Stuarts

146 THE STUARTS
Coventry, Lord Keeper, who regarded Charles as a martyr. From her they
have descended to the present possessor in an unbroken line of owners, as
enumerated in documents preserved by his family.
At Badminton the Duke of Beaufort preserves another shirt of Charles's, of
linen, frilled with damask work, an heirloom of the Somerset family, whose close
connection with Charles I. in the time of his troubles I have already alluded to.
There remains yet another shirt, which is perhaps more correctly described as a
vest. In "The Secret History of Whitehall" it is stated that the Bishop
(Juxon) put on his (the King's) nightcap and unclothed him to his sky-blue vest.
The garment, here figured, is a beautiful specimen of weaver's work, and is of
finely woven silk formed into diamond and other patterns. It measures 32
inches in length, 16^ inches under the armpits, 64 inches from wrist to wrist, and
6^ inches round the neck, and has the remains of large stains, apparently of
blood, on it. Its history is as follows : After the execution of the King it was
removed from his body by his physician, Dr. Hobbes, who carefully preserved
this relic of his Royal master ; from him it passed to his daughter Susannah,
who married Temple Stanger, of Rawlins, Oxfordshire ; from her it descended
to Temple Hardy, and from him to his kinsman Admiral d'Aeth, of Knowlton
Court, Kent, who died in 1873 ; it then became the property of his son, Mr.
Narborough d'Aeth, who died in 1886, and passed to the eldest son of the latter,
Captain L. N. B. d'Aeth, who sold it by auction at Mr. Stevens's rooms on
November 8, 1898, when it was purchased by Mr. Ernest A. Brocklehurst, after
a very spirited competition, for 200 guineas. The last-named owner died
recently, when it again found its way into the same auction room, and this time
was purchased for exactly the same sum by Mr. Berney Ficklin, of Tasburgh
Hall, Norfolk, by whose courtesy I have been able to examine and describe it.
Whilst the pages of the first edition of this work were passing through the
press, a very curious and interesting circumstance came to light with reference to
this shirt. At Hitchin Priory there hangs a portrait of Charles I. by Van Dyck
which has been the property of the Delme Radcliffe family for many genera-
tions. In the frame of this picture is mounted a blue silk button ; and
manuscript is preserved, in a handwriting which obtained about 1680, recording
how a certain Mr. James Tucker cut this button from the waistcoat in which
King Charles was beheaded. Mr. Berney Ficklin's vest has a button wanting,
and Mr. Francis Delme Radcliffe, having compared the garment with the button
he possesses, has not the slightest doubt that it is the missing button, and that
the authenticity of both are thereby clearly proved.