Her portrait is at Welbeck. Mr. Walpole has a good copy of it in water-colours. Arabella, daughter of Charles Stuart, earl of Lenox, and brother of Henry, lord Darnley, was too nearly allied to the crown not to give umbrage to the king; and too remotely to found any claim, or receive any advantage, from that alliance. Though of an artless and unambitious character herself, it was suspected that she might be the tool of others' ambition, which was the occasion of her confinement in the Tower, and the various miseries which she suffered. Her misfortunes, especially her separation from her husband, whom she tenderly loved, turned her brain,† and, soon after, put an early period to her life, on the 27th of September, 1615. It was suspected, that Sir Walter Raleigh's plot, as it was commonly called, was contrived with a view of supplanting King James, and raising her to the throne. As she died within two years of Sir Thomas Overbury, a report was propagated, that her death was the effect of poison. This occasioned an examination of her body by several able physicians, who were unanimously of opinion, that she died of a chronical distemper. Countess of MAR. Harding exc. 8vo. Mary Stuart, countess of Mar, was the daughter of Esme, duke of Lenox. John Erskine, seventh earl of Mar, being enamoured of her charms, and rejected by her pride, is said to have sickened of vexation. James I. learning the situation of the companion of his boyish years, exclaimed "Be my saul Mar shanna dee for e'er a lass in the land!" The king's application overcame all obstacles: and she proved a fruitful mother, and excellent wife. CATHERINE FITZ-GERALD, (the long lived) countess of Desmond; from an original family pic * Mr. William Seymour, son of the Lord Beauchamp. + I know of no authority for her losing her senses. There are some of her latest letters in the Museum; they do not prove that she had parts, but betray no appearance of madness. I believe she was imprisoned for marrying without the king's knowledge. Her husband was afterward the Marquis of Hertford, often mentioned by Lord Clarendon. Another of the family also married a princess of the blood, Lady Catharine Gray, sister of Jane Gray.-LORD Orford. ture of the same size, painted on board, in the possession of the Right Honourable Maurice Fitz-Gerald, knight of Kerry, &c. &c. &c.-This illustrious lady was born about the year 1464; was married in the reign of Edward IV. ; lived during the entire reigns of Edward V. Richard III. Henry VII. Henry VIII. Edward VI. Mary, and Elizabeth, and died at the latter end of James I.'s or beginning of Charles's reign, at the great age (as is generally supposed) of 162 years. Engraved in Cork, by N. Grogan; the only genuine likeness of this lady extant. CATHERINE, countess of Desmond; engraved for the quarto edition of Pennant's" Tour in Scotland." This picture, according to the inscription on the back, represents Rembrandt's mother; but Mr. Pennant tells me, that he is persuaded the inscription is erroneous; as he has seen several portraits similar to that which he caused to be engraved; all of which were called the Countess of Desmond.-W. RICHARDSON. I do not think it an original, supposing it to represent the Countess of Desmond. It is Rembrandt's mother, and is so written on the back of the picture, and is so called in King Charles's catalogue. -LORD ORFord. There was, and probably is still, a portrait of her in the standardcloset, at Windsor. This I learn from an authentic transcript of a catalogue of the pictures there, in the hand-writing of Dr. William Derham, the elder. This celebrated lady, who lived at Inchiquin, in Munster, was well known to Sir Walter Raleigh. She was married in the reign of Edward IV. when she danced with Richard, duke of Gloucester. She held her jointure from all the earls of Desmond since that time, and was as remarkable for her sprightliness as her age. VOL. II. Walpole's "Historic Doubts," p. 102. + Raleigh's "Hist." book I. chap. v. sect. 5. 2 c It is probable, that her dancing days were not over when a century of her life had elapsed; certain it is, that, after she had stood the shock of a hundred and forty years, she went from Bristol to London, to solicit some relief from the court; as she had long been very poor, from the ruin of the house of Desmond by an attainder. She, according to Sir William Temple, died some years above a hundred and forty;* and Lord Bacon informs us, that she twice, at least, renewed her teeth. I am uncertain in what year she died, but she was not living in 1614, when Sir Walter Raleigh published his "History." CLASS XII. PERSONS REMARKABLE FROM A SINGLE CIRCUMSTANCE IN THEIR LIVES, &c. THOMAS PERCY; inscribed, "Hæc est vera et prima originalis editio Thoma Perci;" &c. six Latin verses; snakes twined about the oval of the frame; ornaments relative to his actions. C. Van de Pass exc. 4to. scarce. THOMAS PERCY; two different. W. Richardson. THOMAS PERCY; in the print of the gunpowder conspirators. THOMAS PERCY; in an oval, between forty-eight "Essay on Health and long Life." In his "Hist. Vita et Mortis, Operatio super exclusionem aeris," ii. sect. 14, he ter per vices dentiisse;" and in his "Nat. Hist." cent. viii. 755, he tells us, "that she did dentire twice or thrice." says, Hæc eft vera & prima origmalis editio Thore Perci Os rultung vides Thome tognomine Percy -rit A Thomaschryp Captverrunt mortuus Published July 201801, by TVRichardson York House, 31. Strand. |