The Third Earl Spencer. 
147 
that in preparing the second Reform Bill the question of dis- 
franchisement was made to depend upon a joint ratio of the 
population of the borough and the amount of taxation, and to 
facilitate the calculation of this ratio Lieutenant Drummond 
prepared a scale, which was adopted by the Government. 
It happened (continues the story, which is authenticated by Lord 
Belper) that about the time of the hottest contests on the Reform Bill Lord 
Althorp had occasion to receive at his office a deputation of Scotch Members 
and others, amongst whom was Mr. T. F. Kennedy, then M.P. for Ayr, 
who was an intimate friend of Lord Althorp, and, like him, much interested 
in agricultural pursuits. "When the deputation was leaving the room on the 
conclusion of their business, Lord Althorp called Mr. Kennedy back, and 
said : " I want to tell you what I have been doing. I have been applying 
Drummond's scale to my sheep ; " and he then produced a list of sheep, 
carefully arranged in order according to a calculation founded on the joint 
ratio of some two qualities of the animal which he considered of primary 
importance. 
It is not impossible that the jaded Minister may have shared 
to some extent the feeling of the witty statesman who once 
defined a deputation as "a noun of multitude that signifies 
many, but does not signify much." 
It is also stated by Lord Cockburn, in his £i Memoirs of Lord 
Jeffrey," that when, in 1832, Ministers resigned office, to be 
recalled a few days later, Lord Althorp was to be found, not 
plotting for a return to power, but spending his time in some 
nursery-grounds, choosing and buying flowers, of which he took 
home five large packages in his carnage, to be planted at 
Althorp. 
Lord Spencer's biographer quotes an interesting letter from 
Mrs. Butler, who states that the packets of Lord Spencer's 
letters still in her possession are labelled w Bulls," " Sheep," &c, 
and that by looking through these " one may dimly identify his 
favourites, Cheviot, Flodden, Hector, Rhadamanthus, &c, by 
certain spots on the side of the nose, or the beautiful straight- 
ness of the back, or the snowy whiteness of the hide." These 
were the matters which interested Lord Althorp, even when 
burdened with the weighty affairs of State ; and one cannot 
but admire the calm and placid temperament which enabled 
him, when opportunity offered, to cast these aside, and seek 
repose for body and mind amid scenes and pursuits more con- 
genial to his tastes. 
The picture by Richard Ansdell, £i A Scene at Wiseton," 
which has been reproduced as the frontispiece of the present 
number, illustrates very well the daily life of Lord Spencer in 
his country home. He is evidently discussing with Mr. J. 
Elliott, the steward of his estates at Althorp, and his steward 
at AViseton, Mr. Hall (who in standing in the foreground, note- 
x. a 
