Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1860-03-20

A biography of Asheton Smith, the great
Nimrod of England, has just been published
in London, add from review Of II we take
the following passage
This hero rot only of fox-hunting, but oI
all sports-fol be was frst-rate shot, criclS-
eter, boxer billiard player and sailor, as well
| as rider and luntsman-was formed by ma
ture for his pnrt He was of the right hight
for exertion and endurance-five feet ten
inches-wtht well-proportioned, muscular,
rather slight fnme, weighing ten stone in his
| early days, ard latterly about eleven stone
ten. Once ony he found man who could
stand before hs fists, and that man said that
his blow was like the kick of horse. The
story of his gIsat set-to with the coal-heaver
who had struG his horse, is already pretty
we'll known. His features were plain, end
not indicative of high breeding, but intelli-
gent and full " the calmness Of perfect self
possession anda resolute will. The son of q
great sportsman, he was in the saddle from
his childhood;nnd so completely did he grow
to it, that it vas the pillow of his sickness
and the armchair of his old age.
A princely fortune enabled him to carry on
his calling in Irincely style; and marrying at
tifty-one, he h,d no family cares to turn his
mind from tn, main object of his life. He
had the eye o hawk; and not only for
llnt NcIOcS County, Uub lOI ObuGT luluBS. n
box of papers was stolen from his study. He
called in all hi servants, questioned them all
round, and received from all denial. One
of them aftervard returned to the room to
put Goals on the fire. He collared him at
once, and the nan confessed himself guilty.
He had read his guilt his face. His temper
was hot, and once he appeared before Police
Magistrate for thrashing the son of the attor-
ney to bubble railroad who had brought in
his bill. He was good and steady friend
and hater, and generally rather obstinate,
coming of sire who, having opposed the
making of the Menai Bridge, would never
cross it when t was made In the hunting
field his tongue was sharp, but not foul.
"Now then, Sir, if you don't think you've
done harm enough already, ride through my
hounds again; but if you think you have, you
may as well 60 home." ~
The diettetics of a man who rode hard with
hounds till eighty are worth knowing. He
drank little, but eat much, as well he might,
considering his enormous amount of exercise.
His regular breakfast on a hunting morning
was great plate of hashed mutton, which he
could digest in the saddle. He eat no lunch.
On coming home from hunting, he used to go
to bed for an hour, and then into a warm
bath before dinner. He hardly ever wore q
great coat In his latter days he took to the
water-cure, and wanted everybody else to
take it.
He was desperate rider in the full sense
of the term. Perhaps no other man ever rode
deliberately and habitually for a fall. He
used to say that trith tdA you might get
over anything; aud that any man who pro-
fessed to ride ought to know how to fall. He
knew himself how to fall and in all his tum-
bles never but twice broke bone; and of the
two times, once from having clasp knife in
his hrpnst nOpkpt He ALWAYS fell clear Of
his horse, and never let go the bride. Once
when his horse was plunging round him as
he lay on the ground with the bride clenched
in his hand, anervous friend called out to him
to let go or he would be kicked He replied:
'He shall kick my brains out first" In
making cast, as in the run, he went without
hesitation straight over everything where he
thought the scent lay; and to this his success
aS huutsman was partly due.