Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 3.djvu/136

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9< s. in. FEB. is, m

RELICS OF CHARLES I. (8 th S. vi. 226, 315 ; 9 th S. ii. 513.) THOUGH the entries in 'N. & Q. ; refer ring to the foregoing heading would tak( many lines to enumerate, the garment men tioned at the last reference does not seem to have received notice. Nor does it seem to have been exhibited in the Stuart Ex hibition of 1889. The extract from the Man- chester paper given by MR. TAVAR does not even show that it has been mentioned in any published record. The auctioneer who hac to sell it was able to support his opinion that it had. According to London papers of the day following the sale :

" The auctioneer said that, by the courtesy of Col. Hammond, of the Royal United Service Institution, he had recently seen a copy of the ' Secret History of Whitehall,' which stated on p. 302 (second edition] that Bishop Juxon unclothed the king at the exe- cution to his sky-coloured vest."

This statement, for which the auctioneer had justification, must have been most useful in establishing the value of the garment, as confirming its pedigree from an independent source strikingly associated with its history. Where could one hope to find a better account of the great Whitehall tragedy than in the ' Secret History of Whitehall "I How could one help attaching some value to the fact that the book came from the very spot on which the tragedy had been enacted ? But, in fact, the first part of the confirmation was as unsubstantial as the second. The 'Secret History of Whitehall ' is neither particularly rare nor eminently trustworthy. Whatever its merits, it contains no mention of the garment in question. But, bound up and paged with the second part of the 'Secret History,' a work making pretensions, well or ill founded, to special information, is another work with no such pretensions, bearing its own title 'The Tragical History of the Stuarts,' from 1086. In this work occurs the passage : " The bishop put on his Night cap, and un- clothed him to his Sky-colour'd Sattin Wast- coat" (not sky-coloured vest). There is no more claim to personal experience of the event than of any event from 1086 downwards, and there is nothing to show that David Jones, the author, was born at the time of King Charles's beheading. Such as the evidence is, it does not inform us at what stage in the undressing the " wastcoat " was arrived at ; but the delivery of the George into the bishop's hands is mentioned later. The garment mentioned by David Jones might

come into competition with the rich red- striped silk, brocaded with silver and yellow silk, mentioned in other accounts.

The statement that Dr. Hobbs, the king's physician, was with him at the time gives us another candidate for scaffold honours. I thought that they had been cut down to Juxon, Thornlinson, Hacker, Brandon, and presum- ably Hulett ; Herbert, who might have been there, having shrunk from the sight.

KILLIGREW.

What is known historically of this sky-blue silk vest " which Charles I. wore at his exe- cution " 1 It was sold on 8 Nov., 1898. I have seen it, and upon that part of the front about the waist are some large brown stains. If of the blood of the king, as stated, how could they have got there, while there are no stains of any sort now visible about the neck, where, if anywhere, blood stains should most as- suredly be found 1 Another relic of Charles I., in the shape of the frills worn by his Majesty on the scaffold, was sold by auction on 13 Dec., 1898, by Mr. J. C. Stevens, at 38, King Street, Covent Garden, who so describes them in lot 234 of that sale. I ask similarly, What is known historically of these frills? Were these relics exhibited, or offered for exhibition, at the Stuart Exhibition ? C. MASON.

Villa Byron, Monte Carlo.

It may interest others of your readers to know that the Sketch of 16 Nov., 1898, con- tains a photograph of the vest described at the last reference ; the letterpress accom- panying it is by the writer of these lines. An interesting letter a propos of the vest appeared in the Standard a few days after the sale from Mr. Harry Hems. On Tuesday, 28 June, 1853, Messrs. Puttick & Simpson sold (lot 556) the quilted satin cap \vorn by Charles I. at his execution, and this was accompanied by several documents with reference to the pedi- gree of "this interesting lot," which, according bo the catalogue, " appears to have formerly been in the possession of Lord Crewe, who paid 70. for it." The buyer in 1853 is entered as Broker, and the price bl. 15s. tid.

W. ROBERTS.

I imagine that most of the relics connected with the beheading of Charles I. were on dew at the Stuart Exhibition in 1889. I cannot, however, find that the " sky-coloured vest" sold by Mr. Stevens last November was ncluded in the catalogue. Both the shirts worn by the king on the fatal morning, as eferred to at 8 tft S. vi. 226, 315, were ex- libited, and I have compiled the following ist of these and other relics relating to the execution from the official catalogue :