462 Longhorii Cattle : then- History and Peculiarities. 
All who take an interest in agriculture must regret that 
Bakevvell left no records behind him as to the methods he pursued 
in the improvement of his cattle and sheep ; in fact, 1 should 
have liked to learn more concerning the man and his doings 
altogether, for he was certainly no ordinary person, and would 
probably have made his mark in any age in which he chanced 
to live. Such records as are extant concerning him tell us that 
he associated with all the chief men of his day ; was given to 
almost princely hospitality, whereby he so impaired his fortune, 
that he was obliged to make over his farm to another, notwith- 
standing the immense prices at which he both sold and let sheep 
and cattle. There is no doubt that his ideas of farming were, 
quite unique and original, and very much in advance of the age in 
which he lived. When we read of his driving only two horses in 
a plough, of his utilising a stream which ran through the farm to 
carry his turnips from where they were grown to the feeding or 
storing places, thus washing them in the transit, — and learn how 
even the most trivial things were turned to account, — we feel that 
he was not an improver of cattle and nothing more, but a man 
much given to discarding the beaten paths of life, and chalking 
out fresh lines for himself. We also must regret that a life of 
such usefulness to his countrymen should have ended in less 
affluent circumstances than his great talents and industry de- 
served. For three different kinds of stock was he celebrated, 
cattle, sheep, and horses ; the two former remain as a lasting 
memorial to him, but the latter, said to have been of surpassing 
excellence, and procured from Flanders, are, I fear, lost ; and 
the great size and activity for which they were celebrated have 
but poor representatives in the hairy-legged clumsy giants for 
which the Midland Counties are famous. I believe he sent one of 
his horses as a present to George 111. His cattle were soon cele- 
brated, and the bull "Twopenny" appears to have gone the rounds 
like a judge on circuit, for at one time I find him at Upton, in 
Leicestershire, and at another at Rollright, in Oxfordshire. 
Though a great letter of stallions, bulls, and rams, the Dishley 
Squire appears always to have liad a great aversion to sell ; and 
perhaps we may not wonder at it when he could let one ram for 
a thousand guineas the season. Judging by the turn affjjirs after- 
wards took in regard to Longhorn cattle, I should say that lie 
sought for quality rather than size, and instituted the liking for 
small bone, which a little later was carried to such an excess, 
that it may be assigned as one of the causes which destroyed the 
popularity of the breed. It is known that he boasted of having 
given them a great increase of meat in the roasting parts. He 
bred very much in-and-in, and after his first Westmoreland 
venture, did not go from home for sires. Though he improved 
