20 REMINISCENCES, ETC. 



I'm sure he's no reason his horse to abuse. 

 Yet I wish he'd persuade him to keep on his shoes . 

 You must judge by the nags that were in at the em/, 

 "What riders to quiz, and what to commend." * 



The hand of our hero, so long afterwards renowned for 

 its handling the slack rein like a skein of silk, nnist have 

 served him well even at this period, in so tremendous a 

 flight, and before a whole host of the best riders in Europe. 

 A few years later, in a song on a chase run by the Duke of 

 Rutland's hounds, written by Lord Forester, Tom Smith is 

 recorded as having been the only man who could stop the 

 hounds when they were running head '' over Belvoir's sweet 

 vale." Well, indeed, might it be remarked of him, " that 

 amidst the multitude of Smiths, there was only one Asshe- 

 ton Smith." 



Until Mr. Smith made his dehut as a master of foxhounds 

 in Leicestershire, he continued to hunt in Oxfordshire and 

 Northamptonshire. John Warde, the " father of fox- 

 hunting," as he is styled by Nimrod, and " glorious John," 

 by his brother sportsmen, hunted the Craven country at 

 that time, and used to come up in March every year for two 

 or three weeks to Weyhill, where the hounds had a tempo- 

 rary kennel. Until Mr. Smith, however, cleared the coun- 

 try in 1828, after he came into possession of the Ted worth 

 property, at the death of his father, much sport was impos- 

 sible. The riding of Dick Knight, huntsman to the 

 Pytchley at the time Mr. Smith had the Quorn, was of a 

 character very similar to that of our squire. An annual 

 visitor to Northamptonshire was in the habit of riding as 

 close to Dick as he could, but was invariably beaten in a 

 run. At the commencement of one season, the gentleman 

 was on a new horse, a clipper. He said to Knight, " You 



* These verses are an extract from Mr. Bethel Cox's poem. The one 

 best known and most celebrated was by the Rev. Robert Lowth, son of 

 Dr. Lowth, formerly bishop of London. As it has become very scarce, it 

 has been thought worthy of insertion at full length in the Appendix, 



