THOMAS ASSHETON SMITH. 183 



the same time, which so cooled their ardour that, excepting 

 Sir H. Goodricke, gallant David Baird, and one or two 

 others, they soon returned to Melton. 



Mr. Delme Eatcliffe, in his work on the ' Noble Science 

 of Fox-hunting,' describes Tom Smith as follows : 



" I could nowhere find a more fitting model for the rising genera- 

 tion of sportsmen. . . . He was an instance of the very rare 

 union of coolness and consummate skill as a huntsman, combined 

 with the impetuosity of a most desperate rider ; and not only was 

 he the most determined of all riders, but equally remarkable as a 

 horseman. 



" Now I am not going to give merely my own opinion of Mr. 

 Thomas Assheton Smith, as a horseman and rider to hounds, but 

 shall lay before my readers that of all the sporting world, at least 

 all who have seen him in the field ; which is, that, taking him from 

 the first day's hunting of the season to the last, place him on the 

 best horse in his stable or on the worst, he is sure to be with 

 his hounds, and close to them too. In fact, he has undoubtedly 

 proved himself the best and hardest rider England ever saw, and 

 it would be vain in any man to dispute his title to that character." 



Again, says Mr. Apperley 



"Let us look at him in his saddle. Does he not look like a 

 workman ? Observe how lightly he sits ! No one could suppose 

 him to be a twelve-stone man. And what a firm hand he has 

 on his horses ! How well he puts them at their fences, and what 

 chances he gives them to extricate themselves from any scrape 

 they may have gotten into ! He never hurries them then ; no 

 man ever saw Tom Smith ride fast at his fences, at least at large 

 ones (brooks excepted), let the pace be what it may ; and what a 

 treat it is to see him jump water ! His falls, to be sure^ have 

 been innumerable ; but what very hard-riding man does not get 

 falls ? Hundreds of Mr. Smith's falls may be accounted for : 



