MODEL OP A PERFECT HUNTSMAN. 141 



economy of his country in one of its most important 

 departments." 



The testimony of both Dick Christian and " The Druid," 

 in " Silk and Scarlet," is perhaps the most unreserved of 

 any. "No man," says Dick, "that ever came into Leicester- 

 shire could beat Mr. Smith, I do not care what any of them 

 say ; " while " The Druid," after giving some very inte- 

 resting anecdotes of him, whom he styles " the great master 

 of the nineteenth century," thus speaks of him "at the 

 finish :" — "However hasty in temper and action he might 

 be in the field or on the flags, he was the mightiest hunter 

 that ever ' rode across Belvoir's sweet vale ' or wore a horn 

 at his saddle-bow." 



"It was a great speech of Mr. Smith's" (says the former 

 writer) " if ever he saw a horse refuse with his whips, 

 * Throw your heart over, and your horse will follow.' He 

 never rode fast at his fences. I have heard him say scores 

 of times, 'When a man rides at fences a hundred miles an 

 hour, depend upon it he funks.'" 



Sir William Miles confirms this statement. " Mr. Smith," 

 he remarks, "always said, 'Go slow at all fences except 

 water. It makes a horse know the use of his legs, and by 

 so riding he can put down a leg wherever it is wanted.' " 



« On my last visit," says " The Druid," " I found Dick 

 Christian firmer than ever in his hero-worship of Mr. 

 Assheton Smith, Sir James Musgrave, and Captain White." 

 " I first knew Mr. Smith in 1798," writes Dick Christian 

 to the author, " when he hunted in the Pytchley country. 

 I then lived with Sir Gilbert Heathcote. He certainly was 

 the best man that ever came into Leicestershire. He used 

 to say, ' Dick, what kills is the loace^ Yes, and no man put 

 this oftener to the test than himself" 



Beckford says, in his celebrated " Thoughts on Hunting," 

 that it is as diflBcult to find a perfect huntsman as a good 

 prime minister, and he proceeds to enumerate the requisite 

 qualifications for excellence in the former, as follows ; — " A 



