If we can trust the two engraved portraits of Sir Thomas Urquhart which have come down to us, he was a man of handsome presence, and accustomed to deck himself in all the splendour of costume to which so many of his brother-cavaliers were addicted. George Glover, the famous engraver, drew both the portraits of him which are extant. One of these appears as a frontispiece to the _Epigrams_ and to the _Trissotetras_. It is a small whole-length, and represents Sir Thomas in rich dress,[147] holding out his hand to receive from some allegorical personage a laurel wreath "for Armes and Artes."[148] On a table beside him are his hat and embroidered cloak. In the vacant spaces on each side of the upper part of the figure are his name and titles: "S^r Thomas Urchard, Knight, of Bray and Udol, etc., Baron of Ficherie and Clohorby, etc., Laird Baron of Cromartie and Heritable Sheriff thereof, etc." The portrait is described as taken from the life, and engraved in 1641;[149] and beneath it is a couplet by W. S., as follows:
"Of him whose shape this Picture hath design'd, Vertue and learning represent the Mind."
Who W. S. was we do not know. The date forbids our identifying him with the Bard of Avon. He was probably one of those mysterious personages, who were always at hand to write epistles of commendation to works by Sir Thomas, and to testify on their "book-oath" to his gifts and graces.
The second engraved portrait is of great rarity, and only one impression of it is known to be in existence. It was probably meant to be a frontispiece to the unpublished volume of Epigrams described on p. 116, the title of which was to have been _Apollo and the Muses_, but which never found its way into print. In this engraving Sir Thomas is depicted as seated with great complacency upon Mount Parnassus, in the midst of the Muses, seven of whom are pressing upon his attention wreaths of laurel of which he is worthy, "for Judgment, Learning, witt, Invention, sweetness, stile." At his feet is the sacred fountain of Castalia or Hippocrene, into the waters of which the other two Muses are sportively dipping "sprinklers" or asperges. One of them seems inclined to give Sir Thomas a sprinkling, but refrains, either because it was unnecessary or for fear of spoiling his nice clothes. In the background, the winged horse Pegasus is flying sufficiently low down to allow a woman to pluck a couple of feathers from his wings.[150] These are no doubt intended to provide pens for Sir Thomas's next literary undertaking. In the further distance are several feathered creatures, which are probably meant for poetical swans, but which bear a painful likeness to prosaic geese. At the foot of the picture in one corner we have Apollo, playing on his lyre; and on the ground in front are a half-starved dragon and a snake, writhing in impotent rage, as they witness the triumph of Sir Thomas. We can hardly be mistaken in concluding that these last are symbolical representations of envious and carping critics.