THE PORTRAITS OF JOHN KNOX. 295 of tliis Engraving are often found in portfolios, but seldom hung upon the walls of a study ; and I doubt if it has ever had much circulation, especially among the more serious readers of Knox. For my own share, I. had unhesitatingly believed in it; and knew not that anybody called it in question, till two or three years ago, in the immense uproar which arose in Scotland on the subject of a monument to Knox, and the utter collapse it ended in, — evidently enough not for want of money, to the unlimited amount of millions, but of any plan that could be agreed on with the slightest chance of feasibility. This raised an enquiry as to the outward appearance of Knox, and especially as to this Somerville Likeness, which I be- hoved, and cannot but still believe, to be the only pro- bable likeness of him, anywhere known to exist. Its history, what can be recovered of it, is as follows. On the death of the last Baron Somerville, some three or four years ago, the Somerville Peerage, after four centuries of duration, became extinct ; and this Picture then passed into the possession of one of the representatives of the family, the Hon. Mrs. Ealph Smyth of Gaybrook, near Mullingar, Ireland. This
