94 Ikinas of tbe 1^DUlltilIg*jficl^ 



was singularly well knit, athletic, and muscular, and he 

 was always in hard condition. He weighed himself 

 every day, and having once settled upon the lowest 

 weight at which he could preserve his spring and 

 activity, he would not let himself exceed it by an ounce. 



In the matter of drinking he was always abstemious, 

 but his appetite was tremendous. His breakfast on a 

 hunting morning consisted of a huge dish of hashed 

 mutton, which he bolted at an alarming pace, yet never 

 knew what indigestion meant. A more complete con- 

 trast to the breakfast of another mighty hunter, Hugo 

 Meynell, could not well be imagined. Mr Meynell forti- 

 fied himself for a long day in the saddle by taking a 

 pound of the best veal condensed into as much soup as 

 would fill a small teacup. 



On the 29th of October 1827, Tom Smith took to 

 himself a wife, Maria, second daughter of Mr William 

 Webber of Binfield Lodge, Berkshire — and for the next 

 year or two lived at Penton Lodge near Andover. He 

 had given up the duties of Master of Foxhounds, but 

 hunted regularly with the Craven and New Forest. 



On the 1 2th of May 1 828, his father died at the age 

 of seventy-six, and the estate of Tedworth in Hants came 

 into his possession. Here he resolved to start a new 

 pack of hounds to hunt a country touched neither by the 

 New Forest nor the Craven, a country which seemed 

 absolutely impracticable for hunting purposes. No one 

 but a man of iron will and indomitable determination 

 would have dared to face the task of converting those 

 immense tracts of dense woodland into accessible fox 

 coverts and rideable glades. Sporting farmers, who had 

 been born and bred in the place, pointed to the big 1000 

 acre woods and asked how he expected scent to lie 



