SUMMARY OF MR. SMITHS CHARACTER. 187 



great or small, whose singleness of purpose this memoir has 

 endeavoured faithfully to delineate, — is it not to him, I repeat, 

 that we owe in a great measure the high tone and character 

 of the chase, and that fox-hunting has continued, in spite of 

 our refinement and civilization, that powerful element in 

 our social system, which it was described to be at the out- 

 set, and which serves, together with other ingredients, to 

 make the EDglishman respected throughout the world, for 

 his courage, his perseverance, and the independent freedom 

 of thought and action inseparable from his nature 1 There 

 is one circumstance, moreover, which must not be lost sight 

 of The intemperance * which formerly was associated so 

 frequently with this amusement, and gave a handle to its 

 opponents to detract from its merits, no longer exists. It is 

 as disgraceful at the present day for a man to be a drunkard 

 as to be a coward ; while, if proof were needed that a free in- 

 ilulgence in wine and stimulants is not necessary, either 

 for a man's reputation among his fellows, or for his nervous 

 energy and strength, no stronger one could be required than 

 the example before us. While Mr. Smith's habits were 

 temperate, almost amounting to abstemiousness, quicquid 

 vult valde vult was his motto in every business he under- 

 took. 



Whether it was the chase, or the improvement of ship- 

 building, or the development of his quarries, or the ame- 

 lioration of the comforts and condition of his Welsh 

 labourers, whatsoever his hand found to do, he did it with 

 his might. As has well been observed by the Editor of 



* Even in Beckford's time, as he observes, the intemperance, clown- 

 ishness, and ignorance of the old fox-hunters were quite worn out, and 

 fox-hunting had become the amusement of gentlemen. That writer's 

 "Thoughts on Hunting" were written in 1779, in a series of familiar 

 letters, but the work was not published until several years afterwards. 

 One of the best works on the " Noble Science " is that written by 

 Mr. Robert Yyner, once a very forward rider with the Warwickshire 

 hounds, who learnt his first lessons in sporting when a boy at Rugby 

 School. 



