275 



here a new edition of ihe ancient story of the Countryman and the Pio-. 

 I have heard it objected also, that in the portrait of Mambrino, the 

 painter liad exhibited a War-horse, or Coach-liorse, rather than a Racer, 

 Once more, Stubbs ought not to be blamed, because Mambrino was a 

 grandson of Sampson. Is it not the grand defect of this painter, that he 

 has imitated nature too closel}^ for the taste of the times? With respect to 

 the crest of the Godolphin Arabian, supposed to be over-done byStubbs, 

 and out of nature, the character of the painter may be successfully de- 

 fended, both from the original portraits, and by a living example from 

 nature. A short time since, I saw at Tattersal's, a stallion belonging to 

 the late Duke of Portland, got by some son of Eclipse, I think Volun- 

 teer, out of a hunting mare, with a crest to the full as lofty, swelling 

 and thick, as that of the Godolphin Arabian appears from the pencil 

 of Stubbs ; and not only so, but in the tapering of the neck, in the head, 

 and the smallness of the muzzle, together with the general air in those 

 parts, the Horse so strongly resembled Stubbs's picture of the Arabian, 

 that I could not help calling Mr. Tattersal and another gentleman, 

 who instantly recognized the likeness. 



But the posthumous fame of Stubbs, is safe in the keeping of such 

 patrons as those who possess an inestimable treasure in his pictures. 

 His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, His Royal Highness the 

 Duke of York, Earl Grosvenor, the son of Stubbs's first patron. — The 

 Dukes of Queensbury, Richmond, and Grafton, the Earl of Egremont, 

 Sir Joseph Banks, Colonel O'Kelly, Colonel Thornton, Christopher 

 Wilson Esq. General Stibbert, and a Lady, Miss Saltingstone, of Cob- 

 ham. His Royal Highness the Prince possesses the portrait of iiis 

 Horse Baronet, with Chifney upon his back, as winning the Oatland 

 stakes ; this I formerly recommended as a model of the true jockey-seat 

 on horseback. Earl Grosvenor's and Colonel O'Kelly's, are the largest 

 collections of the works of Stubbs. Earl Grosvenor has two portraits of 

 Gimcrackjthat of Gimcrack })reparing to start, is reckoned a clitf d'ccuvre. 

 The two portraits, it is sai<3, represent this Horse in different shades of 

 grey, the iron grey of his youth, and the hoary white of liis old age. I re- 

 collect, that the last proprietor of this famous Horse, leit him a length of 

 time at Tattersal's, for the inspection of the pubhc. Colonel Thornton has 

 Knawpost, purchased, I believe, at Stubbs's sale, where Scrubb, and a 



2 N 2 variety 



