290 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 



partial prejudice might be disposed to accord to him, 

 by placing him only in the reflection of that glass 

 wherein we were om'selves accustomed to behold him. 

 But the incense of flattery will not arise through a plain 

 and simple record of facts. We cannot — 



" Gild refined gold, or paint the lily, 

 Or add fresh perfume to the violet." 



In speaking of the great captain of the age, it would 

 be difficult to overstrain the voice of eulogy. There 

 would be nothing beyond the hcence of plain speaking, 

 in affirming, that James Robinson is seven pounds 

 better than any rider on the turf; neither is it neces- 

 sary to approach in the remotest degree to flattery, 

 in adverting to certain points in any man's character, 

 for which he has been so preeminently conspicuous, 

 that the fame consequent upon excellence of any kind 

 has become inseparable from his name. I could not 

 find a better accompaniment for this work, and might, 

 perhaps, be fully justified in giving, as public property, 

 an historical sketch of the life and adventures of Mr. 

 Assheton Smith, seeing that I could nowhere find a 

 fitter model for the rising generation of sportsmen ; but 

 it is not for me to attempt tlie life of one who " still 

 lives," as I hope he long may, " a prosperous gentle- 

 man." — It is, indeed, almost superfluous to add, that 

 the individual to whom I allude, is the identical " Tom 

 Smith," so distinguished during his career in Leicester- 



