Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/156

 122 NOTES AND QUERIES. [i2S.ix.Auo.i3,i02i. Dec. 25-26, 1559, being crowned Jan. 6, 1560 (' L'Art de verifier les Dates,' iii. 422, 427). However, in the Chronological Table at the end of his book, Lawrence -Archer gives the " authentic or probable date " as 1534; and the Sforza grant shows that the Order was already in existence in 1539. It is curious that in the same table Lawrence - Archer gives the "traditional or apocryphal date " of foundation as 1539, which must be an error. St. Sylvester died Dec. 31, 335 (' L'Art de verifier les Dates,' iii. 257). Lawrence -Archer states that :< The right of nomination having been con- ceded to Cardinals and Dukes, its reputation was at length impaired. Pope Gregory XVI. . . . in 1841 decreed that it should only be conferred for zeal in the [Roman] Catholic religion, for civil virtues, and for eminence in science and art (p. 191). It would be interesting to know if he deprived, or tried to deprive, the House of Sforza of their right to create knights of the Order. IV. Amongst many other titles at the head of his letters patent, Lorenzo styles himself " Princeps Romanus et Sacri Romani Imperii." But there seems to be some doubt whether the Sforzas were really Princes of the Holy Roman Empire. Sieb- macher, although he includes the Dukes of Sforza- Cesarini amongst the Princes of the Empire, is unable to discover their right to the title. The first to whom he attributes it is Filippo (d. 1764), whose wife was the daughter of a Prince of the Empire, Sieb- macher suggesting that Filippo probably assumed the title in right of his wife " wohl jure uxoris ? " His nephew (" Nef- fe ") and successor, Gaetano (d. 1776), also married a Reichsfurstin and assumed the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire ; and Gaetano' s son Francesco bore the same title, without it being apparent whether, and when, it had been conferred : " ohne dass zu ersehen, ob und warm derselbe ver- liehen worden ware " (* Wappenbuch,' Ite Band, 3te Abt., 3te Reihe A., p. 248). On this it may be remarked that : (1) Gaetano was the brother, not the nephew, of Filippo (Ratti, op. cit. t pp. 358, 360). (2) The M.I. on the tomb of Filippo's father, Giuseppe Sforza (d. 1744), gives him the title of " Sacri Romani Imperii Prin- cipis " (ibid., p. 358) ; so the title was prob- ably borne by him, although doubtless it may only have been attributed to him by his son after his death. (3) The wives of Filippo and Gaetano do not seem to have been princesses in their own right, and presumably only enjoyed the title of Reichsfurstin as daughters of a Reichsfurst ; in which case their husbands can hardly have been entitled to assume the title jure uxoris, although this is no proof that they did not do so. I hope that other contributors will be able to supply an explanation. G. H. WHITE. 23, Weighton Road, Anerley. THE OLDEST LONDON STATUE. 1395-1921. THE statues of London have been listed and photographed with infinite care, and yet there has remained this almost unidentified, and certainly the oldest, stone effigy prac- tically unknown. Of its history and origin nothing has been ascertained or recorded until this brief narrative came to be written after much research, the inspiration of a small drawing and close examination of the statue in situ. In the eighteenth year of his reign, that is the year 1395, King Richard the Second ordered the restoration of Westminster Hall. Fire had destroyed the roof, and a better entrance was needed from Palace Yard. So it was built much as we see it to-day, the most important improvement being the great North Porch, with its many niches. Some of the original contracts between the King et Richard Washbourn et Johan Swalwe Masons d'autre part are textually preserved in that well-known work Rymer's ' Fcedera.' The records, however, are not complete, so we are left to infer that the work was not finished when the King abdicated, and some of the niches were never filled with these intended statues of tutelary saints or kings and queens of preceding reigns. About a century later the changes in the uses of the great hall had created a demand for taverns, and at least two, named respec- tively " Heaven " and " Hell," were pro- vided by extraneous buildings built against this porch, and hiding most of its niches and statuary. These additions to the build- ings persisted until early in the nineteenth century, when extensions of the Courts of Law were made and all taverns, inns,