MARYBONE.
Groom of the Stole (Vol. v., p. 347.).
—Your correspondent J. R. (Cork) is in error when he asserts that the above-named office does not belong to female majesty.
Among the collection of pictures at Montreal, in Kent, is a portrait which was purchased at the sale at Strawberry Hill, in 1842, on the back of which is the following inscription in the handwriting of Horace Walpole:
"Lady Elizabeth Percy, only daughter and heiress of Josceline, last Earl of Northumberland. She was first married to Henry Holles Cavendish, Lord Ogle, only son of Henry, Duke of Newcastle. 2ndly, To Thomas Thynne, Esquire, who was murdered by Count Konismark. And, lastly, to Charles Seymour Duke of Somerset. To Queen Anne she was groom of the stole, and had great influence."
Vide Swift's Journal.
By Beatson's Political Index it appears that her predecessor in this office was Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough.
E. H. Y.
The De Clares (Vol. v., p. 261.).
—I am sorry that I am unable to give your correspondents, MR. GRAVES of Kilkenny, and E. H. Y., any information on the subject of the De Clares. The pedigree from which I quoted is not one of that family, but merely contains some few of them; introduced, as I said before, among the "præclarissimæ affinitates." The arms of Strongbow, Earl of Pembroke, are brought into the shield of quarterings through the well-known line of Marshall, De Braose, Cantelupe, La Zouche, and thence through Burdet and Ashbye; nor, with the exceptions of the last three, is there much mention of each family, but merely what is necessary to show their descent.