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Mr. Osborne was right-hand man of the grenadier
company of the First Regiment of the Royal Edinburgh Volunteers. His
personal appearance must be familiar in the recollection of many of our
readers. It was not merely his great height, although he was pro bably
the tallest man of his day in Edinburgh, but his general bulk, which
rendered him so very remarkable. His legs, in particular, during his
best days, were nearly as large in circumference as the body of an
ordinary person. He was a very good-natured and well-iuformed man.
Shortly after the Volunteers had been embodied, Lord Melville introduced
his huge countiyman, dressed in full regimentals, to his Majesty George
III. On witnessing such an herculean specimen of his loyal defenders in
the north, the King's curiosity was excited, and he inquired—"Are all
the Edinburgh Volunteers like you? " Osborne, mistaking the jocular
construction of the question, and supposing his Majesty meant as
regarded their status in society, replied—"They are so, an' it please
your Majesty." The King exclaimed—" Astonishing! "
Mr. Osborne was frequently annoyed by his friends taking advantage of
his good nature, and playing off their jests at the expense of his
portly figure. One day at dinner, the lady of the house asked him if he
would choose to take a pigeon ? He answered—" Half a one, if you
please." Bailie Creech, who was present, immediately cried— "Give him a
whole one; lialf a one will not be a seed in his teeth."
In his youth, Mr. Osborne is said to have had a
prodigious appetite; so much so, as to have devoured not less than
nine pounds of beefsteaks at a meal. He was no epicure, however; and
in later times ate sparingly in company, either because he really was
easity satisfied, or more probably to avoid the observations which to a
certainty would have been made upon his eating. On one occasion, the
lady of a house where he was dining, helped him to an enormous slice of
beef, with these words—"Mr. Osborne, the muckle ox should get the muckle
winlan"—an observation which, like every other of a similar import, he
felt acutely.
On another occasion, he happened to change his shoes
in the passage of a house where he was dining. Mr. Creech, of facetious
memory, having followed shortly after, and recognizing the shoes,
brought one of them in his hand into the drawing-room, and presenting it
to another of the guests, Mr. John Buchan, Writer to the Signet, who was
of very diminutive stature, said to him—"Hae, Johnny, there's a
cradle for you to sleep in."
The personal history of Mr. Osborne affords few
particulars either peculiar or interesting. His father, Alexander
Osborne, Esq., Comptroller of Customs at Aberdeen, and who died there in
1785, was a gentleman of even greater dimensions than his son.
After having filled an inferior appointment for some
years at one of the outports, Mr. Osborne obtained the office of
Inspector-General and Solicitor of Customs. He was subsequently
appointed one of the Commissioners of the Board ; and, latterly, on the
reduction made in that establishment, retired upon a superannuated
allowance.
Mr. Osborne was never married; and, being of frugal
habits, he amassed a considerable fortune, and made several landed
purchases. Besides a pretty extensive tract of land in Orkney, he was
proprietor of a small estate in Ayrshire. Gogar Bank, a few miles west
of Edinburgh, belonged to him, where ho had a summer house, and a very
extensive and excellent garden. Here he often contemplated building a
handsome villa, but the design was never carried into execution.
Mr. Osborne died only a few years ago, at the
advanced age of seventy-four; and it is understood the bulk of his
property was bequeathed to a gentleman of the west country. He lived at
one time in Richmond Street; but latterly, and for a considerable number
of years, in York Place. |
