In reference to the Query of SCOTUS (Vol. ii., p 478.) respecting Beatrix
Lady Talbot (so long confounded by genealogists with her more illustrious
contemporary, Beatrix Countess of Arundel), perhaps I may be permitted to
state, that the merit, whatever it may be, of having been the first to
discover this error, belongs to myself; and that the whole of the facts and
authorities to prove the non-identity of the two ladies were supplied by me
to the late Sir H. Nicolas, to enable him to compile the article on the
subject in the _Collectanea Topographica_, vol. i.; the notes to which also
were almost entirely written by myself. From the note of SCOTUS, one would
suppose that _he_ had made the discovery that Lady Talbot belonged to the
Portuguese family of _Pinto_; whereas he merely transcribes my words in p.
405. of the Addenda to vol. i. of the _Collectanea_.
I had originally supposed that this lady was a member of the house of
_Sousa_, which bore a coat of four crescents, quartered with the arms of
Portugal (without the border); and in that belief a paragraph was written
by Sir H. Nicolas, accompanied by a pedigree, to show the connexion of
Beatrix Lady Talbot, through her great-great-grandfather, with the royal
line of Portugal, and, consequently, with Beatrix Countess of Arundel; but
these were subsequently struck out. By an oversight, however, the note
referring to some works on the genealogy of the house of Sousa has been
allowed to remain at p. 87. of the _Collectanea_; and as it stands at
present, it has no corresponding passage in the text. For the information
that Lady Talbot bore the arms of Pinto, I was really indebted to a
Portuguese gentleman, the Chevalier M.T. de Moraes Sarmento, who published
(anonymously) a small volume entitled _Russell de Albuquerque, Conto Moral,
por um Portuguez_, 12mo. Cintra, 1833, at p. 331-2. of which work is a
brief notice of the two Beatrixes, from memoranda furnished by myself. At
the time I collected the information given to Sir H. Nicolas, I wrote to
the Earl of Shrewsbury, to inquire whether among the family papers any
evidence could be found, to clear up the history of his ancestress; but his
lordship informed me he had no means of elucidating the difficulty, and
that in the earliest pedigree in his possession (drawn up in the reign of
Elizabeth), Beatrix Lady Talbot was not only described as daughter of the
King of Portugal, but had the royal arms of Portugal assigned to her,--a
proof, by the way, that even in pedigrees compiled and attested by heralds,
there are statements which are not borne out by historic documents. I am
still, therefore, like SCOTUS, anxious to know more about this lady, and
hope some of your correspondents versed in Portuguese genealogies may
supply the required information.