526 Biof/raphical Sketch of 



One word as to the typical farmer of those days ; but there 

 wei'e grand exceptions. There he stands X-ways, like King 

 Henry VIII., crowned with the well-known wide-brimmed long- 

 napped hat. He believes in his father, but more in his father's 

 son, and inseparably connects free-trade with the name of Satan. 

 Innocent of guano and oil-cake ; the trickle of a drain-mouth has 

 never refreshed his ears. He never handled a cheque-book, nor 

 fumbled for a "rail-return ;" nor did he ever "wire" his cattle- 

 dealer. Fancy his licking a postage-stamp for a letter addressed 

 to Dr. Voelcker ! Not even in a vision of the night did that 

 fanner ever see steam-horses, snorting to one another, at either 

 end of a field, or study continuously eleven miles of agricultural 

 objects, as presented by a National Agricultural Society. The 

 leaven of the old Adam was in him ; his maxim was this : " I 

 gain by desolation, I lose by improvement."* 



The Yorkshire Agricultural Society — the legitimate offspring 

 of the Society of Scotch Improvers, 172o,t and of the Highland 

 and Agricultural Society — was born in 1837, the first year of the 

 happy reign of the Queen. The circumstances attending the 

 birth of the Society are thus recorded by one who was then 

 present. A country house party assembled at Kilnwick-Percy, 

 at that time the home of the late Mr. Denison ; after dinner, 

 Mr. Thompson remarked in reference to the subject of conver- 

 sation — some local cattle shows,. " Don't you think we could 

 form a Yorkshire Agricultural Society movable from place to 

 place throughout the county ? " The next morning a small 

 meeting was held at Pocklington — Thompson rapidly and 

 clearly sketched a scheme — he obtained the aid of Lord Spencer 

 and of others ; the thing was done. Curiously it was at first 

 contended that tenant farmers and farming landlords could never 

 compete on equal terms : Thompson vigorously opposed this 

 narrow view, and there was no restriction. The leadership of 

 this important and most flourishing Society was virtually in Mr. 

 Thompson's hands, until the year 1870, when the pressure of 

 other work, and perhaps failing health, to the regret of all, led to 

 his virtual retirement. We should here refer to that which all his 

 friends will recognise as very characteristic. Mr. Thompson 



* See, in regard to this and the immediately preceding paragraph, ' Board of 

 Agriculture's Account of State of Kingdom, 1810,' ' Report of House of Com- 

 mons Committee on Agriculture, August 19, 1833,' and 'Edinburgh Eeview,' 

 1834, Art. "Corn Laws," wherein this old proverb is cited : — 



" He that havocs may sit; 

 He that improves must flit.'" 



t Consult, as to ' The Society of Improvers in the Knowledge of Agriculture in 

 Scotland,' 1723, Chambers' ' Domestic Annals of Scotland,' vol. iii., p. 484, and 

 Burton's ' History of Scotland from 1G89 to 1748/ vol. ii., p. 393. Also the 

 Transactions of the Society in question. 



