114 RIDING RECOLLECTIONS. 



only be appreciated by those who have tried to keep in 

 a good place during thirty or forty minutes, over any 

 part of the Quorn and Cottesrnore counties lying within 

 six miles of Billesdon. Where should we be but for the 

 gates ? I think I may answer, neither there nor there- 

 abouts ! I have reason to believe the many stories told 

 of "Tom Smith's" skill and daring are little, if at all, 

 exaggerated. He seems admitted by all to have been 

 the boldest, as he was one of the best, horsemen that 

 ever got into a saddle with a hunting-whip in his hand. 

 Though subsequently a man of enormous wealth, in 

 the prime of life, he lived on the allowance, adequate but 

 not extravagant, made him by his father, and did by no 

 means give those high prices for horses, which, on the 

 principle that " money makes the mare to go," are 

 believed by many sportsmen to ensure a place in the 

 front rank. He entertained no fancies as to size, action, 

 above all, peculiarities in mouths and tempers. Little 

 or big, sulky, violent, or restive, if a horse could gallop 

 and jump, he was a hunter the moment he found himself 

 between the legs of Tom Smith. 



There is a namesake of his hunting at present from 



+ 



Melton, who seems to have taken several leaves out of 

 his book. Captain Arthur Smith, with every advantage 

 of weight, nerve, skill, seat, and hand, is never away from 



