Portrait of The Rev. John Marshall M.A, 1798

A stipple engraving of the Rev. John Marshall M.A, Late Master of the Free Grammar School, Exeter, engraved by E. A. Ezekiel after a painting by John Keenan, 19 March 1798.

Print comprises a black and white rectangular portrait of a white middle-aged male posing on an armchair. He wears a white ear-length wig and black frock coat and faces the artist. The background is plain and bordered by an elaborate
striped frame with another image featured below, of a Greek or Roman style, depicting two individuals in conversation – a teacher and pupil - dressed in robes. Text below reads ‘The Rev. John Marshall M. A. Late MASTER of the FREE
GRAMMAR SCHOOL EXETER. From a Picture in the Possession of Richard Collins Esq. EXETER. Published March 19 th 1798 by E. A. Ezekiel, Engraver, Optician & Goldsmith.’

The Grammar (or Free School), of which Marshall was headmaster, was opened 1 st August 1633, after much petition from local citizens. Teachers were licensed by the Bishop of Exeter, and on September 5 th 1787, Marshall delivered a sermon, later printed and sold by R. Trewman, also by G. and T. Wilkie, London; R. Cruttwell, Bath; M. Haydon and Son, Plymouth, at the Mayor’s Chapel in ‘before a Society of Gentlemen, educated at the Grammar Free-School’.
The sermon, dedicated “To the whole SOCIETY OF GENTLEMEN, EDUCATED AT THE GRAMMAR FREE-SCHOOL, in EXETER, This SERMON, PREACHED AND PRINTED AT THEIR PARTICULAR REQUEST, IS, WITH ALL GRATITUDE,
INSCRIBED BY THEIR OBLIGED AND OBEDIENT HUMBLE SERVANT, THE AUTHOR” included an “Abstract of the Proceedings and Rules of the Exeter Grammar Free-School Society”, established in January 1787 for “every Gentleman
who had received any Part of his Education at the above School.” The notes include an agreement that prizes would be given “from the common Fund, to the Scholars of the Grammar Free-School of Exeter, as an Encouragement to Classical Learning,” consisting of three guineas for the best original composition in Latin prose, and two guineas for the second-best composition, and that the winners would “recite them to the Society before the Anniversary Dinner.” Following these notes and a list of current members, Marshall’s sermon is printed in full, whereby his passion for Classical Learning, Christianity and education is evident throughout. An extract reads as follows: 

“Were I preaching to a popular audience, and on an ordinary day, my duty would lead me to attempt that, and to incite my hearers to make such an use of the bright beams that Christ hath cast upon his church, and so to walk in the light of his truth, that they might at length attain to the light of everlasting life: but upon this day, and before this society, who are laudably met together to encourage and enlarge our little sphere of human learning, with which are naturally and usually joined [in] sobriety, civility, generosity, and honour, and whatever is of good report, I may be permitted to deviate from the ordinary business of a pulpit discourse, and observe, from the text, what great improvements the Christian religion has made in the world in respect of literature also…The greatest blessings which God has bestowed upon man-kind…are reason and genius…There is something, however, which may in some sort be called our own, the application of those divine gifts, the virtue to make a right use of them, and the industry to improve them…When I see before me so great a number of its respectable pupils, many whose faces bring into my mind the pleasing remembrance of their boyish years, all zealous for its interests, if I do not feel in my breast a more than ordinary warmth however unequal to the cause, if I do not exult in the prospect of its success, I shall be unworthy the respect with which you honour its master, and appear lost to the best feelings of my profession…And, I trust, you will all give me credit for my sincerity both as the master of this school and as a minister of Jesus Christ, in professing myself bound to pray for you, that God may bless you, particularly in the discharge of your paternal duty; and that he may return upon your own children, what you are labouring to encourage and promote for the benefit of others, all the advantages that are to be derived from a liberal, a virtuous, and a Christian education.”

Ezekiel Abraham Ezekiel, the engraver, was born in Exeter in 1757, one of the first Jewish persons to be born in the city since their expulsion in England by King Edward in 1290. Alongside his artistic work, he was also responsible for the creation of the Exeter Synagogue in 1763. His brother, Henry, donated items related to his work, to the DEI after Ezekiel’s death in 1805.

The artist John Keenan (c. 1785-c.1819), of the original portrait, was an Irish painter of portraits and miniatures. The Richard Collins mentioned as possessing the picture was perhaps the British miniature painter (1755-1831) who exhibited portraits at the Royal Academy in 1777.

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