878 
Ohitvarij. 
Year ■ 
Head sold 
Average 
Total of Sals 
£ 
t. 
d. 
£ 
s. 
d. 
1851 
56 
25 
2 
6 
1,407 
0 
0 
1864 
30 
66 
3 
0 
1,984 
10 
0 
1871 
43 
240 
13 
10 
10,349 
17 
0 
1874 
43 
383 
13 
3 
16,497 
12 
0 
1878 ' 
30 
664 
1 
10 
19,922 
14 
0 
1883 
45 
167 
3 
0 
7,524 
6 
0 
1889 
38 
104 
13 
0 
3,981 
12 
0 
' At this sale of 1878, nine " Oxfords went for 14,726/. os.. or an average of 
1,636Z. OS. apiece, six cows and heifers going at an average of 1,787/. 12*, Qd., 
and three bulls at 1,333/. 10«. 
The scene at the last sale in 1889 was described by a •writer in 
the Field in language so picturesque that room must be found for it 
as a vivid description of the surroundings amongst which the Duke 
passed his life, and of the esteem in which he was held : — 
In a paddock, in a pretty nook of that lake district of England where all 
is pretty that does not deserve a higher epithet of praise, thero occurred " in 
the noon hour " of Thursday, September 5, a scene which will not be easily 
forgotten by those whose good fortune it was to witness it. The ground 
slopes now this way and now that ; in spots the rock shows through : and, 
in spots, heavy-foliaged trees grow with sufficient luxuriance to prove that 
what soil there is is good, and is in plenty too, if the roots can but pene- 
trate to find it. All over the paddock were scattered some five or six 
hundred people; among whom the red, white, and roan shorthorns (which 
occupy the farm) were being paraded for inspection, showing gaily among 
the sober-coated masses of spectators. Suddenly, by some whispered mess- 
age from one to another, the cattle were left, and the company thronged in 
a crowd to the exit and formed in two lines, down the middle of which 
passed a figure very characteristic and noteworthy even in a period which 
has produced many notable old men. The scene was Holker; the spot the 
field adjacent to the village school ; and it was the aged Duke of Devonshire 
who slowly passed along, whilst everyone's hat was raised, to receive a 
courteous acknowledgment in retm-n. Is there, except Prince Moltke, in 
Europe a man of more various fame ? Some men thought of him as the 
owner of a name of great traditions ; of estates in many counties, liberal 
and trusted in all ; some remembered hiui as the sire of sons who have made 
great names in politics, and made even greater sacrifices for the nation's 
weal ; some — as the occasion required — bore in mind that he was the 
successful breeder for more than half a century of a variety of cattle of 
which it is no extravagance to say that its fame goeth through the vorld. 
Yet Nature is stronger than all beside. The grave face one looked upon, 
the stooping figure, the eyes still full of light, were those not so much of a 
man of rank and wealth — though there was ample evidence of both — as of 
the student who has loved and followed learning for her own sake : of the 
man who, nearly sixty years ago, was the first mathematician of his year 
in the University of Cambridge ; and is still her honoured Chancellor. 
2so words need be added to this picture to prove that in the 
death of the Duke of Devonshire, the nation luvs lost one of its 
noblest, most gifted, and most honoured .sons. 
Ernest Clarke, 
