116 
Agricultural Worth ies. 
averaging about 4ol. each. The entire remainder, including the 
produce bred by Mr. Hall, came to the hammer on April 28, 1848. 
Eighty-eight auimals averaged 65/. 5s. apiece, Usurer being 
purchased by Earl Ducie for 400 guineas, another bull realising 
370 guineas, and some of the cows 200 guineas each. That the 
Wiseton herd had a great reputation may be inferred from the 
fact that the bull " Firby " and two cows were illustrated, as 
specimens of the Shorthorn breed, in Youatt's Book on Cattle ; 
and that the portraits of several other Wiseton animals were 
given in the early volumes of Coates's Herd-book. 
At no time — even when his cares as Chancellor of the Ex- 
chequer were most absorbing — did Lord Spencer's interest in his 
farm languish, and the first letters opened in the morning were 
those which he received from his bailiff at Wiseton. 
John Grey of Dilston, when he called on Lord Althorp in 
Downing Street, during the most arduous part of his official 
career, interviewing the great man's Cerberus as a preliminary, 
was told : " You've come about cows, sir, so you'll not have to 
wait long.'' Having been ushered into the presence, his 
lordship " shut the door, looked round to see if they were alone, 
and then, before uttering a word on the political crisis in which 
they were so deeply interested, he asked, eagerly : ' Have you 
been to Wiseton on your way up ? Have you seen the cows ? ' " 
Every Monday morning, his lordship received the most accu- 
rate budget of what cows had calved during the week, with 
the calf-marks, and he did very little work till it was all tran- 
scribed into his private herd-book. On this particular morning 
he handed Mr. Grey a letter, saying, " There's a letter from 
Carnegie ; he admires my political course, and he writes from 
the Lothians to say that I shall have the first refusal of his bull." 
Then he characteristically added : ' : I've written to thank him 
for his political confidence, but I've told him that there is a flaw 
in his bull's pedigree. He traces him back to Red Rose, but 
Red Rose never had a heifer-calf." 
Sir Denis Le Marchant records the fact that when, one 
Easter vacation, his lordship was utterly exhausted by the 
debates on the Reform Bill, and was ordered off to Notting- 
hamshire by his physician, he (Sir Denis) called on his secretary, 
Lieutenant Drummond, a few days later, anxious to learn what 
accounts had been received, whereupon' he was handed the 
following characteristic note : — - 
Dear Dkummond, — I bore the journey well, and already feel much 
better. I am just returned from seeing the finest yearling ox I ever saw in 
my life. — Yours truly, Althoiu\ 
We learn from another anecdote connected with this period, 
