00000056.htm

1774] To John Fenn 47

thing satisfactory enough to ascertain whose portrait it is.
You will forgive me if I suggest doubts that do not tend to
corroborate your opinion j and you must excuse them, as
I have never seen the picture itself.

By the general look and dress I should have concluded
it drawn in the reign of Henry 8th, or at soonest of
Henry 7th. The dress is extremely like those of the
former's time, and at present I cannot recollect having
seen any such even in the time of Edward 4th, when, and
in Henry 6th's time, they seem to have worn loose robes,
and especially not such close sleeves.

The red rose is a leading presumption that it represents
some prince of the house of Lancaster, though perhaps it
is no certain criterion. It was pretty common under
Henry 8th to give a flower in the hand, Edward the Sixth
is drawn with a pink. Still I am persuaded that during
the reign of Edward 4th and Richard 3rd nobody would
have cared to bear a red rose.

That the, picture represents the Duke of Gloucester or
Exeter I much question, as the distinction of the roses was
certainly not adopted so early as the time of the latter, and
I imagine not even in that of the former, nor till Eichard
Duke of York, father of Edward 4th, declared his pretensions.
When the two roses were generally used as party distinctions
they may have been borne by the partisans of each faction
from zeal, and in that case the portrait would not necessarily
exhibit a prince of Lancaster, but only a zealous adherent.
This is mere conjecture. But I do think that, supposing it
a Lancastrian prince, it is one that lived after the accession
of Henry 7th, when the red rose was become a very courtly
cognizance. For instance, it may represent John Viscount
Wells, who was related to Henry 7th, and having married
a daughter of Edward 4th might choose to mark his attach-
ment to the red rose, for fear of being suspected in that



	1774] To John Fenn 47 thing satisfactory enough to ascertain whose portrait it is. You will forgive me if I suggest doubts that do not tend to corroborate your opinion j and you must excuse them, as I have never seen the picture itself. By the general look and dress I should have concluded it drawn in the reign of Henry 8th, or at soonest of Henry 7th. The dress is extremely like those of the former's time, and at present I cannot recollect having seen any such even in the time of Edward 4th, when, and in Henry 6th's time, they seem to have worn loose robes, and especially not such close sleeves. The red rose is a leading presumption that it represents some prince of the house of Lancaster, though perhaps it is no certain criterion. It was pretty common under Henry 8th to give a flower in the hand, Edward the Sixth is drawn with a pink. Still I am persuaded that during the reign of Edward 4th and Richard 3rd nobody would have cared to bear a red rose. That the, picture represents the Duke of Gloucester or Exeter I much question, as the distinction of the roses was certainly not adopted so early as the time of the latter, and I imagine not even in that of the former, nor till Eichard Duke of York, father of Edward 4th, declared his pretensions. When the two roses were generally used as party distinctions they may have been borne by the partisans of each faction from zeal, and in that case the portrait would not necessarily exhibit a prince of Lancaster, but only a zealous adherent. This is mere conjecture. But I do think that, supposing it a Lancastrian prince, it is one that lived after the accession of Henry 7th, when the red rose was become a very courtly cognizance. For instance, it may represent John Viscount Wells, who was related to Henry 7th, and having married a daughter of Edward 4th might choose to mark his attach- ment to the red rose, for fear of being suspected in that