198 FIELD AND FERN. 



which had been made him three years before, to be 

 the governor of a colony of 300,000 square miles in 

 New Holland. The company declared for Barclay, 

 but the Government of the day were against him ; 

 and all he knew was, that " some invisible hand 

 checkmated the whole concern." There was a good 

 deal of humorous speculation as to the Captain 

 forming a cabinet. Deacon Williamson and We- 

 there]! would have been very high in office ; port- 

 folios must have been offered to the leading mem- 

 bers of his Tommiad Cribb, Spring, and Holtby 

 Davy Troup would have been Master of the 

 Horse ; and of course his friend Kinnear, Attorney- 

 General. 



His breeding at Ury began in 1822, with the in- 

 fallible " shorthorn not shorthorned," as he always 

 explained, and good-sized Leicesters. Then he 

 bought in West Highland and country cows, and 

 crossed them with shorthorn bulls. For a long time 

 he would sell no heifers, but he soon began regular 

 bull sales. At first J28, and then .16, were thought 

 great prices ; when he got to 30 it was monstrous, 

 and as for ^860, it was akin to a miracle. He was a 

 very high feeder, and Mr. Wetberell was wont to tell 

 him that others would have kept twice the amount of 

 stock he did on the same grass, and that his cows 

 were very often far too fat at calving ; but on this 

 point he was incorrigible. He bought bulls from Earl 

 Spencer, and Mason of Chilton, but none of them 

 were equal to The Pacha and Mahomed of his own 



