14 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd s. NO 63., Jan. 3. '57. 



of Catherine of Arragon, but Mary and Philip 

 were doubtless personally known to her. At Eli- 

 zabeth's accession Lettice was in her eighteenth 

 year, and in all the beauty of opening woman- 

 hood. About 1566, at the age of twenty-six, she 

 was married to the young Walter Devereux, Vis- 

 count Hereford, created Earl of Essex in 1572. 

 He died in 1576, and in 1578 his beautiful Coun- 

 tess was secretly married to Robert Dudley, Earl 

 of Leicester. The great favourite died in 1588, 

 and within the year of her weeds Lettice was 

 again married to an unthrifty knight of doubtful 

 character. Sir Christopher Blount. In 1601, Let- 

 tice became a widow for the third time : her hus- 

 band was a party to the treasonable madness of 

 her son, and both suffered on the scaffold. Such 

 accumulated troubles would have sufficed to kill 

 an ordinary woman, but Lettice retired to Dray- 

 ton Bassett, and lived on in spite of her sorrows. 

 In James's time her connections were in favour. 

 She came up to London to share the smiles of the 

 new dynasty, and to contest for her position as 

 Countess of Leicester against the " base-born " 

 son of her predecessor in the Earl's affections. 

 At James's death she had attained the age of 

 eighty-five, with faculties unimpaired. We may 

 imagine that she was introduced to the new sove- 

 reign. The grandmother of the Earls of Holland 

 and Warwick, and the relation of half the Court, 

 would naturally attract the attention and share 

 the courtesies of the lively Henrietta and the 

 grave, stately, formal Charles. He was the sixth 

 English sovereign (or the seventh, if Philip be 

 counted) whom she had seen. The last few years 

 of her life were passed at Drayton : 



" Where she spent her days so Avell, 

 That to her the better sort 

 Came as to an hoi)' court, 

 And the poor that lived near 

 Dearth nor famine could not fear 

 Whilst she lived." 



Until within a year or two of her death, we are 

 told that she "could yet walk a mile of a morn- 

 ing." She died on Christmas Day in 1634, at the 

 age of ninety-four. 



Lettice was one of a long-lived race. Her 

 father lived till 1596, and one of her brothers 

 attained the age of eighty-six, and another that 

 of ninety-nine. 



There is nothing incredible, or even very extra- 

 ordinary, in the age attained by the Countess Let- 

 tice, as in some others of the cases quoted by your 

 correspondents, but even her years will produce 

 curious results if applied to the subject of possible 

 transmission of knowledge through few links. I 

 will give one example : Dr. Johnson, who was 

 born in 1709, might have known a person who 

 had seen the Countess Lettice. If there are not 

 now, there were amongst us within the last three 

 or four years, persons who knew Dr. Johnson. 



There might therefore be only two links between 

 ourselves and the Countess Lettice, who saw 

 Henry VIII. John Bruce. 



PATRICK RUTHVEN. 



(2"'> S. ii. 101. 261.) 



Notwithstanding the applications from Gus- 

 tavus Adolphus to Charles I. in behalf of Patrick 

 Ruthven, it is certain that he never obtained the 

 sought-for restoration to the honours or estates of 

 Gowrie, which still remain under attainder. He 

 seems, however, to have assumed in his latter 

 years the title of Lord Ruthven, though that was 

 in the same predicament with tl^e earldom of 

 Gowrie. It may be a matter of inquiry, why the 

 King of Sweden interested himself for Patrick, 

 as he does not, in the letter of October, 1627, 

 speak of him as in his service, or personally known 

 to him. There were several officers of the name 

 of Ruthven who served with distinction under 

 that great warrior, and who must have possessed 

 considerable influence with him, and it is not im- 

 probable that they recommended Patrick's unfor- 

 tunate situation to him. Of these was the cele- 

 brated General and toper, Sir Patrick Ruthven, 

 created in 1639 Lord Ruthven of Ettrick ; and in 

 1642, Earl of Forth in Scotland, and advanced in 

 1644 to the peerage of England by the title of 

 Earl of Brentford. He and his two brothers (or 

 nephews). Colonel Sir Francis Ruthven of Carse, 

 and General-Major Sir John Ruthven of Dun- 

 glass, were younger sons of the family of Ruthven 

 of Ballendean, descended from a common ancestor 

 with the Gowrles (both illegitimately) ; but I 

 have not been able to meet with any proof of his 

 lordship's parentage. 



From Mr. Bruce's " Letter to Garter," (Archts- 

 ologia, vol. xxxiv.), it appears that Patrick (Lord) 

 Ruthven was buried May 24, 1652, and left two 

 sons and a daughter ; and that to Patrick Ruth- 

 ven, Esq., " son of Patrick Lord Ruthven, late of 

 Scotland," letters of administration were granted 

 March 13, 1656-7. Has any later notice been 

 discovered of these brothers ? The sister, Maria, 

 has been described as possessing great personal 

 attractions, and holding an appointment in the 

 household of Henrietta Maria, who, with Charles!., 

 promoted her marriage with Sir Anthony Van- 

 dyck, the celebrated painter. By him she had 

 an only daughter Justiniana, baptized the same 

 day her father died, December 9, 1641 ; after- 

 wards married to Sir John Stepney, Bart. 



Nothing seems to be known of the fate of 

 Patrick's elder brother William Ruthven, who 

 went abroad, and is said to have been also a pro- 

 ficient in chemistry ; but from the former having 

 claimed to be restored to the honours of his fa- 

 mily, and assumed one of them, It is to be pre- 



