LITERARY AND CLERICAL HORSEMEN 283 



master being aware of his movements. With all 

 his eccentricities and wayside wanderings, neverthe- 

 less, Bowles took good care to avoid meeting the 

 foxhounds, although we were continually running 

 through his parish.' ^ 



'Archbishop Vernon Harcourt, who was a very 

 fine horseman — and before he was promoted to the 

 bench, always in the first flight when foxhounds 

 were running — once said to the wisest wit of the last 

 generation, " I understand, Mr. Sydney Smith, you 

 object to clergymen riding on horseback." " Not," 

 was the reply, " when they ride very badly and turn 

 out their toes." For Sydney Smith took the lia%d& 

 ecole view of horsemanship.' ^ 



But Sydney Smith's doctrine was better than his 

 practice, so far as riding was concerned. He certainly 

 at various times kept horses, and even mounted them ; 

 but, after all, Sydney Smith was a very poor horse- 

 man. In the words of his daughter, Lady Holland, 

 ' Either from the badness of his horses or the badness 

 of his riding, or perhaps from both (in spite of his 

 various contrivances to keep himself in the saddle), 

 he had several falls, and kept us in continual anxiety.' 

 In one of his letters Sydney Smith says : ' I used to 

 think a fall from a horse dangerous, but much experi- 

 ence has convinced me to the contrary. I have had 



^ Recollections of a FoxJiunter, by Scrutator. 

 2 g Sydney— TA<? BooTi of the Horse. 



