178 FIELD AND FERN. 



hard to win ; but the trouble which Mr. M'Conibie 

 had to get seisin of an English one, when it was won, 

 would form quite an edifying chapter on generalship ; 

 and serve as a hint to agricultural societies. The me- 

 dals have a velvet stand of their own, surmounted by a 

 gold snuff-box (the gift of Mons. Dutrone), and 

 twenty-three gold, forty-four silver, and four bronze 

 hang from its dainty tiers. They are, however, only 

 outward types of a far more solid consideration in 

 the shape of nearly 1,700.* 



The first Tillyfour prize taker at the Highland So- 

 ciety is there, dating as far back as 1840, in the shape 

 of a dun Aberdeenshire horned ox, which was sold 

 for 7Q 3 and has as his touching Smithfield epitaph, 

 " 236st. of Slbs. and 28jst. of fat." There, too, in 

 the shape of a black ox from Fair Maid of Perth, is the 

 first-prize winner bred at Tillyfour that ever "burst/' 

 not "into that silent sea/' but the Baker-street Babel 

 in 1859, or the "Beauty's Butterfly" year. It 

 fetched its 70 and weighed 161 cwt. The Bloomer 

 has her place with a view of Windsor Castle behind 

 her; and so has Victor (46), taken when he was not 

 in good condition, and Young Charlotte, "who did no 

 good." The late Mr. Maydwell, of the firm of Mayd- 

 well and Hoyland, who had by virtue of his seniority 

 the first choice of the Islington market ground (and to 

 whose firm, as well as Mr. Giblett, the Tillyfour beasts 

 are consigned), has no reason to regret his proximity 



* The sum total for 1864 was a Fifty Guinea Challenge Cup, five gold and 

 two silver medals, and 207. 



