conferred on the feeders have been injudiciously bestowed. 

 But, as the writer justly observes, the object in view is not 

 the promotion of such a system of feeding as shall bring 

 cattle generally to that condition ; it is to ascertain what 

 breed will soonest and with the most inexpensive food 

 become fit for the shambles. This view was brought out 

 forcibly by the President at the dinner of the Club on their 

 28th anniversary, when he combatted the idea that it was 

 throwing money away to bring animals to such a degree of 

 fatness as they had then attained. In the letter of the 

 Scotch Breeder, in 1810, already alluded to, the writer is 

 shrewd enough to see that because animals are brought to 

 the Show in such a state of fatness, that " is no reason why 

 they should never be killed until in that condition ; and such 

 a breed as will get so excessively fat, will certainly become 

 moderately so, sooner than another breed that can never be 

 overfed to such a pitch with any degree of attention that 

 can possibly be bestowed upon it." 



In 1845 the Earl Spencer died, having been President 

 20 years. As we cannot tell what the Smithfield Club would 

 have been, or whether it would not have fallen to pieces 

 without his efforts, so we cannot estimate the exact debt the 

 Club owes to him. He was a born agriculturist, with 

 views far ahead of those generally held in his day, and a 

 manner and power over men which gave him the greatest 

 possible influence in such matters. Many stories are told of 

 his love for all things agricultural, and there was no surer 

 way of gaining his attention, or securing an audience, than 

 a hint that the business was relating to the subject which 

 lay so near his heart. His opinion of the Club and its 

 mission was very great, and his zeal in carrying out its 

 objects indefatigable. He took charge of it when its fortunes 

 were at the lowest ebb, and with infinite care and judgment, 

 steered it into the safe harbour of prosperity. Whatever 

 position the Club now holds, was assured to it by his efforts, 

 and the members' appreciation of his genial manners, his 

 whole-hearted services, and the change of fortune these 

 things brought them, was none too strongly expressed in the 

 resolution unanimously passed at the meeting after his 

 death 



" That we desire to record our lasting gratitude to the late Earl 

 Spencer, for his long exertions in the service of the Smithfield 

 Club, which were neither interrupted by the discharge of more 

 arduous duties, nor damped by retirement from public life, or by 

 the advance of years ; and also to express our affectionate 

 veneration for his manly and noble character." 



