The Sun.
London, England, 1818-09-22 00:00:00

FOit THE SUN.

MR. Erwroa,,--=-1 observed in your Paper of Fri-
day, the 18th just, an article encirled " SHAKS-
PHARE," rela.ive to a Miniature Portrait of that
great Pet, in the possession of Sir JAmes BLAND
litraGes The.fact is so far correctly stated; hot
there are a few points not therein noticed, which,
it► a matter of such interest to literati and anti-
goat ians as an authentic representation of our 411-
mortal Bard, require, in my opinion, to be made
known ; and this cannot be better done titan
through the medium of your Paper.
Having been informed that such a Portrait was
in Sir James Burgess possession, I felt a desire
to know how it came into his hands, and how it
happened that it had not till now been heard of.
From his courtesy I - experienced no difficuly in
obtaining, a sight of the Portrait, anti in satisfy-
ing my curiosity, with re,pect to the above cir-
cumstances. As he makes no secret of them, and
as they probably may prove no less interesting to
your Readers than they were to myself, I will, to
the best Gt my recollection, state them,

The account which Sir James Borges gives of
the manner in which this Portrait came into his
hands, is, I believe, pretty correctly as follows :
When Shakspeare retired from the stage to
his native town of Stratford-upon-Avon, he live►l
on terms of intimacy with Mr. Sonitiville, who
resided on his estate at Euston, in the neighbour-
hood, anti for whom, it is probable, the Portrait
in question was painted ; though of this latter
point there is no existing evidence, yet, from cir-
comsrances, there is every reason to believe that
such was the case. From the manner in which it
is set, which is in fine gold, elegantly enamelled,
it is evident it must have belonged to one who
s'alued it highly ; and the manner in which it has
been preserved in Mr. Somervale'S family appears
to obviate all doubt of its having originally be-
longed to him, it having been carefully transmit-
ted from father to son, till it came into the hands
of his descendant, ihe Author of " the Chase,"
&c., who died at Edston, in 1742. As he was
the last survivor of the English branch of the So-
merville family, lie left his estates to Lord Somer-
ville, and .o his Lordship's daughter he gave this
Portrait, to he kept by her as a memotial, as well
of his own regard as of the great Poet of whom it
was the representative. In the custody of. this Lady,
who was the mother of Sir James 13urges, it re-
mained till her dead► in 1778, when, in spite of
all the search that could be made, neither this Por-
trait, nor son►c other curious family terrains
which had been kept with it, could be found.—
During the period which has since elapsed, no
intelligence of them could be obtained, and the
matter appeared to be desperate till a few months
ago, when, on examining a bureau which had be-
longed to Sir James Burges's mot her, in a secret
drawer was discovered this Miniatt►re, and the
other things which had been so long missing.
Such, Sir, is the history of this Portrait, than
wr.►icl► nothing, can bear a stronger mark of au-
thenticity. From the stile of painting I am in-
clined to think it the work of the elder Oliver.—
It has been shewn to almost all the Antiquarians
and Artists, who concur in pronouncing it to be
g;litrine ; and, from the facility with which my
own wisti,of seeing it was gratified, I am sati,fied

that any Gentleman who may be desirous of in-
specting it,
will readily obtain permission to do
so. I am, Sir, yours, &c.

*** We have had the pleasure of seeing this
Miniature, which appears to have str►►ng claims
to imihenticity as an original Portrait of our un-
rivalled Bird, even without that interesting tra-
dition with which our Correspondent has layout-
ed us, and we must repeat our satisfaction' that it
belongs to a Gentleman who knows how to value
such a treasure•