ery he felt
most at home in, he threw into it a spirit of repose: while it was bold,
there was nothing harsh or offensive to the eye. I have tried many
experiments with one of this pictures: amongst other things, I find the
least moisture will remove the sand. Mr. Haas had a gallery in London for
some time (I believe in Regent Street), where there were portraits done in
sand. A portrait of himself was considered the gem of the pictures: such a
vitality and delicacy of colouring did it possess. I mention this merely to
show that sand could be applied to other branches of art besides
landscapes. The history of the pictures at Windsor Castle is to be seen in
one of the old _Windsor Guides_. Mr. Hans died at Bibrach, where doubtless
many of his pictures are.

Sand-paintings cannot last long; they have in themselves the element of
their own destruction, "their rough surface," which very soon collects and
retains the dust. I never heard of their being cleaned.

JOHN MUMMERY.

Queenwood College, Stockbridge, Hants.

* * * * *

O'BRIEN OF THOSMOND.

(Vol. ix., p. 125.)

In corroboration of my former suggestion, that Nicholas Thosmound of
Somersetshire was an O'Brien of Thomond, I beg to add some farther facts.
Cotemporary with him was William Toutmound, who obtained in the sixth year
of Henry IV. a grant of the office (in England) of chief carpenter of the
king for his life. This singular office, "Capitalis Carpentarius Regis,"
must, I suppose, be called Lord High Carpenter of England, in analogy with
the offices of steward, butler, &c. It is mentioned in the _Calendar of
Patent Rolls of England_ at the 6 Henry IV.; and in the same repository is
mention of a grant long before by Henry III. of the land of Tosmond in
Ireland, to A. R. Tosmond (R standing, I presume, for "Regi," for the Irish
Toparchs were then thus designated by the English government). In this case
then we have the letter _s_ used for _t_, as in the _Inq. P. M._ of Alicia,
wife of the before-mentioned Nicholas Thosmound. In the _Abbreviatio
Rotulorum Originalium of England_, in 15 Edw. II., is the expression
"Regalitatem de Totamon," applied to the district of Thomond in Ireland. It
seems not unlikely that the two cotemporary individuals mentioned above
were sons or grandsons of Turloch, or Tirrelagh, O'Brien, sovereign of
Thomond from 1367 to 1370, when he was supplanted by his nephew Brien
O'Brien, ancestor of the Marquis