—The following remarkable account of this place by John Watson, Esq., of Malton, in the year 1781, may be interesting to some of the readers of your paper. Braham is situated five miles S.W. of Tadcaster, and close to, and in, the remains of the old Roman road called "Watling Street:"—
"Upon the middle of this moor a man may see ten miles around him; within those ten miles there is as much free stone as would build ten cities as large as York; within those ten miles there is as much good oak timber as would build those ten cities; there is as much limestone, and coals to burn it into lime, as the building of those ten cities would require; there is also as much clay and sand, and coals to burn them into bricks and tiles, as would build those ten cities; within those ten miles there are two iron forges sufficient to furnish iron for the building of those ten cities, and 10,000 tons to spare; within those ten miles there is lead sufficient for the ten cities, and 10,000 fodders to spare; within those ten miles there is a good coal seam sufficient to furnish those ten cities with firing for 10,000 years; within those ten miles there are three navigable rivers, from any part of which a man may take shipping and sail to any part of the world; within those ten miles there are seventy gentlemen's houses, all keeping coaches, and the least of them an esquire, and ten parks and forests well stocked with deer; within those ten miles are ten market towns, one of which may be supposed to return 10,000l. per week."
CHAS. W. MARKHAM.
Becca Hall, Tadcaster.
Portraits of Burke.
—Through the kindness of a friend I have just examined what I take to be an interesting and curious work of art, viz., a miniature of the great Edmund Burke, painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and said to be the only miniature he ever painted. It is a small oval of ivory executed in water colours, and represents him past the meridian of life, his hair combed back from his ample forehead, and powdered; the coat (according to the fashion of the day) without a collar, and, as well as the waistcoat, of a chocolate colour; a white stock, and the shirt frill of lace; the features, although retaining great animation and intelligence, are round and plump. The painting is carefully and delicately finished. The same friend also possesses another miniature of the same right honourable gentleman (artist unknown), deserving notice: it is in a much larger oval, and drawn in coloured crayons. This likeness represents the statesman at a much earlier period of life, and is most exquisitely executed: his fine auburn hair in natural waves, if I may use the expression, is also thrown off the face, the features rather sharp, the nose prominent, the eyes brilliant, the lips beautifully expressed, and, on the whole, one of the most highly finished specimens of this style I ever saw: the costume the same as that already described, the colour being a snuff-brown. In this portrait, a black ribbon crosses the lace frill, indicating the presence of an eye-glass, an appendage not observable in portraits taken later in life. The lady who owns these paintings is the widow of a gentleman lately deceased, who being related to, was brought up under the guardianship of this great man, and was by him introduced into public life; circumstances which prove the authenticity of the works thus briefly described.
M. W. B.
Bruges, Sept. 26, 1851.