DATES OF BIRTHS AND DEATHS OF THE PRETENDERS.
(Vol. viii., p. 565.)
Though it is much to be regretted that the dates in question are not recorded on the Stuart monument in St. Peter's, yet the deficiency is in part supplied by the cenotaph raised to the memory of his elder brother by Cardinal York, in his cathedral church at Frascati. From it we find that Charles Edward deceased on 31st January, 1788, at the age of sixty-seven years and one month. This date also fixes the year of his birth at 1720, and the month December; most probably the 28th, though often given as the 31st. We give a copy of the inscription below.
The date of the birth and decease of James III. is correctly given in "N. & Q.," Vol viii., p. 565.
An account of the sepulchral monument of the last of the Stuarts may interest the readers of "N. & Q." In the south aisle of St. Peter's, and against the first pier of the nave, is the monument of the Stuarts. It was sculptured by Canova to the memory of James, the old Pretender; Charles Edward, the young Pretender; and Henry Benedict, the Cardinal, who was known in Rome as Cardinal York. Part of the expense of the monument was defrayed by George IV., who sent a donation of fifty pounds for the purpose to Pius VII. The monument is built on to the masonry of the pier, of white marble, about fifteen feet high, and is in the form of the frustrum of a
pyramid, and surmounted above the entablature by the royal arms of England. Below the arms are profile portraits in bas-relief of James, Charles Edward, and Henry Benedict, surmounted by a festoon of flowers. Beneath the portraits is the following inscription:
"Jacobo III.
Jacobi II. Magnæ Brit. regis filio,
Karolo Edvardo,
Et Henrico, decano Patrum Cardinalium,
Jacobi III. filiis,
Regiæ Stirpis Stuardiæ postremis.
A.D. MDCCCXIX.
Beati mortui,
Qui in Domino moriuntur."
There is a representation of panelled doors, as if leading to a vault, below the inscription, though their sepulchre is not in this locality; a small triangular slab of marble surmounts the door, with the words "Beati mortui," &c. A weeping angel in bas-relief guards the doorway on each side; the head of each angel resting on the bosom, the wings drooping, the hands elevated, joined together, and resting on the end of an extinguished and inverted torch. The figures of the two angels are exquisitely beautiful, and among Canova's finest works.
The bodies, however, of these last representatives of a fallen line are not buried beneath this monument, but in the crypt under the dome, and in that portion of it called the "Grotto Vecchie." There, in the first aisle to the left on entering, against the wall, a tomb about six feet long by three broad contains all that remains of the ashes of the last of the Stuarts. Over it is a plain slab of marble, with an inscription to announce that this is the burial-place of "James III., Charles III., and Henry IX., Kings of England." Even in death this royal race has not abandoned the claim they were unable to enforce.
Opposite to this monument is the monument of Maria Clementina, daughter of James Sobieski, and grand-daughter of John Sobieski, King of Poland, wife of James III., and mother of Charles Edward and Henry Benedict. She married on 3rd September, 1719, and died at Rome on 18th January, 1735. The monument stands against the wall over the door leading to the staircase by which the public ascend to the cupola. Pietro Bracci carved the monument from the design of Filippo Barigioni, consisting of a pyramid of porphyry on a base of Porta Santa marble, the whole relieved by a ground of blue sky and clouds painted on the wall. Under the elevated pyramid is the sarcophagus of porphyry, above which are two marble statues, one of Charity, and the other of an infant, which support a circular medallion portrait in mosaic, of Maria Clementina, by Cav. Cristofori, from a painting by Lewis Stern. Drapery of Sicilian alabaster, with a fringe of gilded bronze, falls in ample folds on both sides of the sarcophagus, which is flanked by two angels, one holding a crown and the other a sceptre; and upon it the words are carved "Maria Clementina M. Britann. Fr. et Hibern. Regina." It was erected by the "Fabbrica di S. Pietro," at the cost of 18,000 scudi. There is another monument in Rome to Maria Clementina, and it is in the church of the SS. Apostoli, in the nave, upon the second pier on the right-hand side. It contains her heart, and consists of a circular urn of verde antico, surmounted by a crown, over which two angels hover, of white marble; and below, a tablet of rosso antico, bearing an inscription, thus:
"Mariæ Clementinæ Magnæ Britanniæ
Etc. Reginæ, Fratres Min. Cons. venerabundi pp.
Hic Clementinæ remanent præcordia, nam cor
Cælestis fecit ne superesset amor."
Charles Edward has also another monument in addition to the one in St. Peter's, namely, at Frascati, fourteen miles from Rome, of which see Cardinal York was bishop. Its position is to the left of the great entrance door; the inscription runs thus:
"Hic situs est Karolus Odoardus, cui pater Jacobus III., Rex Angliæ, Scotiæ, Franciæ, Hiberniæ, primus natorum, paterni juris et regiæ dignitatis successor et hæres, qui, domicilio sibi Romæ delecto, Comes Albanyensis dictus est. Vixit annos LXVII et mensem: decessit in pace
pridie Kal. Febr. anno MDCCLXXXVIII.
"Henricus Card. Episc. Tusculan., cui paterna jura titulique cessere, Ducis Eboracensis appellatione resumpta, in ipso luctu amori et reverentiæ obsequutus, indicto in templum suum funere multis cum lacrimis præsens justa persolvit fratri augustissimo, honoremque sepulchri ampliorem destinavit."
Henry Benedict, or Cardinal York, was born at Rome on 6th of March, 1725. He was Bishop of Ostia and Velletri, Dean of the Sacred College, Vice-Chancellor of the Roman Church, Arch-priest of St. Peter's, and Prefect of the Fabric of St. Peter's. He deceased at Frascati in July, 1807. In the church at Frascati, on the left hand of the entrance into the sanctuary, there is a monument in his honour; but I have not a copy of the inscription.
It is needless to add that though all these monuments are made of the richest marbles, and at great cost, the effect produced by them as Christian sepulchral monuments is unsatisfactory in the extreme. The inscriptions upon them are in equally bad taste.
Ceyrep.