158 REMINISCENCES, ETC. 



but a fresh horse," he exclaimed, " I would soon settle him.*' 

 "Get upon mine," said Mr. John Cook, who was riding 

 Lancet, a famous horse, of great value. This offer was at 

 once accepted, and the whoop soon followed. Instead of 

 the expected panegyric when the horse was restored to the 

 owner, the remark of the squire was, " I heard that he was 

 a plater, but he is as slow as a donkey." The fact was, he 

 was annoyed at his own horse being beaten. 



The " Post and Paddock," however, records, in the fol- 

 lowing terms, an occasion on which Mr. Smith was fairly 

 conquered: "George Marriott once, on old Prince, in a 

 well-remembered run, played first to Mr. Smith. The 

 hounds had just found at Whetstone Gorse, when Sir 

 Robert Leighton said to Marriott : ' Don't ride to day, as 

 Mr. Canning wants to settle about a match for you to ride 

 with the old horse against all comers at sixteen stone for a 

 thousand guineas.' ' You are too late,' replied George ; 'he 

 would break my neck if I tried to stop him now.' Away 

 they both went, side by side. Sir Robert and George, till 

 they reached a wide brook, which old Prince cleared in a 

 stride, pricking his ears up as usual, while his companion 

 floundered and fell in. The old horse went for fifty minutes 

 without a check, and Mr. Smith could only take a second 

 place with him." 



Mr. Assheton Smith found a formidable rival in Mr. 

 Adamson, who hunted the Vine hounds. On one occasion, 

 when Mr. Smith was out, these two had shaken off every 

 other man in the field. 



*' Each seems to say, Come let us try our speed ; 

 Away they scour, impetuous, ardent, strong, 

 The green turf trembhng, as they bound along." 



Bloomfield. 



At last Adamson s horse declined, and Tom Smith 

 played solo to his pack. 



Occasionally Mr. Smith read a severe lecture to his 

 field in pithy terms. A groom in the service of a worthy 



