142 REMINISCENCES, ETC. 



clear head, nice observation, quick apprehension, un- 

 daunted courage, strength of constitution, activity of body, 

 a good ear, and a good voice." The same writer says also, 

 " If he is active, and presses them on while the scent is 

 wood, always aiming to keep them as near the fox as he 

 can ; if, when his hounds are at fault, he makes his cast 

 with judgment, not casting the wrong way first and blun- 

 dering on the right at last, as many do ; if, added to this, 

 he is patient and persevering, never giving up a fox while 

 there is a chance of killing him, he then is a perfect hunts- 

 man." * We may observe that every one of these qualities 

 was to be found in Mr. Assheton Smith. He was parti- 

 cularly careful in making his casts,* often three in number, 

 each one wider than the other, and spreading like a sky- 

 rocket. He was generally averse to lifting his hounds, 

 which he said made them idle and too dependant on the 

 huntsman. He preferred seeing tliem work out the scent 

 and improve gradually upon the line ; — here a hit and 

 there a hit, now a challenge from a trusty old hound 

 ( " Hark to Ringwood ! he has it " ), when the willing 

 pack rush with headlong eagerness to their leader ; then 

 a general dash, which bursts forth at the same moment 

 into hard and determined running. No huntsman ever 

 laid hounds on the line with greater quickness than 

 Assheton Smith. Yet he w^ould sometimes lift his hounds, 

 when he was desirous of getting away from the large fields 

 of sportsmen out in Leicestershire ; to effect which he 

 would also resort to the following stratagem. It is usual 

 after drawing a cover, if no fox be found, to proceed to the 

 one next adjoining, but Smith would, in order to get rid of 

 what he called the " Spring Captains " (for he was never very 



* This same authority thus enumerates the five following species of 

 fox-hunters: the "dress" fox-hunter, the "mahogany" fox-hunter, 

 the "health-hunting" fox-hunter, and the "genuine" fox-hunter. 

 As the name so well describes uach, analysis of their respective merits 

 is unnecessary. f " Cecil," in the Sporting Magazine, March, 1840. 



