Queries.

JACOB BOBART AND HIS DRAGON, ETC.

Dr. Zachary Grey, in his edition of Hudibras, vol. i. p. 125., relates the following anecdote:

"Mr. Jacob Bobart, Botany Professor of Oxford, did, about forty years ago (in 1704), find a dead rat in the Physic Garden, which he made to resemble the common picture of dragons, by altering its head and tail, and thrusting in taper sharp sticks, which distended the skin on each side till it mimicked wings. He let it dry as hard as possible. The learned immediately pronounced it a dragon, and one of them sent an accurate description of it to Dr. Maliabechi, Librarian to the Grand Duke of Tuscany: several fine copies of verses were wrote upon so rare a subject, but at last Mr. Bobart owned the cheat: however, it was looked upon as a masterpiece of art, and as such deposited in the anatomy schools (at Oxford), where I saw it some years after."

Can any of the readers of "N. & Q." inform me where I can procure the several fine copies of verses, or where they are to be seen, and any other particulars relating to Jacob Bobart?

Where can I procure copies of the following, mentioned in Wood's Athenæ Oxon., vol. iii. p. 757.:

"Poem upon Mr. Jacob Bobards Yew-man of the Guards to the Physic Garden, to the tune of the 'Counter-Scuffle.' Oxon. 1662."

On one side of a sheet of paper.

Also:

"A Ballad on the Gyants in the Physic Garden in Oxon, who have been breeding Feet as long as Garagantua was Teeth."

On one side of a sheet of paper.

H. T. Bobart.

BISHOP BERKELEY'S PORTRAIT.

The following letter may perhaps have some interest in itself; but I send it for insertion in the pages of "N. & Q." in the hope of obtaining some information about the pictures which it mentions. It is addressed on the back, "The Reverend the Provost and Fellows, Dublin College;" and in the corner, "Pr. Favour of The Right Hon. Lord Viscount Molesworth;" and does not appear to have ever passed through the post.

Reverend Sir, and Gentlemen,

My late dear Husband, the Rev. Dr. Berkeley, Prebendary of Canterbury, son of the late Lord Bishop of Cloyne, having most generously appointed me sole executrix of his will, and having bequeathed to me all his fine collection of pictures, &c., I trouble you with this to beg to know whether a very remarkably fine, universally admired portrait of Bishop Berkeley, in his lawn sleeves, &c., painted by that famous artist Vanderbank, which, together with its frame (now much broken by frequent removals), cost five hundred pounds: the back-ground, the frontispiece to his Lordship's Minute Philosopher, and the broken cisterns from the Prophet Jeremiah: "They have hewn them out broken cisterns." The late Archbishop of Canterbury was perpetually entreating Dr. Berkeley to present it to the Gallery of Lambeth Palace, where there is already a very good portrait of Bishop B.—But justice to my dear excellent son, then living, as Dr. B. told his Grace, precluded a possibility of his complying with his request.

Some time after the death of his son, Dr. Berkeley told me that at my death he wished the wonderfully fine portrait of his father to be presented to some place of consequence. I immediately replied, "To Dublin College." He said, "They have one already; perhaps it would be well to leave it as an heir-loom to the Episcopal Palace at Cloyne." I said perhaps the gentlemen of Dublin College would prefer this, esteemed one of the very finest pieces of painting in Europe. The face certainly looks more like a fine cast in wax, than a painting on canvas, as numbers of the best judges have always exclaimed on seeing it.

I request Dr. Berkeley's noble relation, the excellent Lord Molesworth, now on a visit in Ireland, to deliver this, and to learn from the Provost and Gentlemen of the University of Dublin, whether it would be agreeable to them to receive this, and transfer the one they at present have to Dr. Berkeley's highly respected friend, the present Bishop of Cloyne, for the Palace. Lord Molesworth will have the goodness to receive and transmit the answer of the Provost and Gentlemen to her who has the honour to subscribe herself, with the most perfect respect, their

I cannot find any evidence to prove that this letter was ever so much as received by the University. It came into my possession amongst the papers of a private friend, a late distinguished ornament of the University, whose death has been an irreparable loss to the public, to the Church of England, and to a large circle of friends. No notice of such a letter, or of so liberal a donation, is to be found in the Register of the University, nor is there such a picture in our possession. I have made inquiry also, and find that it is not at Cloyne. The conclusion therefore is, either that Mrs. Berkeley changed her mind, or that from some accident the letter never was presented: at all events, it is certain that the picture of Bishop Berkeley, to which it relates, was never in the possession of the University for whose halls it was intended.

Can any one tell me where it now is; and what was the fate of "the fine collection of pictures" which was the property of Dr. Berkeley of Canterbury, and bequeathed by him to his widow, the writer of the above letter?

J. H. Todd.