54 THE CRAVEN TOM SMITH 



you can scarcely, except by accident, obtain a good 

 weight-carrying hunter under a sum very heavy to a 

 man of moderate fortune — there is httle doubt he would 

 have obtained equal celebrity ; being a man of great 

 natural abilities, as well as a first-rate sportsman. No 

 Master could have taken a country under greater dis- 

 advantages than the present Tom Smith when entering 

 on his arduous duties with the Pytcheley. He com- 

 menced cub-hunting with a scratch pack of hounds — 

 if my recollection serves me — at the end of October, 

 when other packs had finished this prehminary work, 

 succeeding a nobleman whose establishment had been 

 conducted in such style as to render comparisons with 

 his predecessor in office most disagreeable. He was 

 totally unacquainted with the country, and not in a 

 position to purchase the stamp of horse requisite for 

 Northamptonshire. Yet with these and many other 

 difficulties, he contrived to show more sport than most 

 huntsmen could have done under such untoward 

 circumstances. 



The other contemporary gentlemen huntsmen with 

 whom I had the pleasure of being more intimately 

 acquainted were the Earls of Kintore and Ducie, and, 

 though last, not least, William Codrington — all three 

 hunting counties adjoining my own. 



Lord Kintore was a bold, dashing rider and most 

 enthusiastic fox-hunter — full of fun and spirits, kind- 

 hearted, generous, and convivial in private life ; a clever 

 scholar and most entertaining companion. He had 

 shown an early disposition for what became afterwards 

 his favourite and almost only amusement ; and although 

 the possessor of first-rate abilities, his chief pleasure was 

 derived from a country life. Of the many MSS. in my 



