Sir,--I believe I can answer a Query in your Third Number, by N.,
respecting the whereabouts of a piece of ancient tapestry formerly in
the possession of Mr. Yarnold, of Great St. Helen's, London, described,
upon no satisfactory authority, as "the Plantagenet Tapestry." It is at
present the property of Thos. Baylis, Esq., of Colby House, Kensington.
A portion of it has been engraved as representing Richard III, &c.; but
it is difficult to say what originated that opinion. The subject is a
crowned female seated by a fountain, and apparently threatening two male
personages with a rod or slight sceptre, which she has raised in her
_left_ hand, her arm being stayed by another female standing behind her.
This has been said to represent Elizabeth of York driving out Richard
III, which, I need scarcely say, she did not do. There are nineteen
other figures, male and female, looking on or in conversation, all
attired in the costume of the close of the 15th century, but without the
least appearance of indicating any historical personage. It is probably
an allegorical subject, such as we find in the tapestry of the same date
under the gallery of Wolsey's Hall at Hampton Court, and in that of
Nancy published by Mons. Juninal.
I believe one of the seven pieces of "the siege of Troy," mentioned in
Query, No. 3, or an eighth piece unmentioned, is now in the possession
of Mr. Pratt, of Bond Street, who bought it of Mr. Yarnold's widow.
I may add that the tapestry in St. Mary's Hall, Coventry, contains,
undoubtedly, representations of King Henry VI, Queen Margaret, and
Cardinal Beaufort. It is engraved in Mr. Shaw's second volume of
_Dresses and Decorations_; but the date therein assigned to it (_before_
1447) is erroneous, the costume being, like that in the tapestries above
mentioned, of the _very end_ of the 15th century.