304
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io<- s. v. APRIL 21,
tion of the house will be found in Mr. Philip
Norman's most admirable book, * London
Vanished and Vanishing/ pp. 85 - 7, and
although it has not received the honour of
being depicted by Mr. Norman's pencil, two
capital sketches by Mr. Hedley Fitton, show-
ing the back and front, will be found in the
Pall Mall publication, * Pictures of New
London.' According to Mr. Norman, the
house is that which was eloquently described
in Mrs. Riddell's novel * Mitre Court.' All
we can now hope is that those portions of the
mansion which merit preservation, such as
the finely painted panellings and the carved
oaken doorways and mantels, may be secured
against destruction. W. F. PRIDEAUX.
MRS. JAMES ROBERTSON, THE PORTRAIT
PAINTER. At Alnwick Castle and in some
other houses in Northumberland there are
portraits painted by Mrs. James Robertson.
She was Christina, daughter of Saun-
ters, of Edinburgh, coachbuilder, and niece
of George Saunders, from whom she pro-
bably received her first impulse towards art
and her first lessons in painting. George
Saunders, born 1774, educated in Edinburgh,
and apprenticed as a coachbuilder, from
painting heraldic achievements proceeded to
paint miniatures. His best-known work is
a portrait of Lord Byron, but in 1830 he
painted Prince Esterhazy, and in the fol-
lowing year the Duke of Cumberland and
Prince George. He died at Marylebone
in 1846 (cf. Williamson, 'History of Por-
trait Miniatures,' vol. i. p. 194). His
niece studied under Sir Thomas Lawrence,
and after her marriage with her country-
man Mr. James Robertson she resided in
Harley Street, London, where she had a
good practice. Mr. James Robertson's two
younger brothers settled at Alnwick, and in
this way Mrs. Robertson obtained a con-
nexion in that neighbourhood.
Mrs. Robertson had already attained re- pute in her profession when, in 1825, she was commissioned to paint a half-length portrait, cabinet size, of Hugh, third Duke of North- umberland, as ambassador extraordinary at the coronation of the King of France. Two years later she painted Charlotte Florentia, Duchess of Northumberland, also a half-length in cabinet size. These two (portraits were engraved by Robert Graves and published, the former in 1825 and the latter in 1827. From 1824 onward Mrs. Hobertson frequently exhibited at the Royal Academy, but before 1842 proceeded to Russia, where, in that year, she became a
member of the St. Petersburg Academy. In
the same year she painted a full-length of
the Emperor Nicholas I., which was engraved
in Paris by Maurin, and printed by Le
Mercier. She is also stated to have painted
Thiers. Not the least interesting of her
works, in the possession of the Earl of
Tankerville at Chillingham, is a portrait of
Corisande, Countess of Tankerville, and
daughter of the Due de Gramont. This was
the joint production of SirThomas Lawrence,
who painted the head, and of Mrs. Robertson,
who painted the figure and the remainder of
the picture.
It is not known whether she ever painted a portrait of herself, but in the possession of Mr. William Robertson, of Alnmouth, are portraits of her four children on one canvas.
Mrs. Robertson survived her husband, and died at St. Petersburg a year or two after the Crimean War, leaving issue two sons viz., William, now residing at Melbourne, and John also two daughters : Mary, wife of Mr. Stewart, of the London and West- minster Bank, London, and Agnes, wife of Count Ronkin, an officer of Engineers in the Russian army. The latter was accidentally killed at Cronstadt about the time of the Crimean War. J. C. HODGSON, F.S.A.
Alnwick.
STOW'S 'SURVEY': CHEAP EDITION. It is to be hoped that one of the several publishers now engaged in placing before the reading public standard works in cheap, but by no means shoddy form will give us, before very long, a reissue of this famous volume. A new edition of the work is much needed ; those of Thorns and Morley have become almost unobtainable. W. McM.
[Our correspondent may be glad to know that his suggestion has been anticipated. Morley's edition [laving been reissued by Messrs. Routledge & Sons in their "Excelsior .Series" at two shillings.]
DICKENS ON THE BIBLE. A paragraph has been appearing in some of the papers stating that in an old book in Upper Holloway there has been discovered "a notable and unknown Dickens letter," written in answer to a com- plaint "regarding some use of a Scriptural phrase in 'Edwin Drood.'" The paragraph adds that the letter is dated 8 June, 1870, the day before Dickens died, and is possibly the "ast he ever wrote.
The letter, as given in the paragraph, is so ike a summary of part of a letter I had from Dickens in 1861, nearly ten years before his death, and long before 'Edwin Drood' was thought of, that I append the two in parallel columns for comparison.
