50
THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
telling her that the lady depicted bore the unusual name
of "Judah," thus apparently identifying her with Samuel Dale's
first wife, Judah. It was this and certain other facts which
gave Mrs. Dalton the idea that this portrait represented Samuel
Dale, his first wife, and his eldest son. Further, all the members
of the Club who attended the meeting, above-mentioned, at
which the portraits were exhibited, accepted the portraits for
what they were then supposed to be. It was pointed out
that there was a general resemblance between the male portrait
and that of Samuel Dale, as depicted on the portrait at Apothe-
caries' Hall. It was recognized, however, that the first-men-
tioned portrait was that of a man some 40—50 years younger
than the man represented by the latter, painted in 1731, when
Dale was seventy-two years of age. The facts that the male
portrait displayed a medical Work (as does the Apothecaries'
Hall portrait of Dale), and that it and the female portrait were
painted also (like it) within a large oval, seemed to supply further
corroboration. All this, together with the legend preserved
in the Everard family, seemed conclusive.
This conclusion was, however, shaken very rudely when, a
few months later, I took photographs to the National Portrait
Gallery. There they were kindly examined by the Keeper,
Mr. J. D. Milner, who at once pointed out that the costumes
depicted were not of the date We had supposed, but of about
1775. Thus, it became obvious that the portraits could not
possibly represent Samuel Dale, his wife, and his son—a very
disappointing result. Nevertheless, as it still seems probable
that they represent members of the Dale Family, they are
reproduced herein.
Each portrait is painted on a canvas measuring 301/2 inches
by 25 inches. All are in poor condition—or were so until re-
cently, when the canvasses were "stretched." The painting,
though good, seems to be that of some local artist, rather than
that of a master. All three portraits are painted within oval
borders, which are much too large for the portraits as we have
them, the border showing at the bottom only.
The first and most important portrait (fig. 1) depicts a man
about thirty years of age, with a serious, but pleasing, expression,
and attired in the costume of his period. The right hand rests
upon a large upright book, bound in brown calf, with a scarlet