The Third Earl Spencer. 145 
Chilton, with shoulders very oblique quite into the chine, fin© 
delicate flesh without being lumpy, most symmetrical and blood- 
like, with good milking qualities. ' Bon Bon ' was a pretty 
little cow of the Sylph tribe, which was bought by Mr. Torr for 
Mr. Richnrd Chaloner of King's Fort, Ireland. Of all the herds 
of Shorthorns that have been bred with care, none ever did 
more good in the improvement of cattle for farmers' use than 
the Wiseton herd. What became of those which went into 
Devonshire I do not know. It teaches one of those lessons we 
too often disregard, that animals have to adapt themselves to 
soil and climate before they can be successfully bred upon sound 
principles." 
In Bell's History of Shortliorns may be found a number 
of characteristic letters from Lord Althorp to that famous 
breeder, Mr. Thomas Bates, of Kirklevington. whom he had 
known for many years. In one of these, written from Dun- 
stable in April, 1820, he thus prefaces his directions as to a 
cow named Kosette, and his doubts as to the future career of 
a certain bull-calf: — 
I aui on my way up to town, and as I must on getting there drive 
Shorthorns out of my head, to replace them by politics — certainly a more 
disagreeable subject, and, perhaps, in the present state of things, a less 
useful one — I write you a parting letter, &c. 
Another, written in December of the same year, commences 
with the gratifying assurance that u His Grace's cough is nearly 
well," and ends with the hope that ''Earl Percy is well and 
thriving." Hecatomb, which took the prize awarded for the 
best bull in the yard at the meeting of the Yorkshire Society 
held at York in 1838, beat Mr. Bates's famous bull, Duke of 
Northumberland, then a two-year-old, for which his owner is 
stated to have refused an offer of 4,000 guineas. This was the 
only occasion on which that famous animal, which created such 
a sensation when exhibited at the first show of the English 
Agricultural Society, held at Oxford, in 1839. was defeated in 
the show-yard, and Mr. Bates never forgot or forgave the award, 
which was made by Mr. John Grey of Dilston and two colleagues. 
The "Wiseton herd was bequeathed by Earl Spencer in his 
will to his steward, Mr. John Hall, 1 and a large portion of it 
was sold in 1816, the year after his lordship's death, 117 animals 
1 Mr. Hall was a foundation member of the Royal Agricultural Society, and 
survived until January 1869, when he died at the age of eighty-six. In early 
days he was in great request as a judge of Shorthorns. His portrait appears 
in the frontispiece of this number, as well as in the large picture, " The 
Country Meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society. - ' 
VOL. I. T. S. — 1 L 
