HIS MABBIA6E. 33 



Mr. Smith brought the late Lord Kaglan (then Lord 

 Fitzroy Somerset) from Ostend to England in his yacht, 

 after the battle of Waterloo, where the gallant officer had 

 lost his arm. It has been stated that, at an earlier period 

 of the same year, he took the duke of Wellington over 

 to Calais, and that he afterwards brought the first intelli- 

 gence of the victory to England, but the truth of these 

 statements he invariably disavowed. The duke was always 

 a warm personal friend of Mr. Smith ; he admired his 

 manly straightforward bearing and good sense, and, as 

 regarded his horsemanship, always said of him that he 

 would have made one of the best cavalry officers in Europe. 

 He was a frequent visitor at Ted worth, as Mr. Smith was 

 at Strathfieldsaye, and his Grace was one of the most 

 constant attendants at the meet of the Ted worth Hunt. 

 The above remark by the duke calls to mind another 

 saying respecting Mr. Smith, which was, that many of the 

 most distinguished riders in the Peninsular war owed their 

 horsemanship to his example. 



From 1826 till 1828, Mr. Smith established his quarters 

 at Penton Lodge, near Andover. He had ceased to be a 

 master of hounds after he gave up the Burton country in 

 1824, but hunted regularly with the duke of Putland's, 

 and other packs in the surrounding countries. At Penton 

 he commenced operations with a scratch pack, which he 

 sooM got into good order ; but, until the death of his father, 

 no very active steps were taken to bring the country into 

 the condition in which it is now. 



On the 29th of October, 1827, Mr. Assheton Smith was 

 united in marriage to Maria, second daughter of William 

 Webber, Esq., of Binfield Lodge, Berks. He was then 

 fifty-one years of age. In the following year, upon the 

 death of his father, he removed his hunting establishment 

 to Tedworth, and soon afterwards set about making very 

 extensive alterations. The old house was pulled down and 

 rebuilt, Mr. Smith being in a great measure his own ai^chi- 



