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230 The Leader and Saturday Analyst. [Ma...
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enough to express our surprise, that a m...
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THE KING OF THE FQX HUNTERS* A FRENCHMAN...
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* Itominiawnoett of tho Ivfto Thomai Ast...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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230 The Leader And Saturday Analyst. [Ma...
230 The Leader and Saturday Analyst . [ March 10 , 1360 .
Enough To Express Our Surprise, That A M...
enough to express our surprise , that a man who has solemnly devoted himself to the service of Chbist should persist in awakening every unchristian emotion in the minds of those persons whO j are his particular charge ,. rather than sacrifice a few gewgaws , and so save his own pride—should do his best , or worst , to damn those whose salvation is his especial commission . But that , we repeat , was not the question before the magistrates .. They had nothing to do with the internal dissensions of the Church of England , and indeed had no occasion to treat this as a matter affecting any one sect , except so far as the law provided special punishments for offences against its worship . It is the duty of the magistrate to protect the religious worship of all denominations . He has nothing to do with questions of discipline or Church policy . All he has to do is to punish persons outraging that service . "Worse outrages than those to conceiveout
committed in St . George ' s it is impossible , - rages which could only have been -committed by scoundrels whose creed is ruffianism pur ei simple , and yet instead of punishin ° - the'blackguards the " worthy magistrate" talked of conciliation . Conciliation indeed ! Between whom ? Such language would have been fitting , perhaps , if the offenders were parishioners excited into some little disorder by sudden innovations ; but to use it when mischievous rascals were before them was only an encouragement to the rioters . We have the fruits of this most ill-judged lenity in the audacity with which the rowing is continued . Can nothing be done to stop this scandal ? Is there no one who can put the whole lot of them down ? Where is Sir Pjjter Laurie ? We want somebody to emulate his achievements , and put down rector , curates , vestrymen , choristers , fighting men , fanatics , thieves , ana blackguards of every other description , who , together , make , the
disputants in this religious cbiitroversy . , . '"'•¦ , > . We are heartily tired of the whole business . When the King ot Prussia compounded his singular state church out of the different Protestant sectSj there were some obstinate congregations who would not be harmonious , and insisted upon conducting their old service in their old tabernacles . His majesty , however , soon stopped that contumacy by occupying the churches with detachments of soldiers . We can't , perhaps , follow the precedent in this ; country , and utilize the volunteer corps by putting them in possession of St . George's , but surely there must be some lneans ^ putting an end to this m 6 st miserable squabble , in which all-parties do their best to burlesque the religion they pretend to believe in .
The King Of The Fqx Hunters* A Frenchman...
THE KING OF THE FQX HUNTERS * A FRENCHMAN might be excused who , on first seeing a foxhunt , mistook it for a band of keepers pursuing a madman , for a runaway regiment , or for a ride of experimental horse breakers To breakthrough bull finches tough as knotted wire—to storm over park palings—to pelt over double ' rails—to plunge into dykes—he would safely construe only as the acts of madmen . The objeet of the chase , umuded , he would moat probably not see at all . To * qiiietly point out that the men were staunchly pursuing , with danger to themselves , one of the swiftest and most crafty of animals , would perhaps startle him , as it would also to tell him that this sport was one of the main causes that kept English gentlemen so strong , enduring , hardy , and unoffennriate . To all this our Frenchman would probably answer :- — " Ifafoi , sare , I see it nothing at all . "
If fox hunting has done no more for England than improving- our breed of horses , and keeping our landlords from becoming absentees , it may claim some praise i ' the lover of his country j but if we can prove that Molton and Pytcheley wore the nurseries ofour . best cavalry officers , and that the dangers of the chase have done more than anything else to prevent the spread of enervating luxury among our yeomen of England , to strengthen their nerves , to deepen their pluck , and to heighten their powera of endurance , we think that we show that fox hunting cannot fairly be despised by the true Englishman . The life of Mr . Asstikton Smith is a fair sample of the value of physical training , undo f the staunchness and bull-dog tenacity of will that result from a sound mind in a tough body . He has been
. condemned for wasting ; a life in hunting vermin ; but thjs is scarcely a just accusation against a man who not only succeeded iu becomingthe beat horseman of his century , but who made discoveries in yacht building-,, tvnd busied himself in large trading enterprises in Wales . Impetuous , irascible , overbearing-, yet generous , bravo and forgiving , Mr . Assjikton Smith would never have been known for anything- but a clear head and a good constitution , hud he not devoted his life to fox hunting , and become famous by attaining the raiilc of ¦ ihwt rider of his jwo . But for this ho would have sunk into n gross bullying Squire livoatern , with grout capacity for port , and deep
knowledge in turnips , blustering at vestry meetings , and stupidly tyrannical on the bench . ¦ ¦ Those superfluous enorgies that ho might have squandered in London vice he reserved for his favourite sporfc . In the twelfth century Jjo would have led the Crosses up a bloody breach at Joppa or Acre ; later ho would have broken lances at Creasy , or turned waver in the March country ; in the nineteenth , thq brave tough man is fox hunter , and becomes king of that guild , nu ho would havo been first at Ag-incourt , or louder agaiust French bayonets at IVIalplaquet . ' [ From the day that Master Uyjiqn's rival in love beat in his face in a desperate drawn battle in the Eaton meadows , Tom Smith seems to have resolved , urged by instinct mid ambition , to become the Icing
of the fox hunters . He let other men hold on by their hands ; he at once learned the true vice-liko grip of a horse bjnthe thigh and knee •¦ and as for his hand , light as a fly-fisher ' s , it was never equalled , the men in scarlet admiringly said , bub by the great Chifney ; he held the reins . as if they were skeins , of silk ; his left hand was all the martingale he required , however fierce or flinging might be his horse : as for his seat he was one with his steed—he tell and rose with it It was always his custom , without dismounting , to leap from the back of his hack to that of hi ? hunter when the groom brought it to him at the covert side . If he fel he never let Ins horse go , thinking it contemptible to see a bruised man slinking out of a ditch , and calling to every one , "Catch my horse—pray eatch
mJ l every contingency he learned to provide with a wise head and . lion , eourage . His great object was , at all risks , to be first , to be the best man—to be in at the death , to excel in what he attempted . His will was inflexible . If he could not get over a big fence , he rode for a fall . " There is no place , " he said ; " one cannot go over with a fall ; all men who are able to keep on should know how to fall . " He once rode at a double-rail fence on Ins untried colt Jack oXantern on purpose to fall . " The very thing ! " he cried when he first saw ib , says an eye-witness ; "just the place to make my colt a good timber jumper . Shut the gate , and leave us alone . At it went Jack , struck it with his breast , and over rolled Tom Smith and his inexperienced nag . " This'is ¦ the making of the horse , " cried the rider , quite pleased , and remounting-. " Shut the gate again , and leave us alone . "
Again the dauntless pair went at it , this time with tremendous success . From that day Jack , was the first of timber fencers . This was done in cold blood too ; and we all know that coldblood courage is as rare as that " tw 6-o ' cloek-in-the-morningcourage" that Napoleon regretted he found so seldom among even his generals . , ¦' « ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ It was not by any great luxury in horses that Toil biiiTH attained his pig-skin throne . He rode cheap horses , and eccentric horses . Jack o'Lantern , for instance—an old blood bay with crooked forelegs ; Screwdriver , a tali dark chesnut , that threw everybody ; and Ayston > a yellow bay , with tender back and pigeon toe ? . . ' ¦ - . ¦ ¦ '¦ ¦ . ¦ ¦ ' . ¦ ¦'' . ¦¦ . ¦ , '¦''
Loved by his hounds , feared by Vis horses , Tom Smith is a fine picture of a man when starting for the chase , all ablaze in scarlet , on liis strong glossy bay . some dark November dny , when the drittclouds slope-from the south-west , and the orange leaves are rolling . 19 frightened leaps under the Tedworth elms ; a . few hours hence he will be no longer the grave , stern , quiet horseman riding forth among a crowd of brave men , telling somes young beginner never to go fast at his fences , except water but he wilt be riding like a wild huntsman over plough and fallow , skimming ridge and furrow like a bird , bursting like a congr . eve rocket through wiry bull-finch , swishing- over brook aricj hedge , inning or outing over double rails , ready in fact to run sword in hand at anything and go anywhere . He may be all "blood and thorns , " but he will be close to the fox , and will be there to toss the red Mump of torn fur to the leaning- doers . Avsvy he will go by Wilster wood , straight for
Nettleton Hanger , down the steep slope , through the churchyard , up to Faccombe wood , on by Privet , through a corner of Charldown . into a vale below East Woodhay , and on to . a farm in the meadows , where they will run in , n o check or turn in one hour and twenty minutes . Nothing stopped Ton Smith , the king of riders and the emperor of foxhunters . On a hard puller he once leaped a ravine twelve feet deep and twenty-one across . He Would have flown at a chalk pit hud it come betweon him and a fox nearly ready to yield his brush . Once , in Leicestershire , he cleared an ox fence and hedge , besides ditch and back rails—certain death to any one else . Many times the great Skeleton sat watching for Tott Smith in a wet Leicestershire ditch , but ho never succeeded in trapping him ; though he often tell eight times a day . He got through dykes where twenty men had been soused . He drove over posts and rails ... which even when broken other men would not face . _ ¦ ..
Every man has his climax . Tom Smith ' s was in Lincolnshire ; there Ho made his finest , leap . It was on the . banks of the Fosdyke , a navigable canal , crossed by two bridges , the oho a bridle , the other a cart bridge , and running side by side at several yards distance . At the side of those bridges was a high gate , lending into a high field , and along- each side of them a low rail , to protect persons while passing . Tom Smith , riding along one of those bridges , found the nearest gate looked , the further one Open . He immediately put his horse at tlie rails , and jumped across and over the opposite vails on to the other bridge , to the wonder of cvery , one . Superior in tho field Tom Smith nover allowed . When he was riding to colipao n rival , ho used h > be heard through thick hedges , crashing through bulj-finobea and rattling over gates as if his horse had run nway with him . Onco , when riding on Radical , determined to beat off n fnmor who was trying ; to follow him close , ho went at a hog-baokod btylo , with a tremendous drop and steps loading into a road . Radical cleared it ; but tho farrier was thrown off , and tnfcon
up for dead . In spite of this swift' fury of riding , so slctlfal nnd merciful was Mr , Smith , that though ho novor shirked » flmco , ho never lolled a horse by hard riding , nor did one over drop dond under him . His dogs and horses loved him because ho was just , boeauae ho was their ruler , and one who dared do more than they over dared . His fifty horaos \ v « ro all pots ; his dogs , directly they wore lot loose from the kennel of a morning , made to his study window , nnd
* Itominiawnoett Of Tho Ivfto Thomai Ast...
* Itominiawnoett of tho Ivfto Thomai Asthoton Smith , JU «< j [ . JJy Sir Jqhm J 3 . Barpjukv WxhMQT , Dart , London ; Murray .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 10, 1860, page 10, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_10031860/page/10/
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