178 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 226. 



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. Magna? Brit, regis filio, 



Karolo Edvardo, 



Et Henrico, decano Patrum Cardinalium, 



Jacobi III. filiis, 



Regia? Stirpis Stuardia? 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 tri- 

 angular 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 to- 

 gether, 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 representa- 

 tives 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 " Grotte 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 por- 

 phyry 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. Dra- 

 pery 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 : 



" Maria? Clementina? Magna? Britannia? 

 Etc. Reginae, Fratres Min. Cons, venerabundi pp. 



Hie Clementina? remanent pra?cordia, nam cor 

 Ca?lestis fecit ne superesset amor." 



Charles Edward has also another monument in 

 addition to the one in St. Peter's, namely, at Fras- 

 cati, fourteen miles from Rome, of which see Car- 

 dinal York was bishop. Its position is to the left 

 of the great entrance door ; the inscription runs 

 thus: 



" Hie situs est Karolus Odoardus, cui pater Ja- 

 cobus III., Rex Anglia?, Scotia?, Francia?, Hiberniae, 

 primus natorum, paterni juris et regia? dignitatis suc- 

 cessor et haeres, qui, domicilio sibi Roma? delecto, 

 Comes Albanyensis dictus est. Vixit annos i.xvn et 

 mensem : decessit in pace )j£ pridie Kal. Febr. anno 



MDCCLXXXV1II. 



« Henricus Card. Episc. Tusculan., cui paterna jura 

 titulique cessere, Ducis Eboracensis appellatione re- 

 sumpta, in ipso luctu amori et reverentia? obsequutus, 

 indicto in templum suum funere multis cum lacrimis 

 praesens justa persolvit fratri augustissimo, honorem- 

 que 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, 1 807. 

 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 in- 

 scription. 



It is needless to add that though all these mo- 

 numents 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. Cetrep. 



