Inscribed in ink on the reverse of the original backing card 'View from the Observatory Greenwich / M. M.' The view looks due north from the Observatory, down Blackwall Reach. Shipping is passing up and down the river, most heading downstream at the top of the tide and with wind from the west. In the distance on the far left are the buildings along the West India Dock canal across the north end of the Isle of Dogs, with vessels in the channel, though the dock warehouses are not clear beyond. The church tower at far left is probably St Anne's Limehouse since All Saints, Poplar, was only built later. A body of shipping lies at anchor out of the main channel to the east of the Isle of Dogs and in the right distance the Blackwall masthouse marks the west side of the Brunswick Dock, by this time the East India Export Dock, with Green & Wigram's Blackwall shipyard to the left. In the middle ground, right, lies Blackwall Point (Greenwich Marsh) while the cupola peeping over the trees and lower roofs of East Greenwich is that of the Trinity Hospital almshouse before its 1812 remodelling. In the foreground, deer run free in Greenwich Park in front of the east colonnade and wing (built 1807-09) of what was then the Royal Naval Asylum and later the Greenwich/Royal Hospital School. The wing is shown in its original short form, before extended north by 1812 to what exists today as the east wing of the National Maritime Museum (which replaced the School as occupier of the site from 1934). The Asylum's 'ha-ha' wall, with a deep ditch on the Park side to exclude deer is also clearly shown: this had been built after a Royal Warrant of 1808 extended the grounds of the Queen's House (here hidden behind the trees, lower left) for use by the Asylum a further 50 feet into the Park from the position of the previous wall shown in PAJ2659. Windows seen through the trees to the right are probably those of what is today the vicarage for St Alfege, Greenwich, but which at this time was in other occupation.The trees in the lower left corner include two of the pines that formerly flanked the 'giant steps' northern ascent to the Observatory. Like its pair, which is ZBA5099 (dated 1810), this drawing is badly light stained from over-exposure. Both are by Margaret Maskelyne (1786-1858), only child of Nevil Maskelyne, fifth Astronomer Royal at Greenwich from 1765 to 1811: she was born and lived at the Observatory until her father's death. In 1819 she married Anthony Mervyn Reeve Story (1791-1879), both adopting the name Story-Maskelyne. [PvdM 3/13]