SPEAKER LENTHALL
SIR,—Has not Mr. Nicolson been a littk too glib in jumping to the conclusion that Speaker Lenthall was avaricious, a thief, and rather a craven man? It should be remembered that Lenthall was a person of position and wealth, and a reputed sound lawyer before becoming Speaker. It seems incredible that he should have looted Charles the First's pictures, which hung for so many years at the Priory Burford. Surely at the Restoration (which, according to General Monck, who informed Charles II on reaching London that it would have been impossible for him to have come to the throne unless the Speaker wished it) these paintings would have been reclaimed. The evidence is, I believe, that after Charles the First's death his art treasures were sold. For instance, the Spanish Ambassador bought so extensively that it took eight mules to remove his purchases. Mr. Nicolson writes, in some apparent scorn, that the Speaker "twice allowed himself to be pulled out of his Chair."
I ask him, what svas the poor man to do, being unarmed and unsupported and surrounded by hostile soldiery, beyond protesting on both
occasions with memorable dignity? FRANCES L. EVANS,
(Seventh great-granddaughter of Speaket Lenthall)..
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