CRITICISMS OF HIS FOLLOWERS 149 



man who, in his own person, is a past-master in the 

 science of hound-lore like Sir Thomas Boughey, who 

 can ride to hounds like the late Mr. Tom Assheton 

 Smith, who is on the same speaking terms with a fox 

 as the late Duke of Beaufort, of whom it was said, when 

 he was ill with gout, that he could hunt and kill a fox 

 in his bath-chair, who can keep his field in order like 

 the late Captain John White, who can live on his own 

 estates with a kingly income like the late Sir Watkin 

 Williams Wynn, and who can wherewithal be popular 

 with every man, woman, and child, from the peerage 

 to the peasantry, is a prodigy which has yet to be 

 created. Mr. Assheton Smith, after he founded the 

 Tedworth Hunt, the late Duke of Beaufort, and in 

 more modern days Mr. Garth, came as near the 

 standard of perfection as can be reasonably expected 

 by hunting-men. I had almost forgotten to mention 

 Lord Althorp, afterwards Earl Spencer, who, as Master 

 of the Pytchley Hounds, was notorious for his universal 

 courtesy in the hunting-field. If it were possible to 

 combine the qualifications which the gentlemen whose 

 names I have mentioned possessed in one individual, 

 then we should have the ideal Master of Hounds. But 

 it must be remembered that, before these gentlemen had 

 attained their qualifications, they had served a long 

 apprenticeship in the hunting-field. Certainly Mr. 

 Assheton Smith may be regarded by some people as 

 an exception, for he was a born horseman, and a born 

 judge of horses. Thus, in the famous Billesdon Cop- 

 low run, which took place on February 24, 1800, he 

 rode a horse called Furzecutter, for which he had only 



