Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-01-15

| An ECCENTRIC ENGIISHMAN.-Mr WIND
| ham Smith, whose death is announced in the
| latest English papers, was the son of the Rev.
| Sydne- Smith, and was well known in social
| and university circles ms an inveterate TURTLE
| He manifested his fCndnesS for horses at a very
| early age, and his father was often greatly NOR
titied by his stable talk in the presence of emi.
nent churchmen. 1t is related of him that on
one occasion, when the bishop of London was
on a visit to Combe Florey, he asked that dis
tlnguished prelate Ito his fathers great aston
iShmeu) to explain a scriptural question that
had given him some pcrpeEty. "What is
your difficulty, my young friend" inquired the
bishop. "My lord" said he, 81 wanted to know
how long, in your opinion, it took to get Neb.
uchadnezzar into condition when they turned
him out TO grass" The Daily Telegraph says
of him:
"From few middleaged ha5itueS of the west
end parks and clubs will the death of Mr. Wynd-
hm Smith, commonly called the assassin fail
TO elicit a sigh of regret. For the last quarter
of a century not many countenances were bet
ter known in Rotten row-where it was his
habit 10 take what he called his afternoon
walking eXercise'-than the peculiar and strong
ly marked features of the assassin Wynd-
ham Smith made a fdSc0 through his passion
for the turf. The son of such an cssayist, talk
er, pulpit orator and author a. Sydney Smith
might have been expected, from the associations
OF his youth, TO worship some other idol than
thoroughbred racehorse, and to find more en-
joyment in the conversation oil IteFdteurS and
artists than of such men as Bill SOFT. the
jockey, and John Scott, the trainer.
Yet it is the fact, that from his earliest
youth the Assassin cared neither for ltera-
ture for politics, arts, nor sciences. Impatient
at the conEenial attachment to horse racing
which his eldest son early displayed, Sidney
Smith is SAID TO have anTriv exclaimed 70 him,
Sir, you will come to selling correct cards upon
a racecourSe, and yOu will be put in the stocks
because they are not correct The origin Of his
nickname has been often disputed, and has by
some been imputed to the blOodthirStv aspect Of
his cOuntenance. But the trucr explanation of
this uuf ilterin9 S0brjqIet may easily be ascer
tanned by thosewho apply for Information to the
Cambridge contemporaries of its bearer"
Nearly forty years ago, some Of Wyndam
Smiths college friends turned loose d ferocious
bull dog into his room at night, and waited
below i'll the quadran de to watch the denOue-
ment of their practical joke. The Assassin"
entered his rooms, scuffla was heard, and pre-
Senty window was thrown up, out of which
the dog appeared, held suspended in the air by
the left hand OF his human antagonist, who pro-
ceedcd with his right hand to draw razor across
the struggling animals throat From that
night until his diving hour the name of The
Assassin" chung to the SLAYER of the bull dor.
Among the nOtabes of the past generation,
there were few who enjoyed chatting The
Assassin" SO much as the late Lord Derby
They trained in the same stable and had this
one great bond OF sympathy, that, 10 both of
them, no object in life possessed more attrac-
tiOns than a thoroughbred horse. But the fire.
quenters Of the Heath" twenty years ago, will
be very less likely to forget the face aud voice of
" The Assassin" than those of the Illustrious
patrican who was thrice prime minister Wynd-
ham Smith had in him no small share of the
drolery and fun of Peter Pymley;" and in
those words OF lamentation, halEsportive and
hall-scrioGs, spoken by Prince Hal over Fat
Jack, there will be many who know and like
him, TO cXclaim that "they could have better
spared a better man.