138 REMINISCENCES, ETC. 



it had expired, as Mr. Ferneley relates, he was " off the 

 saddle." The sketch was first seen by Tom Jones, his 

 groom, who said it was an excellent likeness. He always 

 rode Jack-o'Lantern with a slack rein. This portrait was 

 painted the first year Dick Burton came to him, Dick being 

 at that time only fifteen years old. 



To claim for Mr. Assheton Smith the very highest rank as 

 a fox-hunter may appear superfluous, since that pre- 

 eminence has been already conceded to him by every 

 sportsman. His fame, as far back as the beginning of the 

 present century, is matter of history. The Emperor Napo- 

 leon I., who somewhat disconcerted the vanity of the 

 great orator, Erskine, by the inquiry, " Etes-vous legiste 1 " 

 honoured Mr. Smith by addressing him 2i^, '^ Le premier 

 chasseur d' Angleterre^ He was called by the Parisians, 

 "Ze grand chasseur Smit'' There has not been a book 

 published in his time which does not allot to him the 

 highest place as a master of hounds, a huntsman, and a 

 rider. To say nothing of the celebrated Nimrod, whose 

 pages are familiar to all lovers of the chase, the testimony 

 of Mr. Delme Eatcliffe, in his work on the " Noble Science 

 of Fox-hunting," is perhaps the most complete : " I could 

 nowhere find a more fitting model for the rising generation 



of sportsmen He was an instance of the very 



rare union of coolness and consummate skill as a huntsman, 

 combined with the impetuosity of a most desperate rider ; 

 and not only was he the most determined of all riders, but 

 equally remarkable as a horseman. His practice as a hunts- 

 man was that which is best followed in any, but especially 

 in a good country, — that of leaving hounds very much to 

 themselves, although ever on the spot to render assistance if 

 required." 



Among the best of the songs in which his feats are 

 mentioned is a capital one by Lord Forester, " On a Run 

 with the Duke of Rutland," the third verse of which runs 

 thus : — 



