Hssbeton Smttb »9 



capital shot ; but, though he excelled in nearly every 

 sport, only one really had his heart, and that was fox- 

 hunting. In the memorable Billesdon Coplow run in 

 Leicestershire on the never-to-be-forgotten 24th of 

 February 1800, of which I have given a description 

 elsewhere in these pages, Thomas Assheton Smith 

 was one of the foremost heroes. He bought the horse 

 (Furzecutter), which he rode on that immortal day for 

 £26, and sold him after the run to Lord Clonbrook for 

 ^400. 'A pretty good comment,' said Smith, 'on the 

 place I maintained that day.' 



In 1806 he succeeded Lord Foley as Master of the 

 Quorn, and hunted that country till 18 16, when he gave 

 up the horn to Squire Osbaldeston and took his stud 

 into Lincolnshire, where he was Master of the Burton 

 Hounds for eight years. 



' Nimrod ' (C. J. Apperley), at that time the leading 

 authority on hunting, thus briefly sums up the character- 

 istics of Assheton Smith as a master whilst he hunted 

 the Quorn : — 



' Lord Foley was succeeded in the possession of the 

 Quorn hounds by that most conspicuous sportsman, 

 Thomas Assheton Smith, who kept them eight or nine 

 seasons. As combining the character of a skilful sports- 

 man and desperate horseman, perhaps his parallel is not 

 to be found ; and his name will be handed down to 

 posterity as a specimen of enthusiastic zeal in one 

 individual pursuit rarely equalled. Mr Smith did not 

 become a Master of Foxhounds because it was the 

 fashion ; neither did he go a-hunting because others 

 went a-hunting ; neither did he ride well up to his 

 hounds one day, and loiter a mile behind them the 

 next. No ; from the first day of the season to the 



