i84 



The Chase 



counties of Leicester, Northampton, and Rutland, 

 and is said to be altogether impracticable, at the 

 end of one of the most desperate runs ever known. 

 This knack he had of getting across water is to be 

 attributed to his resolute way of riding to hounds, 

 by which his horses knew that it was in vain to 

 refuse whatever he might put them at. A remark- 

 able example of this occurred in the Harborough 

 country. He was galloping at three-parts speed 

 down one of the large grass fields which abound 

 in that district, in the act of bringing his hounds 

 to a scent, and was looking back to see if they 

 were coming. Exactly in the middle of the field, 

 and in the line immediately before his horse, was 

 a pool of water, into which the animal leaped, 

 thinking it useless to refuse, and of course being 

 unaware that he was not intended to take it. This 

 horse would doubtless have jumped into the Thames 

 or the Severn in a similar manner, had they been 

 before him. This wonderful influence over his 

 hunters was strongly exemplified at another time, 

 but in rather a different manner. He had mounted, 

 on his celebrated horse Cicero, a friend, who 

 complained of having nothing to ride : 



A sportsman so keen, that he rides miles to covert, 

 To look at a fence he dares not ride over. 



The hounds were running breast-high across the 

 big pasturelands of Leicestershire, and Cicero was 

 carrying his rider like a bird, when a strong flight 

 of rails had almost too ugly an aspect of height, 

 strength, and newness, for the liking of our friend 

 on his "mount." The keen eye of Assheton- 

 Smith, as he rode beside him, at once discerned 

 that he had no relish for the timber, and seeing 

 that he was likely to make the horse refuse, he 



