148 
Agricultural Worthies. 
book in hand), the merits of his favourite bull <; Wiseton," 
which is led by his herdsman John Wagstaff, arrayed in the 
flower-pot hat of the period. The date of the picture is a little 
uncertain ; but it was evidently some time early in the forties, 
as Ansdell was then engaged in painting the portraits of the 
leading agriculturists of the time for his great picture, " The 
Country Meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society," the en- 
graving of which appeared in 1845. In that picture Lord Spencer 
appears in precisely the same attitude as in the frontispiece 
— with his hands in his pockets, his dog " Bruce" by his side, 
and attired in the identical cutaway coat, breeches and gaiters, 
as in the " Scene at "Wiseton." In the picture of the Society, 
Lord Spencer is the centre of a group which includes on the 
right the Duke of Sutherland, the Marquis of Exeter, the Hon. 
Capt. Spencer, R.N. (afterwards fourth Earl), and the Earl of 
Leicester, and on the left the Marquis of Downshire, Mr. Henry 
Handley, Col. Challoner, the Duke of Richmond, the Earl of 
Hardwicke, the Duke of Northumberland, H.R.H. the Duke of 
Cambridge, and the Duke of Beaufort. 1 
It has been necessary to dwell at some length — though not, 
it is hoped, with undue minuteness — on the varied phases of 
Lord Spencer's career, in order that the reader may the better 
understand what manner of man it was who, at the very time 
when he was unhesitatingly refusing such important posts as 
the Lord-Lieutenancy of Ireland and the Governor-Generalship 
of Canada — both of which were offered to him by Lord Mel- 
bourne in November, 1838 — preferred to devote his best energies 
and his great influence to the consolidation of the Royal Agri- 
cultural Society, which in the earlier part of the year he had 
been so instrumental in establishing. 
On important occasions Lord Spencer was to be found in his 
place in Parliament. He was also assiduous in his attention to 
the various duties pertaining to his high position, as Chairman of 
Quarter Sessions, as a patron of the Northampton Infirmary and 
kindred local institutions, and in other ways. But the real pursuit 
of his later years was agriculture, and the maintenance and en- 
1 It may be interesting to arid that this picture contains the portraits of 126 
of the leading agriculturists of the day, including four who happily still sur- 
vive- — The Earl of Burlington (now the octogenarian Duke of Devonshire), 
the Earl of Lovelace, Mr. J. Wilson-Patten, M.P.— on horseback (now Lord 
Winmarleigh); and Dr. (now Sir Lyon) Playfair. the latter in a group comprising 
the great German chemist Liebig. the Earl of Ducie, and his agent Sir. Morton 
(father of the late Mr. J. Chalmers Morton). Copies of this engraving are 
now rare, and copies of the Key still rarer. The Secretary of the Society has 
had the office-copy of the Key reproduced in facsimile, and copies may be 
had of this reprint at 12 Hanover Square. 
