Captatn Sobn Mbite i6i 



find Mr White well over ; but instead of this, he 

 found him what is called " well buU-finched," his 

 horse and himself sticking fast in the hedge. " Get 

 on," says Mr Smith. " I cannot," said Mr White, " I 

 am fast." " Ram the spurs into him," exclaimed Mr 

 Smith, " and pray get out of the way." " Damn it," 

 said Mr White, " if you are in such a hurry, why 

 don't you ride at me and charge me ? " Mr Smith 

 did charge him, and sent him and his horse into the 

 next field, when away they went again as if nothing 

 had happened. 



' Those who know nothing of Mr White will naturally 

 exclaim — surely this man will never give up hunting if 

 he has the means to pursue it. Mr White has not been 

 regularly to Melton for the last three or four years, but 

 he told me a short time since that he should start again 

 one of these days. He was three years there in Mr 

 Smith's time, and seven with other masters of hounds ; 

 and I heard the very high compliment paid to him by a 

 very excellent judge — namely, that he never was out in 

 his life, whether he liked his horse or not, that he did not 

 try to get to hounds. He is become very fond of the sod, 

 and much devoted to shooting — preserving no less than 

 forty thousand acres of ground ; but I will answer for it 

 he never laid a trap for a fox.' 



It was unfortunate, perhaps, for his fame as a sports- 

 man that he allowed a passion for the Turf at times to 

 overmaster his love of the Chase, the nobler sport of the 

 two. I am not concerned here with his exploits as a 

 gentleman jockey, in which capacity he sweated himself 

 as if his very life depended on success, and no profes- 

 sional knight of the pigskin worked so hard and inde- 

 fatigably as this enthusiastic amateur. Yet strange to 



L 



