Obviously I read stuff like Rosebery's biography for all sorts of pertinent historical insights....like this rather good one....
Staying in Epsom as a six year old (Sir John Colville recalls in his memoirs) he and a friend prowled over to the stables where in one loose box they found a lamb, which was lying prostrate on the straw and appeared to be ill. Little John Colville had heard that brandy could revive a sickly animal, so he crept into the house, found a bottle in the dining room, ran back to the stable and gave it to the lamb. The creature dropped dead instantly. "That evening Lord Rosebery sent for us. He stood in the library, a frightening figure in dark green glasses. He spoke to us in sorrow rather than in anger. " My children, " he said, " you little know what you have done to me." What we had done was to pour his last bottle of Napolean brandy down the throat of a lamb of such quality that it had been segregated from the herd. It had been confidently expected to win a Championship at the Royal Show.
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