82 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLFXTIONS 



may be obtained from the summit of Beacon 

 Hill, some few miles from the kennels. Let your 

 eye wander over the sweeping undulations as 

 far as you can see, and you will liken it to the 

 unbroken billows of the ocean — mile upon mile 

 of unruffled surface, with nothing to break the 

 scene or hide the view ; the downs dotted with 

 sheep, and an occasional turnip -field or small 

 plantation just show themselves here and 

 there ; it is all wild and picturesque beyond 

 words. 



I can actually remember Mr. Assheton Smith, 

 as when, quartered at Winchester Barracks in 

 1857, he invited me over to stay at Tedworth, 

 and I recollect hunting with his hounds one day 

 when they met at Southgrove, which was con- 

 sidered about the best fixture in the hunt. Little 

 did I think then, that some two-and-twenty years 

 later on I should become the Tedworth M.F.H. 

 instead of him. 



At the time I speak of, his iron frame was 

 rapidly giving way and the lamp was nearly 

 out, for in August 1858 he died at Vaenol, his 

 place in Wales, after a lingering illness. Like 

 many another Master of Hounds of those days, 

 his lot was cast in that period of hunting history 

 probably the most conducive to sport. Pheasants 

 and game-preserving were not then carried to 



