assbcton Smitb 91 



even after Mr Smith took to him, retained his un- 

 tamable temper — when the wilful animal started aside, 

 kicked violently and flung him over his head. Nothing, 

 owing to the height of the gorse, could be seen 

 of the squire, but Screwdriver kept kicking and 

 plunging in a circle round him. " Let go the bridle, or 

 he will be the death ofyou," said a nervous, well-meaning 

 farmer. " He shall kick my brains out first," was the 

 reply of the still prostrate sportsman, who was soon up 

 and in the saddle. 



' Although his falls were numerous, owing to his never 

 allowing his hounds to get away from him, yet he was 

 very seldom seriousl}- hurt. Only on two occasions had 

 he a bone broken : once at Melton, when he consoled 

 himself by learning arithmetic from the pretty damsel at 

 the post-office, and afterwards when one of his ribs was 

 fractured, owing, as he said, to his having his knife in a 

 breast-pocket. 



' His presence of mind, when falling, never deserted 

 him ; he always contrived to fall clear of his horse, and 

 never to let him go. The bridle-rein which fell as 

 lightly as a zephyr on his horse's neck, was then held as 

 in a vice. In some instances, with some horses whom he 

 knew well, he would ride for a fall, where he knew it 

 was not possible for him to clear a fence. With Jack- 

 o'-Lantern he was often known to venture on this 

 experiment, and he frequently said there was not a 

 field in Leicestershire in which he had not had a fall. 

 " I never see you in the Harborough country," he observed 

 to a gentleman who occasionally hunted with the Ouorn. 

 " I don't much like your Harborough country," replied 

 the other, " the fences are so large." " Oh," observed Mr 

 Smith, " there is no place you cannot get over with a 



