1 66 Saddle and Sirloin. 



spirited biddings which he heard as a lad beneath the 

 lime-trees at Ketton were not lost upon him ; and 

 hence, eight years afterwards, he set out on the 

 Barmpton day with a determination to go in merrily 

 on his own account. Thirty-four of the cows, and 

 four of the heifers under twelve months old, had been 

 knocked down before he caught Mr. Robinson's eye ; 

 and then lots 41 and 43 Lady Anne and Cleopatra, 

 both of them full of George and Favourite blood 

 became his for 100 and 133 guineas, and wended their 

 way to Holm House that night* 



* Their luck was rather chequered, as Lady Anne died in calving 

 twins, and Cleopatra followed up a heifer which never bred, with the 

 very first-class bull Belzoni (1709) by North Star (459). As he had 

 hired this bull from Robert Colling, and used him for two seasons before 

 the sale, Mr. Wethsrell did not care to bid for him : but, although he 

 was eleven years old, the "by Favourite, dam by Punch" strain induced 

 that rare judge, Mr. Lax, to give 72 guineas for him. Time, however, 

 proved him to have been the real lode-star of the Holm House fortunes, 

 as he got not only the famous Rosanna during his stay, but two rare 

 bulls, Magnet (2240) and St. Leger (1414), the latter of which Mr. 

 Wetherell sold to Mr. John Rennie, of Haddingtonshire, for 250 

 guineas. Young St. Leger was also no small favourite. 



In 1828 Mr. Wetherell sold off all his Shorthorns, and left Holm 

 House; and in 1833 we find him living "beneath the Gothic shade" 

 of Durham Cathedral, and commencing a new herd at Newton Hall, 

 some three miles distant. His spirit and fine judgment had still greater 

 scope in this second essay. He bred the Duke of Clarence (9040) and 

 King Dick (9269), and sold the latter at fourteen months old to Lord 

 Hill for 120 guineas. He also gave 250 guineas for the Earl of Dur- 

 ham (5965) to Mr. Miller, of Ballumby, Perthshire, but "The Earl" 

 died in less than six months, leaving only three of his get behind him, 

 which, by way of set-off to such ill luck, averaged 106 guineas at the 

 hammer, when under twelve months old. Duke of Cornwall cost him 

 a hundred guineas, but he used him and then let him for that sum, and 

 sold him for 200 guineas to Earl Ducie in 1842. The estimation in 

 which the herd was held speaks best through the fact that at the sale in 

 1*847 f ur animals realised 50x3 guineas. 



It had been strengthened from time to time by very spirited pur- 

 chases. Emperor (1839), with his dam Blossom, and his grandam 

 Spring Flower, passed into it at Mr. Button's, of Gate Burton, sale for 

 250 guineas. 100 guineas, and 70 guineas eacTi ; and in 1846 Emperor 

 justified his price by upholding the honour of the district, as first prize- 

 man in the second class, at the Royal Show at Newcastle, against two 

 dozen rivals. Mr. Banks Stanhope's prize heifer also met sixteen at the 



