1 54 Saddle and Sirloin, 



Mr. Bates had two very favourite maxims — one 

 that he " could find forty men fit to be a Premier, for 

 one fit to judge shorthorns ;" and the other, that there 

 was " no place for shorthorns, like the Valley of the 

 Wharfe." The late Mr. Whitaker and Mr. Fawkes-of 

 Farnley have proved this to the full ; but it was left 



They came in a steamboat to London, and walked to Oxford, and it 

 was said at the time that nothing but the presence of Mr. Bates, and 

 the soothing effect of his pat and his "poor Duke!" prevented the bull 

 from slipping off the stage into the water when he turned awkward, 

 and declined to re-embark. With the victory of his Cambridge cow, 

 and eight months' bull-calf at Cambridge next year, and his bull Cleve- 

 land Lad at Liverpool, the Royal prize winning era of Mr. Bates 

 virtually ceased (in fact, he hardly ever showed again), and that of the 

 Booths began. 



The Oxford tribe sprang from a cow by Matchem, supposed by St. 

 Albans, whom Mr. Bates accidentally bought after Mason's sale. He 

 did not admire his choice, and when she had bred a calf to Duke of 

 Cleveland, who ripened into the Oxford premium cow, she was packed 

 off to Darlington. Mr. Bate's lucky star was in the ascendant that 

 market-day, as no one would bid within 2/. of the ill. which he had 

 set on her, and she afterwards calved Cleveland Lad, Cleveland 2nd 

 (the sire of Grand Duke), and Oxford 2nd, all to Shorttail by Belve- 

 dere. Her Oxford premium cow was deficient in girth and gaudy be- 

 hind, and in fact her owner was so ashamed of her in that point, that 

 when she was beaten by Bracelet at Berwick, he hung not a " calf-skin" 

 but a horse-rug "on those recreant limbs," and vowed he would show 

 her no more. Failure as she might be, there was no mistake as to the 

 cross between the Duke of Northumberland and her half-sister Oxford 

 2nd, resulting as it did in that fine bull, 2nd Duke of Oxford, who was 

 put on the Duchess tribe, and got five out of the eight plums on the 

 Kirklevington day. 



At Mr. Bates's sale Lord Ducie was as undaunted as ever, and it was 

 nothing but being, in racing phrase, " a good beginner" which secured 

 him the 4th Duke of York so cheap. He had "determined to buy him, 

 or make him dear for some one ;" and he put him in so promptly at 

 200 guineas, that although one gentleman at least wished to have him 

 at two hundred more, a sort of stagnation supervened, amid which Mr. 

 Stafford's glass ran down. If the first bid had only been a hundred, 

 three at least would have gone on. It was this sale which first opened 

 that Duchess tribe to the world, which had been increasing, and then 

 dwindling at Kirklevington, during the forty years since "T. Bates, 

 Esq.," had been written opposite "38. Young Duchess, 2 years old, 

 by Comet, dam by Favourite, 183 guineas" in Mr. Kingston's catalogue 

 on the Ketton day. She was bulled by Comet at the time, and Mr. 

 Bates had never once deserted the blood except for one cross with 

 Stephenson's Belvedere. 



