462 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 211. 



as herself and as her mother, and second wife of 

 Sir Thomas, whose first lady, Elizabeth Chol- 

 mondley, died in June, 1676. Sir Thomas died 

 Februarys, 1682-3, leaving by her three children, 

 Sir Richard, the last baronet, Henrietta, and Diana, 

 who all died unmarried. 



A portrait of Lady Vernon, by Sir Peter Lely, 

 has been engraved in mezzotint© by Browne, and 

 lettered "Mary Kirk, Lady Vernon, maid of 

 honour to Queen Catherine." Another portrait (?) 

 has been engraved by Scheneker for Harding's 

 Grammont, 1793. A third portrait was purchased 

 at the Strawberry Hill sale, by Mr. Redd of Little 

 Newport Street, for \l. 5s. 



A portrait of the Countess of Oxford is or was 

 at Mr. Drumraond's of Great Stanmore. It was 

 bequeathed to his family by Charles, first Duke of 

 St. Alban's, who was her ladyship's son-in-law. 



Of Mrs. Anne Kirke, who was " woman to the 

 queen" Henrietta Maria, there are several por- 

 traits. Granger records : 



" Madam Kirk. Vandyck p. Gaywood f. Ii. sli. 



" Madam Anne Kirk. Vandyck p. Browne, large h. 

 sh. mezz." 



These engravings are most probably from the 

 same painting — the fine whole-length exhibited last 

 year among the collection of pictures by ancient 

 masters in Pall Mall : 



" Madam Kirk, sitting in a chair, Hollar, f. h. sh." 



He also mentions her miniature at Burghley. 



There is at Wilton a splendid painting by Van- 

 dyck of Mrs. Kirk, seated with the Countess of 

 Morton, Lady Anne Keith, eldest daughter of 

 George, fifth Earl Mareschal, and wife of William 

 Douglass, seventh Earl of Morton, K.G. She was 

 governess to the Princess Henrietta. 



This painting has been engraved by Grousvelt. 

 There is another engraving from the first-named 

 Vandyck by Beckett. 



Of Lady Vernon and her mother there is to be 

 found mention, in the secret service expenses of 

 Charles II. and James II., lately printed. The 

 elder lady on her husband's death (he was buried 

 in the cloisters of W^estminster AV>bey, April 5, 

 1679) seems to have had a pension of 250^. per 

 annum. Tlie younger was the recipient, on two 

 occasions, of 100^. "bounty " only. 



Mrs. Kirke and her daughter Diana are un- 

 favourably alluded to by Mrs. Grace Worthley, 

 a lady of the same class, who will not " be any 

 longer a laughing-stock for any of Mr. Kirk's 

 bastards" (vide letter to her cousin Lord Bran- 

 don, September 7, 1682, Diary of Henry Sidney, 

 Earl of Romney, i. pp. xxxiii. xxxiv.). And again, 

 the same lady, in another letter, speaks of "the 

 common Countess of Oxford and her adulterous 

 bastards" (Ibid.). Mr. Jesse's quotation from 

 •' Queries and Answers from Garraway's Coffee 

 House" (vide The Court of the Stewarts, vol. ii. 



p. 366.) may be here reproduced in support of 

 the epitaph which this angry lady has been pleased 

 to assign the countess, who, it Avould seem, had 

 robbed her, well born and well married, of her 

 noble keeper "the handsome Sidney:" 



"Q. How often has Mrs. Kirk sold her daughter 

 Di. before the Lord of Oxford married her ? 



:A. Ask the Prince and Harry Jermyn." 



The following curious extract from one of the 

 Heber MSS. at Hodnet has been kindly furnished 

 me by Charles Cholmondeley, Esq., of the Ivy 

 House, Wisbeach, co. Cambridge, to whom the 

 MS. belongs : 

 "H , 



" Sir Thomas the second baronet's death is men- 

 tioned in Lady Rachael Russell's letters. His second 

 wife was one of King Charles's Beauties, but the account 

 in Granger of her is not correct, as it appears that she 

 lived some time with Sir Thomas, as mistress, before 

 their marriage. He left her in great distress, as the 

 profits of the estate were embezzled by attorneys and 

 stewards. The following is a copy from a letter from 

 her to one Squibb, an attorney who had the manage- 

 ment of the estate : , ^ 

 'Sir, 



* When you were last here you were pleased to say 

 that in some little time I should bee payd some money. 

 I have had with me my woman's husband y' did serve 

 mee about two yeares since ; and hee is soe impatient 

 for what I owe her y* hee will staye noe longer. It 

 is given me to understand I must goe to prison or paye 

 part of w' I owe him. Things fly to a great violence, 

 and if you thinke it will bee for the credit or advantage 

 of my childerne y' such an afront should come to mee, 

 is the question. I have nothing to depend on but w* 

 must come from the estate of Sir Richard Vernon. 

 How I have been used by the trustees you are noe 

 stranger to. I am now forced to live on charity, and 

 I grow every day more and more weary of it. For my 

 childern's sake I remain in England, or else I would 

 seeke my fortune elsewhere. Pray to take this into 

 consideration, and see w' can be done. 



• I am, Sir, y' most humble serv*, 

 ' Vernon. 



' P. S. — If you can, pray doe mee y» favour to send 

 mee by to-morrow at one of y' cloke, twenty shillings, 

 to pay for wood, or I must sit w*''oute fyer ; y* will be 

 ill for a person confined to the house.' " 



It is not certain whether it is to "Mistris Kirke," 

 Lady Vernon's mother, that Charles I. refers in his 

 letter addressed to Colonel Whaley on the day of 

 his escape from Hampton Court, November 11, 

 1647, but it is very likely to have been so. There 

 was a Mistress (Anne) Kirke, sworn in a dresser 

 to Queen Henrietta Maria in Easter week, 1637 

 (vide Strafford Papers, vol. ii. p. 73.), whose full- 

 length portrait by Vandyke has been frequently 

 engraved, by Browne, Gaywood, Hollar, Beckett, 

 &c. ; and this lady may be the " Mrs. Anne Kirke, 

 unfortunately drowned near London Bridge," who 

 was buried in Westminster Abbey, July 9, 1641. 



