Mr J. H. Oswald Brown. 95 



hold of my arm, and said, ' Come along with me quickly ; 

 for I want to show you a man who can really paint horses.' 

 I must say that this remark interested me immensely, and I 

 started off in hot haste with him to seek the paragon. 



My guide gave me a lead across The Severals into one 

 of Ryan's paddocks in which a quiet, pleasant-looking young 

 artist was painting the portrait of a horse that stood in 

 front of him. At a glance I saw that Townsend was right, 

 and that the stranger could paint a horse. Seeing us stand- 

 ing by, the artist ceased his labours for a moment to speak 

 to us. He has singularly charming manners and not a 

 particle of * side.' His only fault seemed to be distrust in 

 his own manifestly great powers. The sitting or, rather, 

 standing was soon over, Mr Townsend went away to keep 

 an appointment, and the stranger, whose name I learnt was 

 Mr J. H. Oswald Brown, strolled over to the Rutland Arms 

 with me to have a drink, a smoke and a talk. The con- 

 versation naturally turned on horses, and as he listened with 

 flattering attention to what I said, I thought him delightful. 

 I saw a great deal of him while I remained in England, 

 and I lectured him incessantly on ' make and shape.' 

 He had a comfortable property, kept his hunters, and was 

 wholly devoted to painting and horses. Having diligently 

 studied in the best schools of France and Holland, he was 

 a thorough master of the technique of his art. He delighted 

 me beyond measure by saying that in me he had at last 

 found someone who could supply him with the special 

 knowledge about horses, in the search of which he had 

 been fruitlessly engaged for a long time. Failing to con- 

 vince him that the opinion he had formed of me was far 

 too flattering, I exerted every effort in my power to make 

 myself worthy of it. Although I was far from successful 

 in this endeavour, I believe that I was of some small help 

 to him, and I had the extreme good fortune to secure his 

 services for illustrating my books. The success they have 

 obtained was to a great measure due to his admirable draw- 



