128 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER 



There is great reason to believe that stimulants pro- 

 longed his life, but his sufiPerings were very great.' 



There was another Tom Smith who figured as 

 M.F.H. besides the great Thomas Assheton Smith 

 of Tedworth. This gentleman was born at Shaldon 

 Lodge, near Alton, Hants, in 1790, and during his 

 lonsf career was twice master of the Hambledon 

 Hounds, also master of the Craven and of the Pjtch- 

 lej. His biographer says of him (in Sporting Inci- 

 dents in the Life of another Tom Smith) : ' During his 

 sporting career Mr. Smith has performed feats and 

 met with adventures that probably no other man has 

 equalled. And this is not my opinion alone. Mr. 

 Nichol, who kept the New Forest Hounds, usually 

 spoke of him as " the heaven-born huntsman ; " and 

 Mr. Codrington, who hunted the same pack, said, 

 " Were I a fox, I would rather have a pack of 

 hounds behind me than Tom Smith with a stick in 

 his hand." ' 



This remark conveys the idea that he was not 

 only a good rider, but one who knew how to work 

 his hounds, and how to keep them at their work. 

 Fox-hunting does not consist of hard riding alone. 



When ' another Tom Smith ' left the Hamble- 

 don and went to hunt the Craven country, he was 

 shown round the country by Mr. F. Villebois. They 

 passed the wall of Elcot Park, which Mr. Villebois 

 said was a great obstacle when hounds ran through 

 the park. Mr. Smith pulled up, as if measuring the 



