42 REMINISCENCES, ETC. 



" It is no joke, I promise you." " Excuse me, sir," replied 

 his guest, " but I was thinking, if Tom Smith were cast for 

 damages, who would have to pay the bill." Shortly after 

 this the prohibition was withdrawn. 



Mr. Assheton Smith's father was remarkable, like his 

 son, for inflexibility of purpose, but in him it bordered too 

 closely upon a defect too often found to be its concomitant, 

 obstinacy. He always entertained a great objection to Mr. 

 Telford's proposal to span over the Menai Straits by means 

 of a suspension bridge, which he afiirmed must necessarily 

 interfere with the navigation ; and when serving on a com- 

 mittee of the House of Commons, as member for Andover, 

 he found the feeling of his colleagues favourable to the 

 project, he threw his hat upon the floor, and vowed most 

 solemnly, that even if the bridge were completed, he would 

 never cross it as long as he lived. This vow he kept, always 

 making use of a boat in order to reach the opposite shore. 

 When George lY. returned from his visit to Ireland, he 

 stayed at Plas Newydd, as the guest of the Marquess of 

 Anglesea. On that occasion, Mr. Smith, sen., took the 

 chnir at a public meeting at Carnarvon, when it was deter- 

 mined to present an address to the king, and a committee, 

 comprising twelve of the leading gentlemen of the district, 

 was appointed to convey it to Plas Newydd. In the course 

 of the proceedings, a discussion took place as to the proper 

 dress in which the committee should appear before royalty. 

 While some proposed court dresses, and others uniforms, 

 the chairman, who had on a cutaway coat, with breeches 

 and leather gaiters, said, that whatever others might do, he, 

 at all events, should go before his Majesty in the dress he 

 had on. No notice was then taken of what he said, but 

 when the deputation met at Yaenol for the purpose of 

 crossing to PJas Newydd (which they did in his boat), to the 

 surprise of all, they found their chairman in exactly the 

 same dress which he had worn at Caernarvon. When they 

 were introduced to the king, Mr. Smith, as chairman, ad- 



