Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 7.djvu/407

 10 s. VIL APRIL 27, 1907.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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-majesty which the death-mask shows to have been to a considerable extent mythical. We have fortunately in Charles's case the testimony of a contemporary to the verisi- militude of some of our existing presentments of his features. Evelyn saw the King ride,

'"coming from his Northern Expedition [on 30 Oct., 1640] in pomp and a kind of ovation, with all the marks of a happy peace, restored to the affections of his people, ueing conducted through London with a most splendid cavalcade " ;

and on 3 November following, on his way tto open the Long Parliament. He had, -therefore, some acquaintance with the King's features at the period when they were probably the most attractive. In his ' Dis- course of Medals ' (London, 1697, folio), pp. 112-13, he gives a rough representation of the memorial medal executed by Norbert Roettier (' Med. Illust.,' i. 346, 199). This he describes as " Incomparably the most Resembling his Serene Countenance when Fullest of Princely Vigour." Examples of this medal in silver and bronze will be found in the British Museum. I do not possess "this piece, but one of exactly the same type, executed at the same period by John Roettier, the father of Norbert, lies before me. The extreme regularity and beauty of the features, shown in profile, excite the almost inevitable suspicion that we are looking at an idealized rather than at a faithful portrait. A comparison with any of the Van Dyck portraits e.g,, the fine mezzotint by J. Smith confirms this im- pression. The end of the nose in the picture is much blunter, and the whole face less statuesque. The long lovelock on the left shoulder in Evelyn's medal was worn, as he informs us, by Charles, in accordance with the prevailing fashion, till the breaking out of the Civil War. The moustache, rather thick at the end, is turned upwards very nearly in the way in which it is worn by the German Emperor, and it is this feature and the beard which after all give part of the romantic character to the face a result accentuated by the turn or curl at the end of the beard, mentioned by Stevenson in the following document.

I am fortunately able to supply, in con- nexion with Sir H. Halford's narrative quoted at the last reference, a brief account of the opening of Charles's coffin in 1813 from an original letter in my possession, written at the time by Benjamin Charles Stevenson, one of the six spectators. This letter, of which only the latter part has been preserved, was addressed to the Reverend Edmund Ferrers, Cheriton, Alresford, Hants.

Although, as will be remarked, the writer has purposely abstained from giving any complete record of what he saw, he has mentioned some few interesting details (such as the curling of the end of the beard) which were not recorded by Sir H. Halford. The latter portion of the letter runs as follows :

Sir Henry Halford has drawn up a Statement of all the Circumstances, a few Copies of which will be printed, one of which I will secure for you. I would send you what I drew up upon the Occasion, but I gave it to Sir Hy Halford to complete his Statement, & promissed I would destroy my own, as I think there should be but one mention of this Event.

Upon opening the Coffin the likeness of Charles to all the Pictures, Coins, &c., that I have seen of him, was most striking ; the flesh of the face & the Muscles were entire, & for a Minute or Two the left eye remained open & looked vivid. The Kack of the Hfead] was (mite fresh, & a quantity of Liquid of the Colour of Blood was round the neck, where the decolation had taken place the Bone thro' which the Axe had passed has been preserved & will be engraved, & given with S r H. Halford's Statement. A very fine Black Velvet Pall lay over the Coffin & was in^good preservation. The Coffins of Henry 8 th & the Lady Jane Seymour, which were in the same Vault, had evidently been disturbed upon some former Occasion. Henry's Coffin had been ransacked, & was open on the Breast; there appeared nothing but a skeleton, but much Hair on the lower Jaw Bones. Lady Jane's Coffin did not appear to have been opened. There was the Coffin of a Still-born Child, of the Princess Ann of Denmark, likewise in this Vault, which lay upon the feet of the Coffin of Charles 1 st . There was much Hair upon the Head of Charles, of a very fine brown, & of a Silkey texture ; the pointed Beard, Curling at the End, was entire ; the Head had been placed exactly as if no separation of the Neck had taken place.

You will excuse these hasty & disjointed Memo- randa of this very interesting Subject. But you shall have a Copy of the Statement, & with every additional Information upon it that I can give. You have Huberts Memoirs, which gives an exact account of Charles 1 st Buryal, & which exactly corresponds with what appeared on the opening of his Vault. Yrs most Sincerely,

B. C. STEVENSON. J. ELIOT HODGKIN.

The following extract from The Globe and Traveller of the 5th inst. throws light upon this very mournful topic : YEARS AGO. BEING EXTRACTS FROM 'THE GLOBE' OF APRIL OTH.

1813. DISCOVERY OF KING CHARLES THE FIRST'S BODY. The day before the interment of Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Brunswick in the new vault in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, a discovery was made by the workmen of two ancient coffins, one of lead, the other of stone. His Royal High- ness the Prince Regent was, of course, consulted about the mode of exploring these Royal remains, which he directed to be done in his presence imme- diately. When the leaden coffin was unsoldered,