THE EARMEK'S MAGAZINE. 



SEPTEMBER, 1860, 



PLATE I. 



A POLLED SCOT. 



A PRIZE OX AT THE BIRMINGHAM AND SMITHFIELD CLUB SHOWS, 1859. 



This Angus ox, bred by Mr. W. M'Combie, of 

 Tillyfour, near Aberdeen, in the spring of 1855, 

 was by Windsor out of Young Jean Ann, by 

 Monarch, her dam Jean Ann, by Panmure — Black 

 Meg. 



Windsor, also bred by Mr. M'Combie, was a 

 prize bull at the Royal meeting at W^indsor, and 

 hence his title. 



As a yetirling, this beast took the first prize of his 

 class, at the meeting of the Royal Northern Agricul- 

 tural Association. He was not exhibited at two years 

 old ; but in his next season he received one of the 

 gold medals in the extra stock class at the Highland 

 and Agricultural Society of Scotland's meeting at 

 Aberdeen. At the Birmingham and Midland Counties' 

 Cattle Show last Christmas, he took the first prize of 

 10 sovs., with the silver medal for the breeder, as 

 the best Scot of any age; and at the Smithfield 

 Club Show, in Baker-street, the week following, 

 another first prize of 20 sovs., with another silver 

 medal, as the best polled ox. Having never been 

 beaten, he was sold hereby Mr. M'Combie to Miss 

 Mann, of Croydon, for 70 sovs. On being slaugh- 

 tered, he weighed 2274 st. of beef, with 20 st. 

 more of tallow. He was a remarkably large and 

 excellent beast, and altogether one of the finest 

 Scots ever seen in the South. 



In our report of the Aberdeen meeting, we thus 



wrote of the sort : " Galloway, Angus, or whatever 

 he may be elsewhere, nowhere is this beast so care- 

 fully cultivated as in Aberdeenshire. It is here 

 that famous firrst-coss between the Shorthorn and 

 the native breed is generally carried out. In no 

 district, perhaps, are there so many good butchers' 

 beasts reared ; and this is the manner in which 

 they are obtained. There are, of course, some very 

 famous breeders of polled cattle; pre-eminent 

 amongst them stands Mr. M'Combie, of Tillyfour, 

 The recent meeting went only the more to confirm 

 his position. If he did not take all the prizes 

 himself, he bred most of the animals that did. 

 There are few more useful, well-shaped, or better- 

 grained beasts than these Aberdeenshire cattle; 

 but we doubt their especial amiability. On the 

 contrary, the bulls have rather a fighting look, 

 with just the sort of head, horn or no horn, some 

 of our old masters would have copied into their 

 classic tourneys." 



In our report of the Highland gathering at 

 Dumfries, as given in another part the present 

 number, it will be found how Mr. M'Combie 

 and the Angus and Galloways stand now in 

 the estimation of their countrymen. Our own 

 deduction is, that despite the spreading influence 

 of the Shorthorn, these native breeds never ranked 

 better. 



PLATE II. 

 STATE PRISONERS. 



As you wander through the richly-wooded and 

 clear-watered domains of a few of our old Families 

 that trace back their ancestry to the landing of the 

 Conqueror, CcCsar, or Noah, with their portraits 

 hung round the walls, from the first Baron to the 

 present Custos rotulorum — giving one a very good 

 idea of the " Signs" of the times — you may sud- 

 denly come on a noble view of one of those mas- 

 sive relics of the past, either in the shape of the 

 ruins of some Holye Abbaye, or mouldering 

 stronghold of the days of feudalism ; not tenanted 

 by holy friars or grim warriors, but by the climb- 

 ing clustering ivy, the chattering daw, the shriek- 

 ing owl, and ever-turning bat. Here, half-a- 



OLD SERIES.] 



dozen thorough-bred mares are sauntering about, 

 nibbling the grass in the hospitium, or sniffing the 

 wild flowers in the refectory ; one, perhaps, with 

 her head in the confessional, relating, no doubt, to 

 some imaginary " Jack-in-the-box" the thousands 

 won and lost on her symmetrical form and long 

 even stride. Or, more likely, a group are whisking 

 oflfthe tantalizing fly under the shade of the cloisters, 

 or in a court of the old castle, with a few deer in 

 the adjoining one, agreeably reminding us of the 

 vcteris Bacchi pinr/uisque ferina, over which the 

 " monks of old" laughed " Ha, ha!" and quaffed 

 " Ha, ha!" 



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[VOL LIII.— No. 3. 



