PSITTACUS ERITHACUS. 173 



younger sister, the only other child of Walter Stuart, M.D , is by Burke 

 named Sophia. 



The dress, as will be observed, is most elaborate and was difficult 

 to draw. In the lacework alone, 12,000 points and curls have been 

 marked ; this has been done twice, with tracing-paper, black stone, and tint 

 stone (one of the two), being 24,000 touches for lace alone. Then come the 

 embroidery and the diamonds, each of which had to be drawn by itself. 



Her picture appeared, in the ' Catalogue of National Portraits in the 

 South- Kensington Museum,' thus : — 



"• 875. Francis Theresa, Duchess of Richmond and Lennox. Duke of 

 Richmond. — Sir Peter Lely. 



" ' La belle Stuart ;' dau. of Dr. Walter Stuart, son of L*^ Blantyre ; 

 Roettier, the King's engraver, admired her beauty, and placed her portrait, 

 as Britannia, on the coins he designed ; mar<^ 1667, Charles Stuart, 6th and 

 last Duke of Richmond and Lennox ; 3rd wife of the Duke ; d. 15 Oct. 1702. 

 Bust ; low dress, red and dark blue drapery, veil. Canvas 29 x 24 in." 



It would appear that Charles Stuart was not sixth Duke of Richmond 

 and Lennox, as above stated, but sixth Duke of Lennox in Scotland, fourth 

 Earl of March, and third Duke of Richmond. Also, as Burke says, the 

 marriage took place privately, and was publicly declared April 1667. 



Miss Agnes Strickland, in her ' Lives of the Queens of England ' (vol. v. 

 p. 406, note), says : — " Many scandals touching this lady are afloat in the 

 Court-history of Charles II. ; yet it is certain that she might have played Anne 

 Boleyn if she had not possessed a better heart than that Queen. She was 

 very poor ; for her father, Walter Stuart, Lord Blantyre (a younger branch 

 of the legitimate line of Lennox, and of course a near kinsman to the Crown), 

 was a gallant cavalier who lost his all in the defence of his royal relative 

 Charles I. La Belle Stuart was born just before the death of Charles I. She 

 was educated in France, and very early became one of the train of Henrietta 

 Maria. Her charms drew the attention of Louis XIV. ; and when she was 

 about to return to England, after the Restoration, with Queen Henrietta 



