152 Painters in the Reign of Henry VI I L 



matches fo unequal afTembled together. In* 

 duced Vertue, with much probability to 

 conclude that it was a tacit fatire, and 

 painted for the duke of Norfolk, who, how- 

 ever related to Anne Boleyn, was certainly 

 not partial to her, as protedlrefs of the re- 

 formed. If this conje61:ure could be veri- 

 fied, it would lead one to farther refledlions. 

 The jealoufy which Henry towards the end 

 of his reign conceived againft the Howards, 

 and his facrificing the galant earl of Surrey 

 for quartering the arms of England, as he 

 undoubtedly had a right to quarter them, 

 have always appeared afls of moft tyrannic 

 fufpicion. He fo little vouchfafed to fatisfy 

 the public on die grounds of his proceed- 

 ings, that it is poflible he might fometimes 

 adt on better foundation than any body 



for a French compofition. The perfon in the middle is 

 a black fwarthy man with a fharp beard, like Francis L 

 and refembling neither of the dukes of Norfolk or 

 Suffolk, the former ofv/hcm is never drawn with a 

 beard, the latter always with a ftiort fquare one : add tq 

 this, that the figure called Henry VIII. and which cer- 

 tainly has much of his countenance, is in an obfcure 

 corner of the pidlure, and exhibits little more than the 

 face. 



knew. 



