SOME ENGUSH BEEED-BUILDERS 97 



a bull picked up by Mr. Turner of The Leen, that 

 gave good promise of what was to follow. Mr. 

 Rogers made haste to recover the blood, first by 

 buying from Mr. Eea his famous show bull Sir 

 Richard (1734), Royal winner at Leeds in 1861, a 

 son of Sir Benjamin, and afterward acquiring Sir 

 Thomas (2228), by Sir Benjamin, at the then long 

 price of £409/10s. This bull was bought at the 

 dispersion sale of Mr. Monkhouse of The Stow 

 in 1866. He had been shown with his get with 

 great success, was at that time six years old 

 and proved a cheap bull at the price, leaving at The 

 Grove "a collection of magnificent stock." 



Sir Thomas Described. — Sir Thomas was un- 

 doubtedly the best of all Sir Benjamin's sons, and 

 was described by that gifted writer on British cat- 

 tle breeding, the late William Housman, as follows : 



"Sir Thomas has a noble broad true bull's head, 

 with the sort of horns, well set and strong, which 

 usually accompany a robust constitution. His length 

 is very great, although said to be not equal to that 

 of his sire Sir Benjamin. Judging from the portrait 

 of the latter (one in Mr. Rogers' possession by Mr. 

 Quintin of Hereford), we should say that if the sire 

 surpassed the son in length, he gained it between the 

 arm and the breast-end, for Sir Benjamin seems to 

 have been enormous there, and we can scarcely 

 imagine a longer middle than that of Sir Thomas 

 without the accompaniment of a slack back, which 

 Sir Thomas' strong loin provides against in his 

 case. His hindquarters are wonderful for deep and 

 level accumulation of flesh. Of a placid, gentle dis- 

 position, he has just enough of the pride of bull- 



