should arise, Mr. MORRIS would act wisely in accepting 
 employment under the Colony. 
 
 That Mr. MORRIS submitted a copy of this letter, on 
 the same day he received it, to the Governor of 
 Jamaica's Secretary. 
 
 That on the 7th July, 1860, the Governor of Jamaica 
 caused the letter marked F, to which Mr. MORRIS begs 
 leave to refer, to be written to him, stating that the 
 contingency had not arisen upon which Mr. MORRIS 
 was even to have the offer of re-employment under the 
 Colony as Postmaster of Jamaica. 
 
 2 o
 
 498 
 
 That on the 31st July, 1860, the office of Deputy 
 Postmaster-General of Jamaica was abolished, and 
 Mr. MORRIS was engaged in collecting the arrears of 
 postal revenue, and winding up the affairs of the 
 department till the 9th of September, 1860, when he 
 embarked for England. 
 
 That the only compensation Mr. MORRIS has received 
 for the loss of the office in question is an annuity of 
 200 from the Treasury, under the letter marked K, to 
 which Mr. MORRIS refers, while his repeated applica- 
 tions for re-employment in the public service have 
 proved hitherto unsuccessful. 
 
 Under these circumstances, Mr. MORRIS submits that 
 his case presents features of great hardship, as he has 
 been deprived by Act of Parliament of a valuable office 
 which he filled efficiently, and to the entire satisfaction 
 of the community of Jamaica for nearly ten years, to 
 the sacrifice of any prospects he might have had, and 
 the injury of health, and has received no option of re- 
 employment, or such compensation as could fairly be 
 deemed adequate ; as he cannot admit that an annuity 
 of 200, or little more than one-sixth of the value of 
 the office he held, is an equivalent for the loss he has 
 sustained through the act of the Imperial Legislature.
 
 499 
 
 A. 
 
 Letter from Hugh W. Austin Esq., Governor's Secretary. 
 
 Governor's Secretary's Office, King's House, 
 SIR, 13th April, 1860. 
 
 I am desired by the Governor to acquaint you, that 
 under the Act which has been passed by the Legislature 
 to provide for the transfer of the Post Office to the con- 
 trol of the Local Government, no provision is made for 
 the continuance of the office of Deputy Postmaster- 
 General, and that, should the Act receive Her Majesty's 
 gracious assent, it is the intention of the Government to 
 combine the duties at present discharged by the Chief 
 Clerk with those of the future Head of the Department, 
 who is designated the Postmaster of Jamaica, and will 
 receive a salary at the rate of 600 a year. 
 
 2. Under these circumstances, his Excellency has only 
 to assure you of his regret that the state of the Colonial 
 revenue has not admitted of the continuance of the office 
 which you have occupied at the head of the Department 
 for many years ; while your appointment to conduct it 
 upon the reduced scale, assuming such an arrangement to 
 be acceptable to yourself, could not be effected without 
 occasioning difficulties, both financial and otherwise, which 
 it is of importance to the Local Government to avoid. 
 
 3. In availing himself of the permission to dispense 
 with your services, which is conveyed by the enclosure to 
 a despatch from Mr. Secretary Labouchere, of which an 
 extract is enclosed for your information, it increases the 
 reluctance with which his Excellency purposes to adopt 
 that course that the circumstances under which you 
 have held the important and responsible office of Deputy 
 Postmaster-General prevents him from applying to the 
 Legislature with any prospect of success for compensation 
 to you for loss of office, which, having regard to the 
 recent cases of retiring Judges, Chairmen of Quarter 
 Sessions, and other inferior functionaries, and to the satis- 
 faction with the past administration of the Department 
 which the House of Assembly expressed by their resolu- 
 
 2 2
 
 500 
 
 tion of the session before last, would probably have been 
 granted if yonr office had been held under the Colonial 
 Government and remunerated from Colonial funds. 
 I have the honour to be, Sir, 
 
 Your most obedient servant, 
 HUGH W. AUSTIN, 
 
 Governor's Secretary. 
 M. O'C. Morris, Esq., 
 
 Deputy Postmaster- General. 
 
 Extract of Letter from Mr. F. Hill to the Under Secretary 
 of State for the Colonies, dated General Post Office, 
 bth February, 1857, being ihe enclosure to Mr. Secretary 
 Labouchere's Despatch to Lieutenant-Governor Bell, 
 No. 113, ofZlst February, 1857. 
 
 "It appears by this despatch that the Legislative 
 Council decline to accept the proposal which has been 
 made by this Department for transferring the control of 
 the Island Post Office to the Colonial Government ; but 
 that the Committee of the House of Assembly, to whom 
 also the question has been referred for consideration, 
 recommend the acceptance of the proposed transfer, on 
 condition that the Legislature shall be at liberty to fix the 
 salaries of the officers of the Post Office Establishment 
 for the future, and that it shall be relieved from any 
 liability for any of the present officers whose services 
 may not be required, or to compensate such officers for 
 their loss of office, or the present officers for any reduc- 
 tion of the salaries now paid to them, which may hereafter 
 be determined upon. 
 
 " The Postmaster- General is not aware what is the 
 practical effect of these two opposite decisions ; and I 
 am directed by his Grace to request that Mr. Secretary 
 Labouchere will be so good as to furnish him with the 
 necessary information on this point ; and 1 am to state 
 that his Grace is quite prepared to transfer the Post 
 Office of Jamaica to the Colonial Government on the
 
 501 
 
 conditions laid down ia the Report of the Committee of 
 the House of Assembly." 
 
 B. 
 
 Letter from 3/. O'C. Morris to H. W. Austin, Esq., 
 Governor's Secretary. 
 
 General Post Office, 
 SIR, 16th April, 1860. 
 
 I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your 
 letter, dated 13th instant, in which you inform me that 
 the office I have held for a number of years has been 
 abolished by an Act of the Colonial Legislature, and that 
 his Excellency regretted that he could not either apply 
 to the House of Assembly for compensation for my loss of 
 office, or retain my services in a capacity similar to that 
 in which I have held the control of the Department in 
 this island, with satisfaction to the pnblic, as his Excel- 
 lency is pleased to point out. I regret that it has not 
 been considered advisable to furnish me with copies of 
 the correspondence which has taken place relative to the 
 transfer of the Department, as I have thus no means of 
 judging what coui-se the Postmaster- General, whose 
 Deputy I am, would consider it right for me to adopt 
 under the circumstances represented in your letter ; but I 
 consider it my duty to point out to the Governor that in 
 the circular instructions sent by the General Post Office 
 to their officers in the West Indies, they were desired to 
 consider themselves Colonial officers as soon as the 
 transfer had been effected. A copy of this letter was 
 submitted by me to his Excellency, together with a 
 further and more explicit communication on the subject, 
 received by a later mail. 
 
 Under these circumstances, I have no alternative but to 
 suppose that his Excellency has received instructions 
 which warrant him in withholding from me the appoint- 
 ment of Postmaster of Jamaica, and thus cancelling my 
 instructions on the subject.
 
 502 
 
 The office of Deputy Postmaster-General is obviously 
 abolished when the Postmaster-General retains no more 
 authority in the colony. 
 
 I am. Sir, 
 Your most obedient servant, 
 
 (Signed) M. O'C. MORRIS. 
 Hugh W. Austin, Esq., 
 &c., &c., 
 
 King's House, Spanish Town. 
 
 C. 
 
 Letter from H. W. Austin, Esq., Governor's Secretary. 
 
 Governor's Secretary's Office, King's House, 
 SIR, 26th April, 1860. 
 
 Having submitted to the Governor your letter of the 
 18th instant, dated at Mandeville, I am desired by his 
 Excellency, with reference to its penultimate paragraph, 
 to call your attention to the extract of the Secretary of 
 State's despatch, transmitted to you with my letter of the 
 13th instant. 
 
 As it is possible that before the transfer of the Post 
 Office finally takes place, circumstances may occur which 
 would permit of your employment at the head of the De- 
 partment, I am desired to inquire whether you ar^ pre- 
 pared, in such a contingency, to accept the office of 
 Postmaster for Jamaica at a salary of 600 a year, under 
 the existing law, which has a duration only to the 13th of 
 April, 1861, and whether you would be prepared to dis- 
 charge the duties at present performed by the Chief 
 Clerk of your office, subject also to the condition of 
 regular daily attendance at the office, and close personal 
 superintendence of the despatch of mails. 
 I have the honour to be, Sir, 
 
 Your most obedient servant, 
 HUGH W. AUSTIN, 
 
 Governor's Secretary. 
 M. O'Connor Morris, Esq., 
 
 Deputy Postmaster- General.
 
 503 
 
 D. 
 
 Letter from M. O'C. Morris to H. W. Austin, Governor's 
 Secretary. 
 
 Jamaica General Post Office, 
 SIR, 28th April, 1860. 
 
 With reference to yonr letter of the 26th instant, in which 
 his Excellency desires to know whether in the event of 
 certain contingencies, of what nature I am not informed, 
 occurring, I would be prepared to accept the office of Post- 
 master of Jamaica, at a salary fixed at the rate of 600 per 
 annum, for a portion of one year, and undetermined for 
 Ihe future, and whether I would undertake the duties of 
 the Chief Clerk, as well as those of Postmaster for the 
 same period, I have the honour to state that while i feel 
 thankful for the hypothetical offer his Excellency has 
 been good enough to make me, I cannot now close with 
 it, as 1 have referred his Excellency's letter of the 13th 
 instant, in which my services as head of the Depart- 
 ment were positively declined, as likely to occasion diffi- 
 culties, financial and otherwise, to the Local Government, 
 together with my reply to it, for the consideration of his 
 lordship the Postmaster- General. 
 
 I am, Sir, 
 
 Your most obedient servant, 
 (Signed) MAURICE O'CONNOR MORRIS. 
 H. "W. Austin, Esq., 
 
 Governor's Secretary, Spanish Town. 
 
 E. 
 
 Letter from F. Hill, Esq., Assistant Secretary to the General 
 Post Office. 
 
 General Post Office, 
 
 SIR, 16th June, 1860. 
 
 The Postmaster- General has had before him your letter 
 
 of the 30th April last, enclosing a copy of one addressed
 
 504 
 
 to yon by order of the Governor of Jamaica, in which it 
 is stated that, as it is possible that before the transfer of 
 the Post Office takes place, circumstances may occur 
 which would permit of your employment at the head of 
 the Department, his Excellency wished to be informed 
 whether you were prepared to accept the office of Post- 
 master. 
 
 Your letter also contained a copy of your answer to the 
 Governor, saying that you could not close with the offer, 
 as you had referred a previous letter from his Excellency, 
 declining your services, for the consideration of the Post- 
 mast er- G ener al . 
 
 In reply, I am directed by his Grace to inform yon that, 
 as such an offer has been made to you, he cannot, even if 
 there had previously been grounds tor such a claim, enter- 
 tain any application on your behalf for compensation from 
 this office. He trusts, therefore, that you are still in time 
 to accept the Governor's offer. 
 
 I am, Sir, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 F. HILL. 
 
 M. O'Comior Morris, Esq., 
 Jamaica. 
 
 F. 
 
 Letter from H. W. Austin, Esq., Governor's Secretary. 
 
 Governor's Secretary's Office, 
 
 SCR, 7th July, 1860. 
 
 I am directed by the Governor to acknowledge the 
 receipt of yonr letter of the 5th instant, and to inform you 
 his Excellency regrets to say that circumstances have 
 not occurred which would permit of yonr employment at 
 the head of the Post Office, the Secretary of State having, 
 by this mail, approved of the arrangements which his 
 Excjllency submitted to his Grace, which did not include 
 yonr employment.
 
 505 
 
 His Grace had, at the time, copies of the letters addressed 
 to you by his Excellency's desire upon the subject. 
 I have the honour to be, Sir, 
 
 Your most obedient Servant, 
 HUGH W. AUSTIN, 
 
 Governor's Secretary. 
 Maurice O'Connor Morris, Esq., 
 
 Deputy Postmaster-General, Kingston. 
 
 Governor's Secretary's Office, 
 
 SIR, 23rd July, 1860 
 
 I am desired by the Governor to acquaint you, that the 
 Order in Council specially confirming the Act 23 Vic., 
 cap. 1 (Session III) will be published on the 1st August 
 next, from which date the Post Office Department will be 
 transferred to the Colonial Government. 
 
 2. Mr. B.-ymer, the present Chief Clerk of the Depart- 
 ment, will be appointed Postmaster for Jamaica under 
 that Act. 
 
 I have the honour to be, Sir, 
 
 Your most obedient Servant, 
 HOGH W. AUSTIN, 
 
 Governor's Secretary. 
 M. O'Connor Morris, Esq., 
 
 Deputy Postmaster-General, Kingston. 
 
 G. 
 
 Letter to H. W. Austin, Esq., Governor's Secretary. 
 
 Jamaica General Post Office, 
 
 SIR, 7th July, 1860, 
 
 I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, dated 
 the 7th instant, in which you convey to me the regret 
 entertained by his Excellency the Governor, that the cir- 
 cumstances to which he alluded in his previous letter on
 
 506 
 
 the subject hart not occurred, which would permit of my 
 employment at the head of the Post Office. 
 
 I am, Sir, 
 
 Yonr most obedient Servant, 
 (Signed) MAURICE O'CoxxoR MORRIS 
 H. W. Austin, Esq.. 
 
 Governor's Secretary, Spanish Town. 
 
 H. 
 
 Letter from H. W. Austin, Esq., Governor's Secretary. 
 
 Governor's Secretary's Office, 
 
 SIR, 23rd July, 1860. 
 
 I am desired by the Governor to acquaint you that the 
 Order in Council specially confirming the Act 23 Vic., 
 cap. 1 (Session III) will be published on the 1st August 
 next, from which date the Post Office Department will be 
 transferred to the Colonial Government. 
 
 2. Mr. Brymer, the present Chief Clerk of the Depart- 
 ment, will be appointed Postmaster for Jamaica under that 
 Act. 
 
 I have the honour to be, Sir, 
 
 Your most obedient Servant, 
 HUGH W. AUSTIN, 
 
 Governor's Secretary. 
 M. O'Connor Morris, Esq., 
 
 Deputy Postmaster- General, Kingston. 
 
 I. 
 
 Letter from F. Hill, Esq., Assistant Secretary to the General 
 Post Office. 
 
 General Post Office, 
 
 SIR, Ib'th February, 1860 
 
 I am directed by the Postmaster- General to acquaint 
 
 you, for your information and guidance, that Her Majesty's
 
 507 
 
 Government have come to the determination to place in 
 the hands of the Local Authorities, on the 1st May next, 
 the control of the Post Offices in all the West Indian 
 Colonies ; and I am to state that from that day yon are to 
 consider yourself the Officer of the Colonial Government, 
 and no longer the Deputy of Her Majesty's Postmaster- 
 General. 
 
 It has, however, been left to the Governor of Jamaica 
 to defer carrying this change into effect until the 1st June, 
 should his Excellency find such a course desirable. 
 
 Further instructions will be sent to you respecting the 
 arrangements which this transfer will render necessary. 
 I am, Sir, 
 
 Your obedient Servant, 
 
 F. HILL. 
 
 M. O'C. Morris, Esq., 
 &c., &c., &c., 
 Jamaica. 
 
 J. 
 
 Letter from M. O'C. Horns, to George Arbuthnot, Esq., 
 Treasury Chambers, London. 
 
 The General Post Office, Kingston, Jamaica, 
 SIR, 22nd June, 1860. 
 
 With reference to the letter which you did me the 
 honour of addressing me, on the 21st ultimo, on the sub- 
 ject of my claims for compensation in consequence of 
 deprivation of office, owing to a recent change in the 
 policy of the Imperial Government in respect to the 
 management of the Post Office Department in the West 
 India Colonies, in reply, I suppose, to a memorandum 
 containing a brief abstract of the principal features of the 
 case submitted to the Lords Commissioners of Her 
 Majesty's Treasury by my brother on my behalf, I would 
 beg leave to state that, as it appears to me, your letter was 
 written on imperfect information as to the merits of this
 
 508 
 
 particular case, and as jour amendment of the error, sup- 
 posed to have been made by me, in the case which was 
 cited as analogous, and as forming a precedent, has evi- 
 dently been based npon data not quite correct, I would 
 request permission to bring the circumstances under your 
 notice, as I feel convinced that the validity of my claim, 
 when inquired into and known, will be recognised, and 
 that, though the case may present features somewhat 
 exceptional, it will nevertheless be dealt with fairly and 
 j ustly. 
 
 1. In accepting the appointment of Deputy Postmaster- 
 General of Jamaica in 1850, 1 had no reason to believe the 
 office was dissimilar in its conditions to various other 
 appointments in the Post Office Department, of corre- 
 sponding importance and responsibility not a line that I 
 am aware of was ever written by the Secretary of the 
 Post Office, or any other officer of that establishment, to 
 warrant such a conclusion; and, of course, it would have 
 become a question whether, had such a contingency been 
 pointed out to me, I should have accepted the situation, 
 subject to such restrictions. I have no reason to 
 suppose, from the total silence of the authorities in 
 St. Martin's-le- Grand on the subject, that it was ever con- 
 templated to make any alterations in the office, much less 
 abolish it altogether, as all the circumstances connected 
 with the case lead to a directly contrary conclusion. Thus, 
 the salary of the office, on the death of my predecessor, was 
 reduced by upwards of a third, while the new office of 
 Surveyor had been created about three years prior to my 
 entering on the duties of Deputy Postmaster-General, all 
 steps on the part of the Department indicative of per- 
 manency rather than change and reorganisation. Had 
 such a measure been contemplated, it is fair to suppose 
 that some written intimation would have been made to 
 me on the subject ; and as this was not done, it was, I 
 "-onceive, only fair to assume, as I did at the time, that 
 the office then given to me was one for life, subject, of 
 course, to the universally recognised stipulation of faith- 
 ful performance of the duties. 
 
 That this condition has been fulfilled on my part, may,
 
 509 
 
 I think, be assumed from the somewhat pregnant facts 
 that I am siill the officer of the Department, and in- 
 trusted with its control in this island. 
 
 That my Crown bond has been reduced from 10,000, 
 or two securities of 5,000 each, to a single bond of 
 1,500 ; and lastly, that the Legislature of the island has 
 passed resolutions to express their decided approbation 
 and entire satisfaction with my administration of the 
 Post Office, a fact which his Excellency the Governor of 
 the Colony has been good enough to refer in the enclosed 
 correspondence, relative to the new appointment. 
 
 2. But independently of these general grounds for 
 claiming compensation, the Department itself, as will 
 appear by the enclosed extracts from letters of the Secre- 
 tary to me, has inferentially led the officers of the Depart- 
 ment in this island to believe that my claims for loss of 
 office, or diminution of emoluments, would be fully com- 
 pensated ; and in fact, have very plainly admitted and 
 sanctioned the principle, as, of course, the fact of a special 
 proviso having been made to bar claims for compensation, 
 which might be made for loss or curtailment of salaries 
 in the case of officers appointed after the transfer had 
 been resolved upon, leads to the conclusion that where no 
 such proviso was made, the claims of the holders of office 
 would be fairly and equitably considered. 
 
 3. But to come. from general propositions to particular 
 instances and precedents, I will recur to the case to which 
 you drew my attention in your letter, namely, that of the 
 Surveyor of the Post ^Office in this island, whose office 
 was abolished last year. In. this case, Mr. Perring, the 
 officer in question, was permitted totretire on the full pay 
 of 400 per annum, which he received ; in this island, an 
 amount which I believe to be more than double the salary 
 attached to the office to which he was appointed in Eng- 
 land on his return. 
 
 That Mr. Perring's salary was 400 per annum while 
 on the Jamaica establishment, is a fact on which I must 
 be permitted to speak with some confidence, as I had to 
 pay it monthly for years. 
 
 I might also adduce the case of the Stipendiary Magis-
 
 510 
 
 trates in this island, who are, I believe, permitted to 
 retire with a certain portion of their salaries after a 
 certain length of service ; and, not to go beyond a branch 
 of your own Department, I have in this town the case 
 and a very recent one of a Mr. Mais, who was a tem- 
 porary clerk in the Commissariat in this island, and who 
 has received a cousiderable annuity in proportion to his 
 rate of pay, by way of compensation. 
 
 Nor should I omit the case of the Judges and other 
 legal f unctionaries in this island, who, when a change was 
 made in the Judicial Establishment, were all permitted to 
 retire on adequate allowances, in the event of their not 
 choosing to remain on the reduced salaries ; and, in fact, 
 as Governor Darling points out. the practice of compensa- 
 tion for loss of, or change in, official appointments in this 
 colony, has been always rigidly maintained ; and I have 
 his Excellency's assurance that, in his correspondence on 
 the subject, he has already expressed strongly his opinion 
 of the justice of my claims for adequate compensation. 
 
 But it is, I conceive, idle to multiply instances within 
 the sphere of my personal knowledge, when the principle 
 and practice is, I believe, co-extensive with the Civil 
 Service of Her Majesty. 
 
 4. I am aware that I have no right to ground my claims 
 on the circumstance of having served in a colony so 
 notoriously prejudicial to health as Jamaica ; or the fact 
 of having suffered severely from the effects of climate, as, 
 of course, such drawbacks existed to the fullest extent at 
 the time I accepted the appointment; but if it be no solid 
 foundation for asserting a right, it certainly, on the other 
 hand, can form no argument for depriving an officer of 
 his claims for compensation, to say tha.t, because the 
 service has been performed in a tropical aud unhealthy 
 colony, it shall not be considered equivalent to similar 
 service within the United Kingdom, where the sacrifices 
 to be made were less, and the difficulties to be encountered 
 proportionally smaller. 
 
 5. I have no wish to make any comment upon the two 
 accompanying letters which his Excellency the Governor 
 addressed to me on the subject of retaining my services.
 
 511 
 
 The earlier letter of the two I considered final, as his 
 Excellency dwelt so emphatically on the difficulties which, 
 would be involved in retaining my services at all ; and as 
 nothing within my knowledge occurred in the interval to 
 remove those difficulties, I am still at a loss to account for 
 his writing me the second letter, which is so completely 
 conditional in its character, that I could not consider it 
 an offer of the new appointment, but rather an invitation 
 to decline it. 
 
 But even if the office of Colonial Postmaster had been 
 offered to me by his Excellency, in whose gift it lies, I 
 certainly should consider it an extreme hardship to be 
 compelled to exchange an honourable, if responsible posi- 
 tion, for one infinitely inferior in point of standing most 
 insecure in its tenure, and with duties doubled to receive 
 little more than half the emoluments after ten years of 
 service, which has been acknowledged as valuable fvnd 
 efficient, in quarters where its effects were most easily 
 perceptible ; and in that case I should have appealed 
 against what I should conceive to be an act of flagrant 
 injustice, contrary alike to the theory and practice of Her 
 Majesty's Service, which, as it is founded on principles of 
 justice, is ever open to its appeals. 
 
 I must, in conclusion, express my regret at the hurried 
 manner in which I have been compelled to draw up this 
 statement of the circumstances connected with my case, 
 owing to which I have not been able to condense it as I 
 should have wished to do ; but I think the arguments I 
 have used, and the evidence I have given, will be con- 
 sidered conclusive as to my right to compensation in 
 whatever shape it may be considered expedient to award 
 it. 
 
 I am, Sir, 
 
 Your most obedient servant, 
 
 M. O'C. MOKEIS. 
 G. Arbuthnot, Esq., 
 &c , &c., 
 
 Treasury Chambers, London.
 
 512 
 
 K. 
 
 Letter from G. A. Hamilton, Esq., Secretary to the 
 Treasuiy. 
 
 Treasury Chambers, 
 SIR, 1st November, 1860. 
 
 Adverting to your further application of the 9th July 
 last, respecting your claims to compensation for the loss 
 of your office, as late Deputy Post master- General of 
 Jamaica., I am desired by the Lords Commissioners of Her 
 Majesty's Treasury to acquaint you that, ai'ter a careful 
 re- consideration of the circumstances of your case, and not 
 being, for the present, able to find any suitable employ- 
 ment for you in the Post Office, my Lords have awarded 
 to you a compensation allowance of 200 a year, to com- 
 mence from the period when your salary in Jamaica 
 ceased, and to continue so long as you remain without 
 public employment; but my Lords wish it to be clearly 
 understood, that this allowance will cease whenever it 
 may be found practicable to re-appoint you to some suit- 
 able office in the Post Office, or any other Department of 
 the public service. 
 
 I am, Sir, 
 
 Tour obedient servant, 
 
 GEORGE A. HAMILTON. 
 M. O'C. Morris, Esq., 
 
 General Post Office, Kingston,- Jamaica. 
 
 AI^D SUJ>8, HUMLRS IN OBDINARY TO HIE MAJISTY, 6T. KAIITIN'S LANE.
 
 i/p