Maria Stuart has been canonized, and placed among the martyrs by the
Jesuits. Of course there are relics of hers. Her prayer-book was long shown
in France; and her apologist published in an English journal a sonnet which
she was said to have composed, and to have written with her own hand in
this book. A celebrated German actress, Mrs. Hendel-Schutz, who excited
admiration by her attitudes, and also performed Schiller's "Maria" with
great applause in several cities of Germany, affirmed that a cross which
she wore on her neck was the very same that once belonged to the
unfortunate queen. Relics of this description have never yet been subjected
to the proof of their authenticity. But if there is anything which may be
reasonably believed to have been once the property of the queen, _it is the
veil with which she covered her head on the scaffold, after the
executioner_, whether from awkwardness or confusion is uncertain, _had
wounded the unfortunate victim in the shoulder by a false blow_. This veil
still exists, and is in the possession of Sir J.C. Hippisley, who claims to
be descended from the Stuart's by the mother's side. He had an engraving
made from it by Matteo Diottavi, in Rome, 1818, and gave copies to his
friends.
The veil is embroidered with gold spangles by (as is said) the queen's own
hand, in regular rows crossing each other, so as to form small squares, and
edged with a gold border, to which another border has been subsequently
joined, in which the following words are embroidered in letters of gold:--
"Velum Serenissimae Mariae, Scotiae et Galliae Reginae Martyris, quo
induebatur dum ab Heretica ad mortem iniustissimam condemnata fuit.
Anno Sal. MDLXXXVI. a nobilissima matrona Anglicana diu conservatum
et tandem, donationis ergo Deo, et Societati Jesu consecratum."
On the plate there is an inscription, with a double certificate of its
authenticity, which states, that this veil, a family treasure of the
expelled house of Stuart, was finally in possession of the last branch of
that family, the cardinal of York, who preserved it for many years in his
private chapel, among the most precious relics, and at his death bequeathed
it to Sir J. Hippisley, together with a valuable Plutarch, and a Codex with
painted (illuminated) letters, and a gold coin struck in Scotland in the
reign of queen Mary; and it was specially consecrated by Pope Pius VII. in
his palace on the Quirinal, April 29, 1818. Sir John Hippisley, during a
former residence at Rome, had been very intimate with the cardinal of York,
and was instrumental in obtaining for him, when he with the other cardinals
emigrated to Venice in 1798, a pension of £4,000. a-year from the Prince of
Wales, now King George IV.; but for which, the fugitive cardinal, all whose
revenues were seized by the French, would have been exposed to the greatest
distress. The cardinal desired to requite this service by the bequest of
what he considered so valuable. According to a note on the plate, the veil
is eighty-nine English inches long, and forty-three broad, so that it seems
to have been rather a kind of shawl or scarf than a veil. If we remember
rightly, Melville in his Memoirs, which Schiller had read, speaks of a
handkerchief belonging to the queen, which she gave away before her death,
and Schiller founds upon this anecdote the well-known words of the farewell
scene, addressed to Hannah Kennedy.
"Accept this handkerchief! with my own hand
For thee I've work'd it in my hours of sadness
And interwoven with my scalding tears:
With this thou'lt bind my eyes."