ME. COKE OF HOLKHAM 79 



of Sir John Sinclair, created the Board of Agriculture, with 

 Young as secretary. ' Farmer George ' contributed articles 

 under the signature of Ralph Robinson to Young's ' Annals 

 of Agriculture,' kept his model farm at Windsor, and ex- 

 perimented in stock-breeding. So far Byron's epigram 

 may be accepted — ' A better farmer ne'er brushed dew 

 from lawn.' Lord Rockingham at Wentworth, the Duke 

 of Bedford at Woburn, Lord Egremont at Petworth, and 

 crowds of other landlords, followed the King's example. 

 Fox in the Louvre was lost in consideration whether the 

 weather was favourable to his turnips at St. Anne's Hill. 

 Burke was seen by Young experimenting in carrots as a 

 field crop on his farm at Beaconsfield, though he directed 

 his sarcasm against the Duke of Bedford's devotion to 

 agriculture. Lord Althorp, in the present century, worthily 

 maintained the traditions of his official predecessors. During 

 a serious crisis of affairs, when he was Chancellor of the 

 Exchecpier, John Grey of Dilston called upon him in 

 Downing Street upon political business. Lord Althorp's 

 first question, eagerly asked, was ' Have you been at Wise- 

 ton on your way up ? Have you seen the cows ? ' No new 

 book escaped the vigilance of agriculturists. Miss Edge- 

 worth's ' Essay on Irish Bulls ' had not been published 

 three days when it was ordered by the secretary of the 

 Bath and West of England Society of Agriculture. Nor 

 were the clergy less enthusiastic. An archdeacon, finding 

 the churchyard cultivated for turnips, rebuked the rector 

 with the remark, ' This must not occur again.' The reply, 

 ' Oh no, sir, it will be barley next year,' proves that the 

 ■eighteenth-century clergy were at least zealous for the 

 rotation of crops. 



Large farms and large capital found in j\fr. Coke of 

 Holkham their most celebrated champion. In 177G he 

 •came into his estate, with ' the King of Denmark ' as ' his 



