92 ANIMAL PAINTERS 



1 8, Bedford Street, Co vent Garden. Benjamin Marshall, 

 1 814. The Landbcape in the picture is by Luke Clennell." 



This picture has been twice engraved ; in small 

 size by Maile, and on a larger scale by Giller. 

 Gosden, who was an intimate friend of Marshall 

 and of John Scott, published Maile's engraving, a 

 very beautiful piece of work, in 1824 : a few of the 

 engravings from this plate were printed in colour. 

 The other picture is A First Rate Shot, a com- 

 panion work to The Sportsman. The tablet 

 attached o-ives the followincj information : — 



" The portrait is that of George Osbaldeston, Esq. No 

 man is better known on the turf, and few better calculated 

 to shine in his bit of scarlet by the dark woodside, nor in the 

 tented field with bat in hand. At the ' board of green cloth ' 

 too, where the billiard balls fly true and swiftly, he rarely or 

 ever meets his match, and at the round table will he take his 

 seat occasionally, and cry, ' seven's the main.' Our hero 

 gives similar reasons for being drawn in trousers to the hero 

 Wellington against the Reform Bill, ' they work well, at 

 least for me.' Nell, the pointer, is one of the handsomest 

 ever seen, her bringing up perfect, as is her symmetry, and 

 in finding her game is truly astonishing. Peg, the retriever, 

 has her excellences also. If a bird is brought to the ground 

 by depriving it of the power of flying it must come to bag. 

 The picture is signed Benjamin Marshall, and bears the date 

 1831." 



The Sporting Magazine for October, 1831, con- 

 tains an engraving of this work, with a descriptive 

 note compiled from the tablet. 



After the first few years of his artistic career, 



