274 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 



he was an instance of the very rare union of coohiess 

 and consummate skill as a huntsman, combined with 

 the impetuosity of so desperate a rider ; and not only 

 was he the most determined of all riders, but equally 

 remarkable as a horseman.'"' His practice as a hunts- 

 man was, that which is best to be followed in any, but 

 more especially in a good country, that of leaving 

 hounds very much to themselves, although ever on the 

 spot to render assistance if required ; but I shall be 

 running riot, or taking heel-way too far back from Ted- 

 worth, if I do not hold hard and pull up altogether in 

 this retrospective digression. I can add nothing to the 

 fame of him of whom it has been remarked by a far 

 abler pen, that " amidst the multitude of Smiths, there 

 has been only one Assheton Smith;" and well, indeed, 

 and in no common way, has he supported the cha- 

 racter of this common, but truly English name. After 

 having hunted not only the Quorn country, but that 

 part of Lincolnshire now occupied by Sir B. Sutton, 

 with equal credit, he arrived at that period of his life 

 which constitutes my plea for adducing his conduct as 

 an example worthy of all imitation. On succeeding to 

 his paternal property in Hampshire, he immediately re- 

 moved with his establishment to the halls of his fore- 

 f^ithers, and commenced the good work of foxhunting, 



* I can never forget a remark -which I heard in my boyhood, addressed 

 by a veteran to a youthful debutant, who was advocating the vise of head 

 gear, in the shape of caresson, &c., for the control of a fractious horse, 

 "Keep your hands down. Tom Smith ivould nhoio you, that the lift hand 

 is the best maitlngal" 



