94 THE QUORN HUNT 



you won't have it, gentlemen ? " Then, taking the fence diagonally, 

 " he, by his peculiarly light hand, made his horse take the fence in 

 this way — first on the bank, then over the stile and down on the 

 other side. Nobody else could take the fence in the same manner 

 or would attempt it in any other." 



If, however, there was a little flashiness about Mr. Smith's 

 riding, there is no doubt of the courage he ever exhibited in the 

 saddle. On one occasion, after a long hunt, his hounds ran from 

 scent to view, the fox making for a rickyard on the outskirts of a 

 village, a crowd quickly collecting. Mr. Smith, galloping down a 

 big grass field, charged a six-barred white gate into a narrow lane, 

 and then, with hardly enough space in which to collect his horse, 

 jumped another gate out of the lane. A countryman, who was 

 about to open the second gate, remarked : " What's the use of 

 opening gates for a flying ossman ? " 



Mr. Heycock died in 1863. At a somewhat ad- 

 vanced age, a bad attack of jaundice overtook him. 

 On partially recovering, he was sent to Leamington to 

 recruit his health ; but to no purpose. He lived, until 

 he removed to Braunston, about three miles from Oak- 

 ham, almost entirely at his farm at Owston. The fre- 

 quenters of Tattersall's hardly knew him by sight, and 

 the ring he liked best was an agricultural show one, 

 with the hunter colts inside it. Over the Owston farm 

 he schooled a number of hunters, and generally had on 

 hand something with which Sir James Musgrave or 

 some other shining light of Melton could do nothing. 

 Sir Harry Goodricke's famous horse, Dr. Russell, 

 baffled all the thrusters and breakers in the neigh- 

 bourhood ; but after a time Tom Heycock made him 

 go quietly, and taught him to gallop, for this does 

 not come by nature to all horses. 



Shortly before Mr. Smith left Leicestershire, that 

 is to say, in the year 18 15, there appeared at Melton 

 a well-known hunting man, Captain White — " Leicester- 

 shire White," as he was called — who looked over Joe 

 Maiden's son " to see if he had good legs and feet." 



