82 REMINISCENCES, ETC. 



This lengthened account of Mr. AsshetoK Smith's Welsh 

 property will, perhaps, be less interesting to the sporting 

 reader than what has been related of him as a rider and a 

 master of hounds. But as the object of this memoir is to 

 describe him, not only as a sportsman, but as fulfilling the 

 duties of a landed proprietor, a man of wealth and influence, 

 and a country gentleman, in an exemplary manner, it is 

 hoped that that portion of it, which endeavours faithfully to 

 delineate him in these capacities, will not be regarded as 

 generally the least worthy of perusal. In the following 

 chapter we shall examine his claims to be considered as a 

 man of practical science. 



CHAPTER V. 



HIS LOVE FOR SCIENCE AND SHIP-BUILDING. — HE BUILDS SEVERAL 

 SAILING AND STEAM YACHTS. — HIS CLAIM TO BE THE PRACTICAL 

 ORIGINATOR OF THE ''WAVE LINE" CONSIDERED. — COUNTER CLAIM 

 SET UP BY MR. SCOTT RUSSELL. — OPINIONS OF MR. ROBERT NAPIER 

 AND SIR RODERICK MURCHISON ON THE SUBJECT. 



" Tu regere imperio populos, Komane, memento, 

 Hse tibi erunt artes." — ViRG. 



''Certare ingenio, contendere nobilitate." — LuCRET. 



In a letter from Mr. Kobert Napier, the eminent ship- 

 builder of Glasgow, addressed to the compiler of these 

 Reminiscences in May, 1859, it is stated that Mr. Smith 

 first turned his attention practically to the building ol 

 steam-vessels in 1829. Mr. Napier prefaces his information 

 with the following words : — " It will give me great plea- 

 sure if I can be of service to you in regard to the late 

 Mr. Assheton Smith, for whom I entertained the highest 

 respect on account of his upright, kind, disinterested con- 



