MR. ASSHETON SMITH 91 



left hand shall be my martingale," is what he is reported 

 to have said to some one who suggested that he should 

 ride a particular horse in a martingale. A captain of 

 militia has left it on record that when quartered at 

 Loughborough in 181 2 he often went over the kennels 

 when Mr. Smith was away and Tom Wingfield reigned 

 in his stead. The major of the regiment, the story goes, 

 once had the temerity to ask Mr. Smith how he managed 

 to remember the names of so many hounds. The master 

 of the Quorn is stated to have made the reply that he 

 should consider himself a great fool if he did not know 

 every hound in a strange pack after having been out 

 with them twice, and he added, "Sir, I suppose that you 

 know the name of every man in your regiment." The 

 major admitted that he did. 



Not a little of what has been written about Mr. Smith 

 must, I imagine, be taken with a big pinch of salt. On 

 the day of his great Belvoir run Mr. White is said to 

 have stuck in a bullfinch, and because he could not get 

 out of the way invited Mr. Smith to charge him, which 

 the master did, and then the story proceeds to say that 

 they went on as if nothing had happened. Now if Mr. 

 White, who was pretty well as hard and quite as heavy 

 as Mr. Smith, could not make his way through the fence, 

 it appears rather strange that Mr. Smith should be able 

 not only to send Mr. White and his horse flying into 

 the next field, but to get through himself; still more 

 wonderful is it that neither horse should have fallen, 

 for we all know the effect of a cannon out hunting. 

 Some of these miraculous yarns may be true ; but the 

 chances are that many of them are built upon slender 

 foundations. 



That Mr. Smith was somewhat of a jealous rider is 

 well known, and there is a rather good story told of him 

 and Mr. Maxse. During Mr. Smith's time, or part of it, 

 it was the fashion to have " hunter pairs" out, that is to 



