MONUMENT TO THE MEMORY OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS AT ANTWERP.
(Vol. v., p. 415.)
Having visited the interesting city of Antwerp in the autumn of 1846, I can answer the Query of your correspondent C. E. D. from personal inspection. The monument to Mary Queen of Scots is still in existence; and consists of a richly ornamented slab, placed at a considerable height from the pavement, against a pillar in (I think) the southern transept of the church of St. Andrew. I was told on the spot that it was erected by two English ladies, but my informant was silent as to the tradition respecting the head. In the centre of the carvings which adorn the upper part of the monument, is inserted a medallion portrait of the beautiful but unfortunate queen; it is extremely well painted, and represents her in that peculiar costume so familiar to those acquainted with her accustomed style of dress. I inclose a copy of the inscription:—
"Maria Stuarta,
Scot. et Gall. Reg.
Jacob. Magn. Britan. Reg. Mater.
Anno 1568, in. Angl. Refugii causâ descendens.
Cogna. Elisab. ibi regnavit.
Perfidiâ senat. et Hæret. post xix. Captivit. Annos.
Relig. ergo. cap. obtrunc.
Martyrium consumavit. Anno D. N. 1587.
Æta. Regy. 45."
The wood-carvings, with which this church abounds (especially those of the pulpit and its accessories), are marvellous efforts of Art.
M. W. B.
Having visited the church of St. Andrew at Antwerp during the autumn of last year, I am able to inform your correspondent C. E. D. (Vol. v., p. 415.) that the monument to which he alludes still exists.
The portrait of Mary Queen of Scots is above the tablet, which was, I believe, erected to the memory of Elizabeth Curle; who, after the execution of her mistress, resided at Antwerp, and was buried in that church.
F. H.
The monument dedicated to the memory of their beloved mistress by the two noble ladies of the household of Mary Queen of Scots, Lady Barbara Mowbray, the wife, and Elizabeth Curle, the sister, of Gilbert Curle, the queen's confidential secretary, still exists in the church of St. Andrew at Antwerp. The history, or rather story of the decapitated head having been borne away by these ladies, and buried at the foot of the pillar on which the monument is placed, which is alluded to by your correspondent, is too apocryphal for belief. There is no reason to suppose that any head of the queen was carried away by these devoted women into exile, excepting in the shape of her portrait painted on copper; which, instead of being interred beneath the monument, is still to be seen placed above the dedicatory inscription. It is true that in the edition of Descamps' Voyage Pittoresque de la Flandre, published at Paris and Rouen in 1769, it is stated that the monument was surmounted by "son buste en marbre;" but this error was corrected in the Antwerp edition of 1792, where it is correctly affirmed to be "son portrait peint."
Mention is made of this crowned portrait, of a circular form, in Mackie's Castles and Prisons of Queen Mary, and of the close resemblance it bears to another in the possession of Lady Cathcart; who assured Mr. Mackie that the two portraits were painted by order of the queen, and presented by her to two Scottish ladies, but whose names are not mentioned.
The following epitaph to the memory of these two faithful servants of the unhappy queen, has also been preserved by Jacques Le Roy in his Théâtre Sacré du Brabant, tom. ii. p. 90. It was copied by him from a blue marble slab placed over the entrance to the vault in which they were deposited:—
"D. O. M.
Sub hoc lapide duarum feminarum vere piarum conduntur corpora D. Barbaræ Moubray et D. Elisabethæ Curle utræque Scotæ, nobilissimæ Mariæ Reginæ à cubiculis, quarum monumentum superiori affigitur columnæ. Illa vidua mortalium legi cessit XXXI. Julii anno 1616 ætatis LVII., dum hæc semper cælebs XXIX. Maii, ætatis LX. Dni M.DC.XX."
In the inscription placed against the pillar, dedicated to the memory of Queen Mary, Lady Barbara is said to be a daughter of Lord John Mowbray—Barbara Moubray, D. Johan Moubray, Baronis F.
The writer of this note is desirous of obtaining some authentic information respecting these two noble Scottish families, and hopes this
communication may serve to elicit what he has long sought to trace. The armorial bearings of both families (originally affixed to the monument) have been effaced.
He would be glad also to be referred to any documents tending to throw light on the obscure history of poor Mary's intriguing French secretary, Nau; as to where he was born, his connexions and avocations in early life; how, and by what secret influence he entered into the service of the queen; and, lastly, how he came to be pardoned, and what became of him afterwards? She declared, in her last hours, that he was the cause of her death?
Nhrsl.