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Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive

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University of Britisii Columbia Library

http://www.archive.org/details/easbyabbeybreediOOjaqu

REMINISCENCES OF

EASBY ABBEY.

A MEMENTO OF

THE FESTIVITIES

ON THE OCCASION OF THE

CELEBRATION OF THE

TWENTY" FIRST ANNIVERSARY

OF THE BIRTHDAY OF

LEONARD JAQUES,

SEPTEMBER, I860.

«y

•L^.-i^.

THE EASBY ABBEY

BEEEDING STUD.

REPRINTED FROM "BELL'S LIFE."

WITH A MEMOIR OF MR. JAQUES, REPRINTED FROM THE "BRITISH
FARMER'S MAGAZINE," AND AN ACCOUNT OF THE PRESENTATION
OF HIS PORTRAIT TO HIM BY THE " RICHMONDSHIRE AGRICUL-
TURAL ASSOCIATION." Extracted from the "Yorkshire Gajzette."

RICHMOND :

PRINTED BY JOHN BELL, FINKLE STREET.

1860.

THE EASBY ABBEY BREEDING STUD.

Associated as Yorkshire is with the deeds of the most
noted "running horses" of the past and present age, to
say nothing of its antiquarian renown, no district is
more justly entitled to be recognised as '^classic ground"
by racing men than that historically known as E,ich-
MONDSHiRE, in the North-Riding of that extensive
county, famed for its ancient aristocracy, great wealth,
unbounded hospitality, honest yeomen, and good hus-
bandry,— with its "wolds" and broad acres. The month
of January is not exactly the season of the year for
enjoying the magnificent scenery, and inspecting the
many ancient ruins with which Richmondshire abounds;
nor would Londoners, perhaps, admit the comparison
of their Richmond on the Thames with the ancient
town in the north; yet Yorkshire is enjoyable either in
spring or autumn, summer or winter; and if compelled
to make a selection between the " two Richmonds in
the field," with all due regard for the reputation (and
charges) of those well-known places of resort. The Star
and Garter and The Castle, and the magnificent pano-
ramic prospect to be met with at the favourite Cockney,
retreat, we unhesitatingly "plump" in favour of its less

fashionable but far more ancient namesake in the north,
so proudly situated amongst the romantic scenery of
the Swale, which realises the heau ideal of the poet's
imagination of " rock, wood, and water V

The approach to Richmond by the railway, past the
ruins of Easby Abbey — popularly so called, but histori-
cally the Abbey of St. Agatha — along the banks of
the river Swale, beneath precipitous wooded rocks, is
most picturesque — enchanting in summer, when the
trees are in full foliage — thereby impressing the stranger
at once with the beauty of the situation, which, in fact,
has become almost proverbial. Crossing the Gothic
bridge, and mounting the steep approach to the town,
with the noble pinnacled Keep, the last stronghold of the
besieged, springing to the height of 100 feet out of the
ivy-clad mouldering remains of the ancient Castle, so
boldly situated on its lofty rocky eminence, washed by
the river at its base,— and the stately tower of the Friary
(recalling the style of the Somersetshire churches), which
alone remains of the residence of a body of Grey Friars
of the Francisan order, founded, as early as 1258, by
Ralph Fitz Randal, according to some, f.lthough the
Scropes, according to others, had a share in the honour,
— rearing their lofty pinnacles proudly above, the visitors
admiration, coupled with astonishment, is increased ten-
fold ; and a desire is naturally aroused to explore the
natural beauties of the place — to learn something of its
antiquity and historical associations, which will amply
repay the time and labour devoted to the purpose.

Historians inform us that there is no reason to suppose
any town of importance existed here during the long
period of the Roman or Saxon era, nor is Richmond even
mentioned in Doomsday; but Gilling, close by, the
capital of the Wapentakes of the name, and famed m
recent years for the number of good horses bred and
trained there, is particularly noticed. Seated on a pro-
jecting plot of ground, formed by nature for command,
it is no wonder that the warriors of Brittany, to whom its
scenery was evidently of very minor consideration,
should at once have made the place their permanent
citadel. It is now viewed, however, with far different
sentiments — as the fairest spot on one of the loveliest
streams which Yorkshire can produce, amid her thousand
rivulets. It is the capital of a land whose riches of
romance are scarcely exceeded by any other in England
— the chosen seat of its own Earls — the Scropes, Fitz-
hughs, Marmions, and those setters-up and pullers-down
of kings, the richest, noblest, and most prudent race of
the north, the lordly Nevilles. The Castle is the chief
object of attraction, and is deservedly worthy of a brief
reference. It is said to have been commenced in the year
1071, at the period of the Norman Conquest, by Alan
Rufus, of Britanny, whose prowess at Hastings and the
siege of York so pleased the king, that he created him an
earl, and gave him 164 manors, composing the later
Richmondshire j but the honour or liberty of Richmond
comprised altogether 440 manors, in various parts of
England — " a fine patrimony, truly, and equal to any

c

deserts whatsoever/^ From the circumstance of a small
cascade, or cataract, of the Swale, now termed ''the
force/^ still existing here, and of more than GOO silver
Roman coins of Constantius, Julianus, Valentinianus, a
most rare one of Victor, with others of later Emperors,
being found in 1720, at the foot of the hill upon which
the Castle stands, many have imagined Richmond to be
of Roman origin, and the site of Cataractonium ; but
according to others, Thornbrough Pasture, near Cat-
terick, or " Keterick,'^ five miles distant, appears to be
the recognised locality of that celebrated station of the
Roman legions, from the extensive remains of fortifica-
tions existing there; albeit, it is equally questionable
whether the latter may not have been only an outwork
to the great point of defence at Richmond, or Riche-mont,
so called by Alan either from a castle of the same name
in Brittany, or from its being situated in a stronger
and more fruitful part of his territory than Gilling. The
name of Catterick being so familiar to our readers as a
favourite Yorkshire race meeting, it may interest them
to state that during the Saxon government the place was
a flourishing city till the year 769, when it was totally
destroyed by the Danes under the command of Beorn-
redus, who shook the throne of Northumberland j but it
speedily rose from its ashes, for in 846, seventy-five years
after, the marriage of the Northumbrian king Ethelred
to Elfrida, the daughter of Ofi'a, king of the Mercians,
was solemnised there with great pomp. Subsequent de-
vastations, however, again reduced it to its present

village dimensions. " Keterick Bridge selfe hath but one
house as an jn," according to Leland, and some remains
of St. Ann's Chapel, (where mass used to be said daily,
at twelve o'clock, by a priest from the Hospital of St.
Giles, for the use of travellers by this great posting road,)
which are stated still to exist, are now degraded by being
used as a coal-hole ! Verily, time works changes, if not
wonders ! Similar chapels formerly stood on bridges at
Wakefield, Rotherham, Doncaster, and over the Irwell
dividing Salford and Manchester. The bridge of Catter-
ick is a most ancient structure, having been rebuilt in
1425, (since which time it has been much widened) "at
a cost of £173 6s. 8d., and a gown a piece to the three
contractors each of the years they were employed,
according to their degree, and the neighbouring
quarries to be at their service." " Travellers meet
strange bedfellows," and the racing pilgrim in the
course of his annual peregrinations visits many dis-
tricts, to the historical associations of which he is a
complete stranger — but we have been too far astray to
admit of moralising, and must at once retrace our steps
along the pleasantly shaded banks of the Swale, whose
course is frequently interrupted by large stones and
shelving rocks, to Richmond.

In every point of view the Castle is a magnificent
object; and in ancient times on its almost perpendicular
rock, must have been considered next to impregnable —
sufficiently so to deter besiegers, for it plays but little
part in recorded warfare. It is defended on three sides

8

by a natural slope of great abruptness; and in passing
along the delightful walk which winds round the walls,
suspended midway between the river and the building,
you obsers'e how the rock has been partially hewn and
moulded to adapt it to the superstructure. Its imposing
dimensions, the freshness of the masonry, the pertina-
cious dislike to vegetation on its exterior, strike the eye
whilst gazing on the towering stronghold, and are
evidences of an almost indestructible durability. The
hand of time is certain in its effect on all around ; the
ivy clings to the mouldering walls, and clothes them
with a beauty which the noble Keep despises — proud in
its sternness, reluctant to boast of " prettiness." The
wonder is that the Castle(which descended through John
o'Gaunt to the Earl of Richmond, who succeeded to the
Crown as Henry VII.) has remained in such perfect con-
dition. In Edward the Third's time it was " worth no
pounds a year," and Leland describes it " in mere ruine"
300 years ago ! " In a town rising in importance (writes
a local author,) its outer buildings would have disappear-
ed long ago; but a stationary agricultural place like
Richmond can well afford to be proud in allowing the
site to be devoted to the mouldering remains of ancient
grandeur. The ivy trembles where the banner proudly
floated — the Keep stands silent in its strength.^^ The
latter (whose walls are 11 feet thick) is now used as a
storehouse for troops, and a row of residences have been
erected for the use of the militia staff in the quadrangle,
where a Russian trophy of the Crimean war, in the

shape of a splendid large gun from one of the batteries
at Sebastopol, recals the clang of arms^ which has
yielded to the bleating of sheep ; whilst barbaric pomp
is followed by a melancholy grace, broken, but passing
beautiful. A window at one end of the banquetting-
hall was pronounced by George IV., when Prince of
Wales, to command '• the noblest prospect he ever be-
held,"— one of the most charming " bits " being the
romantic and wide-extended ruins of Easby Abbey in
the distance, skirted by the river Swale, and shut in by
an amphitheatre of prettily-wooded high ground, on
the summit of which stands Easby' Hall, the plain red
brick residence of R. M. Jaques, Esq., the well-known
propi'ietor of the stud we are about to describe. The
associations of this place are far too interesting to pass
over in silence, and we therefore hope our readers will
consent to accompany us in a short historical notice of
the far-famed Abbey of St. Agatha,

" Which when decked with all its spires,

" Served but to feed some pampered abbot's pride
" And awe the unletter'd vulgar!"

These venerable remains cannot fail to strike the
mind with awe, on contemplating the munificence of
our forefathers ; and to awaken sentiments of regret
that so stately a building was not permitted any longer
to ornament the country, not as an object of venera-
tion, but as a specimen how " religious houses" were
constructed. " Happy for the Church of England,"
says Hearne, " as well as for the kingdom in general.

10

had Henry VIII. only reformed, and not destroyed, the
" religious houses." The sad consequences of the
Reformation are too visible everywhere, not only in the
destruction of the buildings, but in the manner in which
their revenues and riches were with a prodigal hand
disposed of." The Abbey in question was inhabited by
the White Canons of the Prsemonstratensian order
(which found its way to England soon after 1140, in
the reign of Stephen), having been founded by Roald,
the Constable of Richmond Castle, in 1152, who is
recorded to have been a " sare sanct" for his own blood,
as his successors presently began to borrow money of
the Clervaux, rich merchants of York, " in their great
necessity." Croft gradually passed to these more pru-
dent personages, and the posterity of Roald sold their
wider lands in other parts to the potent Scropes, into
whose possession the foundership of the Abbey was
considered to have passed, and here for a long period
the Lords of Bolton were honourably interred. In
1534, John Lord Scrope " was received as the very true
and undoubted founder ;" but rich as these memories
are, and curious and interesting as a history of this
remarkable family (the coat of which to the present
day ranks next to that of the Nevilles as the prominent
heraldic decoration of the north), might prove to a
certain portion of our readers, we must content our-
selves by recording that ' in the space of three hundred
years, between 1330 and 1630, the house of Scrope
produced two earls, twenty barons, one lord chancellor,

11

four treasurers, two chief justices, one archbishop, two
bishops, five knights of the garter, and numerous bar-
onets \" Even Henry VIII. might easily have been
baulked of a queen by the Scropes, one of whom,
needing money very much, and having nothing to
make it of save the marriage of his son, and, not
affording to purchase for this son an heiress of land,
condescended to negotiate with Lady Parr for her
daughter Catherine. The custom, it seems, was to
give ten per cent, jointure, calculated on the portion
given with the lady, which latter my lord designed to
nibble ; but the friends of Lady Parr dissuaded her
from accepting the usual terms, which she herself had
once agreed to, and the business '' passed off."

The village of Easby, consisting of some half-dozen
cottages only, besides the manor house, is about a mile
from Richmond by the high road, and somewhat shorter
by a delightfully sheltered pathway, which winds by the
river side direct to the Abbey. The ruins stand most
stately and delicately aslant the rapid stream of the
Swale, and when seen on a bright sunshiny day, as we
were fortunate to enjoy on the occasion of our recent
visit, the whole panorama presents a charming softness
which nature itself alone can pourtray. The situation
vividly recalled Tintern, on the banks of the Wye, a
favourite resort of our youth ; and in viewing these
remains of abbots and monks of early times, one must
naturally be struck with the taste and judgment exer-
cised by the founders of these " religious houses" in

12

selecting localities remarkable for their romantic pic-
turesqueness. They seemed to be good judges of most
things ; and we dare venture to assert that if the vener-
able Abbot were to indulge in a " nocturnal flitting"
from his present resting place, and in his robe de nuit
costume of " white cassock with a rochet over it, a long
white cloak, and wliite cap," honour the present occu-
pier of his possessions with a visit some fine moonlight
night, whilst the latter was enjoying his Latakia under
the fine old " Abbot's elm," or meditating High Treason
against both his English and American opponents at
Epsom during a stroll through the roofless chancels of
the church, he would not select the worst-looking brood
mare and yearling from amongst the many which roam
and play round the now ivy-clad ruins of his former
stately habitation. Fairly nestling therein is one of
the most primitive and rustic of village churches — a
perfect gem — portions of which, from the exact resem-
blance of the stonework and architecture, seem to have
belonged to the old Abbey itself. The gateway, or
former entrance to the latter, almost adjoins the
churchyard, in which we noticed many curious inscrip-
tions on the dilapidated tombstones ; one marks the
resting place of Fuller, of Newmarket, who trained for
the Duke of York, and lived to the patriarchal age of
83. Nearest the church are the most magnificent
" remains" — a noble refectory or banquetting hall,
which was used for its original purpose, probably for
the first time siucc its evacuation, on the 10th of

13

August last, when a large party of two hundred dined
therein al fresco, on the occasion of the marriage of
Mr. Jaques's eldest daughter. The Abbey church
must have been of large extent, and in two sepulcbral
recesses of the north wall, said to have covered the
remains of Roald and his lady, the founders, portions
of colour, in the style of fresco painting, are remark-
ably fresh. The remains of the buildings along the
river side are most effective, but apparently in a dan-
gerous state, being almost held together by the slender
fibres of the creeping plant, which insinuates itself
amongst the crevices, and prevents the whole from
giving way. The enormous kitchen fire-place is in
wonderful preservation, as if time had withheld its
mouldering hand from a wish to show after ages that
the "abstainers'^ in those times were better cared for
than the occupants of the " religious houses'' now-a-
days would fain wish us believe. In strolling through
the oratory (we think it was) our attention was attrac-
ted to a stately beech tree, the stem of which (about
four yards in circumference), was split clean in half to
a height of at least twenty feet from the ground by the
following extraordinary freak of nature : — A few of the
nuts falling into the basin of the parent stem from
which the larger branches sprung, there took root, and
the latter, it is supposed, forced their way into the tree,
whereby a fissure was made, which enabled the wind
one stormy night to rend the tree in twain down to the
ground, in which state it has remained for years-»-one

14

half perfectly upright, and the other at right angles,
reclining on a piece of the old wall — a curious but
astounding proof of the power of nature's handiwrk !
The first blood stock we came across were Feodor-
owna and Pollj Taft, who have been enjoying a winr
ter's run in one of the paddocks here, preparatory to
being sent into training again in the spring ; and fresh
and well they looked, as well they might, with plenty
to eat, in such a sequestered spot, protected from the
wind by the surrounding acclivities, with nothing to
disturb them but the rippling of the river and the caw-
ing of the sable-feathered occupants of an extensive
rookery in a row of stately elms which occupy the north
side of the high ground overlooking the Abbey. But
we must not stop longer to ruminate upon the beauties
of this perfect little panorama, the amphitheatrical
character of which enables the spectator to take in the
whole at a glance from the house or surrounding ter-
races,— together with the river Swale (on the opposite
side of which, at Hipswell Lodge, Economist, the sire
of Harkaway, and other good horses, were bred) ; — the
Castle and town of Richmond, nestling apparently
beneath the Grand Stand on the moor, and overtopped
by the mountainous Scar of Whitcliffe, which appears
to rear itself to the very clouds ; whilst, from a seat
at the summit of the Abbey Wood, erected just above
the graves of Comedy, Burletta, and some other old
favourites, the expansive view embraces Kirkleatham
(where Van Tromp and the Flying Dutchman were

15

bred), which bounds tlie prospect on the north-east,
and takes in Hambleton End, the highest point of that
celebrated training ground (whereupon Mr Jaques's
horse, High Treason, is undergoing his Derby prepara-
tion), and the country between that point and York,
whose Minster spires can also be plainly distinguished
above the horizon.

Mr. Jaques, in the zenith of Birdcatcher's popularity,
had as many as seventy mares at Easby in one season,
but in comparison with other studs there are very few
paddocks, Mr. J. preferring to have his mares and foals
in large fields, where they can get plenty of grass —
their natural food — to eat, rather than in paddocks
of limited size, where they eat as much grass with
their feet as with their teeth. There is no gainsaying
this, and we can truthfully say that it would be impos-
sible for mares to look better than those we saw here.
The land is a dry gravelly soil, with plenty of herbage,
and the hovels and boxes all that can be required.
There is always a good supply of water, and judging
from the appearance of the foals and yearlings, their
rearing is unexceptionable. Visitors, especially for-
eigners, are invariably struck with amazement at the
apparent out-of-the-way places that have been con-
verted into boxes. The old tithe barn, for instance,
with its original lofty roof in perfect preservation, af-
fords accommodation for half-a-dozen mares, exclusive
of the foaling-box, over which Massie, the stud groom,
sleeps, so as to be always ready ; although in reality,

16

from being shy, delicate, sensitive animals, mares sel-
dom require help at tlie period of tlieir accouchement.
The mention of this tithe barn recals a curious circum-
stance, as exhibiting the truth of the old saying that a
coach-and-four might be driven through an Act of
Parliament. "When Mr. Jaques's father bought the
Easby estate in 1816 from the Cuthbert Johnsons, of
London, for £615,000 (more than double the price given
for it by their predecessors in 1788,) it was sold not
tithe-free, from an understanding that the title deeds
had gone to France in the Revolution ; but Lord Ten-
terden's Act made it tithe-free, because no claimant
appeared to make good his title within three years of
the passing thereof; whilst, in contradistinction, an
adjoining estate was purchased tithe-free on payment
of a small modus, which was afterwards upset, and the
estate made titheable !

Mr. Jaques' father began racing with the present
century, and his first brood mare was The Star mare,
the dam of Agatha, whose first foal was Frailty by Filho
da Puta, the dam of Cyprian, whose remarkable career
we recently noticed. He also had Barytes, Colo-
cynth, (who, from having a deformed foot, wore an iron
patten to support her ankle, and won the only race for
which she started). Comedy, and others, the latter of
which produced Galena, Farce, Burletta, Opera, Mal-
volio, Interlude, Semiseria, and Epilogue, and died in
1812. Mr. Jaques's turf career commenced more than
half-a- century ago, and his horses were under the care

17

of old Billy Peirse, at Belleisle^ near Riclimond (now
in the occupation of E. Gill), wliere Lord Sligo's, Lord
Kennedy^s, and Mr. Lambton's (afterwards Lord Dur-
ham's) horses, including Langar, Cavalier, "Waverley,
Dunsinane, Agricola, Consul, Borodino, Swiss, Cant,
Canteen, Manuella, &c., were also trained; and he
gave Peirse a " leg up" on the latter when he mounted
her for the Oaks, which she won in 1812. At Mr. J.'s
death, in 1842, the property with the stud came into
the possession of its present proprietor, who began
breeding with Galena and Burletta, whilst Semiseria
was one of the first racers he ran in his own name.
Galena, after being at the stud upwards of twenty
years, during which period her chief produce were St.
Martin, Galen, Playfellow, Advice, and Playmate, was
destroyed in 1829 : and Burletta, whose period of ser-
Adce as a brood mare was not so lengthy by six years,
was shot in 1857 ; she was the dam of Extravaganza
(One Act^s dam), Chantrey, Entre Nous, Pitfall, and
Fanfaronade. Both lie with their mother in the Abbey
Wood, where Nickname, dam of Castanette, (Fandan-
goes dam). Augur, and Augury is also buried. This
mare's career at the stud was so remarkable chequered
as to be worth recording. Lord Chesterfield had her
four years, during which period her first foal broke its
leg, the second year she missed to Don John, and the
fourth year her filly died twelve days old. She then
became the property of Lord Zetland, and bred Casta-
nette (the dam of Fandango) the first year, slipped her

18

foal the second, lost the third two days old, and pro-
duced Augnr the fourth year; whereupon she was bought
by Mr. Jaques, and after being barren and losing her
foal a day old, in two successive years, she gave birth
to Astrologus, Augury, and Massacre ! Semiseria — a
happy nomenclature for a daughter of Voltaire and
Comedy — was almost as successful on the Turf as her
two more matronly companions at the stud ; and being
one of the fastest mares of her day — her match on the
last half of the Ab. M. with Queen of the Gipsies
was nearly the quickest ever run — by beating in her
time such horses as Nutwith, shortly after he won the
Leger, The Cure, Peggy, Knight of the Whistle, Alice
Hawthorn, Inheritress, Ermengardis, Wee Pet, The
Shadow, Trueboy, Pagan, The Era, and others, she
certainly gave a prestige to the " brown and yellow"
which the subsequent representatives thereof have failed
to sustain. Semiseria was put to the stud at five years
old, after running for the Chester Cup, for which she
■was a tremendous " pot," and after producing Semi
Franc (whose ludicrous race with Belus at Doncaster
was his only performance,) Mildew, and a filly by Emi-
lius, she was sold with her foal for £500 to the King of
HoUand, then Prince of Orange, who had a large breed-
ing establishment at Loo, in Holland, where for a few
years some capital races were got up, at which the prizes
were sufficiently tempting to attract many good horses
from England, including The Cur, Brandy Pace, Wes-
tow, and Darkie, who, ridden by Mr. Stirling

19

Crawfurd, Mr. Gay, Sam Roger Sj and Swann, it is
scarcely necessary to add, divided the chief spoils be-
tween them. Mildew proved himself so good a two-
year-old both in public and private that Mr. Jaques
sold half of him for £1,500 to Captain Bastard, and
the horse (who was trained by Smith at Newmarket)
became first favourite for the Derby, about a week
before which he beat Lady Evelyn (four years old) at
even weights a mile and a half ! This " cracked" him,
he went a roarer, and his appearance in the paddock
clearly exhibited his loss of nerve ; but previous to the
race, wherein he ran fifth to his neighbour Voltigeur,
Mr. Jaques, who had backed Mildew to win £175,000,
hedged his money on most advantageous terms (laying
as much as £10,000 to £3,000 against the horse just
before starting), so that he stood half the original
amount almost "to nothing!" A day or two after-
wards Mr. J. re-purchased his partner^s half for a com-
parative trifle, and within a fortnight Mildew astonished
the natives by winning the Queen^s Vase at Ascot over
the larger distance of two miles. He was taken out of
training the following year and stood here from 1852
to the spring of '57, during which time he had only a
few of his owner's mares, when, on a friend of Mr J.'s
expressing a wish to become possessed of a thorough-
bred horse for £20, he was accommodated with
Mildew; but his new master so soon repented of his
bargain that, at a loss of a " fiver,'^ he transferred it to
Mr. Wright, of Richmond, who used him for a couple

20

of seasons and tlien sent liim to RawclifFe, where he
stood in 1859 ; and this season, on the strength of the
running of High Treason (whose dam was put to him
in 1857) Mr. Wright has let him for five times the sum
he gave for the horse to Mr. Halford, who also pur-
chased from Mr. W. Bird, of Prey, a two-year-old filly
by Mildew out of Prairie Bird. Such are the vicissi-
tudes to which horse flesh is liable ; but the case of
Mildew is not the only instance of this nature worth
mentioning in connexion with the Easby Stud, which
numbered in 1854 as many as thirty brood mares,
amongst whose produce may be mentioned Saunterer,
Augury, Alas, Dear Me, Crosslanes, Forbidden Fruit,
Catspaw, Sky cutter, &c. At the York August meeting
in that year Mr. Jaques reduced his stud, and John
Osborne bought Saunterer and Augury when foals for
£50 a-piece, the late Lord Londesborough purchasing
Ennui (Saunterer's dam) for £95. At the close of his
three-year-old season Mr. Merry gave Mr. Jackson 2,100
guineas for the " black 'un,^' who got back his purchase
money with interest on the Goodwood Cup the follow-
ing year ; John Osborne, we believe, refused a " thou"
for Augury ; and Lord Londesborough realised 500 gs.
for one of Ennui's yearlings — Loiterer — which Mr Ten
Broeck sold as a two-year-old to Sir Joseph Hawley for
exactly treble the sum he gave for the colt at the ham-
mer. Sir Joseph taking all Mr. Ten Broeck's bets about
Loiterer, amounting to upwards of j8700, off his hands in
the bargain ! The ridiculous tale circulated by a certain

21

portion of the press respecting a £10,000 bet between
Umpire and Loiterer, by tbeir respective owners, is a
canard, as we stated some time back. At the York sale
in question £50 was the reserve put upon the foals, and
double that sum upon several of the mares, of which
Warplot, Chisel, and another were returned without
reaching that price ; but a little later in the year the
same three were sold privately at Easby for 750 guineas
to go to France ! Days of Yore was sold for 70 guineas
in foal to Mildew, and the produce was Old Times,
which Mr. Jaques happened to see in Lucas's catalogue,
to be sold at the Liverpool July meeting two years
afterwards, and commissioned John Osborne to buy
him. His unfashionable blood and three-cornered ap-
pearance caused so little competition that Mr. Jaques
obtained the colt for 30 guineas, and at the end of his
two-year-old season sold him to Lord Derby for 800gs.
Mr. Jaques bought '\'^irginia, the dam of Virago, at the
late Mr. Stephenson^s sale for £100, in foal with Over-
reach, which latter filly he sold at two years old to Mr.
Howard for exactly five times that amount; and the
following year Mr. " Hope" gave him £500 for the
dam, who was 20 years old, and proved only a " flatter-
ing tale" by turning out barren !

Mr. Jaques^s public yearling sales have been so very
irregular, from his taste causing him to prefer to train
rather than sell, besides disposing ofhis young stock pri-
vately whenever opportunity offered, that it would not be
fair to attempt an average; but he has frequently obtained

22

good prices for liis yearlings. Mr. Gully bid 900 gs.
for Chantrey by Touchstone,, out of Burletta^ at the
hammer^ and it was bought in at 950, the reserve being
a thousand, which sum would have been given by a
well known Turfite, who rejoices in his Yorkshire
descent, but the "paper currency" proposed was not
considered equivalent to the more negotiable " promises
to pay" off the " old lady in Threadneedle-street !"
Tom Fool, Burletta's third foal by Pantaloon, which drop-
ped down dead in training at two years old, was sold at
the hammer for 500 guineas. Mr. J. refused the same
sum in his box at home for Sky King, by Birdcatcher
out of Gipsy Queen, when a yearling — unluckily, as it
turned out, for on starting him to Doncaster he broke
away from the man, galloped down the high road until
he fell from exhaustion, which brought on lock-jaw
from which he died. From the mare's rare blood — by
Tomboy out of the dam of Mendicant (Beadsman's
dam), by Tramp, her dam Kite (granddam of Orlando),
by Bustard — Mr. Jaques regarded her as a prize at 190
guineas when he bought Gipsy Queen, at the late Mr.
Fowler's sale in 1852, especially as she produced
two or three that could " run a bit," such as Cingari,
Calot, and Gipsy King ; but she turned out as unfor-
tunate as Volley had done at the Royal Stud, as Plague
Royal (her next foal after Sky King,) went wrong in
her wind, after being tried a good mare ; Curse Royal,
her sister, met with an accident when young, which
damaged her for racing purposes. High Treason has

23

escaped the " ills (horse) flesh is heir to'^ so far, though
disappointing his owner too often to be pleasant ; the
mare was barren in 1858, and it is feared is so again,
in consequence of undergoing the operation last year
of having her foal removed piecemeal before it had
arrived at maturity. She is the oldest mare in the
stud except Utopia, who is twenty-two ; the latter is
own sister to Jericho, with the purest "Waxy and Selim
blood in her veins, through Turquoise, who won the
Oaks for the Duke of Grafton, in 1828. With the ex-
ception of Sweetheart, all the other mares are young
and at the same time well bred ; amongst the number
being that serviceable friend to bookmakers, Rosati,
who for a season or two had as many admirers for the
Goodwood Stakes and Cesarewitch as her more attrac-
tive namesake had during Mr. Lumley^s regime at Her
Majesty's !

All things considered, perhaps, Mr. Jaques has been
most unfortunate at racing, considering the number of
horses he has bred, and the large prices he has given
for others — 1,500 gs. for Hurworth at two years old,
for example, who never started, and over whom he lost
twice as much more by backing him for the Derby in
West Australian's year, being at the time a stable com-
panion of the latter. He also purchased A British
Yeoman, and matched him against the late Mr. Hope
Johnstone's WilHam le Gros, at 12st, each, two miles,
at Doncaster, for 1,000 sovs. aside, p.p. ; but The Yeo-
man was too lame to start and the other walked over.

24

That he possessed a good though uncertain two-year-old
in High Treason, the horse's performances testified ; it
remains to be seen whether he will turn out a sufficiently
good three-year-old to realise the dream of his owner's
ambition by bringing the " blue riband" of the Turf to
Easby, when we may reasonably expect to see the pre-
sent comfortable old residence replaced by a mansion
worthy of the locality, in commemoration of a triumph
so intimately associated with that "classic ground !"

The stallion-yard is large, and most pleasantly situated
by the river side, in a most secluded part of the ruins,
and its occupants, it will be seen from the following list
of the horses that have stood at Easby each season since
1847, have included some of the highest planets of the
racing hemisphere : —

1847 — Emilius and Clarion.

1848— Birdcatcher.

1849 — Birdcatcher and Assault.

1850 — Pyrrhus the First and Burgundy.

1851— Pyrrhus the First.

1852 — Birdcatcher, Gameboy and Mildew.

1853 — Birdcatcher, Gameboy and Mildew.

1854 — Birdcatcher, Gameboy and Mildew.

1855 — Birdcatcher, Gameboy and Mildew.

1856 — Gameboy and Mildew.

1857 — Weatherbit and Gameboy.

1858 — Teddington and Weatherbit.

1859 — Weatherbit and Papageno,

I860 — Weatherbit and Neasham.

."^ . s^

^

^

25

Few horses enjoyed greater reputation on the turf
and at the stud than EmiHus, who^ from ha^ing ended
his days here, deserves a passing notice in our descrip-
tion of this stud, comparable as was his career amongst
the past with that of Touchstone of the present day.
Emilius won the Derby in 18.23, and was the sire of
Priam and Plenipotentiary, both winners of the Derby,
and each is still upheld by the '' old schooF' as the best
horse the Turf ever saw ; of Oxygen, winner of the
Oaks ; of Mango, winner of the St. Leger ; of EucHd,
^ho ran a dead heat for the same race with Charles
XII. ; of Marcus, the only horse that ever beat Camar-
ine ; of Preserve, second to Queen of Trumps for the
Oaks ; of Extempore, winner of the Thousand Guineas,
'and second to Cymba for the Oaks ; of Pompey, Rid-
dlesworth, Theon, Ben y Ghlo, and many other good
horses, numbering nearly 150 winners, of which Eng-
land's Glory was nearly the last. He was also grandsire
of Crucifix (dam of Surplice, Cowl, &c.). Miss Letty, In-
■dustry (dam of Lady Evelyn), and Poison, all four win-
ners of the Oaks, a distinction Lady Evelyn also lays
claim to ; while Surplice had the honour of carrying off
both Derby and Leger in 1848, the first time that great
double event had been accomplished since the com-
mencement of the present century, when Champion
Mas the winner of both races in 1800. Emilius's terms
were 50 guineas for a number of years, but Lord George
Bentinck having hired the horse for the seasons of 1845
and 1846, reduced his price to 20 guineas ; and some

26

idea of his vigorous constitution maj'^ be formed from
the circumstance of uo fewer than twenty-three foals
being officially returned to him in the Calendar of the
latter year, though limited to twelve mares, besides his
noble lessee's, who is credited with twelve of the pro-
duce ! Mr. Jaques, who reduced his fee to 16 guineas,
hired him from Mr. Thornhill's executors on the break-
up of the Riddlesworth stud, for his opening season
(I847j at Easby, for £100, and owing to his great age
insured his life — the first pohcy of the knd ever issued
by the office — for that amount, which curiously enough
"fell in," owing to the horse dying in the August of
that year, aged twenty-seven — it may be said from
Gver-kindness, in consequence of one of the grooms
having given him, as an extra treat, a feed of whole
oats, which the poor old fellow was unable to masticate.
He lies buried in a small paddock by the river side,
formed out of the Abbey ruins; and an old crosiered
tombstone (supposed to be that of a cardinal) placed
in the wall denotes the resting-place of one of the most
celebrated horses of the British turf. Mr. Jaques has
presented some mementoes of the old horse — his shank
bones, which resemble ivory, form the silver-mounted
handles to a " round of beef knife and fork," and two
of his feet have been formed into a snuff-box and ink-
stand. Birdcatcher, or " Irish" Birdcatcher, as he was
then called, to distinguish him from a horse of Sir
Richard Bulkley's of the same name at that time lining,
though not enrolled amongst the gallery of Derby or

27

St. Leger winners^ enjoyed a brilliant but sliort repu-
tation as a race horse^ having on one occasion run
Harkaway of the same age to a head at a mile, giving
the latter 201b.; and as a sire the success of his stock,
which mostly exhibited his speedy characteristics, de-
servedly obtained for him the highest honours at the
stud. He originally stood in Ireland, but had compa-
ratively few mares, though he got The Baron (winner of
the St. Leger), and Chanticleer, whose running caused
him to be better patronised during his two first seasons
here, when his terms were 16 guineas. He went back
to the Curragh for the season of 1850, and the follow-
ing year stood at Newmarket, where he must have had
comparatively few mares, for his foals decreased from
26 to half a dozen in the two years ! In 1852, he
returned to his old quarters at Easby, at an increased
rate of 25 guineas, which, in consequence of his son
Daniel O'Rourke winning the Derby, and his three
daughters. Songstress, Bird-on-the-Wing, and Gossa-
mer, running fii'st, second, and third for the Oaks, was
raised to 50 guineas in ^53, and remained so for the
two next seasons, his subscription (limited to thirty
mares besides his lessee's) being full each season ! In
1853, Mr. Jaques, though paying the high rent of ^£800
for Birdcatcher, cleared upwards of jglOOO by him,
having received " half forfcit^^ from two subscribers who
wished to be let off which enabled Mr. J. to take in
two other mares for which he had no vacancy, so that
in reality he received 75 guineas for each of the latter.

28

besides the sum of jE.236 for seven others^ and having
eight of his own mares covered into the bargain ! Bird-
catcher afterwards stood at Cawston Lodge for tliree
successive seasons^ at the reduced price of 20 guineas,
and last year returned to his owner^s stables, at the
Curragh, where he stood at 15 guineas. Few strains of
blood have proved more successful than the Sir Hercules,
and we alwaj^s regretted the loss of the Baron, after
leaving such a noble specimen of his race behind him
as Stockwell, for though the former does not appear to
have done much in France, the difference of treatment
horses are there subjected to in the Hai*as is sufficient
to account for his failure in that country. Birdcatcher
stood first on the list of successful stallions in 1852'
and 1856, his stock winning £16,775 (including Derby
and Oaks) and agl5,987 (including the St. Leger) >
third in 1855, fifth in 1857, and sixth in 1854 (including
the St. Leger) and 1 858 ; whilst his son Chanticleer
was second in the latter year with £11,147 (including
the St. Leger) and his son the Baron stood third with
only three winners in 1852, with £10,195, (including
the St. Leger). Last year the old horse stood eighth
on the list, with £7,035, being within £50 of Mr.
Merry's " gallant grey." Altogether, as near as we can
calculate, from 1841 to the end of 1849, Birdcatcher
produced 335 winners of 718^ races, of the value of
£117,603, including one Derby, one Oaks, and three
St. Legers, and " any quantity^' of cups and other large
races ! Pvrrhus the First commenced his career here.

29

and Gameboy, it will be seeii^ served quite an appren-
ticesLip at Easby ; but neitlier particularly distinguished
himself ; for though Virago happened to be got here,
which gave " Pyrrhus^' a momentary presti(/e, which his
owner took advantage of at the proper moment by
raising his fee from 10 guineas to 30 guineas and letting
him to the foreigners before the indifferent quality of
his stock, since the occurrence of that extraordinary
freak of nature, exhibited itself. Teddington, it will
be seen, stood here one season, but had not a quarter of
the six-and-twenty mares, at 20 guineas each, his sub-
scription was limited to, as an absurd notion originally
prevailed with respect to this very superior horse, that
he was too small to breed from. His owner, after all,
perhaps, ought to congratulate himself that the public
did not take to the horse kindly at first, for after
working his way solely by merit to the front rank, he
is now comparatively fresh, with every prospect of
maintaining the prestige of his distinguished sire.

The present occupants of the harem at Easby are
Weatherbit and Neasham, the latter of whom, having
been sent into the north by his owner, Mr. Blenkiron,
in order to try his fortune in the district where his
blood is better known than in the south, replaces
Papageno, who met with an accident which caused his
death shortly after returning to Wales at the close of
last season. Weatherbit is one of the last of old Sheet
Anchor^s stock left, and one of the few stallions in the
country with the Emilius and Priam blood in his veins.

30

Miss Letty, his dam, being one of the three daughters
of the last-named horse that won the Oaks, previously
referred to. He is a rich brown, powerful horse, on
remarkably short legs, with fine shoulders, immense
back, and great depth of quarter ; he is a little hght in
his girth as well as in his thighs, perhaps, compared
with other portions of his body, and at first sight
appears deficient in bone below the knee, but they are
strong flat legs, and his stock exhibit no want of that
material characteristic. He has a beautiful head, and
his lively disposition bespeaks a healthy constitution.
Weatherbit was a good race horse though an unfortunate
one, and the Danebury stable, supported by the sub-
sequent running of Weatherbit and Old England at
Ascot, attribute the loss of the Derby in ] 845, for
which he and Idas almost divided the favouritism at
starting, solely to the disappointment he met with at
Tatteuham Corner through jumping over Pam, who fell
just before him — not the only contretemps connected
Avith the race, as Alarm and The Libel had a " round ""
before starting, which resulted in Mr. GrcAdlle's horse
getting rid of Nat, and ''playing Old Harry^' with his
chance by galloping down the hill and running against
the chains ! Mr. Gully sold Weatherbit when four
years old for 800 guineas to the Duke of Bedford, and
he stood at Oakley and Newmarket, where he got
Weathergage (whose running at once brought him into
notice as a stallion), Drumoiu' (one of the best horses
of his year, as was shown by his running Leamington

31

to a neck at a difference of 61b. only for the j'car),
Pampa, The Farmer's Son, &c. The Duke of Bedford
sold Weatherbit to Sir Wm. Gooch, and at his death
Mr. JaqueSj who always entertained a " sneaking
affection" for the horse, made an offer for him ; biit the
executors stood out for more than double, though glad
to come to Mr. Jaques's own terms afterwards, and in
the spring of 1857 that gentleman bought him for 350
guineas — a bargain, as events subsequently turned out.
That season he commenced his career at Easby at 15
guineas, and had twenty-four mares, besides seven of
his owner's ; in 1858, he had thirty-three, and six of
his owner's ; and in consequence of Beadsman's Derby
victory, which placed him fourth in the list of success-
ful stallions, was raised to 25 guineas last year, when
he covered thirty mares, (of which number John
Osborne sent a dozen), besides fifteen of Mr. Jaques's.
His forthcoming season promises to be equally satis-
factory.

The few yearlings at Easby, compared with the num-
ber of mares, is accounted for by the cii'cumstance of
Sweetheart and the Belle being barren in 1859 ; of
Leprosy, Curse Royal, and Malaria being maidens ; and
of Augusta, Agapemone, Eosati, Fanfaronade, Lizzie,
and Leah being recent purchases ; whilst the loss of
Gipsy Queen's foal has been already referred to. Of
the seven yearlings five are colts. "We first saw the
two fillies called Summer Goose (sister to Wcatherwich)
and Judy O'Rourkc (sister to The Leprechaun), who

32

occupy a splendid paddock at the end of the Terrace.
The latter^ from her superior size and powerful mould,
looks like carrying weight to hounds, and, by many,
would probably be preferred to her companion, who,
though not so big or so strong-limbed, is a rare goer,
and a wiry, clever filly, with particularly good quarters.
Our south-country readers, although partial to a "■ green
goose" and a bird of the same tribe at Michaelmas,
may not be acquainted with a ^' Summer Goose," which
derives its appellation in Yorkshire, where the glimmer-
ing haze which intercepts the view in looking at distant
objects, especially on high ground, and which portents
fine weather, is called by that name. Hence the ap-
propriateness of the title in this instance. Who's Who
and Fairy Seat run together in the small paddock where
Emilius is buried. Each has four white legs, and Who's
Who uses his in a manner to warrant the belief that he
will show his heels to many an opponent hereafter. He
exhibits much more of the characteristics of Tedding-
ton than Weatherbit, except in colour; and though
looking bad in his coat when we saw him, from having
had the distemper very recently, we could not help
taking a strong fancy to him. In size, however, he is
not to be compared to Neptunus, by Weatherbit, out of
Athena Pallas, who from having been born in February,
has four or five months' advantage in age, is more fur-
nished, and is a fine lengthy colt, with action that looks
like staying any distance. He has immense bone and
limbs, beautiful shoulders, and good girth, but is a trifle

33

slack in his loins ; stands on very short legs^ and has
a countenance full of good nature. He ought to make
a race horse. His companion, Attaman, who was
bought with his dam (Augusta) last summer at Tatter-
sail's, is a most promising specimen of Muscovite's stock
— lengthy, strong, compact, with plenty of quality, and
such a rare goer that it is not at all improbable many
may prefer him to the big'un, Neptunus. Remedy's
first produce. Kill or Cure, which claims the joint pater-
nity of Teddington and Weatherbit, had also been a
severe sufferer from distemper, and of the colts took
our fancy less than anything except Fairy Seat. "When
Mr. Jaques reduced his stud in 1857, his old groom, T.
Winteringham, went to the Croft Stud Farm, near
Darlington, and was succeeded by Massie, the present
stud groom, who appears to be a pains-taking, careful
servant. The horses, mares, and yearlings at present
under his charge are as follows : —

STALLIONS.

Weatherbit (19) by Sheet Anchor, out of Miss Letty, by
Priam, her dam by Orville — Buzzard — Hornpipe, by
Trumpator.

Neasham (12) by Hetman Platoff out of Wasp, by Mu-
ley Moloch, grandam by Emilius out of Bee in a
Bonnet, by Blacklock — Maniac, by Shuttle — Antici-
pation, by Bcningbrough — Skim, &c., &c.

u

BROOD MARES.

Utopia (^22) sister to Jericho, by served by

Jerry, out of Torquoise, by Selim
— Pope Joan, by AVaxy Kiug of Trumps,

Gipsy Queen C2Q) by Tomboy out of| -^^.tberbit & King '
Lady Moor Carew, by Tramp, V of Trumps

grandam Kite by Bustard ; ^

Sweetheart (17) by The Doctor, out
of Sunbeam, by Vanish — Ultima
by Bourbon AVeatherbit.

Athena Pallas (11) by Birdcatcher,

out of Miuers' a, by Muley Moloch "Weatherbit.

The BeUe (10) by Birdcatcher out of

The Biddy, by Bran Weatherbit.

Augusta (10) by Birdcatcher, out of") Muscovite and Wea-
Momento, by Voltaire 3 therbit.

Remedy (9) by The Cure, out of

Toung Madcap, by Passenger . . "Weatherbit.

Streatlam Fairy (9) by Epirus, out

of The Flapper, by Touchstone. . "Weatherbit.

Agapemone (9) (Sister to Aphro-
dite) by Bay Middleton, out of
Venus, by Sir Hercules "Weatherbit.

Rosati (7) by Alarm, dam Duver-

nay, by Emilius Vindex.

Fairy Stone (6) by Touchstone, out

of Titania, by Emilius AVeatherbit.

Actress (6) by Annandale, out of) Weatherbit and Bang
Epilogue, by Inheritor } of Trumps

Fanfaronade (G) by Gameboy, out

of Burletta, by Actaeon "Weatherbit.

Lizzie (5) by Orlando, out of Hor-
sey, by Glaucus "Weatherbit.

Leah (5) by Collingwood, out of

Termagant, by Cotherstonc .... "^"eatherbit.

35

Curse Eoyal (4) by Mildew, out of

Gipsy Queen, by Tomboy "Weatherbit.

Malaria (3) by Mildew, out of The

Belle, by Birdcatcber TVeatberbit.

Leprosy (5) by Mildew, out of

Athena Pallas, by Birdcatcber . . Maiden,

YEARLINGS.

Neptunus, b. c, by Weatlierbit^ out of Athena Pallas.
Who's Who, br. c, by Weatherbit or Tcddington, out

of Actress.
Attaman, b. c., by Muscovite, out of Augusta.
Kill or Cure, b. c, by Teddington or Weatherbit, out

of Remedy.
Fairy Seat, ch. c, by Idle Boy, out of Fairy Stone.
Judy O'Rourke, b. f., by Daniel O'Rourke, out of

Streatlam Fairy.
Summer Goose, br. f., by Weatherbit, out of Utopia.

In concluding our notice of the "Easby Abbey Stud,''
the name of whos e proprietor has long been a " house-
hold word," familiar alike to the sportsmen and the
agriculturists of Yorkshire, it may not be out of place
to refer to the two very flattering public testimonials
which have been presented to Mr. Jaques in that county
— one in the shape of his portrait, by Phillips, sub>
scribed for by the farmers of Richmondshire for getting
up the Farmers' Club and Agricultural Association at
Richmond ; — the other consisting of a handsome can-
delabra, which was given to Mr. J. by the citizens of
York, as an acknowledgment of the zealous interest he

3G

manifested in reviving York races at Mr, Orton's death
in 1843 ; Tvlicn, in accepting tlic stewardship^ he stipu-
lated that the sum of £} ,000 should be given to the
stakes, and half as much towards forming the inclosure
and effecting other improvements on Knavesmire,
" poor Orton" having previously originated the Great
Yorkshire Stakes. Mr. Jaques was formerly a large
farmer, and once gave as much as £500 for a cow, with
which he made money. His short-horns invariably
gained premiums at the Richmondshire, Northallerton,
and Yorkshire meetings, held at Doncaster, Hull, and
York; and he also carried off prizes at the Cambridge and
Bristol meetings of the Eoyal Agricultural Society of
England in 1840 and 1842 with Mermaid, Clementi,
and Golden Drop. On taking leave of his agricultural
friends, in order to devote his attention to the Turf,
Mr. Jaques indulged in the folloAving prophecy, which
has been fulfilled to the letter : — " Long-established
habits and prejudices are hard indeed to break through,
but want is a task-master that will take no refusal ; and
the time has arrived when the farmer of small capital
■will find it impossible to keep his place in society, if he
persist in attempting, with the knowledge and practices
of the last century, to supply the wants of this I"

BICHMOND: PRINTED BY JOHN BELl..

R. M. JAQUES, ESQ.

OF EASBY ABBEY, RICHMOND, YORKSHIRE.

It very rarely happens for a man to achieve any great
eminence in a pursuit where natural taste is not one of
the chief reasons for engaging in it. The heartiness
with which he sets about and continues his endeavours,
goes very far of itself, in this country, to ensure a
favourable opinion with the public, if not absolute
success in the experiment. There are few stronger or
better examples of this than that afforded in the life of
a man whose fortune and position rank him as an Eng-
lish country gentleman — a character which, however
enviable in the abstract, has to mainly depend on the
habits and disposition of its representative for the
respect and good properties so generally attached to it.
If the squire of the parish has unhappily no enjoyment
in rural life, or the society of those with whom it is
connected — if he goes through the common customs,
and fulfils the certain duties of his station, merely
because he feels, or perhaps, rather is told, he ought to
pay attention to them, or that so much has invariably
been expected from the family at the Hall — if there is
little beyond these forms and ceremonies to actuate him,
his name and countenance to the middle, his kindness

F

38

and generosity to the lower classes^ will, depend upon it,
be received with very much of that same want of innate
sympathy and cordiality with which it is given. On
the other hand, if the true country gentleman has the
health, heart, and spirit to enter bodily into the well-
doing of those around him — if he can really feel an
interest and a pleasure not only in watching their pro-
gress, but in entering on the same employment of time
and capital himself — if he has abiUty sufficient to stand
amongst the first in suggesting improvement, and deter-
mination enough to figure as forward in carrying it out
— if to the simple weight of his name he can add the
counsel of experience and the zeal of participation, he
will command an afi'ectionate regard and a proud
popularity, that no false pretences or forced motives, let
them be ever so well contrived and concealed, could
either excite or retain.

On these favourable terms have we to introduce Mr.
Jaques as an English gentleman, while at the same time
the very fact of his portrait appearing in this work
guarantees him as an English farmer — a union that
never yet failed in further increasing the advantages
and recommendations of both characters. To the latter,
indeed, of the two so interested, Mr. Jaques has in
every way been more than a usually sincere and service-
able friend ; his doings and successes as an agriculturist
bearing rather on what has been efi'ected for a whole
body of farmers than any particular individual honour
or object devised or accomplished for himself alone.

39

Very many men, we are aware it may be said, have
attempted this wholesale system of advancing a cause
it is their desire to see improve ; but none possessing
equal fortune, and consequently equal temptation to do
things by deputy, have studied or worked harder for
the genuine good of the farmer than the subject of our
present notice. Power of purse, to be sure, is a very
fine starting point ; but when we can join with it
absolutely hard labour in furthering its beneficial
influence — when we can witness such labour, well
directed and long continued, gratefully acknowledged
by those for whom it was employed, and triumphantly
defeating those difficulties it had encountered, we must
give as in the present instance, the well-earned laurels
to the able man rather than to the rich one.

Our opinion of the benefit arising from the estab-
lishment of farmers' clubs and local agricultural
meetings has been too often repeated to require further
consideration here ; but were we requested to name any
one whose object, management, and success would
afi'ord a good model for a new society of the same
description about to be founded, we should unhesita-
tingly point to the Richmondshire Agricultural Associa-
tion, or the Richmondshire Farmers' Club. And again,
were we pressed to give some reason for the admirable
system of either or both these institutions, we would
impress upon our inquirer the manifest advantages of
a good practical working patron, and furnish him with
the name and address of R. M. Jaques, Esq., the late

40

president of one, and chairman and acting secretary of
the other ; through whose indefatigable exertions and
■well apphed liberality they have chiefly reached that
high position they now enjoy. Indeed, Mr. Jaques's
efforts, suggestions, and improvements in agriculture
have been so intimately connected with the transactions
of these two societies, that it will be necessary for us to
take something like a brief review of their rise and
progress in enumerating the leading features in the
career of their worthy "guide, philosopher, and friend.^'
The Richmondshire Agricultural Association held its
first annual meeting in 1836 ; Mr. Jaques becoming
president on the retirement of the Earl of Zetland,
about the fourth year from its commencement. The
Farmers' Club dates its origin some years after the
Association, the rules and original Kst of members not
being published before the July of 1841, in which we
find Mr. Jaques leading ofi* with the oflBces he yet fills
of chairman and secretary. The Agricultural Associa-
tion, although from the first gradually increasing in
strength, did not reach any great or general importance
until the fifth meeting, in October, 1810, when, amongst
other additions to its funds and attractions, Mr. Jaques
gave a judicious help in the following offer : — Two
premiums at the next meeting, for stock the property of
tenants at less than 500 pounds a-year rent ; five
pounds for the best cow, and five pounds for the best
two-year-old heifer. The increase of the usual pre-
miums at this agricultural show was afterwards at the

41

suggestion of Mr. Jaques, still further carried out by
the formation of an additional class for that purpose ;
which was subsequently adopted by the Northallerton,
Stockton, and other local shows in the neighbourhood
at their foi'mation. The good policy of confining
certain premiums to such a class of agriculturists can
scarcely be too greatly extolled ; if any men need en-
couragement in their vocations, the small tenant farmer
is surely one of the first who should have it. At the
majority of these shows, however, we confess, the com-
petition in almost everything being left entirely open,
the farmer who is fighting his way up has disadvantages
to contend with that often render it next to impossible
for him to exhibit his stock on fair terms, or with any
reasonable hope of success ; the great wealth alone of
many of his opponents gi^'ing them a pull in all that
relates to breeding and rearing stock, which the mere
industry and experience of the man who farms for
bread, could scarcely be expected even for a moment
to stand up against. To remedy this, and give every
person, from the highest to the lowest interested in
agriculture, a chance in attending and a pleasure in
supporting such meetings, let every show have a stake
formed on the principle of that Mr. Jaques started at
the Richmond Association in 1840, and then shall we
have farmer Jones showing as much delight and pride
in beating his neighbour Brown, as his Royal Highness
Prince Albeit or His Grace the Duke of Richmond, in
beating all the world.

42

The next suggestion we have to notice, as proposed
by Mr. Jaques, and afterwards acted upon mainly
through his instrumentality, is equally worthy of atten-
tion and adoption, as far as it well can be, by managers
of other societies of this character. Up to this very
day, perhaps the most objectionable, as decidedly least
satisfactory, department in the usual order of agricul-
tural associations is that in which the implements are
exhibited. With manufacturers who have a really good
article, and purchasers who wish to have one, the short
time and opportunity allowed for trial can scarcely ever
be conducive of any lasting benefit to either. The one
may almost as well spare himself that pro forma trouble,
by putting just as much recommendation as he pleases
into his circular ; and the other rest contented with
reading it. Mr. Jaques, with his usual judgment and
spirit, was the first both to acknowledge and counteract
the effects of this growing e^al. At the Bristol meeting
of the Royal Agricultural Society, in his capacity as
president of the Richmond Association, he purchased
one hundred pounds' worth of the best implements
exhibited, and then and there incited their inventors
and makers to a week^s trial of them on a farm of his,
called Broken Brea. This challenge was readily taken
up, in the same straightforward tone it was given, by
Messrs. Ransome, Clayburn, Crosskill, and other leading
machinists ; and a week passed in testing the merits of
the difi'erent inventions, that every farmer may refer
to with advantage, and that many a manufacturer has

43

to thank for establishing the name and fame of his
productions. The latter gentlemen, as a body, were
loud in their approval of the course determined on by
Mr. Jaques ; and Mr. Ransome, in returning thanks
on their behalf, paid a well-merited compliment to the
chairman and his project, which we cannot, from its
a-propos character, do better than repeat : " He " (Mr.
E-ansome) " was perfectly satisfied with the manner in
which the trial of implements had been conducted.
If any advantage was to be derived from the use of
good and perfect implements, that advantage would be
increased in a tenfold degree could they bring them
forth under circumstances of fair competition. At
agricultural meetings, the time appointed for carrying
into operation the awarding of premiums to implements
was so short, that it was in the power of any one who
chose to compete for the prize, and beguile the judg-
ment of the judges by a machine which for a short
time would perform its work, but if subjected to a fair
test would be found to be, on the whole, incompetent
to that for which it was intended. The prize, under
such circumstances, however valuable it was for puffing
the exhibitor of the implement into notoriety, instead
of tending to supply the farmer with good implements,
often induced him to purchase such as turned out ulti-
mately to be worthless. To such an extent had this
been the case, that he (Mr. Ransome) had determined
in future not to place his implements in competition
with those of others ; but upon hearing of the proposi-

44

tion of Mr. Jaques, he made up his mind to attend if
it were possible for him to do so. A too exclusive
dwelling upon their own perfections often blinded indi-
viduals to the merits of others ; but from the present
trial, both he and his competitors would reap an
amount of advantage which would tend to induce them
to introduce better implements than any of them had
done before. He congratulated the society on having
so respectable, enterprising, and spirited a man as Mr.
Jaques at its head.^*

The kind of " thorough investigation " thus auspici-
ously opened on has, we believe, been to a certain
extent since continued by the Richmondshire Agricul-
tural Association.* In proof of this we may mention,
amongst many other proposals for establishing such an
annual weeVs work, an offer made at tbis same meeting
to Mr, Ransome, by the chairman, Mr. Jaques, viz ,
that if ]\Ir. Ransome would attend, with implements
from his manufactory, any similar trials at Richmond,
Mr. Jaques would, in the event of his being awarded
the first prize, pay all his \isitors^ expenses; if only
a second prize, pay half his expenses ; and if entirely
unsuccessful, Mr. Ransome to pay his own. The fol-
lowing year !Mr. Ransome availed himself of this offer,

* A considerable portion of the implements purchased
having afterwards been distributed as prizes, instead of, and
far preferable (as we think), to " money down," the
expenses of the association were but little increased by this
experiment.

45

by sending down one of his ploughs, a pair of Suffolk
horses, and a managing man ; and being thus entirely
furnished with his own work and workmen, carried off
the first prize in a field of twenty-seven competing
ploughs. The liberality of this invitation is scarcely
superior to the well defined terms on which it was given,
as it naturally stands to reason that no one, without
great confidence in the actual utility of what he pur-
posed exhibiting, would avail himself of it. It is not,
however, with the implements alone that Mr. Jaques
has been so energetic in ascertaining their real virtues
for the benefit of those with whom he is connected, he
having two or three years previous to this set apart a
certain portion on one of his farms for trying every
new variety of wheat procurable. These samples,
moreover, were dibbled at different distances (a mode
of planting not very generally adopted with this seed),
while the crop was always open for the inspection of
any members of the association.

With the Farmers' Club matters are equally well
managed ; in the chief features of which, right worthy
of attention from its contemporaries, are a register
ofiice for farm servants, started under the patronage of
the club, and the custom of bringing forward and
discussing on appointed occasions all sorts of subjects
in any way bearing on the interests of farming and
farmers. In these home-made arguments, so calculated
to draw out and encourage men even of the most
moderate pretensions, it is hardly necessary to add that
o

46

the chairman and secretary take a very prominent and
able part ; as indeed he does in everythiug connected
uith that science — if we may thus designate it — to
which he has so continually and successfully devoted
his energies. In selecting and breeding his cattle we
find the same determination to have the best, a state-
ment which the stock sales at St. Trinians (Mr. Jaques's
residence previous to the decease of his father), show
ample evidence in support of, that might be yet further
increased by the fact of Mr. Jaques's short-horns not
only almost invariably gaining premiums at the Rich-
mondshire, Northallerton, and Yorkshire Meetings,
held at Doncaster, Hull, and York, but also in their
having, at the Cambridge Meeting of the Royal
Agricultural Society of England in 1840, taken two
prizes, when their owner had sent but those two to be
exhibited. These were a yearhng heifer. Mermaid, and
a bull called Clementi, portraits of both of which have
appeared in this work. Also at the Bristol meeting, in
1842, a yearling heifer. Golden Drop, obtained the
premium.

The sale of short-horns at St. Trinians, in October,
1841, and September, 1844, when Mr. Jaques, we trust
for a time only, gave up breeding, we insert here as the
" confii-mation strong '' of the talent displayed by
comparatively so young a hand.

Name. Sold for. Purchased by.

Melody 173 gs. Lord Hill

Mermaid 165 Mr. Booth, of Killerby

\

s

47

Name.

Sold for.

Purchased hy.

Golden Drop

160

Lord Hill

Lady Anne

135

Mr. Parkinson, of Leyfields

Young Rachael

100

Mr. Brown

Concertina

87

Lord Hill

Dahlia

70

Mr. Harrison

Celia

67

Mr. Baker

Victoria

61

Mr. Brown

Warren Rose

61

Mr. Wetherell

Epaulet

60

Mr. Brown

Rosa

50

Mr. Hincks

Wild Rose

45

Mr. Knowles

Romp

42

Mr. Foster

Violet

40

Mr. Maynard

Etta

40

Mr. Drury

Rosebud

40

Mr. Mauleverer

HEIFER CALVES.

Hippodamia

60

Mr. Lewis

Purity

51

Mr. Lewis

Caradori

41

Mr. Barker

Catilani

23

Mr. Barker

BULLS.

Clementi 150 Mr. Rutson

Dulcimer, a bull calf 105 Mr. Booth, of Killerby

Magistrate, a year-
ling bull 40 Mr. Harrison
The very excellent painting and portrait from which

our engraving is taken occupied a distinguished place

48

in the exhibition of pictures at the Rojal Academy the
year before last, with a line or two of particulars in the
catalogue that proclaim Mr. Jaques's worth far more
concisely and decisively, perhaps, than all we have said
in our endeavours to do justice to it. The heading runs
and reads thus : —
"Portrait of E. M. Jaques, Esq. Painted for the

Farmers* Club, Hichmond, and presented by the

Members to Mr. Jaques."

This is as it should be, and in recording the very
high and appropriate mark of respect the members of
the Hichmond Farmers' Club have paid to their Chair-
man, in this portrait of an Eminent British Farmer,
we cannot but congratulate them, in the words of Mr.
Ransome, " on having so respectable, enterprising, and
spirited a man as Mr. Jaques at their head.**

H PhiUzps.Ad

RS Beckmtk.

PRESENTATION OF A PORTRAIT TO
R. M. JAQUES, ESQ.

Extracted from, " The Yorkshire Gazette" of February \Qth, 1844 ; and
engra.ved for the Proprietors of "The Farmer's Magazine" "Sporting
Review" " British Farmer's Magazine" "New Sporting Magazine" and
" The Sportsman," January, 1846.

On Saturday last, a beautiful and faithfully executed
portrait of R. M. Jaques, Esq., of Easby Abbey, near
Bichmond, was presented to that gentleman, in the long
room of the King's Head Inn, Richmond, kept by Mr.
Jacob Hills, by the members of the Richmondshire
Farmers* Club, of which Mr. Jaques is the president.
The meetings of this club are held periodically; and
whilst they are of a social character, yet much useful
information on all subjects connected with farming ope-
rations, and tending to the prosperity of the agricultural
interest, is elicited- At one period the society did not
consist of more than half-a-dozen members ; but since
Mr. Jaques became its president, such has been the
spirit displayed by that gentleman, and such has been
his desire to promote the benefit of his fellow-creatures,
that there are now nearly 300 members belonging to the
club. Upwards of 100 members were at the dinner ;
and owing to the portrait being elevated at one end of

50

the room, every person present had a distinct view of it.
We understand that it was painted by Mr. Phillips, of
London ; the likeness was admirable, and in every other
respect we may say that it was faultless. It was indeed
worthy of the liberality of the gentlemen who had con-
tributed towards it. An excellent and substantial dinner
was provided on the occasion. R. M. Jaques, Esq.,
presided. After the cloth had been removed,

The Chairman proposed in succession, the healths
of the Queen, the Queen Dowager, Prince Albert, Al-
bert Prince of Wales, and the rest of the Royal Family,
which were responded to.

Capt. Harland then said, that the toast of the day
next in interest to all of them had been deputed to him,
connected as it was with the presentation of a portrait
to their esteemed president, Mr. Jaques. (Applause).
He could not help feeUng exceedingly gratified from
having been chosen by the friends of Mr. Jaques to
present the portrait, on account of the very valuable ser-
vices which had been rendered by him to the cause
which was highly dear to them all. But he most deeply
regretted that they had not made choice of some other
individual, who would perhaps have presented the por-
trait in a more agreeable manner. They must all be
aware that the world presented to the man of wealth a
great many pleasures, which, however frivolous and eva-
nescent in themselves, were of a fascinating character ;
but when in a private manner he was giving his time,
and talents, and wealth for the good and prosperity of

51

his neighbours, it proved not only beneficial to his coun-
try, but creditable to himself. (Cheers). Many then
present would be aware that between thirty and forty
years ago, a club was established in Richmond by a
number of gentlemen attending the market. The meet-
ings not only promoted social intercourse among them,
but they were also intended for the discussion of topics
highly interesting to them. Thus pleasure and profit
were mingled together. He was of opinion that the
interests of agriculture (whatever might be said to the
contrary) ought to hold the highest place in the estima-
tion of every man who bore the name of Englishman,
and he trusted the time was far distant when agriculture
would cease to be encouraged or deprived of its fair
protection. (Applause). Five or six years ago, it was
proposed by Mr. Lax, and immediately responded to,
that an agricultural society should be established in
Richmond. The suggestion was acted upon — the so-
ciety was formed — it made rapid progess, and its success
had been very great. With the exception of the great
national societies, he should say that the Richmondshire
Agricultural Association was second to none in the
kingdom ; nor was it second to them except as to num-
bers, because the quality of the stock which had been
exhibited at the shows was of first-rate description, and
equal, if not superior, to any other in the country. Mem-
bers of that association successfully competed against
cattle brought from every part of the country ; and his
worthy friend on his left (he meant Mr. Booth) had not

52

only obtained prizes for liis stock, but he also had had
the credit of exhibiting a cow which was confessedly
the finest animal in the kingdom. (Applause.) This was
creditable, in the very highest degree, to the Richmond-
shire Society ; and to no one had the society been more
highly indebted than to Mr. Jaques. (Cheers.) Under
his presidency it had attained its present pre-eminence.
A shoAV and trial of useful agricultural implements took
place at Broken Brea last year, and it was through his
(Mr. Jaques's) instrumentality and hberality that they
were so extensively and fairly tested. (Loud applause.)
That he conceived to be a matter of much greater im-
portance than the bare exhibition of stock. The im-
provement of the breed of cattle beyond a certain point
could not proceed ; but who should set limits to mecha-
nical invention and power ? In his opinion these were
illimitable, interminable, and inexhaustible. He doubted
aot that with a better acquaintance with soils and ma-
nures the earth would be made to yield her increase to
an extent which was never thought of before by the most
sanguine. This naturally brought to his mind another
society over which Mr. Jaques presided, and the number
of persons who attended that day sufficiently attested
the success of his exertions — he meant the Farmers^ Club.
If the objects of that club were fairly carried out, they
must necessarily lead to the most beneficial results.
Amidst discussion, the more practical man would be
taught to think what he never perhaps thought before,
aye, and on subjects too of which he never before dreamt.

53

It would teach him to seek for informatiou from people
who perhaps he before lightly esteemed^ and from quar-
ters which he before utterly despised. He would trace
effects to their natural causes, and confer a gi'eat benefit
upon society at large. (Applause). Justly estimating
the value of Mr. Jaques^s services in these matters, they
were anxious to present to him some testimonial of re-
spect by which his contemporaries, as well as his poste-
rity, may be led to follow his good example. (Cheers).
It was to that end that they solicited Mr. Jaques to sit
for that portrait which was now before them, and which,
in their name, he respectfully requested him to accept.
(Applause). He expressed the hope that uninterrupted
health and perfect happiness might long attend their
worthy president, and might he long live to enjoy the
company of those among whom he was then assembled.
(Cheers.) It now only remained for them to drink the
health of Mr. Jaques in a bvunper, with all the honours.
(Three times three cheers, and one cheer more).

R. M. Jaques, Esq., then rose, and after the plau-
dits with which he was greeted had subsided, he said he
rose with very considerable embarrassment to return
thanks for the very kind complimentary speech of his
worthy friend, Capt. Harland, and to offer his grateful
and heartfelt acknowledgment for the present which he
had received at their hands. (Applause.) He felt it a
difficult task to speak as he ought on the present occa-
sion ; and if he failed — as fail he must — in finding words
sufficiently warm to express those feelings with which

54

his heart was then beating, he hoped they would attri-
bute it solely to a want of w ords to picture the language
of the heart. (Applause). He would make a few re-
marks on one subject which was very closely connected
with the object then before them, and he would trace
the present he had now received to the day on which
he was first asked to become the president of the Rich-
mondshire Agricultural Association. (Applause). It
was then a child of very recent birth — an infant in its
swaddling clothes — and of so delicate a constitution as
likely to die of a natural death. He, however, did not
think the case a hopeless one ; and in taking upon him-
self the situation of the president, he thought he was
acting the part of a good physician — (applause) — and
he would ask them if he had not been successful. In
becoming the president of that society, and since then
of another society, at one of whose meetings they were
then assembled, of course his attention was directed to
those objects which these societies had in view. He
thought he might appeal to the members of the society
for the success which had attended his efforts ; and al-
though the consciousness of doing his duty would have
been to him an ample recompence, still he must con-
sider himself an egotist, and fond of the good opinion of
his neighbours. (Applause). He should have great
pleasure in handing down the portrait to his posterity,
as an incentive to his children to exert their talents and
to spend their time in exerting any influence they
might possess in furthering objects promotive of the

55

interests of their fellow creatures. (Cheers.) He had
an exquisite pleasure in fancying that some day some
person might make the posthumous inquiry of " Who
was he V and some one to tell the story of that day.
(Applause). He would not trespass further on their
time, but he would make two or three remarks sug-
gested by his own anxiety for the success of the two
societies, viz., the Richmondshire Farmers' Club, and
the Richmondshire Agricultural Association. And he
would impress upon the members of the committee and
upon the members at large, in order to promote the
success of these societies, the necessity of their indivi-
dual and collective exertions every day and every hour.
He was shortly about to leave them, but he trusted his
absence would only be temporary. He should, however,
hold them somewhat responsible for the good manage-
ment of these societies in the mean time ; and he hoped
that on his return he should see them advancing to a
mighty maturity. (Applause). He sincerely thanked
them for the handsome present Avhich had been placed
in his hands ; and, wishing that prosperity and happi-
ness might attend them and theirs, he begged to drink
their healths, individually and collectively, in a bumper.
(Cheers.)

Richmond ; — Printed by John Bell,

lA^

'!«» .'

f^J>53P?JL

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