82 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2''d s. No 80., July 11. '57. 



quotations read more like the poetry of the nineteenth 

 century, than of the era of Shakspeare, Ben Jonson, and 

 Donne. Besides, how is it that W. W., the writer, never 

 printed, as he promised, some extracts from the curious 

 memoir prefixed to this collection of plays?] 



Coxs 3fuseum. — Where can a catalogue of this 

 be seen ? It will be remembered it is alluded to 

 in Sheridan's Rivals : " And her one eye shall roll 

 like the bull's in Cox's Museum." 



Geo. Cape, Jun. 



[The British Museum contains three copies of Cox's 

 Museum Catalogue, entitled " A Descriptive Inventory of 

 the several exquisite and magnificent Pieces of Mechanism 

 and Jeweller}', comprised in the Schedule annexed to an 

 Act of Parliament, made in the 13th George III., for en- 

 abling Mr. James Cox, of the City of London, Jeweller, 

 to dispose of his Museum by way of Lottery." Lond., 

 4t6., 1774. At p. 67. is a notice of " The Curious Bull."] 



MepItCiS. 



THE POKTBAIT (AND THE HEAB) OF MART STUART 

 AT ANTWERP. 



(2°'' S. iv. 13.) 



The story of Monsieur de la Croix does not 

 altogether agree with that given by Mark Napier 

 in his Memoii's of John Napier of Merchiston. 

 According to the latter, — while the queen, on the 

 morning of her execution, was at prayer, two of 

 her maids, Barbara Mowbray and Mdlle. de Beau- 

 regard, affectionately complained to Mary's phy- 

 sician, Bourgoin, that their mistress had forgotten 

 to name them in her hastily drawn up will. Mary, 

 hearing the complaint, repaired the omission, and 

 acknowledged the fidelity of those two attendants 

 by a written testimony on the blank leaf of her 

 book of devotions. The work I have named then 

 proceeds to say : 



" As for Barbara, it is a curious fact that some time in 

 the last century a Flemish gentleman of talent and con- 

 sideration in the Low Countries, possessed an ancient 

 Flemish MS., which narrated that William Curie, accom- 

 panied by two ladies of the same name, came over to 

 Antwerp after the execution of the Queen of Scots, carry- 

 ing with them a picture of that unhappy princess, and her 

 head, which the}' contrived to abstract ; that in the little 

 church of St. Andrew there, they buried this fearful relic 

 at the foot of one of the pillars, where their own tombs 

 were to be, upon which pillar they hung the picture of 

 their Queen, and placed a marble slab to her memory. 

 Thus far the Flemish MS. Whoever visits this little 

 church may still see upon the pillar that self-same picture 

 of Marj', Queen of Scots, and read the inscription which 

 records her martyrdom. He will also find beneath it the 

 tombs of Barbara Mowbray and Elizabeth Curie, and may 

 peruse their story engraved upon the slabs that cover 

 their dust." * 



According to the above, the portrait of Mary at 

 Antwerp was carried over from England by her 

 attendants, and would seem to have been one 

 taken during the queen's lifetime. M. de la 



r* See some interesting notices of this tomb in "N. & 

 Q.,^' l'» S. v. 517. ; vi. 208. ; vii. 263.] 



Croix ascribes it to " Porbus ; " my guide-book to 

 the church says it is " by Vandyck." Of the 

 three painters named Pourbus, Peter " the Old " 

 died in 1583, and Francis "the Elder" in 1580; 

 either of these might have painted the picture for 

 Barbara Mowbray and Elizabeth Curie, but cer- 

 tainly not, as M. de la Croix says, " dans le style 

 de Van Dyck," as the last was not born till March, 

 1598-9. Francis Pourbus " the younger " was 

 then in his thirtieth yeai", and as he died in 1622, 

 when Vandyck was in his twenty-third year, 

 Francis can scarcely be supposed to have painted 

 after the manner of so much younger an artist. 

 There is certainly nothing of " the manner " of 

 either painter, as far as I can recollect, in the 

 portrait in question. After all this traditionary 

 matter it is worth noticing that, according to the 

 contemporary authorities quoted by Mignet, in 

 his account of the death of Mary, the only women 

 present at her execution were Jean Kennedy and 

 Elizabeth Curie, "being those of her waiting- 

 women to whom she was most attached." 



J. DOHAK. 



There is a portrait of Queen Mary at Working- 

 ton Hall, Cumberland, said to have been given by 

 herself to the ancestor of the present Mr. Kirwan ; 

 the portrait is in bad condition, and little valued 

 by its possessor. The face is very beautiful, and 

 the dress not like that of any other of her pictures ; 

 she has a white veil and an open embroidered 

 jacket. Queen Mary rested a night at Working- 

 ton Hall when she left Scotland, at the treacherous 

 instance of Queen Elizabeth, and it is said pre- 

 sented her portrait to the family as an acknow- 

 ledgment of the hospitality she had received 

 from them on her fatal journey. L. M. M. K. 



I cannot give any clue to the place where the 

 singular painting mentioned by my friend Mr. 

 Albert Way is now deposited, should it be still 

 in existence ; but those who may be curious to 

 know the reason why le petit vilaiii, David Rizzio, 

 is introduced into It, and why the Cardinal de Lor- 

 raine expressed himself so strongly on the subject, 

 may probably derive some information by con- 

 sulting Sir Henry Ellis's Original Letters illus- 

 trative of English History, 1st series, vol. il. pages 

 207., &c. W. 



UNIVERSITY MUSICAL DEGREES. 



(2°'' S.iii. 451.491.) 

 The debate on the new title of A. A., in con- 

 gregation at Oxford, on Friday, June 5, I had 

 imagined would have put an end to further writ- 

 ing on this matter. The Heads of Houses severally 

 advanced the arguments I have used, and the 

 wonder is that there should be found such an 



