Sir Walter Gilbey, Bart. 143 



for which he was famous, were precious memories. He used 

 to refer to the incident as to the crowning epoch of his career. 

 His well-deserved baronetcy was conferred two years later 

 under circumstances of less formality, and derived additional 

 value from the manner of its bestowal. To quote his own 

 account, as well as memory serves : — " The Prince had come to 

 see the horses, and after we had been round the paddocks, I 

 took him upstairs to wash his hands in my bedroom. Of course 

 I didn't know what was coming. The Prince was drying his 

 hands when he said, ' We think, Mr. Gilbe5% that some recogni- 

 tion of all your work is due to you. I shall be glad to be the 

 means of securing it.' It took me aback, and I hardly knew 

 what to say ; I reminded him that he had presented me with 

 my ow^n and my wife's portrait with his own hands, and I 

 considered that he had paid me a very high honour. The 

 Prince said it had been a great pleasure to do it, but he thought 

 something more was due to me ; would I accept a baronetcy ? 

 I thanked him, and the thing was settled, and we came down- 

 stairs." 



The prominent place he held in all matters connected with 

 agriculture, more especially horse-breeding, brought him in 

 personal contact with Royalty ; he paid more than one visit to 

 Sandringham, and was frequently honoured by requests for 

 advice concerning the Prince's studs, advice no man in England 

 was better qualified to give. He had an extraordinarily good 

 eye for a horse, and that in the most subtle sense of the phrase ; 

 he took pardonable pride in his judgment in mating, a judgment 

 proven by the long tale of successes won by the Elsenham stud 

 in the show-rings of the kingdom. He knew himself to be a 

 too exacting critic, and would sometimes refuse to inspect an 

 animal he proposed to buy, delegating the task to some trusted 

 friend. " I should be sure to pick a hole in him," he would 

 say. 



Retirement from active participation in business only left 

 him with a little more time to devote to other occupations, and 

 few men accomplished more with less display of exertion. 

 When busiest he always gave the impression of a man of 

 leisure, the truth being that he possessed the secret of engaging 

 the eager co-operation of others upon whose good offices he 

 could rely to carry out his plans. A curious trait in one of 

 such active mind was his dislike of solitude, he hated being 

 alone, yet when left to himself always found occupation, either 

 with some scheme of practical work or making notes for one 

 of the numerous l)Ook8, the writing of which made one of the 

 principal amusements of his later yeai-s. He was a great 

 reader, but always of books beai'ing on his own subjects ; he 

 had wi(k' acquaintance with the literature of the horse, also of 



