70 THE MASTER OF HOUNDS 



covered the distance within one hour and eighteen 

 minutes of the specified time. He was accounted the 

 best pigeon-shot in England in the palmy days of 

 "The Red House," when Lord Kennedy, General 

 Anson, and Captain Ross were in the zenith of their 

 shooting fame. He was a devoted patron of the P.R. 

 and acted as referee in the big fight between Bendigo 

 and Caunt at Newport Pagnell. Till within a short 

 time of his death he was a regular player in the billiard- 

 room of the Portland Club. In his younger days he 

 had the reputation of being, with the exception of Lord 

 Frederick Beauclerk, the best all-round cricketer of the 

 time. Nor was his career confined to sport, for he 

 was a J. P. for the East Riding of Yorkshire, represented 

 East Retford in the House of Commons from 1812 to 

 1818, and was High Sheriff in 1829. According to 

 " Nimrod," who was far from being a lenient critic, " in 

 society he is affable and communicative, perfectly free 

 from the absurdity of affectation, and just what an 

 English country gentleman should be." 



The Squire was born in 1787, and was the son of 

 George Osbaldeston, of Hutton Bushel, in Yorkshire, 

 by Jane, the only daughter of Sir Thomas Head, Bart. 

 Unfortunately, his father died in 1794, when he was in 

 his seventh year, so that in his boyhood he did not 

 experience the paternal correction which he certainly 

 needed. At Eton he was continually getting into 

 scrapes, but for him flogging had no terrors. Not that 

 he appears to have been a bad boy. His delinquencies 

 were mainly the result of high spirits, an utter dis- 

 regard for school discipline, and incorrigible idleness 



