3i8 To MASON 6 JULY 1777 To MASON, Sunday 6 July 1777 Printed from Mitford i. 298-300. Strawberry Hill, July 6, 1777. I DON'T know anybody so much in the wrong as you are for not coming to me this summer; you would see such a marvellous closet, so small, so perfect, so respectable, you would swear it came out of Havering in the Bower,1 and that Catherine de Valois2 used to retire into it to write to Owen Tudor.3 Lady Di's drawings4—no offence to yours, are hung on Indian blue damask,3 the ceiling, door and surbase are gilt, and in the window are two brave fleurs-de-lis and a lion of England, all royally crowned in painted glass,6 which as Queen Cath­ erine never did happen to write a billet doux in this closet, signify Beauclerc, the denomination of the Tower. This cabinet is to be sacred and not shown to the profane, as the drawings are not for the eyes of the vulgar. Yours shall have a place, which is the greatest hon­ our I can do them.7 Miss Pope8 the actress, who is at Mrs Clive's,0 dined here yesterday, and literally shed tears, though she did not know the story.101 think this is more to Lady Di's credit, than a tomtit peck­ ing at painted fruit. The ceiling was. fortunately finished some time 1. A royal mansion at Pyrgo in the 4. Of seven scenes from HW's Mysterious liberty of Havering-atte-Bower, Essex, was Mother (ante 18 Feb. 1776 and n. 23). used in the late Middle Ages as a dower 5. 'For 36 yards of blue Indian damask house for the queens of England. In 1559 for the Beauclerc Closet: 18-18-0' (SH Ac­ Queen Elizabeth granted the manor to counts 16). Sir John Grey. The old mansion was torn 6. 'In the window is a lion and two down in 1770 and replaced by a new build­ fleurs-de-lis, royally crowned, ancient, but ing. See HW to Mann 25 May 1765; repaired and ornamented by Price; and, Thomas Wright, The History and Topog­ being bearings in the royal arms, serve raphy of the County of Essex, 1836, ii. for Beauclerc' ('Des. of SH,' Works ii. 503). 430-1; George Terry, Memories of Old The glass was bought in by Lord Walde­ Romford and Other Places within the grave at the SH sale xxiv. 54, but was Royal Liberty of Havering-atte-Bower, subsequently removed. 1880, pp. 20-1; Joseph H. Pemberton, 7. HW is harking back to Mason's re­ 'Havering-atte-Bower,' Essex Review, 1899, mark in the preceding letter, 'I do not viii. 188. expect you to put them up in the Beau­ 2. Catherine of Valois (1401-37), Queen clerk Tower.' Whether he understood Ma­ of Henry V. Evidence that she ever used son as meaning actual drawings (ante 21 Havering has not been found. At the time June, n. 9) is not clear, but no drawings by of Owen Tudor's courtship of Catherine Mason were placed in the Tower. the house was probably occupied by Joan 8. Jane Pope (1742-1818), noted for her of Navarre, the widow of Henry IV, who soubrette parts. died at Pyrgo in 1437. 9. Little Strawberry Hill. 3. Owen Tudor (d. 1461), m. (ca 1429) 10. Of The Mysterious Mother. the widowed Queen Catherine. .