_Parson, the Staffordshire Giant._--Harwood, in a note to his edition of
Erdeswick's _Staffordshire_, p. 289., says,--
"This place [Westbromwich] gave birth to _William_ Parsons,
[query Walter,] the gigantic porter of King {136} James I.,
_whose picture was at Whitehall_; and a bas-relief of him, with
Jeffry Hudson the dwarf, was fixed in the front of a house near
the end of a bagnio court, Newgate-street, probably as a sign."
Plot, in his _Natural History of Staffordshire_, gives some instances of
the great strength of Parsons.
I shall feel much obliged if you or your readers will inform me, 1.
Whether there is any mention of Parsons in contemporary, or other works?
2. Whether the portrait is in existence? if so, where? Has it been
engraved?