BOOKS.
THE FIELD-MARSHAL OF FOX-R1INEIRG.* THE Field-Marshal of Fox-hunting was the honourable designa- tion conferred on the late Thomas Assheton. Smith, by the great Duke of Wellington. The Emperor Napoleon addressed him as " le premier chasseur d'Angleterre ; " and the literature of the chase allots him the highest place as a master of hounds, a huntsman and a rider." Mr. Smith seems to have deserved these eulogies. Daring, determined, and collected, " he was the mightiest hunter," says the Druid,. that ever "rode across Bel- voir's sweet vale, or wore a horn at his saddle-bow." He had quickness, foresight, and decision in an eminent degree. "No htuatsman ever laid hounds on the line with greater quickness than Assheton Smith." Well or ill mounted, "he was sure to be with his hounds and close to them, too." He never lost his pre- sence of mind : he never hurried his horses ; riding slowly at all "large fences (brooks excepted)" and charging all kinds of im- practicable places with indomitable pluck. There is something ad- mirable in the unpretending rustic heroism of this thorough Eng- lish gentleman ; something enviable in his possession of all the robust cheery-hearted qualities that make up a vigorous, tenaci- ous, clear-sighted manhood ; and we catch the enthusiasm of his graphic biographer, when he takes us out to the smooth lawn in front of the dining-room at Tedworth ; shows us the park with its noble timber ; points to the favouring clouds sailing steadily from the South-west; makes us feel the eddying gust ; makes us see the hills clothed with woods of russet and gold ; while the " best pack in the kennel are already rolling and disporting in the grass," the huntsman and whippers-in, splendidly mounted and equipped, are " a sight to look at" : and the Squire comes forth, on some well-known steed, with his cordial welcome and his jovial laugh ; till at last the scarlet cavalry of the hunt, with a large irregular force, wearing coats of every colour, and beautiful women, on horseback or in carriages, get into glorious and gallant motion, " the green turf trembling as they bound along." Car- ried away, momentarily, by the contagion of sympathy, we are ready to act on the Spanish Duke s advice to Sancho Panza ; " Therefore, Sancho, change your opinion, and when you are a governour exercise yourself in hunting, for assuredly you will find your account in it."
"Hunting is an image of war," observes Sancho's patron, and as long as that kingly pastime endures, we must have men pre- pared by familiarity with its image, be it hunting or some other sport, to face its stern reality, when summoned. To foster manly qualities among the gentlemen of England, was, we are told, a leading object with Mr. Assheton Smith, in his encouragement of the chase ; and to do this for gentle and simple, to support and develop the healthy animal nature of all, in strict subordination to the higher requisitions of the affections and the intellect, would be no unworthy end for rural squires and city magnates to pro- mote.
True it is that the chase no longer possesses that element which once made it heroic. In primaeval ages, the slayer of the wild beast was a " saviour of society." True it is that the chase has almost entirely lost its great justification. There are in England no more savage animals to destroy. To pursue a stag, or a hare, or a fox, is not a necessity, though it may be an amusement ; and in our opinion, to diminish the sum of pain for the lower ani- mals, as well as for " man the imperial shape," is an imperative duty. On the other hand, to augment the sum of suffering, by denying pleasure from "the sorrow of the meanest thing that lives," must be condemned by a just morality, unless there be very sharp and cogent exigences to excuse this augmentation. Man we know is a beast of prey. Cannibal in his worst and earliest years, he slowly leaves off the predaceous habits of his nonage. Renning after everything that has legs ; climbing after everything that has wings ; biting, scratching, bruising, fighting, and plundering, he seems a most incorrigible animal. Yet after these first pursuits of all creatures, biped and quadruped, his own brothers and sisters included, come the less exciting pursuits of knowledge and humanity ; and the "incorrigible" in some de- gree ceases to verify the old proverb of being better fed than taught. We, therefore, still think it possible that in a fairer age and under more accommodating circumstances, man may learn such respect for the rights of the lower animals, as will prompt him to omit, in his inevitable transactions with them, the inflic- tion of any evitable pain. Meanwhile, we are not sentimental enough or bigoted enough to include ihe lovers of the "noble science," in a present sentence of absolute condemnation. If the manhood of English gentlemen cannot be sustained without the ruddy exercise of the field, here is a fatal necessity which may " give us pause" ere we denounce their favourite pastime. In a world of strange complexities, to undo a little evil may often be to do a greater ; and hares and foxes, perhaps, must be contented to die that the lords of the creation may enjoy a purer and more vigorous life. It is a question, however, whether this inflexible destiny really exist; a question whether health cannot be se- cured and the love of sport gratified by other amusements, as genial, manly, and accordant with our own times and social re- lations as the antique chase once was, or the modern fox-hunt is still believed to be.
Nor does this belief seem to be unfounded. At any rate, we
• Reminiscences of the late Thomas Aseheton Smith, Esq., 4-e. By Sir John Eardley Wilmot, Bart. Published by John Murray.
have a model of a kindly, courageous gentleman, and most useful member of the commonwealth, in " the Field-Marshal of Fox- hunting," as pourtrayed in the agreeable and racy memoir of Mr. Assheton Smith by Sir John Eardley Wilmot, who tells his tale in language sufficiently well chosen, and often appropriately idiomatic.
Thomas Assheton Smith was born in London, on the 2d of August, 1776. " His grandfather, Thomas Assheton, Esq., of Ashley Hall, near Bowden, in Cheshire, had assumed the name of Smith on the death of an uncle." His mother was Elizabeth, daughter of Watkin Wynn, Esq., of Voelas, North Wales. Of three sons, Thomas alone survived to inherit the family estates. Of his childhood nothing is known, save that the stubborn resolu- tion which characterized him early showed itself. Under an old yew-tree in the shrubbery at Tedworth, which witnessed the in- fliction of corporal chastisement by his father, for an offence which the boy maintained was never committed, he made a so- lemn vow never to do anything from violence or compulsion,—a principle on which he always acted in after life. Parental seventy he invariably condemned ; maintaining the superior efficiency of reason and kindness. At seven years old, he was sent to Eton, where he acquired an ardent love for athletic exercises ; excelled in cricket and delighted in boating. Here, too, he had a famous encounter with " Jack Musters," afterwards " the successful rival of Lord Byron' for the hand of the beautiful Mary Cha- worth." The encounter ended in a drawn battle. The young champions shook hands, and converted this incipient hostility into a generous attachment. Mr. Smith afterwards became a capital rom Eton, at the end of eleven years, our hero proceeded to Christ Church, Oxford ; at Oxford, ho remained four years, hunt- ing regularly, "mostly with old John Warde's hounds," and dis- tinguishing himself as a batsman, in the cricket-field on Cowley Marsh and Bullingdon. He was known, too, as a fearless swimmer, and as one who " could pull a sturdy oar upon the Isis." After leaving Oxford, Mr. Smith devoted himself to cricket du- ring the summer months. At the fall of the leaf, he would be found in the saddle again. Before his addiction to fox-hunting, he was a first-rate shot ; " but in the latter part of his life, he sel- dom handled a gun."
On quitting Northamptonshire, where he early signalized himself as a most successful and daring rider he succeeded Lord Foley at Quoin in 1806, as the local Nimrod in chief. " Even at this re- mote distance of time," says his enthusiastic biographer " the woodlands and open of that unrivalled country still echo with the music of his gallant pack." Giving up Leicestershire, in 1816, Mr. Smith took his stud to Lincoln, to work the Burton hunt. At the end of eight years, he was succeeded by Sir Richard Sutton, and, after an interval of two years, went into Hants. From 1826 to 1828, he established his quarters at Penton Lodge, near Andover. In 1827, he married Maria, second daughter of William Webber, Esq., of Binfield Lodge, Berks. In the following year, his father ' r died, and he removed his hunting establishment to
his hereditary Tedworth. Here he effected an entire revolution converting immense tracts of woodland into rideable fox-coverts. Yet, with all his love of fox-hunting, Mr. Smith did not forget his duties as an English country gentleman and landed proprietor. He represented Andover in Parliament for several years ; regu- larly attending the debates in the House of Commons. In 1832, he raised a corps of Yeomanry cavalry at his own expense ; the troopers consisting chiefly of his own tenants or neighbouring farmers. The Duke of Wellington, himself a fox-hunter and a warm personal friend of our hero, reviewed this force in Tedworth Park, and spoke in high terms of its " efficiency and soldierlike appearance." His biographer further testifies to Mr. Smith's considerate care of his dependents ; to the existence of the neat, comfortable, and picturesque cottages in the village of Tedworth, which denote the presence of the model squire " living in the midst of his people, and spending his money where it ought to be spent, upon his own estate "; and so winning the affectionate re- gard of all around him.
From Tedworth, we are conducted to Vaenol, Mr. Smith's resi- dence, on the banks of Menai. Here we are permitted to inspect the Slate Quarries of Dinorwec which, through the improvements effected by the organizing genius of Assheton Smith, now afford employment to 2400 men and boys, and supply not only England, Ireland, and Scotland, but the Baltic and German ports and even the United States of America, with valuable material. In this reference, we must not forbear to mention Mr. Smith's plan for encouraging good conduct among his workmen : the allotment to the most deserving of from eight to fifteen acres of mountain land, at a nominal rent, with the understanding that every occu- pier should build a cottage for himself. Such has been the magi- cal influence of even partial proprietorship, in this instance, that " nearly two thousand acres of land are now under continuous cultivation, which were formerly covered with furze and heather." Though not favourable to the march of intellect generally, Mr. Smith furnished "the elements of a Christian education to his little colony in schools, built upon his own estate and provided with teachers at his own expense." But Mr. Assheton Smith has other claims on our respect. "He could handle and even master scientific subjects after his own shrewd practical manner," says his friend, Sir Roderick Murchi- son. Thus he claimed to have been the first to carry out what he considered to be the wave-line form in ship-building ; and Mr. Napier attests that when he ordered the " Menai," in 1829, he wanted her built with hollow water-lines, and that the Fireking (1839) was built strictly according to his own plans, with hollow lines and a flat bottom. The merit of the discovery he disputes with Mr. Scott Russell. Sir R. Murchison's decision appears to us to be the true solution of the difficulty. This gentleman as- cribes to Mr. Smith an independent ingenuity in working out his result, and to Mr. Scott Russell the originality of philosophic in- duction leading to the correct application of the wave principle to ship-building. Sir J. Eaffiley Wilmot puts in yet a further claim to inventive sagacity for the subject of his memoir. " He was the originator of the gun-boats now generally introduced into the English and French navies. When he first communicated the notion to the Duke of Wellington, then his guest at Tedworth, the Great Captain, offer a night's deliberation, thought " there was a good deal in what he said about those gun-boats, and ad- vised his writing to the First Lord of the Admiralty." This ac- cordingly the projector did, but "the Admiralty could not pay attention to all the recommendations made to them!"
In addition to his other accomplishments, Mr. Smith possessed the classical knowledge which becomes every country gentleman. He could quote long passages from Horace. In English literature he had two favourite authors ; each preeminent in his line,—Pope and Shakespeare. At Eton, he tells us he learned nothing. Arithmetic, it seems, he certainly did not learn, but with the help of a pretty instructress, at the Post-office, whom he saw casting up. a bill rapidly, " he completed his education in this branch of science in six weeks, and was ever after remarkable for his skill in figures and calculations."
Mr. Assheton Smith reached his eightieth year in May 1856 ; without showing " signs of physical or mental decay." To him, at this advanced age, his biographer applies the lines of Otway :- " You yet might see the old man in a morning,
Lusty as health, come ruddy to the field, And then pursue the chase."
A few months after, however, he became seriously ill ; and though he rallied from this attack, he "was no longer the same man. The erect gait was bent and the eagle eye had lost its lustre." Two years after " the field-marshal of fox-hunting" was gathered to his fathers.
Mr. Smith's character may be briefly described as that of a brave, faithful, energetic and beneficent man. He was liberal to those that needed his liberality ; he was kind and generous to his retainers ; he was a man who did the duty that lay next him in a plain unpretending way. Though not a rigid moralist, he discountenanced ostentatious vice ; and, though no saint, ho was not without the homelier pieties. He was chivalrously gentle to women. He was attached to all animals (foxes, thinks his bio- grapher, not without reason, would demur to the universality of this statement.) Horses, dogs and birds were the especial objects of his affection. He had several pet robins and favourite rooks who " used to come close to the library windows, during the se- vere weather, and were never sent empty away." In temper, he was impetuous and peremptory ; but not in- exorable. He used to say with some pleasantry, that " his father was the worst tempered man in the world except himself " a saying that reminds us of the humourous reproof administered by an excellent friend of ours to his belligerent establishment; " Now mind ! there's only one bad temper, allowed in this house ; and that's my own." Wilful perverseness or ignorance in the hunting field were par- ticularly intolerable to Mr. Assheton Smith. We will conclude with an anecdote illustrative of his method of "administering a humourous reproof," to an obstinate and heinous offender. " On one occasion, on the borders of the Pytchley country, a well known parson who has the misfortune to be rather deaf, came through a hedge (and he was afraid of very few) plump into the middle of the hounds. Smith called out Hold. hard, T—' you can't hear, and you won't see!"
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