Lely and other painters of the day. His diaries, from 1672 to 1681, contain notes of matters connected with art and artists, and afford the fullest account of Mrs. Beale's life and works during that period. The extracts given by Walpole prove that she copied many of Lely's pictures, and some of these have doubtless been assigned to that painter. 'There were above thirty of these pocket-books, but the greater number appear to have been lost. Mrs. Beale was one of the best female portrait painters of the seventeenth century, and was employed by many of the most distinguished persons of her time. She painted in oil, water-colours, and crayons; her heads being very often surrounded by an oval border painted in imitation of carved stone. Her price was five pounds for a head, and ten pounds for a half-length. Mrs. Beale died in Pall Mall, London, 28 Dec. 1697, and was buried under the communion-table in St. James's Church. She was of an estimable character and very amiable manners, and had I among her contemporaries some reputation as a poet. Dr. Woodfall wrote several poems in her honour, under the name of Belesia. Her portrait, from a painting by herself, is engraved in the Strawberry Hill edition of Walpole's 'Anecdotes of Painting.' Portraits by her of King Charles II., Abraham Cowley, Archbishop Tillotson, and Henry, sixth duke of Norfolk, are in the National Portrait Gallery; another of Archbishop Tillotson is at Lambeth Palace; those of Dr. Sydenham and Dr. Croone are in the Royal College of Physicians; that of Bishop Wilkins is at the Royal Society; that of John Milton at Knole; that of James, duke of Monmouth, at Woburn Abbey; her own portrait is in the gallery of the Marquis of Bute; and other portraits by her are in the collections of Earl Spencer, the Duke of Rutland, and the Earl of Ilchester.
Mrs. Beale had two sons, Bartholomew, who commenced life as a portrait painter, but afterwards studied medicine under Dr. Sydenham, and practised at Coventry: and Charles, who followed his mother's branch of art. He was born 28 May 1660, and after studying under Thomas Flatman, the miniature painter and poet, assisted his mother in draperies and backgrounds. He painted portraits both in oil and in water-colours, and some few in crayons, but soon after 1689 he was compelled by weakness of sight to relinquish his profesion, and died in London, but in what year is not known. There are portraits of Archbishop Burton and Bishop Burnet engraved after him by Robert White.
[Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting (ed. Wornum), 1849, ii. 537-44; Scharf's Catalogue of National Portrait Gallery, 1884.]
BEALE, ROBERT (1541–1601), diplomatist and antiquary, is said to have been descended from a family settled at Woodbridge in Suffolk. Of his parents, however, we know nothing but their names, Robert and Amy. He married Edith, daughter of Henry St. Barbe, of Somersetshire, sister of the wife of Sir Francis Walsingham. Apparently, he very early formed decided opinions upon the theological controversies of his age; for he seems to have been obliged to quit England at some date during Queen Mary's reign, and not to have returned until after the accession of Elizabeth. It is probably to this period that he refers when, at a much later date, he writes that in his youth he ' took great pains in travelling in divers countries on foot for lack of other abilities.' In 1562 Lord John Grey consulted him concerning the validity of the marriage of his niece with Edward Seymour, earl of Hertford, and Beale in consequence made a journey to the continent for the purpose of laying the case before the learned Oldendorpius and some eminent Italian canonists. The opinion which Beale formed after consultation with these sagacious persons, and which he subsequently maintained in a Latin tract, has stood the test of time; for though a royal commission, with Archbishop Parker at its head, pronounced the marriage void, its validity was established in 1606, and has never since been questioned.
In 1564 he obtained some post in connection with the English embassy in Paris. What was the precise nature of his duties does not appear; but they seem to have sometimes carried him into Germany. Apparently, Walsingham found him in Paris on his appointment as ambassador-resident there in 1570, and made him his secretary. In the correspondence between Burghley and Walsingham of this period he is frequently mentioned as carrying despatches to and fro between Paris and London. He appears to have been a witness of the massacre of St. Bartholomew two years later (24 Aug. 1572), which furnished him with material for a 'Discourse by way of Letter to the Lord Burghley,' written shortly after the event. The same year he succeeded Robert Monson, then raised to the bench, as M.P. for Totnes. It must have been about this time that he was appointed clerk to the council, as in a letter dated 1591 he states that he had then held that post nineteen years. In April 1575 he was sent to Flushing to recover goods which the Flushingers had seized, consisting partly of merchandise and partly of property of the Earl of Oxford; and in the following year he accompanied Admiral Winter to the Low Countries to demand the liberation of the
