Royal Agricultural Society : Oxford, 1839; Cambridge, 1840. 22o 
By permission of the Mayor and Corporation, the Show was 
held on Wednesday, July 15, on the well-known Parker’s Piece, 
and was on that account viewed with some disfavour by at least 
one who has since become a prominent member of the Society — 
Mr. Albert Pell, then an undergraduate of Trinity, who tells us 
among other things that on visiting the Show-ground his chief 
thought was how it would spoil the pitch for cricket ! The 
following description of the internal arrangements of the yard, 
taken from the Cambridge Advertiser , will be read with interest : — 
The plot enclosed for the cattle yard is upwards of 450 feet square, 
containing an area of nearly five acres, and is nearly level. The fence is a 
close-boarded one, nine feet high, with four entrances for visitors on the 
west side, and one as an outlet only on the opposite or east side. In the 
middle of the north and south sides are wide entrances and outlets for 
carriages, cattle, implements, &c. Within this fence at the distance of 
sixteen feet from it, on every side, are buildings, roofed in, sixteen feet wide, 
open at the sides, of which ten feet were occupied by cattle, horses, &c., the 
remaining six feet forming a covered way for visitors. The whole extent of 
these buildings is upwards of sixteen hundred feet. Within this square, at 
the distance of eighty feet from the last-mentioned buildings, is another 
entire square of buildings, roofed in, fourteen feet wide, open at the sides, 
and upwards of eight hundred feet in length. These buildings were occu- 
pied by sheep, pigs, corn, grain, seeds, vegetables and roots, and the smaller 
agricultural implements; the open spaces in the centre and between the 
rows of buildings were occupied by the larger agricultural implements of 
the most celebrated makers. There are two extra sheds, ninety feet long 
each, in which their implements, models, &c., were exhibited. At the south- 
west and north-west angles of the inner square of buildings are two rooms, 
fifteen feet by twelve, furnished complete, for the use of the Judges, Stewards, 
Committee, &c. These rooms are on a peculiar construction (the invention 
of the contractor, Mr. Manning), they having been made for exportation to 
Australia ; they are fitted together as a bedstead, with screws, no nails 
being used, and can be put together and struck as easily as a tent. 
On the Tuesday the Judges commenced their mysterious 
labours in the Show-yard, and the following extract from the 
President’s speech at the first public dinner, held in the hall of 
Trinity College that evening, gives some curious further details 
as to the secrecy in the judging then considered essential : — 
The noble Chairman (Duke of Richmond) said the lists had just been 
put into bis hands, containing the awards of the Judges on their inspection 
of the stock that morning. It might be thought right that he should allude 
to certain rules which the Judges had observed, and which had had their 
origin with the Council, especially as there were some gentlemen for whom 
he had a high respect, who did not think the plan that had been pursued in 
all respects right and proper. On former occasions, when no lists were put 
upon the animals, and in which Lord Spencer had acted as a Judge, those hav- 
ing the charge of the animals were allowed to be present. If the members of the 
Association had not full confidence in the Judges, it might be thought that an 
esprit de corps would bias them in giving a prize. This plan had been altered. 
He was a Southdown breeder, and he confessed that he possessed the esprit de 
