52 THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



" I conclude," said Mr. Raby, " that Mr. Loraine Smith 

 is a good man across a country." 



" Few better for his weight," replied Mr. Somerby ; 

 " his great excellences, as a rider to hounds, are, his 

 judgment, and fine eye to direct him in taking his line. 

 On the 12th of December 1792, he went to the end of, 

 perhaps, the finest run that Leicestershire had afforded 

 up to that period, called the Whetstone clay, the fox 

 having been found in Whetstone Gorse, between Lutter- 

 worth and Melton. It lasted upwards of two hours, with 

 only one check, and all over grass. Still, the person who 

 most distinguished himself was Jacob Wardle, who, 

 although he (with many others) went away with part of 

 the pack, which could not be stopped, and only got up to 

 the main body of hounds just as they recovered the scent, 

 at a check at the end of a very severe burst, took the lead 

 and kept it until the hounds ran into their fox, at the 

 expiration of the time mentioned. The horse he rode 

 a thorough-bred grey, afterwards called Whetstone had 

 never been ridden as a hunter before in his life, and was 

 purchased by Forester, for 250 guineas, in the field. Lord 

 Maynard, however, seeing the distress this horse exhibited, 

 pronounced that he would never be himself again ; 

 neither was he. Lord Paget, who rode a horse called 

 Slender ; Pole, on True Blue ; and Forester, on Sweeper, 

 also distinguished themselves on this memorable day. 



" Mr. Loraine Smith, on this day, rode a horse he had 

 not long before purchased of Mr. Berridge ; but, not 

 having had a trial of his merits, he had not then given 

 him a name. It was, however, by plunging with him into 

 the river Wellin, near Langton, which he did at no small 

 risk with a horse somewhat beaten, that he was indebted 

 for a sight of the conclusion of this splendid run. He 

 had the good luck to meet the hounds, evidently runniny 

 into their fox, pointing for Market Harborough, having no 

 one in company with them but Mr. Wardle. Mr. Smith's 

 horse soon afterwards declined ; and Mr. Wardle, on this 

 young and raw horse, would have been a good two miles 

 ahead of any other man in the field, had the fox not been 

 headed nearly at the finish, which enabled several of his 

 brother sportsmen to witness it ; and a glorious finish it 

 was, too, in the middle of a large grass field. But, as 

 regards Wardle and his raw horse, the most extraordinary 

 part of the story is yet to come. The country about 



