88 fRlngs of tbe 1f:)unttn0^f tel& 



before a large field of sportsmen, who never forgot 

 the circumstance. 



From Eton, Assheton Smith went up to Christ Church, 

 Oxford. Long before this, when he was but a boy, he had 

 been entered to hounds, and had given unmistakable 

 proof of his skill and daring in the saddle. Indeed, his 

 fame had spread pretty far, as the following anecdote will 

 show. One day his father was at his club in London 

 among a party of sportsmen who were speaking of the 

 splendid horsemanship of Sir Henry Peyton and his son. 

 ' There are no father and son in the kingdom that 

 could beat them,' exclaimed one enthusiast. Where- 

 upon Thomas Assheton Smith, the elder, quietly re- 

 marked : — 



' I will back a father and son against them for ^500,' 



* Name ! name ! ' cried half-a-dozen voices. 



'/am one, and Tom Smith the other,' was the reply. 

 The father, by the way, always spoke of his son as 

 'Tom Smith.' No one took the bet. At this time, 

 young Tom, besides hunting regularly wath the hounds 

 of the famous John Warde in Oxfordshire and North- 

 amptonshire, was distinguishing himself in other branches 

 of sport. He was a fine swimmer, a good oar, and a 

 cricketer of the first rank. Indeed there were few better 

 batsmen in England. He made 86 for Surrey v. England, 

 against the best professional and amateur bowling of the 

 day. And in the first Gentlemen v. Players match ever 

 played, on July 7, 1806, he scored 48 run out, the 

 Gentlemen winning in a single innings ; but it must be 

 borne in mind that they were allowed the services of 

 the crack professionals, Beldham and Lambert, who 

 made 57 and 16 respectively, besides doing deadly 

 execution with the ball. Assheton Smith was also a 



