PUGILISTIC PROWESS. 9 



immediately cooled the old gentleman's ire ; the trespass 

 ■was at once forgotten, the amends made, and the squire and 

 the dumb sportsman kept bowing to each for five minutes, 

 like a couple of Chinese mandarins. The Orator, however, 

 continued to shoot away as merrily as ever after Mr. Smith's 

 departure, while the keepers did not dare to inform their 

 master, for fear of a second explosion. 



When hunting in Lincolnshire, in 1818, Mr. Smith 

 was solicited to stand for the borough of Nottingham ; 

 an undertaking at that time as hazardous as for a Tory 

 to stand for Westminster against such an idol as Sir 

 F. Burdett then was. The very peril, however, was an in- 

 ducement for Tom Smith to come forward ; and a recep- 

 tion such as was to be expected awaited him. The town was 

 placarded with " No Foxhunting M.P.," and the electors 

 carried their virulence so far as to dress up a guy with a 

 red coat and a fox's brush appended to it, which they burnt 

 in ef^gy before the hustings. Mr. Smith's appearance there 

 was the signal for a most tremendous row ; and not a word 

 of his speech, when he came forward to address them, would 

 they hear. Thei^, however, he remained, in defiance of 

 their yells and hooting, till at last with a stentorian voice, 

 heard above the uproar, he cried out, '' Gentlemen, as you 

 refuse to hear the exposition of ray political principles, at 

 least be so kind as to listen to these few words. I will 

 fight any man, little or big, directly I leave the hustings, 

 and will have a round with him now for love." The 

 eflfect of this argumentum ad homines was electric. It had 

 touched a sympathetic cord. Instead of yells and groans, there 

 were rounds of cheers ; and from that hour to the end of the 

 contest, in which, after a hard struggle, he was beaten,* not 

 a single attempt at molestation was offered to him. 



On another occasion, when about to enter one of the 

 banking-houses at Leicester, he hitched his horse's bridle 



• For further details of the contest vide Appendix, No. II. 



