498 A HISTORY OF SHORT-HORN CATTLE. 



dauntless, warm heart whence welled unflag- 

 ging energy, determined perseverance, elo- 

 quent speech and endless hospitality'' was to 

 be seen no more about the picturesque cot- 

 tages or among the fine old trees of Aylesby, 

 but the results of a long and useful life were in 

 striking evidence in those rich East Anglian 

 pastures. When it came to be known, there- 

 fore, that the herd was to pass at auction on 

 the 2d day of September, 1875, beneath the 

 shifting sands of Thornton's fateful glass,* the 

 very flower of England's Short-horn chivalry 

 assembled to do honor to the memory of one 

 of the most striking personalities British agri- 

 culture has developed. Indeed the fame of 

 Aylesby, its Short-horns, its Leicesters, its 

 ponies and its well-kept fields had extended 

 to the four corners of the earth. The story of 

 how the great tenant-farmer had begun by 

 leasing Leonard in 1844; of his persistent hir- 

 ing of Mr. Booth's best sires; of his recourse to 

 the Mantalinis of Barnes of Westland, Ireland, 

 while Warlaby was contending with disease; 

 of his creation of the Bright, Flower, the "G," 

 the "M" and other famous Riby and Aylesby 

 families, was familiar to all the well-informed 

 cattle-breeders in Europe, America and Aus- 



*The English auctioneer uses a sand-glass in closing 1 bids. After due 

 warning the glass is held aloft and the sand allowed to run. The last bid 

 in before the upper chamber of the glass empties itself Into the bottom 

 secures the animal. 



