At Midsummer he received £30, a whole year’s salary, but it included the quarter from Lady Day then owing to him. The entry reads: “Midsummer, Anno xxx:—Item for Hans Holbyn, paynter, for one hole yere’s annuitie advaunced to him beforehand the same yere, to be accomptedde from o^r Ladye dey last past, the somme of xxx _li._” On the two following quarter-days, owing to this payment in advance, he is entered as receiving nothing: “Michaelmas, A^o xxx:—Item for Hans Holbyn, paynter, wages nihil^a quia solutum per warrantum.” “Christmas, A^o xxx:—Item for Hans Holbyn, paynter, Nihil.” This payment in advance has generally been regarded as a mark of the King’s special favour and as an acknowledgment of his talents as an artist, but it was more probably due to his frequent absences from England at that time. On the one hand, his several journeys might well entail some amount of extra expenditure not covered by his travelling allowances, while on the other his income would be reduced through the limited time left him for painting the portraits of English courtiers or German merchants. There is, in fact, no portrait from his brush bearing the date 1538. Added to this, his great success in painting the Duchess of Milan must be taken into account. The King was delighted with this portrait, and his choice would naturally fall upon the man who had painted it when a similar journey was in contemplation. There is one piece of evidence, however, against the assumption that Holbein was the painter who went to Joinville, which must not be overlooked—a letter from Niklaus Kratzer, the King’s astronomer, to Cromwell. It is a much-mutilated epistle, written in somewhat halting and incorrect Latin. Kratzer begins by saying that he had received, the day before writing, by a ship from Antwerp, two little books by Georgius Spalatinus, which the author had sent to him in order that he might present them to Cromwell. “These,” he says, “I gave to Hans Holbein (Joanni Holbein), in order that he might give them to you.” At first sight this looks as though Kratzer might have given Holbein the books to deliver, knowing that he was about to visit Cromwell for final instructions on the eve of his departure for High Burgundy. The letter,[319] however, is dated St. Bartholomew’s Day, August 24 (Datum Lunduni, in [festo Sancti] Bartholomei), so that if Kratzer had seen Holbein on August 23, the latter could not possibly have reached Joinville by the 30th; for although the King’s messengers were accustomed to travel with great expedition—Castillon complains to Montmorency that the English couriers took only five or six days between Paris and London, whereas the French messengers took double that time—it would have been impossible, even with the utmost speed then attainable, to reach the far borders of eastern France within a week. But although the letter is dated “St. Bartholomew’s Day,” it has no year-date. It has