210 FOX-HUNTING IN THE SHIRES 



Christian and Mr. Osbaldeston famous in hunting 

 history. 



The " other " Tom Smith, too, was Hke his name- 

 sake an admirable horseman. He never had the 

 purse of Mr. Assheton Smith, but his feats of horse- 

 manship were not less remarkable, though they have 

 been somewhat overshadowed by those of the better- 

 known founder of the Tedworth Hunt. That he 

 had courage and fine hands the following incident 

 shows. Mr. Smith was on a visit to Mr. Chute of 

 The Vine. The master, anxious to show his visitor 

 what the pack — whose motto inscribed above the 

 kennel door was " multum in parvo " — could do, 

 ordered the hounds out in a frost. There was a scent 

 as there often is at such a time. The fox took a line 

 over some of the steep hills of the Vine hunt, and 

 every one was left behind save Mr. Smith, who went 

 on with the hounds and killed the fox. 



But perhaps there has been nothing more remark- 

 able in the history of horsemanship in the Shires 

 than the sport Mr. Smith showed with the Pytchley. 

 Taking the country without an established pack of 

 hounds, he collected a scratch pack. He was, of 

 course, a stranger to the country and he had no assist- 

 ance in hunting the hounds owing to the misconduct 

 of the men who had been spoilt by Lord Chesterfield's 

 somewhat extravagant regime. Yet he not only 

 hunted the hounds himself, but showed wonderful 

 sport, and pounded the whole field of Pytchley men 

 near Yelvertoft over a stiff fence consisting of a high 

 stout rail with a deep and wide ditch on the far side. 

 The result of this exploit was that Mr. Smith was the 

 only man who saw the run. 



At an earlier period came Lord Sefton, who was 

 the immediate successor of Mr. Meynell in the master- 



