32 REMINISCENCES, ETC. 



Somersetshire, hunted with Mr. Assheton Smith in Lincoln' 

 shire during the seasons of 1818, 1819, and 1820. Although 

 the latter had at that time a liberal allowance from his father, 

 yet as he hunted six days a week and received no subscrip- 

 tion, he was obliged to be as economical as possible. His 

 able management of both stables and kennels, which was 

 even at that period universally known and acknowledged, 

 enabled him to make his income go as far as most men could. 

 He rode at that time, according to Sir William Miles, as hard 

 as he ever did, and many and heavy were the falls he got, 

 as he was " never content unless first ;" and the country, 

 then undrained, showed up his horses terribly. Mr. Smith 

 purchased while at Lincoln John Warde's hounds, — good 

 noses, but " no pace," and when mixed with the old pack 

 they tailed terribly ; " but nothing," adds Sir William, 

 " with Tom Smith, that was his own, could be bad, however 

 much the performance might militate against recognised 

 rules." " A good head of hounds " is a common expres- 

 sion ; but running very hard one day, and Sir William, who 

 was a bold and resolute rider, being close to him, he ex- 

 claimed, " Look, Billy, what a beautiful stream .'" Thus 

 readily converting the ordinary phrase of *' How they 

 tail ! " into a more poetical equivalent. Mr. Smith 

 hunted a dog and bitch pack in Lincolnshire ; the former 

 showed most sport, the latter were faster, but wilful. 

 He took away the hounds from the Burton kennels, and 

 built stables and kennels in a field which he had purchased 

 at Lincoln, adjoining his dwelling-house. The kennel was 

 abandoned by his successor. Sir Richard Sutton, and the 

 premises were bought by Mr. Charles Chaplin, who after- 

 wards kept his horses there. 



Sir William Miles thus sums up his opinion of Mr. Smith : 

 " Nothing ever daunted him, and if hunting had not been 

 his mania, he would, I think, have succeeded in anything 

 he undertook." 



It was after his first season in Lincolnshire, that 



