ipo mines ot tbe •ff^u1ttin(5*3ftel^ 



hunting-field.' Nevertheless he found the time so well 

 marked by the music that he proved an apt pupil ; and 

 ere the dance was over, Mrs Fleming said, * Now you do 

 it as well as any of them.' 



He was, indeed, passionately fond of dancing, and on 

 one occasion, when he was Vice-President of the Agri- 

 cultural Show at Winchester, he rode eighteen miles to 

 a ball at Henley Park, near Guildford, danced till 4 A.M., 

 then rode straight off to Winchester, forty miles, and turned 

 up as fresh and smiling at the opening of the Show as if 

 he had lain snugl)' between the sheets all night. 



At Mr Fleming's house Tom Smith often had the 

 pleasure of meeting Lord Palmerston, of whom he used 

 to tell this anecdote. His lordship was in the field one 

 day, when a fox was found at Bittern, which ran straight 

 to the water at Bursledon, but did not cross ; he turned 

 short back by Botley to Bittern, where he ran to ground 

 with the hounds close to his brush. All the horses had 

 had enough, and all left immediately except Lord 

 Palmerston, who appeared anxious that the fox should 

 be got out, saying that the hounds deserved to have 

 him. He was told that it would be a long job, as the 

 soil was sandy, and the fox could dig as fast as men 

 could. ' Never mind,' was the reply ; ' I will stay and 

 help to the end.' His horse was accordingly sent 

 to a farm stable, and all hands dug away as long as 

 daylight lasted : then lanterns were got ; at a quarter to 

 eleven the fox was got out, after which the future Premier 

 had a ride of fourteen miles to Broadlands Park. The 

 explanation of his anxiety was that his horse was entered 

 for the Hampshire Hunt Cup, to qualify for which it 

 was necessary that he should have been in at the death 

 of three foxe.s — and this made the third. 



