The Third Earl $$>&nce)\ 
151 
Shrewsbury Show, held in 1845, with the Duke of Richmond 
as President for the second time, no one worked harder than 
Lord Spencer in putting the stock into their proper stalls. In- 
deed he would often, at the Smithfield Club or at the " Royal " 
Meetings, work the whole day in his shirt sleeves. In con- 
nection with the Shrewsbury Show another peculiarity of his 
lordship came to the front. In the early days of the Society 
it was the custom to have immense annual dinners of the mem- 
bers, at which an infinite variety of loyal patriotic and agricul- 
tural toasts were proposed. The Shrewsbury dinner took place 
in a pavilion erected in the Quarry Walks, near St. Chad's Church, 
and was attended by about twelve hundred guests. The present 
Earl of Powis, who, as Lord Clive, was present at this dinner, 
and was entrusted with the toast of the health of Lord Portman, 
the President-Elect, says that " Lord Spencer, notwithstanding 
his prominence as the chief founder of the Society, never sat at 
the high table, but at the top of the centre ordinary table, under 
the President, and that he used to stand either on his chair or 
on the table when he spoke." The toast which Lord Spencer 
had to propose was " Agriculture, Manufactures, and Commerce," 
and for the more effectual delivery of it he mounted on the 
table. Lord Powis says that "just as he began his speech the 
church bell commenced tolling. The personal exertions of the 
Mayor were necessary to stop it, and when he had returned, 
and the interruption had ceased, Lord Spencer resumed his 
speech, saying that he had often heard of the beauty of the 
Shropshire belles, but he had not been before aware that they 
were so loquacious ! " During the interval his lordship, with 
the utmost good humour, kept his place upon the table, 
" appearing," says the Farmers Magazine, " heartily to enjoy 
the ludicrous nature of his position, whilst shouts of laughter 
and bursts of applause alternately occupied the time." 
The Shrewsbury Show, which was the last held in a town 
without railway communication, was also the last that Lord 
Spencer attended, for his useful life was shortly afterwards 
brought to a close. At the Country Meetings he always 
took a prominent part; but the services rendered by him 
in the Council-room, and in other ways, were not less im- 
portant, though their value could only be adequately esti- 
mated by time? who acted as his colleagues. He was also 
an occasional contributor to the Society's Journal, and stimu- 
lated others to supply it with communications of interest. In 
one of his papers he gives an interesting account of the great 
improvements effected in West Norfolk by that pioneer of 
agricultural progress, Lord Leicester ; in another he deals com- 
