# The Life of Sir Thomas More/Appendix 17

No. XVII.
Ut ab ea parte exordiar qua tibi Morus est ignotissimus, statura modoque corporis est infra proceritatem, supra tamen notabilem humilitatem. Verum omnium membrorum tanta est symmetria, ut nihil hic omnino desideres: cute corporis candida, facies magis ad candorem vergit quam ad pallorem, quanquam a rubore procul abest, nisi quod tenuis ​admodum rubor ubique sublucet, capilli subnigro flavore, sive mavis sufflavo nigrore, barba rarior, oculi subcæsii maculis quibusdam interspersi, quæ species ingenium arguere solet felicissimum, apud Britannos etiam amabilis habetur, cum nostri nigrore magis capiantur. Negant ullum oculorum genus minus infestari vitijs. Vultus ingenio respondet, gratam et amicam festivitatem semper præ se ferens, ac nonnihil ad ridentis habitum compositus. Atque, ut ingenue dicam, appositior ad jucunditatem quam ad gravitatem aut dignitatum, etiamsi longissime abest ab ineptia scurrilitateque; Dexter humerus paulo videtur eminentior lævo, præsertim cum incedit, id quod illi non accidit natura sed assuetudine, qualia permulta nobis solent adhærere. In reliquo corpore nihil est quod offendat, manus tantum subrusticæ sunt; ita duntaxat si ad reliquam corporis speciem confernatur.
Of this gait of Sir Thomas's, as if one shoulder was higher than the other, Roger Ascham takes notice and seems to ascribe it to affectation; he tells us of one here in England who did follow or mimick Sir Thomas in wearing his gown awry upon the one shoulder as Sir Thomas was wont to do, in order to be counted like him, tho' he was most unlike him in wit and learning.
His hands, Erasmus observes were a little clumsy or rustic, in comparison with the rest of his body, which perhaps may be the reason why they are concealed by that great artist Hans Holbein in the several family pieces which he drew for Sir Thomas, wherein he is represented sitting with his hands folded together and covered with the sleeves of his gown. One of these fine pictures I saw at Well-Hall, an ancient seat of the family of the Ropers, in the parish of Eltham, near Blackheath, in Kent. The room which is here represented seem'd to me to be a large dining room. At the upper end of it stands achamber organ on ​a cupboard with a curtain drawn before it. On each end of the cup-board, which is covered with a carpet of tapistry, stands a flower pot of flowers, and on the cup-board are laid a lute, a base viol, a pint pot or ewer covered in part with a cloth folded several times, and Boetius de Consolatione Philosophiæ with two other books upon it. By this cup-board stands a daughter of Sir Thomas More's putting on her right-hand glove, and having under her arm a book bound in red Turkey leather and gilt, with this inscription round the outside of the cover Epistolicæ Senecæ. Over her head is written Elizebetha Dancea Thomæ Mori filia anno 21. Behind her stands a woman holding a book open with both her hands over whose head is written Uxor Johannis Clements. Next to Mrs. Dancy is Sir John More in his robes as one of the justices of the King's Bench, and by him Sir Thomas in his Chancellor's robes and collar of SS. with a rose pendant before. They are both sitting on a sort of tressel or arm'd bench, one of the arms and legs and one of the tassels of the cushion appear on the left side of Sir Thomas. At the feet of Sir John lies a cur-dog, and at Sir Thomas's a Bologna shock. Over Sir John's head is written Johannes Morus pater anno 76. Over Sir Thomas's, Thomas Morus anno 50. Between them behinde stands the wife of John More, Sir Thomas's son, over whose head is written, Anna Crisacria Joannis Mori sponsa anno 15. Behind Sir Thomas, a little on his left hand, stands his only son John More, pictured with a very foolish aspect, and looking earnestly in a book which he holds open with both his hands. Over his head is written Joannes Morus Thomæ filius anno 19. A little to the left of Sir Thomas are sitting on low stools his two other daughters Cecilia and Margaret. Next him is Cecilia who has a book in her lap clasp'd. By her sits her sister Margaret who has likewise a book in her lap but wide open, in which is written, L. An. Senecæ——Oedipus——Fata si liceat mihi fingere arbitrio meo, temperem zephyro levis.——On Cecilia's petycoat is written Cæcilia Herond Thomæ Mori filia anno 20, and on Margaret's, Margareta Ropera Thomæ ​Mori filia anno 22. Just by Mrs. Roper sits Sir Thomas's lady in an elbow chair holding a book open in her hands. About her neck she has a gold chain with a cross hanging to it before. On her left hand is a monkey chained, and holding part of it with one paw and part of it with the other. Over her head is written, Uxor Thomæ Mori anno 57. Behind her is a large arched window in which is placed a flower pot of flowers and a couple of oranges. Behind the two ladies stands Sir Thomas's fool, who, it seems, was bereft of his judgment by distraction. He has his cap on, and in it are stuck a red and white rose, and on the brim of it is a shield with a red cross in it, and a sort of seal pendant. About his neck he wears a black string with a cross hanging before him, and hisleft thumb is stuck in a broad leathern girdle clasp'd about him. Over his head is writtenHenricus Pattison Thomæ servus. At the entrance of the room, where Sir Thomas and his family are, Stands a man in the portal who has in his left hand a roll of papers or parchments with two seals appendant, as if he was someway belonging to Sir Thomas as Lord Chancellor. Over his head is written Joannes Heresius Thomæ Mori famulus. In another room, at some distance is seen thro' the door-case aman standing at a large bow window, with short black hair, in an open sleev'd gown of a sea green colour, and under it a garment of a blossom colour, holding a book open in his hands written or printed in the black letter, and reading very earnestly in it. About the middle of the room over against Sir Thomas hangs a clock with strings and leaden weights without any case.
* ↑ One of these Sir Thomas presented to his friend Erasmus, who thus speaks of it in a letter to Mrs. Margaret Roper. Pictor Olbeinus totam familiam istam adeo fæliciter expressam mihi representavit, ut si coram ad fuissem non multo plus fuerim visurus.———Effigiem ornatissimæ matronæ Aloysia matris tuæ, quando coram non licuit, libenter sum exosculatus.—Epist. Lib. xxvi. ep. 50.
* ↑ March 1716-7. It is Mr. Lewis who writes this.
* ↑ The author of the description of this picture in Hearne's Preface seems by the help of a strong imagination to have mistaken this for a Yellow Bed, which he says stands just by Sir John More, whose bed he supposes it to be, and he represented sitting just by it.
* ↑ In the sketch of another of these family pieces given us by the learned Dr. Knight, this lady is called Margareta Gige affinis an. 22, which seems to intimate that this picture was drawn before that at Well-Hall, tho' they were both done in the same year.
* ↑ This is represented in the Preface to Hearne's edition of this Life of Sir Thomas thus: manu fixa ad capulum ensis, ut mihi videtur, maximi moduli. But fools don't use to be trusted with such weapons as two handed swords.
* ↑ I had sometime one with me called Cliffe, a man as well knowen as Maister Henry Patenson.—Sir Thomas More's English Works, p. 935.
* ↑ In the aforesaid preface he is said to be a priest, but he who so stiles him owns he never before saw a priest in a geeen habit, and my eyes were not good enough to see any shaven crown.