CHAP. III.] Mr. G. Osbaldeston, Master. 8 



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brated artist Aiken, and decorates Mr. Vyner^s book. 

 Speaking of Mr. Musters, ^^ Nimrod " goes on to say : 

 ^''No man was ever better qualified by nature for a 

 Master of hounds. His personal appearance and 

 engaging manners could not fail to establish his popu- 

 larity with all who hunted with him ; and the practical 

 science he displayed in the field delighted all true 

 sportsmen. So complete a master was he of all 

 athletic sports, that at one time of his life he would 

 have leaped, hopped, ridden, run, fought, danced, 

 fished, swum, shot, fenced, played cricket (a game in 

 which he considered he greatly excelled), tennis, and 

 skated, against any man in England ! ^' 



After remaining six years in Northamptonshire, and 

 showing excellent sport, Mr. Musters returned to his 

 own county, and the famous '^ Squire Osbaldeston,"" 

 leaving the Quorn country which he had hunted for 

 some years, became Master of the Pytchley in 1827. 

 The prenomen of " Squire " by which he was better 

 known in the sporting world than by his own patro- 

 nymic, arose from the fact that out of the four packs of 

 hounds hunting Leicestershire at that time, his was the 

 only one not having a nobleman for its Master. Short 

 in stature, not prepossessing in appearance even on 

 horseback, rough of speech, and uncouth in manner, 

 he excelled in every outdoor pursuit, and at a ball was 

 fond of displaying his skill in dancing a reel. The 

 chief event of the evening on the Eace-Ball night at 

 Northampton was when the ^'^ Squire," occupying the 

 centre of the room, was the cynosure of all eyes as ho 

 danced, and excellently well too, a Highland reel. Oii 

 these occasions, old Mr. Tattersall might be seen leaning 



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