ANNUAL DINNER. 
371 
him for the distinguished position he will hereafter occupy in 
this nation. With regard to the Princess, she comes, at any 
rate, to us as a lady fitted in every way to be the wife of one 
of England's Princes. I saw the other day mention made of 
a circumstance which seems to me to speak volumes as to the 
solicitude which the Queen feels with regard to the Prince 
and Princess. Very recently Her Majesty paid a visit to the 
Infirmary at Windsor, for the purpose of seeing an aged 
domestic upon her dying bed; and she took care in that visit 
to be accompanied by the Princess of Wales, thereby, I think, 
setting her one of the best examples, by showing her that the 
Queen of England was not above going among her people; and 
not only so, but that she was even anxious to visit her hum¬ 
blest domestic when upon a dying bed. With such an edu¬ 
cation and such an example before them, we may reasonably 
hope that both the Prince and Princess are in a fair way of 
preparation for that distinguished position which they are 
destined to occupy. I trust, however, that it will be a long 
time before we shall have to look upon the Prince as King of 
England. (Cheers.) 
The toast was drunk with all the honours. 
The President. —Gentlemen, the next toast upon my list 
is one in which we feel some considerable interest as 
members of the veterinary profession—^‘The Duke of 
Cambridge and the Army.^^ I say we feel some interest in 
this toast, because you are all mindful of the fact that the 
army is a means by which very many of the members of our 
profession find employment, and are introduced into the 
very best of society. (Hear, hear.) We feel also a deep 
interest in this toast because many members of the profes¬ 
sion, who are not connected with the army directly, are still 
indirectly connected with it. There are many troops of 
yeomanry cavalry in different parts of the country, and to 
each of them, I believe, a veterinary surgeon is attached. 
We are to-day honoured with the presence of one \vho occu¬ 
pies a very distinguished position in connection with our 
profession, as w^ell as wdth her Majesty service; I allude to 
Mr. Wilkinson, the principal veterinary surgeon to the army. 
I also see on my right veterinary surgeons who did honour 
to themselves during the late war with Russia, while we were 
for so many months before the walls of Sebastopol. I need 
not particularise those individuals. But there is one gentle¬ 
man to whom I cannot but refer, who calls himself a veteran 
in the service,—our friend Mr. Robinson—(Cheers)—a gen¬ 
tleman, I believe, who has, at any rate, seen as much service, 
if we may judge from his appearance, as any one now pre- 
