MR. ASSHETON SMITH 87 



again, it is said in Mr. Smith's Life that every horse, 

 whatever his nature, became a hunter as soon as Mr. 

 Smith was on his back. That this was not so is clear 

 from the fact that the horse above mentioned refused 

 with his owner on the occasion referred to, and the fact 

 of the refusing is put forward by way of emphasising 

 the rider's determination. Then, again, there was Fire 

 King, "as unmanageable a savage as ever wore a 

 bridle." Nevertheless, a Mr. Denham managed to hold 

 his own on him ; and eventually he became Mr. Smith's, 

 and the same biographer who writes that Mr. Smith 

 could make every horse into a hunter admits that le 

 grand chasseur sent him home on hunting days seven or 

 eight times " before he could ride him with confidence," 

 though afterwards he succeeded in making him go 

 quietly. These remarks are made not with the inten- 

 tion of detracting from the reputation of one who was 

 beyond all question foremost of the boldest horsemen 

 that ever crossed Leicestershire or any other country ; 

 but merely to show that he was credited with an 

 ability which no living man ever possessed, or ever will 

 possess. 



The Ouorn, it will be remembered, was the first 

 pack of which Mr. Smith was master, and he was the 

 first master of that famous pack to hunt his own hounds, 

 as all previous masters had employed a professional 

 huntsman. Whatever Mr. Smith's abilities as a hunts- 

 man may have been, it is certain that no fence ever 

 stopped him in making his cast; but as far as can be 

 gathered from all that has been written about him, he 

 did not care much about slow-hunting runs. After he 

 opened up the Tedworth Woodlands, a Hampshire 

 farmer used to say that old George Carter, his first 

 whipper-in and kennel huntsman, found the foxes and 

 the Squire lost them. A clergyman, who prefers to be 

 known as " I. H. G.," wrote a book about George Carter, 



