308 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2"'» S. X. Oct. 20. '60. 



my brother's house, and the young gentleman had 

 wished us good morning, my niece, to my great 

 surprise, not only informed me that I was the 

 kindest of uncles, but added that she could not 

 express how much she felt obliged to me for 

 doing gooseberry. I begged to know what " doing 

 gooseberry" was; but she, with one of her sauciest 

 smiles, merely replied, " What you have been 

 doing now." 



When the ladies had retired afler dinner I 

 mentioned this little occurrence, in the hope of 

 eliciting an explanation ; but all the gentlemen 

 present began laughing. 



Do enlighten my ignorance ; for I assure you I 

 never before met with or heard of the phrase doing 

 gooseberry. An OiiD Bacheloe. 



[From the tenour of our correspondent's Query we infer 

 that he and his brother reside in the country ; and we 

 would make this general observation, — that though it 

 may not be thought quite the thing, if a young lady and 

 her sweetheart are seen rambling through bypaths and 

 shady lanes alone, yet if they take the same walk accom- 

 panied by the young lady's aunt, married sister, grand- 

 mamma, or uncle, there is no violation of the " strictest 

 propriety." The party thus sanctioning is said to do 

 gooseberry. We confess that, had our correspondent asked 

 for the origin of the phrase, we should have felt at a loss ; 

 though very possibly some other correspondent may yet 

 come to our assistance. The benevolent exercise of the 

 office finds place under a great variety of circumstances. 

 " Charles is coming to stay with us two or three days, 

 and the carriage is to go over and bring him from the 

 railwaj-. I wanted to go in the carriage to meet him ; 

 but papa thinks that would not be quite proper, so grand- 

 mamma says she will go with me. Isn't it kind of grand- 

 mamma to do gooseberry?"^ 



SIR PHILIP SIDNEY'S PORTRAITS. 



(1" S. ii. 296. ; 2°^ S. vii. 213. 266. 306.) 



I have referred to Mr. Cooper's interesting 

 article in Gent. Mag., N. S. xlii. 152., and am 

 happy to find his anticipation of my conjecture 

 that, in the Languet Correspondence, there are 

 allusions to two portraits. Of these, Mr. Cooper 

 states most correctly, on the authority of the 

 Correspondence, that one, " on or before 1 Jan. 

 1574, was in possession of Abondius" [at Vienna], 

 " but by whom painted does not appear. Another 

 by Paul Veronese, begun 26 Feb. 1574, and pre- 

 sented to Languet." Who Abondius, or Hondius, 

 or De Hondt was, remains to be ascertained. 

 Mr. Cooper mentions an Abraham Hondius, b. 

 1638, d. at London 1695, of whom Pilkington and 

 Bryan both furnish a brief account, and who it 

 appears (Walpole's Anecdotes, &c., Wornum, ii. 

 141., iii. 871.) was great-grandson of Oliver de 

 Hond, or Hondius, an ingenious artist of Ghent. 

 Of this Oliver Hondius, Bryan makes no mention ; 

 the earliest Hondius, out of five or six recorded 

 in his Dictionary (Stanley's ed.), being Jost Hon- 



dius, b. at Ghent in 1563. On what authority 

 does Mr. Pears, in the Index to the Sidney and 

 Languet ■ Correspondence, make this reference, — 

 " Hondius, painted a Portrait of Sidney, 21." ? 



With regard to the engraving of the so-called 

 Velasquez portrait prefixed to the Memoirs by 

 Zouch, Mr. Cooper observes that : — 



" In this portrait are these arms (not those of Sidney), 

 two bars each charged with three roundels, in chief three 

 roundels." 



A friend, learned in heraldry, obtained, to quote 

 his own words : — 



" A coloured sketch of the arms on the window in the 

 portrait at Wentworth Castle, called that of Sir P. S. 

 Described heraldieally, the Coat is Argent, 2 Bars Gules, 

 each charged with 3 Bezants. There is at the top of the 

 shield an odd dove-tailed line, which, if any thing, must 

 mean the mark of an eldest son, viz. a label. This coat 

 is a coat of Martyn, Martin, or Marten ; but as to identi- 

 fying it and the portrait with any individual of that race, 

 that is beyond me." 



Dr. Dibdin, I find (Library Companion, 8vo. 

 1824, p. 536,), had previously cast a doubt upon 

 the authenticity of this portrait, and had remarked 

 that being 



" so different from the received one at Penshnrst, and 

 which shone with so much splendour in Mr. Harding's 

 Illustrious Portraits, it threw a chill upon the volume, 

 and was almost a scarecrow to frighten away purchasers." 



Was the Penshurst, as well as the Woburn, por- 

 trait engraved for Lodge's celebrated work ? or is 

 Dri»Dibdin in error ? 



Dr. Waagen (Treasures of Art in Great Britain, 

 8yo. 1 854, iii. 342.), in his account of the pictures 

 at Wentworth Castle, has this notice : — 



" A portrait of Sir Philip Sidney, whole length, life 

 size, called a Velasquez, is a good warmly-coloured pic- 

 ture by a master of the Netherlandish School." 



Doubt and mystery surround also the portrait 

 at Woburn. On this, I borrow the following 

 statement from Mr. Cooper : — 



" With regard to the picture at Woburn engraved in 

 Lodge's Illustrious Portraits as a portrait of Sir P. S. by 

 Sir A°. More, Mr. Dallaway, in a no* on Walpole, ob- 

 serves, ' This portrait has been attributed to More, but 

 unluckily for that assertion, Sidney was born in the year 

 immediately following the painter's arrival in England.' 

 Now although Sir A. M. quitted England at the death of 

 Q. Mary, he survived till 1575, and therefore might have 

 painted the portrait of Sir P. S. But I cannot help think- 

 ing that the Woburn picture, if by Sir A. More, is not a 

 portrait of Sir P. S., or, if it be his portrait, that it was not 

 painted by Sir A. More." 



This conjecture of Mx\ Cooper derives some 

 additional weight from the independent remark of 

 Dr. Waagen, who, though he does not allude to 

 any Sidney portrait at WoTjurn, mentions "por- 

 traits of Jane Seymour, Philip II., and Q. Mary, 

 small whole-length figures, ascribed to Sir A. M., 

 but which are too feeble and poor in the drawing, 

 and too pale in the flesh-tones, for him." 



Of the portrait at Knole, I can learn nothing 



