_Sir George Downing._--I should be glad to obtain any information
respecting Sir George Downing, of East Halley, Cambridgeshire, and
Gamlingay Park, or his family. He was ambassador from Cromwell and Charles
II. to the States-General of Holland, secretary to the Treasury, and the
statesman who caused the "Appropriation Act" to be passed, the 17th of
Charles II. The family is of most ancient origin in Devonshire, and I have
heard that a portrait of him is possessed by some person in that county.