On the King’s left are fifteen members of the Court on their knees, and in livery gowns, evidently specially sumptuous for the occasion, being of brocaded or damask silk, trimmed with fur, and each man wears a livery hood of red and black upon his shoulder. The first of these is Thomas Vicary, Serjeant-Surgeon, who wears a gold chain; next comes Sir John Ayleff, Surgeon to the King, also with a gold chain and a ring on his finger, the next is Nicholas Simpson, King’s Barber, who, like Vicary and Ayleff, wears a skull cap, all the others have their heads bare. Then comes Edmund Harman, King’s Barber, and one of the Witnesses to Henry’s Will, he wears a gold chain; next him is James Monforde, King’s Surgeon, then John Pen, the King’s Barber, and Nicholas Alcocke; the expression on the countenances of all these men is grave and solemn; the next, Richard Ferris, who has a somewhat merrier face, and was also King’s Surgeon, completes the front row. The moustaches and beards of the whole, including the King, would appear as if they had had great care and attention bestowed upon them. Of the remaining seven figures in the back row, the names of but two have been preserved, viz., Christopher Salmond and William Tilley. This picture of Holbein’s is not surpassed, if indeed it is equalled, by any other of that master, every part is most elaborately and delicately finished; the position of none of the figures is constrained, and there is no attempt at theatrical effect, yet every person represented is in action, the colouring is chaste, and kept down, nor is there any of that hardness and stiffness often observed in Holbein’s pictures. Its reputation has been truly said to be world-wide, whilst it has been eulogistically described by some one to be “as glowing as a Titian, and minutely faithful as a Gerard Dow.”[78] [78] Part of the above description has been adapted from an anonymous paragraph, which I found interleaved in Allen’s History of London, at the Guildhall Library. The names of the persons represented have been somewhat rudely affixed to their effigies, probably a few years after the picture was painted, and whilst we cannot but deplore the disfigurement, it is more than compensated for, as the means of identification of so many of our illustrious predecessors. The tablet, with inscription, has been said to be of later date than Holbein’s work, and to have been painted over a window, through which was once seen the old church of St. Bride; this, however, is most improbable, as it is personally dedicatory to Henry. The inscription is as follows:-- HENRICO OCTAVO OPT MAX: REGI ANGLIÆ FRANCIÆ ET HIBERNIÆ FIDEI DEFENSORI AC ANGLICANÆ HIBERNICÆQ ECCLESIÆ PROXIME A CHRISTO SVPREMO CAPITI SOCIETAS CHIRVRGORVM COMMVNIBVS VOTIS HÆC CONSECRAT.