DEAR MR. EDITOR,-The four courts having closed, and business, such as it had been (slack enough, heaven knows!) during the past term, having come to a complete "stand still," your humble servant, an unworthy member of the "Junior Bar," determined on a brief sojourn (pardon the atrocious pun) among his "ain friends;" and acting on the determination, placed his Coke upon Littleton on the shelf, cast aside "Smith on Contracts," and ceasing to make comments on Mr. Serjeant Stephens' Commentaries, collected his coats and his cash (heaven knows with what trouble he did the latter); and having secured a box seat on the L- mail, "made a start for the kingdom of K▬▬; prompted the more to such proceeding by the receipt of a kind letter from a dear sporting friend to say that " a mount was at my service, and that though the weather was not just as good as could be desired, still the hunting was excellent, and the hounds in the best possible "form." How true were the inducements held out, I shall leave you, Mr. Editor, and the readers of Maga to determine; since, while pondering over the ashes of my last weed, it occurred to me this very evening to place, with your permission, on record in your pages, the sport I have enjoyed during the "merrie Christmas time.'

Arrived free from all accidents in the town of T- (an event you will no doubt consider worthy of note, when you learn that great portion of my route lay through the sweet county of Tip.), you can imagine with what feelings of pleasure I learned that a noble stag had been secured while wandering through the open country, away from his native wilds at K, and that having been taken uninjured, he would be turned out before Mr. R. C――'s hounds, on the Monday following my arrival, which notable event took place on Thursday. But since my stay amongst the green fields was of necessity a limited one, it was fully agreed upon all hands, that not a day could be missed, and the meet of Captain of C's foxhounds having been ascertained (blessed kingdom, where father and son are to be found encouraging, in these degenerate days, "the noble science") my friend Mason and I determined to "enter an appearance" (I hear some of my readers cry, "Shut up the shop"), and enjoy a day's fox-hunting.

Accordingly on Friday morning, which rose right cheerily, we trotted out to the cover of Glounageentha, celebrated as having wit

nessed the death scene of the last great Earl of Desmond. How wonderful old Time rings out the changes! and the deep mountain gorge which re-echoed to the hollow bay of the ferocious blood-hound, with man for his quarry, in days of yore, now reverberates but to the musical chop of the merrie fox-hound. A numerous and well-appointed field, "all eager for the fray," were here assembled; and many and cordial were the greetings bestowed upon the writer of these pages-none more cordial or more welcome than those of "old Mick on the pony," and of his worthy master, as good a sportsman and "fine old Irish gentleman" as ever sat in pig-skin, or did the honours of his own mahogany. How delightful is it, to me at least, to see attachment to the sports of the field displayed in green old age! and often (as wrote the never-to-be-forgotten Nimrod) do I grow out of all patience with stupid human nature, which, nursing and cooking the remnant of an existence, seems to set an imaginary value upon life just in proportion as its real value is gone by. But WORK, as is always the case with these hounds, was the word; "Hie in!" "Hie in there!" No sooner said than done; and a breathless pause ensued, as "the babbies " dragged up the cover. Horses stood quivering, and men with hand to ear sat listening with all anxiety for the expected signal. "I heard you came last night, John," whispered the worthy owner of the pack; "I hope we shall have a run for your sake; and so we shall, by Jove! there goes a whimper ;" and sure enough, chop! chopp!! was heard, and Mason with a glistening eye proclaimed "his reverence" at home. "Rattler is at him!" cried the Captain; "I hear him, though I can't see him," and the instant after, a spirit-stirring "Tally!" proclaimed the varmint viewed. Now nothing could surpass the enlivening nature of the scene a glorious sun shone out and gladdened all around-the very yokels danced for joy, while the cry grew maddening as they raced him up the splendid cover

"Heav'ns! what melodious strains-how beat our hearts

Big with tumultuous joy! Loaded gales

Breathe harmony; and as the tempest drives

From wood to wood, through every dark recess,
The forest thunders, and the mountains shake."

And now the utmost limit of the cover having been reached, all promised fair for a break; nor did Pug disappoint our expectations, but went away right gamely, heading off for the earth at Magh. The melody chimed in by every hound in the gallant little pack, as they came crashing through the cover, each striving eagerly to gain the head, grew absolutely thrilling, and drove a man "a' most beside himself." "Is'nt it beautiful?" burst from a dozen mouths; and, of a truth, so was it. A long stretch of splendid grass country, intersected with rasping fences, lay spread before us; and, "By Heaven!" cried Mason (trembling with excitement) "we are in for a spanking hour at least." But (alas! that I should have to pen it) how were our joys nipped in the bud! There is nothing perfect under the canopy of heaven-"no rose without a thorn -and how frequently, when the cup of pleasure is at the fullest, does some drop of bitterness, commingling, cause us to dash it untasted from the lip! As in the other concerns of life, so even in a fox-hunt, intermeddlers too frequently make their appearance; and poor puggy, being

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headed back by one whose zeal far out-stepped his discretion, returned to cover, and hanging on it, died the death, after affording a magnificent cover hunt of close upon an hour, from the find till the moment when old Mick, his grey locks bared to heaven's breezes, with finger in ear, rang out his death knell, chorussed by the sweetest music that could e'er delight a fox-hunter's heart, the very echo of which methinks has scarcely died away as I trace these lines. The days being short, more's the pity, a sinking sun now warned us that it was "deep i' the afternoon," and jogging on. A bumper of sherry at the hospitable board of Tsent us home contented with our day's sport, though all would have experienced more delight had there been "a little more open work:"

God help the unfortunate who caused the contrary, had he come across our way; but "worse luck now, better another day," is at least a consolatory proverb, thought we-how true it came you shall learn cre the finish.

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Feasting and pleasure (and where do both more abound than among the K-folk?) filled up the intervening time till Monday morning dawned-rather frosty to be sure, but then horses had gone on the previous evening, and " 'twas sure to thaw by 12 o'clock." Where there's a will there's always a way-out came the drag; and fast stepping-notwithstanding a delay caused by a broken swindle-bar, which was very nigh giving rise to broken heads, and sending some of the party to earth before their time-brought us to Swine Mount (euphonious name!) in full time for the uncarting. Here we joined a goodly muster, comprising many top sawyers from all sides of the county, the majority of whom looked as though "they had blood i' th' for each other; and on paying my respects to the gentleman in the deer-cart, I found that for once, rumour" with the hundred tongues" had spoken without exaggeration, when describing the game appearance of this "antlered monarch," who shortly afterwards, on being uncarted, sprung off most beautifully, and immediately displayed his attachment to home, and love for the picturesque, by making straight for his native wilds; but though his intention might have been "to go no more a roaming," the country people, of whom there were crowds assembled, and many of whom (like my friend upon a former occasion) permitted their zeal to outstep their discretion, having headed him, he was compelled to retrace his steps, and windlassed down the hill side, leaving the wood of Longfield on the left, and "stretching forward free and far," across the flat country towards Firies: the pace grew desperate, and "no mistake," over the grass upland, the hounds with a rank scent "carrying on" like so many devils, "with their heads in the air and their sterns on the ground;" while, at every fence, the field was growing more and more select.

"The scent was improving-pace faster of course—
The hound getting fleeter, and slower the horse;
Every foot o'er the vale the pack beat us at will,

And were two fields ahead as they mounted the hill."

Here went Mr. Mac G― with a crash, and came up with the loss of his nose. There tumbled Mr. C (a regular "stunner"), with a groan; while a gentleman in black, with long foresters, mounted on a pony, took manfully" at stroke," but fortunately without a touch, Mr.

A. C., who with his prad lay prostrate on the ground. Close by might be seen, had the "first flight" time or inclination to stay and view it, brother Frank on the chestnut, playing at "see saw "" across the back of a huge double ditch, and most unconsciously dg his (the horse's) sleepy eyes. But it was all the same, "Deil may care, and let him have the hindmost," seemed to be the order for the day, and horses being speedily remounted, "holding hard "-perdition seize him who would be slow enough to think of it!-with such a cry was considered as quite out of the question :—

"What lengths we pass, where will the wand'ring chase
Lead us bewildered? Smooth as swallows skim
The new shorn mead, and far more swift we fly;
See my brave pack, how to the head they press,
Jostling in close array, then more diffuse

Obliquely wheel, while from their op'ning mouths
The vollied thunder breaks,"

and For'ard! for'ard! was still the cry, right o'er hill and dale-through marsh and meadow, on to Knocknamullagha (what a puzzler!), where a check, by no means unwelcome, occurred; enabling the welter weights, of whom there were not a few, and the stragglers, of whom there were still more, to claim closer acquaintance with those who formed "the first flight." Conspicuous amongst the (by no means fresh) arrivals, a moving mass of mud

"See Conyers from Knockane comes striding along,
His spurs in the sides how they're digging!
But his horse's cock'd tail shows all won't avail,
And, by Jove! there is no need of figging."

Short, however, was the respite gained for horse or man-old Lovely and Forester were soon heard psalm-singing ahead, and the steam once more laid on, away we went, straight as the crow would fly, for Poullourm (melodious again !), where the deep bottoms and boggy fences stayed many a good 'un, "whose spirit was willing, but whose (horse) flesh was weak." Thence away-perpetual motion seemed a problem no longer to be solved-for Castlemaine, the scent growing rank and more rank, and the hounds at every stride coming to closer quarters with their game, there being but five or six now riding with them, and Father Jerry,' as usual, cutting out the work even for the "blessed few;" change but the name in the Leicestershire ditty, and you have the application perfect :

"I ne'er saw fence, or hedge-stake bare,

Could stop Jer Mason on his good black mare;

Nor bosky brook, nor steepy linn,

But Jer would at it, over it, or in."

Worse luck that the latter hard fate should have been his this day; for while brilliantly leading the field, in coming off a huge boggy bank, souse went he, up to the mare's ears in a deep marshy pit-hole, from which it took near twenty minutes to extricate him and her, and then the fun was o'er, the "gentleman with the horns," as though disdaining to show more sport while so trusty a fellow lay in trouble, having taken

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"the soil" almost immediately in the river Maine, where he was safely
secured by Mr. Bailey of the C-- Rangers, who right well mounted
on Captain Maxwell's Tipperary Joe (wonder anything so good came out
of Gallilee), and all the lighter for want of a hat, dashed in boldly and
"took the ribbons ;" thus ending a gallant run of an hour and forty
minutes, with but one short check; and night had drawn her dusky
was reached by jaded horses and
mantle o'er all creation ere T-
wearied sportsmen.

an

"A WIDE CAST."

"Oh, who would wish to live this life

If woman were not in it?

Oh, who would bear its endless strife,
Without her smile, a minute?"

Actuated by the idea so neatly and with such truth conveyed in the foregoing lines, and in direct contradiction to a very erroneous, but generally received notion, that a "lover of the chase" can but seldom be admirer of the "fairest portion of creation," the next evening found me in the crowded ball-room of "a right good fellow," who, though not himself a votary of Diana, still admires all those who follow the glorious sport over which she presides; and is ever ready to welcome to his hos. pitable board, with an open hand and cordial shout, the man who can best describe a hard day with the fox-hounds. There the winged hours sped fast and joyously away, and while twirling through the mazy dance the ear grew fascinated with drinking in those dear delightful nothings which come with such peculiar force and expression but from Beauty's lip alone. The twin sisters Polka and Waltz, uniting, almost drove Quadrille, the prude, from the circle.

"But all went merry as a marriage bell,

And eyes looked love to eyes that spake again."

How saddening to think that hours of gaiety such as these, be they e'er so entrancing, must terminate all too soon, and leave behind but the pleasing recollection of "a delightful evening"! Morning blushed upon a scene where all was pleasure unmingled with alloy, and warning the revellers that the time for separation had arrived, sent us home to dream of the beauteous forms with which the eye had grown familiar, visions of which still float before "memory's mirror," as these lines are penned.

THE SCENT RECOVERED."

On Wednesday morning the fox-hounds met at Ballymacthomas, with my noble self, and from 15 to 18 of the "righte sort" in attendance; nor were bright eyes and sunny glances wanting to add attraction to the "meet," and stimulate to deeds of gallant daring the sons of Dian. Much, indeed, are the pleasures of the chase enhanced, when the cover many a ladye fair," whose mild and side is graced by the presence of " tuneful converse delightfully whiles away the time, till the clang of hound and horn warn the enchanted listener that the "game is now a foot," and force him with all reluctance to take his leave of beauty's shrine-not, however, before a sweet smile of encouragement, and, it