—Having succeeded in eliciting notices of various pictures of Oliver Cromwell attributed to Cooper, without discovering the original miniature bequeathed to Richard Burke by Sir Joshua Reynolds, I am tempted to mention that I once saw a portrait of the Countess of Desmond, hitherto not described by any of her biographers, but very much resembling the Windsor picture and Penant's engraved print, though evidently the work of an inferior artist. The portrait in question was a short time in my father's possession, soon after the year 1800, having been delivered to him by the executor of Mrs. Elizabeth Berkeley, an eccentric old lady, well known as a correspondent of the Gentleman's Magazine, who left the picture, with many others, to Lord Braybrooke. But it was soon claimed by a Mr. Grimston of Sculcoates, in Yorkshire, who seemed to be entitled to a great portion of the collection, and my father was glad to be allowed to retain two fine views of Venice, painted by Canaletti for Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne, who was the father of Mrs. Berkeley's husband, and which are still at Audley End. Perhaps this statement made from memory at the end of fifty years may be of no value, but it shows the existence of another likeness of the person always described as the Countess of Desmond, and as it came originally from the collection of an Irish prelate, it probably, like the lady herself, belonged to the Emerald Isle.
BRAYBROOKE.
Friday at Sea (Vol. v., pp. 200. 330.).
—Stranger still to your correspondent W. FRASER and the readers of "N. & Q." must the assurance be that the "Birkenhead" troop-ship (whose disastrous loss was accompanied by such a terrific sacrifice of life), sailed from Portsmouth harbour on the 2nd January last—the identical day (being a Friday) on which the lamented Capt. Symons in the "Amazon" left this port, no more to return. Can we wonder that uneducated minds, usually prone to superstitious observances, should at least marvel at these strange coincidences?
H. W. S. TAYLOR.
Southampton.
Marriage of Mrs. Claypole (Vol. v., p. 298.).
—In an old annual obituary for 1712, there is mention made of the Protector's family, and of the marriage of Mrs. Claypole. I think it gives the date required by B. N., but the phraseology is rather old-fashioned, and may be open to a second interpretation. I send you the extract entire:—
"Elizabeth (and not Mary, as stated in your note) became the wife of John Claypole, Esquire, of Northamptonshire, made Master of the Horse to the Protector, one of his House of Lords, a Knight and Baronet, on July 16th, 1657, he being then Clerk of the Hanaper; the said Elizabeth dyed August 7th, 1658, and was buried in Henry VII.'s chappel in a vault made on purpose."
There is no mention of the writer's name in the volume, but I have found such of the details respecting the Cromwell family as I examined to coincide with the received authorities.