THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 51 



" "What a funny fellow that Dick Knight must have 

 been, papa," said Frank. 



" Oh," said Sir William, " we have not done with him 

 yet, Frank. I was out with the Pytchley, once, when we 

 thought we were in for a blank day. In fact, it was 

 three o'clock, and not a tongue to a fox had been heard. 

 At last a hound, called Abelard, spoke : ' Hark ! ' said 

 Dick, holding up his cap, that he might hear the better ; 

 'that's Abelard. A reprieve, by the Lord!' I need hardly 

 add that he was right, for Abelard was the best hound in 

 the pack, and his blood is in most of the best kennels in 

 England ; the blood of the Pytchley Abelard, indeed, is a 

 passport to any hound." 



" But we have omitted the best anecdote of Dick 

 Knight," said Mr. Somerby, " and my young friend here 

 must have that. Dick was a great favourite with his 

 noble master, and, like all favourites, now and then 

 presumed upon it. Having taken a tremendous leap, 

 one day, on Contract, Lord Spencer, who was next 

 to him, pulled up at it, and paused. ' Come along, my 

 lord,' roared Dick ; ' the longer you look, the less you will 

 like it.' 



"The incident that led to the masterly execution of 

 these prints was a spirit of jealousy between Mr. Assheton 

 Smith * and Dick Knight, when they met together, on one 

 particular occasion, in the field, the former riding a 

 celebrated hunter called Egmont, and the latter the 

 equally celebrated Contract. In fact, it was Quorn versus 

 Pytchley. The prints were first published by Jukes, a 

 great printseller in London, who is said to have realised 

 fifteen hundred pounds by the copyright, which was 

 made a present to him by Mr. Loraine Smith. 



"Loraine Smith, on another occasion, sketched himself 

 in the act of fording a river after hounds, with his coat- 

 skirts tucked up to his shoulders, and thereby getting a 

 considerable start of the rest of the field, with the excep- 

 tion of Lord Maynard, who chanced to follow him ; and 

 these lines written underneath the print : 



'By following Smith, a cute chap at a pinch, 

 Who knows all the depths of the brooks to an inch, 

 Lord Maynard, too, followed, and both did embark, 

 Only wetting their tails just below water-mark.' " 



1 Father of the present Thomas Assheton Smith. 



